Showing posts with label Japanese Buddhism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Japanese Buddhism. Show all posts

2021/11/27

Hakuin Idle Talk, Wild Ivy | PDF

Hakuin Idle Talk Wild Ivy | PDF

Hakuin Idle Talk Wild Ivy

Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin eBook : Ekaku, Hakuin, Waddell, Norman: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store

Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin eBook : Ekaku, Hakuin, Waddell, Norman: Amazon.com.au: Kindle Store


Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin Kindle Edition
by Hakuin Ekaku (Author), Norman Waddell (Translator)  Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 out of 5 stars    29 ratings
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A fiery and intensely dynamic Zen teacher and artist, Hakuin (1685–1768) is credited with almost single-handedly revitalizing Japanese Zen after three hundred years of decline. As a teacher, he placed special emphasis on koan practice, inventing many new koans himself, including the famous "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" This English translation of Hakuin’s intimate self-portrait includes reminiscences from his childhood, accounts of his Zen practice and enlightenment experiences, as well as practical advice for students.
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Print length
195 pages
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Book Description
The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Review
''A rich and rare glimpse into a Zen master's comments on his own spiritual journey, translated for the first time. A welcome and recommended addition to the canon of Zen literature available in English.'' --Publishers Weekly

''What Dharmic wealth is there contained.'' --The Middle Way

''Norman Waddell presents the cranky, impassioned master Hakuin with an uncanny sense of Right English. Now we know you, old Hakuin.'' --Robert Aitken, author of The Practice of Perfection and Taking the Path of Zen --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
Hakuin is the most important of the Japanese Zen artists; indeed, he is one of the greatest artists of any kind in world culture. Tremendously creative and productive, creating perhaps as many as 20,000 thousand Zenga in his lifetime as well as having thousands more pieces printed from woodblocks Hakuin's work is now appreciated all over the world. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer reviews
4.6 out of 5 stars
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Snezhana
5.0 out of 5 stars Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 3 October 2013
Verified Purchase
Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin is a very inspiring book for the most sincere seekers of truth, excellently presented and researched!
2 people found this helpful

Amazon Customer
2.0 out of 5 stars Two Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 April 2016
Verified Purchase
I found Hakuin approach to the spiritual life joyless and attritional.
One person found this helpful
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Goodreads
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Hakuin Zenji (1689-1769) is a towering figure in Japanese Zen. A fiery and dynamic teacher and renowned artist, he reformed the Zen Rinzai tradition, which had fallen into stagnation and decline in his time, revitalizing it and ensuring its survival even to our own day. Hakuin emphasized the importance of zazen, or sitting meditation, and is also known for his skillful use of koans as a means to insight: the most famous of all koans, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" is attributed to Hakuin.

This is the first English translation of Hakuin's intimate self-portrait. It includes reminiscences from his childhood, accounts of his Zen practice and enlightenment experiences, practical advice for students on the problems that arise in intensive meditation practice, and the only description of a technique he calls "introspective meditation." (less)
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COMMUNITY REVIEWS
Showing 1-30
 Average rating4.02  ·  Rating details ·  179 ratings  ·  13 reviews
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Fergus
May 22, 2018Fergus rated it really liked it  ·  review of another edition
Even if you’ve never heard of the profound old Renaissance-era Zen Master Hakuin, chances are you know someone just like him in your own life.

I know I did...

Hakuin was one of those guys who, even as a young lad, was besieged and hounded by a vicious swarm of personal devils.

So God laid it all on the line to the restless kid:

“Your mission, kid - should you choose to accept it - is to set out on a Quest.

“Your Quest will be simply to bear that screaming load of obstreperous devils, which you somehow agreed to yourself to so patiently carry on your accepting back, until you arrive at Mount Doom.

“There you will cast the whole lot of them, lock, stock and barrel, into the bowels of the Fiery Pit...

“And therein find everlasting Peace.”

Now, Hakuin was no fool.

But it was plain that God was right - so he set out on his lifelong mission.

You know, a bright wag once said there is an easy way to understand the word Atonement.

Quite simply, it is the way you find that final state At-One-Ment.

Peace. Heaven. Nirvana.

However you call it, it is the Pot of Gold Beneath the Rainbow - after our own prolonged lifelong storm.

And Hakuin found it.

Here he tells you how.

As his own struggle reached a thundering crescendo and his nightmares mushroomed - just like they did for that poor struggling mouse in the Sorceror’s Apprentice of Disney’s Fantasia, besieged by endlessly multiplying mops and buckets - his Master appeared.

With the antidote.

What a lucky break!

That’s the poetic gist of it, anyway. For the REAL story of Hakuin’s successful mad struggle you’ll have to read this book.

And yes, I knew someone just like Hakuin in my own life.

Relentlessly driven by that great force within her that Percy Shelley would call her Daemon, that driving force of creativity which arose in reaction to her own load of unfriendly demons (and we all have ‘em) she sought her own redeeming Morning Star till the end.

Facing increasingly insurmountable obstacles of multiplying mops and a deep pit of desperation in her life, she persevered through it all.

But I’m happy to report that, like Hakuin, she found Peace just before she died.

For it was at that blessed moment when my forever wife and I were joined in wedlock -

You see, at that moment, approaching her own Mount Doom, my Mother laid to rest her Daemons...

Because she saw that she had at last found Safe Haven for her Wayward Son:

And six months after she died, I started dealing with my own devils -

By undertaking an course of instruction that would lead to my admission into the Catholic Church. (less)
flag91 likes · Like  ·


Tord Helsingeng
May 09, 2018Tord Helsingeng rated it really liked it
An honest account of an anxious boy becoming a pillar of Zen. Hakuin has no respect for the nondualist schools at the time, but is also struggling with his own meditation sickness. A fascinating blend of practical Daoism and Zen.
flag2 likes · Like  · 1 comment · see review
Paul
Jun 26, 2011Paul rated it it was amazing  ·  review of another edition
Can you see the entire sky in a rain drop? Hakuin introduced me to the Zen koan. Thanks Hakuin.
flag1 like ·


Greg
Dec 24, 2019Greg rated it it was amazing
Shelves: religion
My favorite passages:

On the fear of the true and false Dharmas, especially mistaking one for the other:
“The true and the false are more distant from each other than heaven is from earth.” (68)

Self-deprecation:
“There is an old saying: ‘When a superior man speaks a thousand words, he may make a single mistake. When an inferior man speaks a thousand words, he may achieve a single benefit.’ If within this rambling nonsense of mine a single benefit is indeed to be found, it might perhaps serve as a small Dharma gift.
My writing is gross-grained, the strokes of my brush a thick, vulgar chicken-scratch. Both of them are riddled with blunders of various kinds. Characters miswritten. One word mistaken for another. I just scribble it down on the paper, make them a ‘fair copy.’ They take it and carve it onto wodden blocks and print it off. Altogether I must have written twenty books that way. No matter. Any wise man who claps eyes on them is sure to fling them to the ground in disgust and spew them contemptuously with spit.” (85)

The master Hakuyū giving Hakuin the cure for Zen sickness:
“You will never regain your health unless you are able to master the techniques of Instrospective Meditation. Just as the old saying goes, ‘When a person falls to the earth, it is from the earth that he must raise himself up.’” (92) The quote is an adage from the Ju Ta-ch’eng lun, and also appears in The Records of the Lamp of the Ching-te Era (Ching-te ch’uan-teng lu). (less)


 
Fluencer
May 18, 2021Fluencer rated it really liked it
Shelves: buddhism
Very interesting classic. So many interesting and liberating ideas. More detailed review to come.


 
Danny Mindich
Nov 05, 2021Danny Mindich rated it it was amazing
Cool manz.


 
Korrin
Jun 10, 2021Korrin rated it liked it
Shelves: hist-330
I had to read this for my History/International studies class. Even though it had some thought provoking ideas and I can say that I liked it it wasn't really my thing. (less)


 
Will Simpson
Apr 12, 2019Will Simpson rated it liked it  ·  review of another edition
Save your reading time for something relevant. Way too much hocus pocus and woo-woo. Poorly translated I hope.


 
Risto J
May 18, 2021Risto J rated it really liked it
Shelves: zen
Lovely read. How did they put up with all hardship back then is astonishing. Maybe that's why awakening was more common than it is today. We're just too soft... (less)


 
Andrew
Oct 22, 2015Andrew rated it really liked it
Awesomeness. Hakuin was an 18th century Japanese Zen monk who was extraordinarily fierce in his pursuit of enlightened perfection and in his derision for paths that, in his estimation, led astray. His descriptions of his struggles with fears, doubts, and "Zen sickness" are fascinating. And then there is priceless invective like this: "These people, true to their words, do not do a single thing. They engage in no act of religious practice; they don't develop a shred of wisdom. They just waste their lives dozing idly away like comatose badgers, useless to their contemporaries while they live, completely forgotten after they die." (less)
flag1 like ·


Gavin Whyte
Mar 05, 2015Gavin Whyte rated it really liked it
I was intrigued as to why there were so many people saying this book was a bore. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It gave a great insight into the life of a Zen Master in the 17th Century (I think it was 17th...). It isn't a book on Zen, say like Charlotte Joko Beck's Everyday Zen (which is superb, by the way), so don't expect to have many satoris whilst reading it... but it definitely shone a light on an area for me that up until now had been left in the dark. (less)


 
Steve Malley
Aug 15, 2012Steve Malley rated it it was ok
I am reading excerpts this book with my meditation group. Sorry, but this is a real snoozer, unless you are a diehard Zennie with a sense of value for historical Japanese Buddhism. So far, I have only read a number of the auto-biographical segments. Hopefully when I get to other sections, my outlook on the book will improve.


 
Maura
Aug 31, 2013Maura rated it liked it
Shelves: non-fiction, read-for-school, zzzzzz
Had to read this for school and while there is a lot of thought-provoking ideas in this book, I just couldn't muster up the interest. It was rather boring and Zen is not my thing. (less)

2021/11/26

Hakuin Ekaku - Wikipedia

Hakuin Ekaku - Wikipedia

Hakuin Ekaku

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Hakuin Ekaku
Zen-Master-Hakuin-Ekaku-Self-Portrait-1767.png
Hakuin Ekaku, self-portrait (1767)
TitleRōshi
Personal
Bornc. 1686
Diedc. 1769
ReligionBuddhism
SchoolRinzai
Education

Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴, January 19, 1686 – January 18, 1769) was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He is regarded as the reviver of the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, refocusing it on its traditionally rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice.

Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Hakuin was born in 1686 in the small village of Hara,[web 1] at the foot of Mount Fuji. His mother was a devout Nichiren Buddhist, and it is likely that her piety was a major influence on his decision to become a Buddhist monk. As a child, Hakuin attended a lecture by a Nichiren monk on the topic of the Eight Hot Hells. This deeply impressed the young Hakuin, and he developed a pressing fear of hell, seeking a way to escape it. He eventually came to the conclusion that it would be necessary to become a monk.

Shōin-ji and Daishō-ji[edit]

At the age of fifteen, he obtained consent from his parents to join the monastic life, and was ordained at the local Zen temple, Shōin-ji. When the head monk at Shōin-ji took ill, Hakuin was sent to a neighboring temple, Daishō-ji, where he served as a novice for three or four years, studying Buddhist texts. While at Daisho-ji, he read the Lotus Sutra, considered by the Nichiren sect to be the king of all Buddhist sutras, and found it disappointing, saying "it consisted of nothing more than simple tales about cause and effect".

Zensō-ji[edit]

At age eighteen, he left Daishō-ji for Zensō-ji, a temple close to Hara.[1] At the age of nineteen, he came across in his studies the story of the Chinese Ch'an master Yantou Quanhuo, who had been brutally murdered by bandits. Hakuin despaired over this story, as it showed that even a great monk could not be saved from a bloody death in this life. How then could he, just a simple monk, hope to be saved from the tortures of hell in the next life? He gave up his goal of becoming an enlightened monk, and not wanting to return home in shame, traveled around studying literature and poetry.[2]

Zuiun-ji[edit]

Travelling with twelve other monks, Hakuin made his way to Zuiun-ji, the residence of Baō Rōjin, a respected scholar but also a tough-minded teacher.[3] While studying with the poet-monk Bao, he had an experience that put him back along the path of monasticism. He saw a number of books piled out in the temple courtyard, books from every school of Buddhism. Struck by the sight of all these volumes of literature, Hakuin prayed to the gods of the Dharma to help him choose a path. He then reached out and took a book; it was a collection of Zen stories from the Ming Dynasty. Inspired by this, he repented and dedicated himself to the practice of Zen.[4]

First awakening[edit]

Eigen-ji[edit]

He again went traveling for two years, settling down at the Eigen-ji temple when he was twenty-three. It was here that Hakuin had his first entrance into enlightenment when he was twenty-four.[5] He locked himself away in a shrine in the temple for seven days, and eventually reached an intense awakening upon hearing the ringing of the temple bell. However, his master refused to acknowledge this enlightenment, and Hakuin left the temple.

Shōju Rōjin[edit]

Hakuin left again, to study for a mere eight months with Shōju Rōjin (Dokyu Etan, 1642–1721).[6] Shoju was an intensely demanding teacher, who hurled insults and blows at Hakuin, in an attempt to free him from his limited understanding and self-centeredness. When asked why he had become a monk, Hakuin said that it was out of terror to fall into hell, to which Shōju replied "You're a self-centered rascal, aren't you!"[7] Shōju assigned him a series of "hard-to-pass" koans. These led to three isolated moments of satori, but it was only eighteen years later that Hakuin really understood what Shōju meant with this.[7]

Hakuin left Shoju after eight months of study,[8] without receiving formal dharma transmission from Shoju Rojin,[9] nor from any other teacher,[web 2] but Hakuin considered himself to be an heir of Shoju Rojin. Today Hakuin is considered to have received dharma transmission from Shoju.[web 3]

Taigi – great doubt[edit]

Hakuin realized that his attainment was incomplete.[10] He was unable to sustain the tranquility of mind of the Zen hall in the midst of daily life.[10] When he was twenty-six he read that "all wise men and eminent priests who lack the Bodhi-mind fall into Hell".[11] This raised a "great doubt" (taigi) in him, since he thought that the formal entrance into monkhood and the daily enactment of rituals was the bodhi-mind.[11] Only with his final awakening, at age 42, did he fully realize what "bodhi-mind" means, namely working for the good of others.[11]

Zen sickness[edit]

Hakuin's early extreme exertions affected his health, and at one point in his young life he fell ill for almost two years, experiencing what would now probably be classified as a nervous breakdown by Western medicine. He called it Zen sickness, and sought the advice of a Taoist cave dwelling hermit named Hakuyu, who prescribed a visualization and breathing practice which eventually relieved his symptoms. From this point on, Hakuin put a great deal of importance on physical strength and health in his Zen practice, and studying Hakuin-style Zen required a great deal of stamina. Hakuin often spoke of strengthening the body by concentrating the spirit, and followed this advice himself. Well into his seventies, he claimed to have more physical strength than he had at age thirty, being able to sit in zazen meditation or chant sutras for an entire day without fatigue. The practices Hakuin learned from Hakuyu are still passed down within the Rinzai school.

Head priest at Shōin-ji[edit]

After another several years of travel, at age 31 Hakuin returned to Shoin-ji, the temple where he had been ordained. He was soon installed as head priest, a capacity in which he would serve for the next half-century. When he was installed as head priest of Shōin-ji in 1718, he had the title of Dai-ichiza, "First Monk":[12]

It was the minimum rank required by government regulation for those installed as temple priests and seems to have been little more than a matter of paying a fee and registering Hakuin as the incumbent of Shōin-ji.[12]

It was around this time that he adopted the name "Hakuin", which means "concealed in white", referring to the state of being hidden in the clouds and snow of mount Fuji.[13]

Final awakening[edit]

Although Hakuin had several "satori experiences", he did not feel free, and was unable to integrate his realization into his ordinary life.[14] At age 41, he experienced a final and total awakening, while reading the Lotus Sutra, the sutra that he had disregarded as a young student. He realized that the Bodhi-mind means working for the good of every sentient being:[15]

It was the chapter on parables, where the Buddha cautions his disciple Shariputra against savoring the joys of personal enlightenment, and reveals to him the truth of the Bodhisattva's mission, which is to continue practice beyond enlightenment, teaching and helping others until all beings have attained salvation.[14]

He wrote of this experience, saying "suddenly I penetrated to the perfect, true, ultimate meaning of the Lotus". This event marked a turning point in Hakuin's life. He dedicated the rest of his life to helping others achieve liberation.[14][15]

Practicing the bodhi-mind[edit]

Scroll calligraphy by Hakuin Ekaku (depicts Bodhidharma). Caption: Jikishi ninshin, Kensho jobutsu: "Direct pointing at the mind of man, seeing one's nature and becoming Buddha."

He would spend the next forty years teaching at Shoin-ji, writing, and giving lectures. At first there were only a few monks there, but soon word spread, and Zen students began to come from all over the country to study with Hakuin. Eventually, an entire community of monks had built up in Hara and the surrounding areas, and Hakuin's students numbered in the hundreds. He eventually would certify over eighty disciples as successors.

Is that so?[edit]

A well-known anecdote took place in this period:

A beautiful Japanese girl whose parents owned a food store lived near Hakuin. One day, without any warning, her parents discovered she was pregnant. This made her parents angry. She would not confess who the man was, but after much harassment at last named Hakuin.

In great anger the parents went to the master. "Is that so?" was all he would say. After the child was born it was brought to Hakuin. By this time he had lost his reputation, which did not trouble him, but he took very good care of the child. He obtained milk from his neighbors and everything else the child needed by takuhatsu.[a]

A year later the girl could stand it no longer. She told her parents the truth - the real father of the child was a young man who worked in the fish market.

The mother and father of the girl at once went to Hakuin to ask forgiveness, to apologize at length, and to get the child back.

Hakuin smiled and willingly yielded the child, saying: "Is that so? It's good to hear this baby has his/her father."[17]

Death[edit]

At the age of 83, Hakuin died in Hara, the same village in which he was born and which he had transformed into a center of Zen teaching.

Teachings[edit]

Daruma by Hakuin

Post-satori practice[edit]

Hakuin saw "deep compassion and commitment to help all sentient beings everywhere"[18] as an indispensable part of the Buddhist path to awakening. Hakuin emphasized the need for "post-satori training",[19][20] purifying the mind of karmic tendencies and

[W]hipping forward the wheel of the Four Universal Vows, pledging yourself to benefit and save all sentient beings while striving every minute of your life to practice the great Dharma giving.[20]

The insight in the need of arousing bodhicitta formed Hakuin's final awakening:

What is to be valued above all else is the practice that comes after satori is achieved. What is that practice? It is the practice that puts the Mind of Enlightenment first and foremost.
[At] my forty-first year, [...] I at long last penetrated into the heart of this great matter. Suddenly, unexpectedly, I saw it — it was as clear as if it were right there in the hollow of my hand. What is the Mind of Enlightenment? It is, I realized, a matter of doing good — benefiting others by giving them the gift of the Dharma teaching.[20]

Koan practice[edit]

Hakuin deeply believed that the most effective way for a student to achieve insight was through extensive meditation on a koan. Only with incessant investigation of his koan will a student be able to become one with the koan, and attain enlightenment. The psychological pressure and doubt that comes when one struggles with a koan is meant to create tension that leads to awakening. Hakuin called this the "great doubt", writing, "At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully".[21]

Hakuin used a fivefold classification system:[22]
1. Hosshin, dharma-body koans, are used to awaken the first insight into sunyata.[22] They reveal the dharmakaya, or Fundamental.[23] They introduce "the undifferentiated and the unconditional".[24]
2. Kikan, dynamic action koans, help to understand the phenomenal world as seen from the awakened point of view;[25] Where hosshin koans represent tai, substance, kikan koans represent yu, function.[26]
3. Gonsen, explication of word koans, aid to the understanding of the recorded sayings of the old masters.[27] They show how the Fundamental, though not depending on words, is nevertheless expressed in words, without getting stuck to words.[clarification needed][28]
4. Hachi Nanto, eight "difficult to pass" koans.[29] There are various explanations for this category, one being that these koans cut off clinging to the previous attainment. They create another Great Doubt, which shatters the self attained through satori[30] It is uncertain which are exactly those eight koans.[31] Hori gives various sources, which altogether give ten hachi nanto koans.[32]
5. Goi jujukin koans, the Five Ranks of Tozan and the Ten Grave Precepts.[33][29]

Hakuin's emphasis on koan practice had a strong influence in the Japanese Rinzai-school. In the system developed by his followers, students are assigned koans by their teacher and then meditate on them. Once they have broken through, they must demonstrate their insight in private interview with the teacher. If the teacher feels the student has indeed attained a satisfactory insight into the koan, then another is assigned. Hakuin's main role in the development of this koan system was most likely the selection and creation of koans to be used. In this he didn't limit himself to the classic koan collections inherited from China; he himself originated one of the best-known koans, "You know the sound of two hands clapping; tell me, what is the sound of one hand?". Hakuin preferred this new koan to the most commonly assigned first koan from the Chinese tradition, the Mu koan. He believed his "Sound of One Hand" to be more effective in generating the great doubt, and remarked that "its superiority to the former methods is like the difference between cloud and mud".

Four ways of knowing[edit]

Asanga, one of the main proponents of Yogacara, introduced the idea of four ways of knowing: the perfection of action, observing knowing, universal knowing, and great mirror knowing. He relates these to the Eight Consciousnesses:

  1. The five senses are connected to the perfection of action,
  2. Samjna (cognition) is connected to observing knowing,
  3. Manas (mind) is related to universal knowing,
  4. Alaya-vijnana is connected to great mirror knowing.[34]

In time, these ways of knowing were also connected to the doctrine of the three bodies of the Buddha (DharmakāyaSambhogakāya and Nirmanakaya), together forming the "Yuishiki doctrine".[34]

Hakuin related these four ways of knowing to four gates on the Buddhist path: the Gate of Inspiration, the Gate of Practice, the Gate of Awakening, and the Gate of Nirvana.[35]

  1. The Gate of Inspiration is initial awakening, kensho, seeing into one's true nature.
  2. The Gate of Practice is the purification of oneself by continuous practice.
  3. The Gate of Awakening is the study of the ancient masters and the Buddhist sutras, to deepen the insight into the Buddhist teachings, and acquire the skills needed to help other sentient beings on the Buddhist path to awakening.
  4. The Gate of Nirvana is the "ultimate liberation", "knowing without any kind of defilement".[35]

Opposition to "Do-nothing Zen"[edit]

One of Hakuin's major concerns was the danger of what he called "Do-nothing Zen" teachers, who upon reaching some small experience of enlightenment devoted the rest of their life to, as he puts it, "passing day after day in a state of seated sleep".[36] Quietist practices seeking simply to empty the mind, or teachers who taught that a tranquil "emptiness" was enlightenment, were Hakuin's constant targets. In this regard he was especially critical of followers of the maverick Zen master Bankei.[37] He stressed a never-ending and severe training to deepen the insight of enlightenment and forge one's ability to manifest it in all activities.[19][20] He urged his students to never be satisfied with shallow attainments, and truly believed that enlightenment was possible for anyone if they exerted themselves and approached their practice with real energy.[20]

Lay teachings[edit]

An extremely well known and popular Zen master during his later life, Hakuin was a firm believer in bringing the wisdom of Zen to all people. Thanks to his upbringing as a commoner and his many travels around the country, he was able to relate to the rural population, and served as a sort of spiritual father to the people in the areas surrounding Shoin-ji. In fact, he turned down offers to serve in the great monasteries in Kyoto, preferring to stay at Shoin-ji. Most of his instruction to the common people focused on living a morally virtuous life. Showing a surprising broad-mindedness, his ethical teachings drew on elements from Confucianism, ancient Japanese traditions, and traditional Buddhist teachings. He also never sought to stop the rural population from observing non-Zen traditions, despite the seeming intolerance for other schools' practices in his writings.

In addition to this, Hakuin was also a popular Zen lecturer, traveling all over the country, often to Kyoto, to teach and speak on Zen. He wrote frequently in the last fifteen years of his life, trying to record his lessons and experiences for posterity. Much of his writing was in the vernacular, and in popular forms of poetry that commoners would read.

Calligraphy[edit]

An important part of Hakuin's practice of Zen was his painting and calligraphy. He seriously took up painting only late in his life, at almost age sixty, but is recognized as one of the greatest Japanese Zen painters. His paintings were meant to capture Zen values, serving as sorts of "visual sermons" that were extremely popular among the laypeople of the time, many of whom were illiterate. Today, paintings of Bodhi Dharma by Hakuin Ekaku are sought after and displayed in a handful of the world's leading museums.

思想

彼は初めて悟りの後の修行(悟後の修行)の重要性を説き、生涯に三六回の悟りを開いたと自称した。その飽くなき求道精神は「大悟十八度、小悟数知らず」という言葉に表象され、現代に伝わっている。また、これまでの語録を再編して公案を洗練させ、体系化した。中でも自ら考案した「隻手音声」と最初の見性体験をした「趙州無字」の問いを、公案の最初の入り口に置き、以後の修行者に必ず参究するようにさせた。

また、菩提心(四弘誓願)の大切さを説いた。菩提心の無き修行者は「魔道に落ちる」と、自身の著作に綴っている。彼は生涯において、この四弘誓願を貫き通し、民衆の教化および弟子を育てた。


禅画と墨蹟

白隠はまた、広く民衆への布教に務め、その過程で禅の教えを表した絵を数多く描いている。その総数は定かではないが、1万点かそれ以上とも言われる[4]。絵の製作年がわかる最も早い作は享保4年(1719年)の「達磨図」(個人蔵)で、縦220cm以上の大作「達磨図」は寛延4年(1751年)の作である(豊橋市正宗寺)。代表作の一つ「大燈国師像」(永青文庫蔵)では、紙面には下書きや描き直しの跡が残り、このような拙によって巧を超えていった技法は、「後の曾我蕭白などに強い感銘を与えた」と想像されている[5]。書家の石川九楊は、白隠の墨蹟について「書法の失調」を捉え、「『書でなくなることによって書である』という逆説によって成り立っている書ならざる書」と評している[6]。白隠の書画の代表的コレクターに、細川護立と山本発次郎がおり、前者のコレクションは永青文庫に収められ、後者は大阪市立近代美術館建設準備室に寄贈されている。


Influence[edit]

Through Hakuin, all contemporary Japanese Rinzai-lineages are part of the Ōtōkan lineage, brought to Japan in 1267 by Nanpo Jomyo, who received dharma transmission in China in 1265.[web 4]

All contemporary Rinzai-lineages stem from Inzan Ien (1751–1814) and Takuju Kosen (1760–1833),[38][39] both students of Gasan Jito (1727–1797). Gasan is considered to be a dharma heir of Hakuin, though "he did not belong to the close circle of disciples and was probably not even one of Hakuin's dharma heirs".[40]

Linji lineage
Linji school
EisaiLinji lineage
Linji school
Myozen

Xutang Zhiyu 虚堂智愚 (Japanese Kido Chigu, 1185–1269) [web 5] [web 6] [web 7]

Nanpo Shōmyō (南浦紹明?) (1235–1308)
Shuho Myocho
Kanzan Egen 關山慧玄 (1277–1360)
founder of Myōshin-ji
  • Tettō Gikō (1295–1369)
  • Gongai Sōchū (1315–1390)
Juō Sōhitsu (1296–1380)
Muin Sōin (1326–1410)
Tozen Soshin (Sekko Soshin) (1408–1486)
Toyo Eicho (1429–1504)
Taiga Tankyo (?–1518)
Koho Genkun (?–1524)
Sensho Zuisho (?–?)
Ian Chisatsu (1514–1587)
Tozen Soshin (1532–1602)
Yozan Keiyō (?–?)
Gudō Toshoku (1577–1661)
Shidō Bu'nan (1603–1676)
Shoju Rojin (Shoju Ronin, Dokyu Etan, 1642–1721)
Hakuin (1686–1768)
Gasan Jitō 峨山慈棹 (1727–1797)
Inzan Ien 隱山惟琰 (1751–1814)Takujū Kosen 卓洲胡僊 (1760–1833)
Inzan lineageTakujū lineage
Rinzai schoolRinzai school

Writings[edit]

Hakuin left a voluminous body of works, divided in Dharma Works (14 vols.) and Kanbun Works (4 vols.).[41] The following are the best known and edited in English.

  • Orategama (遠羅天釜), The Embossed Tea Kettle, a letter collection. Hakuin, Zenji (1963), The Embossed Tea Kettle. Orate Gama and other works, London: Allen & Unwin
  • Yasen kanna (夜船閑話), Idle Talk on a Night Boat, a work on health-improving meditation techniques (qigong).

In modern anthologies[edit]

  • Hakuin (2005), The Five Ranks. In: Classics of Buddhism and Zen. The Collected Translations of Thomas Cleary3, Boston, MA: Shambhala, pp. 297–305
  • Hakuin, Ekaku (2010), Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, Norman Waddell, translator, Shambhala Publications, ISBN 9781570627705

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Takuhatsu (托鉢) is a traditional form of dāna or alms given to Buddhist monks in Japan.[16]

References[edit]

Book references[edit]

  1. ^ Waddell 2010a, p. xv.
  2. ^ Waddell 2010a, p. xvi.
  3. ^ Waddell 2010a, p. xvii.
  4. ^ Waddell 2010a, p. xviii–xix.
  5. ^ Waddell 2010b, p. xvii.
  6. ^ Waddell 2010a, p. xxi–xxii.
  7. Jump up to:a b Waddell 2010a, p. xxii.
  8. ^ Waddell 2010a, p. xxii–xxiii.
  9. ^ Mohr 2003, p. 311-312.
  10. Jump up to:a b Waddell 2010a, p. xxv.
  11. Jump up to:a b c Yoshizawa 2009, p. 44.
  12. Jump up to:a b Waddell 2010a, p. xxix.
  13. ^ Stevens 1999, p. 71.
  14. Jump up to:a b c Waddell 2010b, p. xviii.
  15. Jump up to:a b Yoshizawa 2009, p. 41.
  16. ^ A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford University Press. 2004. ISBN 9780198605607.
  17. ^ Reps & Senzaki 2008, p. 22; Kimihiko 1975.
  18. ^ Low 2006, p. 35.
  19. Jump up to:a b Waddell 2010.
  20. Jump up to:a b c d e Hakuin 2010.
  21. ^ 1939–2013, McEvilley, Thomas (August 1999). Sculpture in the age of doubt. New York. ISBN 9781581150230OCLC 40980460.
  22. Jump up to:a b Besserman & Steger 2011, p. 148.
  23. ^ Hori 2005b, p. 136.
  24. ^ Hori 2005b, p. 136-137.
  25. ^ Besserman & Steger 2011, p. 148-149.
  26. ^ Hori 2005b, p. 137.
  27. ^ Besserman & Steger 2011, p. 149.
  28. ^ Hori 2005b, p. 138.
  29. Jump up to:a b Hori 2005b, p. 135.
  30. ^ Hori 2005b, p. 139.
  31. ^ Hori 2003, p. 23.
  32. ^ Hori 2003, p. 23-24.
  33. ^ Besserman & Steger 2011, p. 151.
  34. Jump up to:a b Low 2006, p. 22.
  35. Jump up to:a b Low 2006, p. 32-39.
  36. ^ Hakuin 2010, p. 3.
  37. ^ Hakuin 2010, p. 125, 126.
  38. ^ Dumoulin 2005, p. 392.
  39. ^ Stevens 1999, p. 90.
  40. ^ Dumoulin 2005, p. 391.
  41. ^ The Hakuin Study Group has been researching the written works of Hakuin.

Sources[edit]

Published sources[edit]

  • Besserman, Perle; Steger, Manfred (2011), Zen Radicals, Rebels, and ReformersWisdom PublicationsISBN 9780861716913
  • Dumoulin, Heinrich (2005), Zen Buddhism: A History. Volume 2: Japan, World Wisdom Books, ISBN 9780941532907
  • Hakuin, Ekaku (2010), Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, Norman Waddell, translator, Shambhala Publications, ISBN 9781570627705
  • Hakuin; Waddell, Norman (2010b), The Essential teachings of Zen Master Hakuin, Shambhala Classics
  • Hori, Victor Sogen (2005b), The Steps of Koan Practice. In: John Daido Loori,Thomas Yuho Kirchner (eds), Sitting With Koans: Essential Writings on Zen Koan Introspection, Wisdom Publications
  • Low, Albert (2006), Hakuin on Kensho. The Four Ways of Knowing, boston & london: Shambhala
  • Mohr, Michel. "Emerging from Non-duality: Kōan Practice in the Rinzai Tradition since Hakuin." In The Kōan: Texts and Contexts in Zen Buddhism, edited by S. Heine and D. S. Wright. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
  • Mohr, Michel (2003), Hakuin. In: Buddhist Spirituality. Later China, Korea, Japan and the Modern World; edited by Takeuchi Yoshinori, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass
  • Trevor Leggett, The Tiger's CaveISBN 0-8048-2021-X, contains the story of Hakuin's illness.
  • Stevens, John (1999), Zen Masters. A Maverick, a Master of Masters, and a Wandering Poet. Ikkyu, Hakuin, Ryokan, Kodansha International
  • Waddell, Norman, trans. "Hakuin's Yasenkanna." In The Eastern Buddhist (New Series) 34 (1):79–119, 2002.
  • Waddell, Norman (2010a), Foreword to "Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin", Shambhala Publications
  • Waddell, Norman (2010b), Translator's Introduction to "The Essential teachings of Zen Master Hakuin", Shambhala Classics
  • Yampolsky, Philip B. The Zen Master Hakuin: Selected Writings. Edited by W. T. de Bary. Vol. LXXXVI, Translations from the Oriental Classics, Records or Civilization: Sources and Studies. New York: Columbia University Press, 1971, ISBN 0-231-03463-6
  • Yampolsky, Philip. "Hakuin Ekaku." The Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. Vol. 6. New York: MacMillan, 1987.
  • Reps, Paul; Senzaki, Nyogen (2008), Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen WritingsISBN 978-0-8048-3186-4
  • Yoshizawa, Katsuhiro (1 May 2009), The Religious Art of Zen Master Hakuin, Catapult, ISBN 978-1-58243-986-0
  • Kimihiko, Naoki (1975), Hakuin zenji : KenkoÌ"hoÌ" to itsuwa (Japanese), Nippon Kyobunsha co.,ltd., ISBN 978-4531060566

Web-sources[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Hakuin, Ekaku (2010), Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin, Norman Waddell, translator, Shambhala Publications, ISBN 9781570627705
  • Low, Albert (2006), Hakuin on Kensho. The Four Ways of Knowing, boston & london: Shambhala
  • Yoshizawa, Katsuhiro (2010), The Religious Art of Zen Master Hakuin, Counterpoint Press
  • Spence, Alan (2014), Night Boat: A Zen Novel, Canongate UK, ISBN 978-0857868541

External links[edit]