Daitsu Thomas Wright did it first. If I had only one sentence to introduce him with, this is how I would do it. He was at the heart of the movement when it all started, in the States during the sixties. He was marching with Martin Luther King in Chicago. He refused to fight in Vietnam and went into exile in Japan just before the beatnicks and hippies began to bum around Kyoto’s temples. He was in Antaiji, a disciple of Uchiyama Kōshō rōshi, before all of us.

• Takuhatsu: laughter through the tears. A life of mendicant begging in Japan
By Uchiyama Kōshō rōshi, former abbot of Antaiji monastery.
(Translated by Daitsu Tom Wright)

• Introduction
• Unromantic life
• The lifestyle behind takuhatsu
• Kyoto’s other mendicants
• Takuhatsu neurosis
• Living like a pigeon
• Is there such a thing as luck?
• Takuhatsu as a business
• Nothing carries over
• A few grains of sand
• Why go out on takuhatsu?

• Shōbōgenzō Bodaisattva Shishōbō: four dimensions of a living bodhisattva spirit
By Eihei Dōgen Zenji.
(Translated by Daitsu Tom Wright)

• Introduction
• Part one
• Part two
• Part three
• Part four
• Part five

 
 
The following poem by Uchiyama Kosho roshi, translated by Daitsu Tom Wright, is based on a passage in the Shobogenzo Genjo Koan that goes:

 
“To practice the [Buddha]Way is to practice Jiko—all inclusive self.”

If you call, I shall respond
That is just me responding to myself.

I can hear all the news of the world
I am just hearing news of myself.

When you are in pain or suffering
I lend a hand.

That is just me lending a hand to myself.

I follow my teacher and practice (as I am taught)
That is just me following me and practicing.

Whatever I bring up, there is nothing apart from Jiko—all inclusive self.

Practicing a Self that is a wholly living Self
That is the samadhi of fully-functioning Self
That is practicing the Buddha Way.