SKY ABOVE GREAT WIND
A Zen Community in Washington, D.C.
Sky Above Great Wind welcomes everyone to Zen meditation regardless of background or experience.
Photo by Kris Herbst
Enso by Kaz Tanahashi, 2014
The pure wind circles the earth and shakes it time after time,
But who can pluck it up and show it to you?
—Zen Master Keizan
The Record of Transmitting the Light
A child with a sheet of paper came up to Zen Master Ryokan and asked, “Please write something for me.” “What will you use it for?” asked Ryokan. The child replied, “I'll make a kite. Please write something to call the wind.” Ryokan then wrote four big characters “Sky Above Great Wind” and gave the calligraphy to the boy. The phrase and his unpretentious brushstrokes are beloved throughout Japan.
Photo by Kris Herbst
Sky Above Great Wind, a plaque from the Bunsui Ryokan Archive, Tsubame, Japan, 2015
For his entire life, the poet-monk Ryokan, given the Buddhist name Daigu (Great Fool, Good and Broad) poured himself out and clung to nothing. His compassion, humility, and boundless serenity inspire this community to take up the path of awakening. Zen is the practice of the oneness of life and reaches wherever life reaches.
Out breath
and in breath—
know that they are
proof that the world
is inexhaustible.
—Ryokan
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Japanese Character for Breath
— Brushed by Kaz Tanahashi, 2022
Sky Above Great Wind invites everyone to join us in zazen.
Beginners are encouraged to participate.
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Sensei Susan KōDō Efird, Founder and Guiding Teacher
Karin Hillhouse, Director, Sky Above Zen
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Unless otherwise noted, all Ryokan poems and stories about him are quoted from Sky Above, Great Wind (Shambhala 2014) by Kazuaki Tanahashi. Another excellent book on Ryokan is Ryokan Interpreted by Shohaku Okumura (Dogen Institute 2021)