Bear Meadow
Hossu
(Available to members of the American Zen Teachers Association
or by special arrangement)

Bear Meadow Hossu-Click to see larger

The Hossu

The hossu has its origins with the fly whisk
carried by both Buddhist and Jain monks in India.
Like the water filter, its purpose was to gently
remove insects without harming them,
only from one's path or seat rather than from water.
As a tool of ahimsa, it represents compassionate action.
In China, compassion took on an active, even wild aspect,
as teachers confronted zen students' attachments and delusions.
It is from this period in China that use of the hossu picked up
its qualities of flair and drama.--Kyogen Carlson, Secretary of the
American Zen Teachers Association (AZTA)

In Zen Buddhism the hossu is a part of the teacher's regalia,
received from his or her teacher during Dharma Transmission.
The hossu is a dramatic instrument, used with a lively flair
and making use of the vivacity of the horsetail for full effect.

Hossu Design

Prior to his retirement, Roshi Phillip Kapleau,
founder of the Rochester Zen Center, appointed
a number of Dharma Heirs, and named Bodhin
Kjolhede his Dharma Successor and Abbot of
the Zen Center.

When Roshi and Sensei Bodhin began making arrangements
for hossu to be given as part of these teachers' regalia,
it was found that the traditional Japanese hossu were
simply beyond the Zen Center's financial means
for such a number of instruments.

Dwain Wilder, a member of the Zen Center,
was commissioned to create five hossu to fulfill this need.
After a few months of research, it became apparent that
the methods he had found were simply unavailable to him,
due in part to his lack of training in wood lathe turney,
the lack of a wood turning lathe, and partly due to his lack
of figure carving and decorative knotting skills.

Though he had set out to duplicate
Roshi Kapleau's hossu, he was forced
to create another design--one which
would exploit skills he already had
or could reasonably acquire.

The result is a hossu which is a
completely re-conceived instrument.

Click on any photograph
to get more info about it,
or (sometimes) a larger view.

Bear Meadow is the business name
for Dwain Wilder's various artisan enterprises

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