Gyomay Kubose

Although born in the United States,{{Cite web |url=http://www.deliaohara.com/deliaohara/Pioneers.html |title=The Pioneers Who Moved East |access-date=2010-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110709011254/http://www.deliaohara.com/deliaohara/Pioneers.html |archive-date=2011-07-09 |url-status=dead }} he spent a large amount of his youth in Japan.{{Cite web |url=http://www.brightdawn.org/gyomay%20kubose.htm |title=Rev. Gyomay M. Kubose |access-date=2010-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616133910/http://www.brightdawn.org/gyomay%20kubose.htm |archive-date=2012-06-16 |url-status=dead }} After graduating from University of California at Berkeley, Kubose moved back to Japan where, for five years, he studied under his spiritual instructor Haya Akegarasu, who was in turn a student of Kiyozawa Manshi, a Meiji-era reformer of Shin Buddhism.{{cite news |title=REV. GYOMAY M. KUBOSE; OPENED 1ST BUDDHIST TEMPLE IN CHICAGO |date=2000-04-05 |last=Hussain |first=Rummana |access-date=2023-04-04 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-04-05-0004050298-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune}}

Kubose was a non-sectarian Buddhist and followed Kiyozawa's message that Buddhism should be implemented as a personal voyage, and not merely a communal tradition as it had become prior to the Meiji era. He also extended a great amount of influence in North America, and traveled much of the United States on his lecture tours. In addition to founding one of the first non-sectarian Buddhist temples in America,{{cite web |title=Rev. Gyomay Kubose (Founding Minister) |access-date=2023-04-04 |url=https://buddhisttemplechicago.org/about-us/gyomay-kubose/ |website=The Buddhist Temple of Chicago|date=14 January 2015 }} he also established the American Buddhist Association, the Buddhist Educational Centre in Chicago, Scouting Clubs, and many among other groups. Rev. Gyomay was a pioneer in American Buddhism, preaching Pureland Dharma while also conducting Zen meditation sessions. Returning to Japan in 1966, he attended Ōtani University in Kyoto for three years, pursuing special studies in Buddhism.{{cite web |url=http://www.brightdawn.org/gyomay%20kubose.htm |title=Gyomay Kubose |website=www.brightdawn.org |access-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616133910/http://www.brightdawn.org/gyomay%20kubose.htm |archive-date=16 June 2012 |url-status=dead}}

Rev. Gyomay extended the Buddhist ideal that duality is an illusion created by egotism, and that primordially everything is Oneness. Many of his lectures and teachings focus upon this, using a juxtaposition that oneness and individuality can coexist, provided one does not allow the ego to get in the way. Another focus of his was the extension of Kiyozawa's message, that Buddhism should be a personal experience and it is not sufficient to merely attend temple services and recite sutras. The experience must come from within, or there is no substance. To that end, Kubose placed the Buddha in the same field as Socrates, in that Buddhism should be regarded as a philosophy first, and a religion second. Philosophy is something a person contemplates anew, and while one may rely on the teachings of a religious tradition, the deeply personal practice of realizing Oneness and thereby Enlightenment must be one’s own. He published several books of his own Dharma writings, including Everyday Suchness and The Center Within, published collaborative works with other authors, and also published English translations of Japanese Buddhist texts, such as those by Haya Akegarasu with his own accompanying commentary.

Gyomay Kubose’s son, Koyo Kubose, was named his spiritual successor in 1998. Rev. Koyo later founded Bright Dawn Center of Oneness Buddhism to carry on the Dharma legacy of his father, a center which has thus far trained approximately one hundred non-sectarian Buddhist ministers.{{Cite web |url=http://www.brightdawn.org/koyo%20kubose.htm |title=Rev. Koyo S. Kubose |access-date=2010-11-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720133732/http://www.brightdawn.org/koyo%20kubose.htm |archive-date=2011-07-20 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=https://brightdawnsangha.ning.com/profiles/members/search?name=&q3=Yes&page=3 | title=Bright Dawn Sangha }}

• {{cite book |title=Zen Koans |last=Kubose|first=Gyomay |publisher=McGraw-Hill Contemporary |year=1973 |isbn=9780809290659}}
• {{cite book |title=American Buddhism: A New Direction |last=Kubose|first=Gyomay |year=1976}}
• {{cite book |title=The Fundamental Spirit of Buddhism |publisher=Dharma House Publishing |year=1977 |last=Akegarasu |first=Haya |translator-last=Kubose |translator-first=Gyomay |isbn=9780893462710}}
• {{cite book |title=Everyday Suchness: Buddhist Essays on Everyday Living |last=Kubose|first=Gyomay |publisher= Dharma House |year=2004 |isbn=9780964299207}}
• {{cite book |title=The Center Within |last=Kubose|first=Gyomay |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |year=2005 |isbn=9780893462710}}

• {{cite web |title=Japanese tea ceremony at the home of Rev. and Mrs. Gyomay M. Kubose, Chicago, Illinois |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/afc1981004.b50890 |website=Library of Congress}}

{{reflist}}

{{Modern Buddhist writers}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kubose, Gyomay}}

Category:1905 births

Category:2000 deaths

Category:20th-century American Buddhists

Category:American Buddhist spiritual teachers

Category:American people of Japanese descent

Category:American writers of Japanese descent

Category:Buddhist writers

Category:Buddhist translators

Category:Japanese-American internees

Category:Japanese Buddhists

Category:Pure Land Buddhism

Category:University of California, Berkeley alumni

{{Buddhism-bio-stub}}