SHINNYOJI HIGHLIGHTS

"The echo of the valley - On the notes of Zen". The book by our Master Rev. Anna Maria Shinnyo Marradi has been published and is available in bookshops and online.

"L’eco della valle. Sulle note dello Zen is the account of twenty-five years of the extraordinary adventure of life, spirituality and music of the Sōtō Shinnyoji Zen temple in Florence, witnessed by the sincere and intense words of its spiritual Guide, the Reverend Shinnyo Marradi. The work is a sort of map that accompanies the reader on a path of approach to Zen practice and music not as a unitary literary path, but as a Way to follow that leads to the creation of a virtual concert of three voices, that of the Reader, the voice of Sound, and the wisdom of the Dharma, the Buddhist teaching imagined here as a harmonious correlation between Reading, Listening and Word. From this special and unrepeatable encounter arises a meditation sustained by living words that, together with musical notes, invites one to take the first steps on the threshold of the door without a door to one's inner world.

The protagonists of the volume are also the students of the temple who have shared these years of practice with the teacher Shinnyo: the book is therefore a single 'container' that contains her precious evening teachings, 'accompanied' by a musical piece in five movements performed on the cello, composed exclusively for the volume and inspired by the writings. The text is divided into five thematic sections, each introduced by an essay followed by a collection of kusen (evening discourses) on the subject, followed by mondō (questions and answers between master and disciple on the practice) and closing with a movement of the piece.

Each page gives us this intense and profound union between Zen and music, both disciplines expressing themselves beyond words, in a common 'sound' that further develops the possibility of encounters between practitioners and musicians, as happens in the Shinnyoji temple. The book for a musician becomes a kind of viaticum for setting out on the Zen Way, or vice versa a viaticum for music for a Zen practitioner. At times, this Buddhist tradition may seem unwelcoming to those who wish to step onto the threshold of a spiritual Path. This is why the Reverend Shinnyo, in her role as kokusai fukyōshi, missionary teacher of the Sōtō Zen school, authorised to spread Buddhism outside Japan, has drawn on her long experience to present in a colloquial and interactive manner a vast panorama on Zen themes, harmoniously accompanied by the poetry of musical notes so that it may reach and reawaken the hearts of those who read it". Stefano Davide Bettera. (Liberal translation of the original.)

Shinnyoji, officially recognized as a Temple of the Sōtō Zen School outside of Japan, is Daijōji Italia Betsuin, Italian Branch of Daijōji Monastery in Kanazawa, Japan.

Rev. Anna Maria Iten Shinnyo Marradi, spiritual guide of the Temple, recieved the Transmission of Dharma from Rev. Tenrai Ryūshin Azuma Rōshi 72nd Abbot of Daijōji Monastery.

Shinnyoji Temple is open to everyone regardless of their orientation and belief. Shinnyoji is in association with the Italian Buddhist Union and the Sōtō-shū Shūmūchō in Japan.