Biography and Memoriam
Dharma Master Rev. Dr. Soyu Matsuoka-Roshi (Zengaku Sôyû Daioshô, 1912-1997) is the spiritual grandfather of the Southwind Sangha Soto Zen Association. He was a Gondaikyoshi (Bishop) of the Sôtô Zen Sect, and served as Superintendent and Abbot of the Long Beach Zen Buddhist Temple and Zen Center. The temple was headquarters to Zen Centers in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Everett, Washington, and Orange County in California.
Rev. Matsuoka-Roshi was born in Japan into a family which has a history of Zen priests dating back hundreds of years. After he graduated from Komazawa University, Roshi spent several years at Sojiji Monastery. He then was assigned a mission of establishing a temple at Karafuto (Sakhalin), in the northern part of Japan.
Matsuoka-Roshi
then received a special assignment to the United States, where he served
as a Zen priest in the Los Angeles and San Francisco Zen Temples. While in
America he furthered his academic studies by pursuing graduate work at Columbia
University with Dr. D.T. Suzuki. Roshi then established the Chicago Zen Buddhist
Temple, the first Zen Temple in the Midwestern states. This establishment
still operates under dharma heirs of Rev. Matsuoka-Roshi.
Zenkai Taiun Michael Elliston-Roshi, Founder and Abbot of the Atlanta Sôtô Zen Center, met and trained under Rev. Matsuoka-Roshi at the Chicago Temple in the 1960s. The Atlanta Sôtô Zen Center was founded in the early 1970s with the support and guidance of Rev. Matsuoka-Roshi. The Atlanta Sôtô Zen Center and its affiliates continue to serve its diverse sangha with a rich schedule of instruction and events in the spirit of Rev. Matsuoka-Roshi.
Besides
managing the temple in Chicago, Roshi undertook many various activities.
He conducted zazen for the students of the Chicago Judo-Karate School and
was registered at the Chicago Central YMCA as a special instructor in Japanese
culture and its relation to Zen Buddhism.
In
addition, Matsuoka-Roshi lectured intensively throughout the United States
and abroad. This included an eight-month tour of Japan, which was sponsored
by the American Embassy to Japan. On this tour he spoke about the “Unknown
America” to groups all over Japan.
In August of 1971, Matsuoka-Roshi established the Zen Center of Long Beach (Zen Buddhist Temple), where he served as superintendent until ill-health forced his retirement in 1995. During his career, Roshi helped thousands of people take their first steps on the Dharma path.
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