Migaku Sato
Migaku Sato
1948 – Unknown
Sato Migaku "Kyūun-ken" (佐藤 究雲軒, b. 1948) is a Japanese New Testament scholar and Sanbō Zen *shōshike* — one of five senior Zen Masters appointed by Yamada Ryōun between 2009 and 2020, and the lineage's first European-resident Japanese teacher[1]. Born in 1948, he holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Bern (1985) and served as professor of New Testament studies at Rikkyo University in Tokyo, retiring as professor emeritus[1].
He came to Zen in 1982 through contact with Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle and began formal practice with Yamada Kōun in 1985; after Yamada's death in 1989 he continued under Kubota Ji'un and, from 2004, under Yamada Ryōun. He was authorised to teach (*zenkyōshi*) in 2004 and conferred the rank of full Zen Master (*shōshike*) by Yamada Ryōun in August 2020[1]. From his base at the Sanbō Zendō Weyarn in Bavaria, Germany, he leads sesshin in Germany, Japan, and Israel[1].
His scholarly work bridges his two domains: a sustained engagement with the historical Jesus alongside a hermeneutic of the Sanbō Zen kōan curriculum that draws explicitly on Yamada Kōun's *Gateless Gate* commentaries and on the Christian-Zen dialogue opened by Enomiya-Lassalle[1].
Names
Teachers and lineage of Migaku Sato
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Works
- Practice handbookZAZEN: Eine Einführung in Zen / An Introduction to Zen
A bilingual German–English introduction to zazen practice in the Sanbō Zen lineage, drawn from Sato's teisho at the Sanbō Zendō Weyarn (Domicilium) retreat centre in Bavaria.
- New Testament scholarshipQ und Prophetie: Studien zur Gattungs- und Traditionsgeschichte der Quelle Q
Sato's University of Bern doctoral monograph on the synoptic sayings-source (Q) — a standard reference in German New Testament scholarship that pre-dates his Sanbō Zen teaching career.