Being Without Self
Being Without Self (BWS) is an international, not-for-profit Zen community that started in the early 1990s, as a group of Dutch students of Fukushima Roshi asked Jeff Shore to give Dharma talks and lead Zen retreats in the Netherlands. As new students joined in, Jeff was invited to lead retreats in other countries, including Germany, Hungary, the UK, Mexico, Australia, Canada and his native US. These retreats continue today.
In this way, and through the support of many Dharma friends worldwide, BWS organically grew into the international community it is today. BWS is carried by the dedication and generosity of its members, guided by a small Community Council to support working groups and volunteer efforts. Our task is for us all to continue to grow together and nourish each other.
“Meeting people on the same spiritual way — open, serious but not too serious, and we had fun together too.”
— Andrea, USA
“We need to practice alone — but we can help each other.”
— Tünde, Hungary
“There was an immediate closeness and a friendship. Just like that.”
— Michael, Germany
“The one-on-one sessions were incredibly intimate, respectful, open, and non-judgmental. This reinforced my complete trust in the group.”
— Anne, Canada
“We are actively building something that will sustain us together.”
— Tim, USA
Jeff
The first year after Jeff Shore arrived in Kyoto in the summer of 1981, he got his toes wet living at the major Rinzai Zen complex of Myōshinji under then head abbot Yamada Mumon, and training at the Shōfukuji training monastery in Kobe. After a year, he began practice under Fukushima Keidō at the Tōfukuji training monastery in Kyoto. There he continued practice for over 25 years, becoming the lay successor to Fukushima Rōshi. In 1986 he was offered a post at Hanazono University where he taught for 35 years before retiring in 2021 as professor emeritus of Zen Studies. For the first 20 years of his time in Japan he was also instrumental in introducing to the world the FAS Society, a lay Zen group inspired by Hisamatsu Shin’ichi. Apart from Dharma Talks and retreats around the world, Jeff also opened a small hermitage in Kyoto in 2001, where serious students could deepen their practice.
For further detail on Jeff’s life, see his autobiographical essay, Empty Trash, Empty Self: (English) (Spanish). For Fukushima’s biography, see The Laughing Buddha of Tofukuji: The Life of Zen Master Keidô Fukushima (by Ishwar Harris; World Wisdom). For the teaching of Fukushima’s master Zenkei Shibayama, see Gateless Barrier (Shambhala), formerly published as Zen Comments on the Mumonkan (Harper & Row). An In Memoriam for Zenkei Shibayama by Kudo Sumiko can be found here (pdf).
Selected Talks (Video)
- “Zen and the Art of Falling in Love” (Lecture at Colgate University, 2024)
- “Growing (Old) in Zen” (Lecture at the London Buddhist Society, 2019)
- “Slowing Down the Mind Train” (Lecture at the London Buddhist Society, 2016)
- Documentary video featuring Jeff, shot in and around Kyoto (2014)
Publications
- Backwater Reeds: Zen Buddhist Dharma Talks for the 21st Century — Jeff Shore (Hermitage Books, 2024); dharma talks transcribed and shaped into a book by students worldwide.
- Great Doubt: Practicing Zen in the World — Jeff Shore (Wisdom Publications, 2016); translation of and commentary on Boshan.
- Der Weg beginnt unter deinen Füßen: Zen für das moderne Leben — German (Droemer-Knaur).
- La Gran Duda — Spanish (Herder, 2023). Also Ser sin yo (Pax-México).
- Hungarian translations — available on request (email).
Hermitage
The Rōkoan hermitage arose to meet the needs of practitioners, both in Kyoto and from abroad, seeking to further their practice. Practicing here is a precious chance to devote ourselves wholeheartedly and, whenever others are present, do what we can to support their practice while living together in harmony.
Zen practice is the core, zazen is the natural focus: several hours of concentrated sitting – on your own or with others – every day. There is the opportunity for regular one-on-one. It is not a guest house, it is not a monastery.
If you are genuinely interested in spending time at the hermitage, please digest these Guidelines.
Being Without Self 