Zen Buddhist Monks

"From the day of my coming hither Full seventy years have passed. Now, setting out on my final path My two legs trample the sky."

"For long years a bird in a cage Now, flying along with the clouds of heaven."

"The Japanese Zen master Kozan Ichikyo wrote the [above dead] poem in the year 1360 before he laid down his calligraphy brush and left the world while sitting upright... We not only come into this world and leave this world alone, we also cannot take anything along with us into the other world — in case there is one. If there is no permanence, it is also nonsense to tie our boat to our possessions and dreams. Consequently, it is also senseless to cling to certain philosophies, thoughts, feelings, and values, which we take along to the grave when all is said and done. But instead of taking them to the grave with us, it is possible to already learn to let go of them during our lifetime. 1 think that this is a task in life!"

"Thus have I rolled my life throughout Inside and out, reclined, upright. What is all this? A beating drum A trumpet's blare No more."

"I pondered Buddha's teaching A full four and eighty years. The gates are all now locked about me. No one was ever here - Who then is he about to die, And why lament for nothing? Farewell! The night is clear, The moon shines calmly, The wind in the pines Is like a lyre's song. With no I and no other Who hears the sound?"

"The dying master left in the hands of Tetto Giko, his disciple during the years of obscurity at Ungo-an and the head monk of Daitokuji since its inauguration. Tetto, an able and energetic administrator, served as abbot for thirty-one years. He persuaded several well-known nobles and warriors to become personal disciples and temple patrons, stabilizing Daitokuji during a period of political and economic adversity. Tetto was so fervent in the guidance of his monks that he once threatened to cut off his own tongue unless someone attained kensho during a ninety-day training session. Midway through the term Gongai Sochu (1315-1390) came to enlightenment, and Gongai later became Tetto’s principal successor."

"Nampo Jomyo was another who traveled to China to deepen his understanding of Zen. He was the nephew of Enni Ben’nen and became a monk at the age of 15. Three years later, at 18, he sought out the Chinese master Rankei Doryu [Lanxi Daolong] who had come to Japan to establish Kenchoji as a Rinzai temple in Kamakura. After a time with Rankei, Jomyo went to China to continue studying with Kido Chigu [Xutang Zhiyu], Rankei’s Dharma brother."

"To hell with the wind! Confound the rain! I recognize no Buddha. A blow like the stroke of lightning - A world turns on its hinge."

"Although [Tetsugen] was already married, he was dissatisfied that in the [True Pure Land] sect, people without talent or merit held high rank in the temple hierarchy. Therefore, he went up to Mount Ōbaku and followed [the instruction] of Muan."

"My hour draws near and I am still alive. Drawn by the chains of death I take my leave. The King of Hades has decreed Tomorrow I shall be his slave."

"Tetto Giko (1295-1369) [was a] Japanese Rinzai monk of the late Kamakura (1185-1333) and early Ashikaga (1392-1568) periods. Tetto was born in Izumo and became a Buddhist monk at age six. He began his practice of Zen at Kennin-ji, where he took the precepts at age nineteen."

"Zen Master Seigan Soi (1588-1661) was born in Omi province. He was also known as Jisho, Koro, and Bodo, and was the Dharma-heir of (1556-1621, 159th abbot of Daitokuji)."

"Those who practice without keeping the precepts set out by the Buddha all represent the False Dharma. The reason for this [is as follows:] Although practices such as chanting the nembutsu, seated meditation, and reciting the sutras are each practiced differently depending on the abilities of the believer, the precepts against taking life, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and the like are absolute, regardless of the sect. Not to keep them is unacceptable. Therefore these precepts are called “absolutes.”"

"Tsugen Jakurei (1322-1391), whose teaching was most widely inherited in the Soto sect, is famous for his 'pit of burying-alive'. When an itinerant priest came to him in order to receive training, it was said, he tested the newcomer and if he perceived in the latter any impurity of motivation, he then simply threw him down into the pit."

"[E]ven while the Daitokuji was in ashes, the basis for its recovery and expansion was being laid by the monks Yoso Soi (1376- 1458) and Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481). Both Yoso and Ikkyu began their Zen training in gozan monasteries. But like growing numbers of monks in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, they quickly became dissatisfied with what they perceived as the formalism, and aestheticism of the official monasteries and so turned to masters of the Daio school like Kaso Sodon (1352-1428) for training in a more rugged Zen."

"Shunpo Soki was a Zen priest of the Rinzai sect. A disciple of the Daitokuji priest Yoso Soi (1376-1458), Shunpo became the fortieth abbot of Daitokuji and was famous for his efforts in reconstructing the temple in the aftermath of the devastation of the (1467-77)."

"I raise the mirror of my life Up to my face: sixty years. With a swing I smash the reflection - The world as usual All in its place."

"At times I supported the sky, at times the earth; At times I turned into a dragon, at times to a snake. I wandered at will through the cycles of life and of death. All the fathers of our faith I took into my mouth. I give as I will and I take as I will. I slash the leopard with my teeth; My spirit smashes mountains."

"’s (b. 1935) Triangle, Circle, Square quotes from Sengai’s famous 18th-century Buddhist painting. His early work of the 1960s, including music, performance, and writing as well as sculptural and conceptual works, was impacted by his exposure to Zen-informed thinking. De Maria developed an interest in task-oriented, game-like projects that resulted in viewer-interactive sculptures."

"In a key discussion of the black of the pupil of the eye, in which he cites Plato's Alcibiades, Al-Ghazzali, Meister Eckhart and the Zen priest Taigen Sofu, Viola argues for the pupil as the first and ideal mirror, one in which not only a reflection of the self may be found, but also the act of ‘seeing seeing’, and in the blackness of the pupil, the void upon which perception, in mystical systems of belief, is founded."

"My sword leans against the sky. With its polished blade I'll behead The Buddha and all of his saints. Let the lightning strike where it will."

"Lah-chi Tao-lung (Rankei Dōryū) had many dharma heirs: among them were Nampo Jōmyō and Yaku'ō Tokuken 约翁德俭 (1245–1320), both of whom went to Sung-China. Yaku'ō's disciple, Jakushitsu Genkō 寂室元光 (1290–1367), also went to China and became later the founder of ."

"Young bride Be alive till they say to you Die! Die!"

"Suzuki often cited the work of Japanese Zen monk Sengai Gibon (1750–1837), whose painting Circle, Triangle, and Square he saw as the embodiment of the universe. Suzuki interpreted Sengai’s three fundamental forms as geometries of formlessness and infinity, which underscored his own view of emptiness as the essence of Zen enlightenment. This scroll has fascinated people ever since. Rather than a single level of black or gray, the ink tones keep changing. The forms overlap just a bit, suggesting interconnections between these fundamental shapes."

"If you say, 'Come back later', He will speedily come to snatch you away. Say rather, 'I shall not be in till I'm ninety-nine'"."

"My six and seventy years are through. I was not born, I am not dead. Clouds floating on the high wide skies The moon curves through its million-mile course."

"Sengai Gibon (1750-1837) was an artistic Zen monk of importance, who took "a transcendental view of things that are relative and limited. One eye was turned deeply inward, while the other looked out with concern to catch the fleeting shadows of our earthly life.""

"No single bone in my body is holy - It is but an ash heap of stinking bones. Dig a deep hole and there bury these remains Thus, not a grain of dust will stain The green mountains."

"Life is an ever-rolling wheel And every day is the right one. He who recites poems at his death Adds frost to snow."

"Katsu! / On the death bed - Katsu! Let he who has eyes see! Katsu! Katsu! Katsu! And once again, Katsu! Katsu!"

"Full of great changes My three and fifty years have been. I commented on the holy writ - a heavy sin That echoes to the skies. Now I will sail on the lake of lotus blooms And break into the skies within the water."

"On a winter morning in 1360, Zen master Kozan Ichikyo (sic) gathered together his pupils. Kozan, 77, told them that, upon his death, they should bury his body, perform no ceremony and hold no services in his memory. Sitting in the traditional Zen posture, he then wrote [his dead poem]... After he finished, Kozan gently put down his brush, and then died. He was still sitting upright."

"When I was in my twenty-seventh year [1252], I converted Hōonji into a temple where the regulations were observed (ritsuin). At twenty-eight, I became a monk without any temple affiliations (tonsei);21 and when, after studying the regulations for priestly behavior for six or seven years I then decided to pursue the practice of meditation, in my thirty-fifth year [1260] while staying at Jufukuji, I listened to Higan Choro lecture on the Explanation of Mahayana and on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment. (I had heard him speak before on the Explanation [at Chorakuji]" in Serada in my twenty-seventh year.) I practiced zazen but within a year gave it up; being sick with beriberi, I could not achieve zen awareness."

"TAIGEN Sofu (or Sufu) Sessai was a priest and a minister of IMAGAWA Yoshimoto. He was born as a son of IHARA Masamori, senior vassal of the Imagawas and is thought to be related to YAMAMOTO Kansuke, strategist of TAKEDA Harunobu (Shingen). He is one of the ministers in clerical robe in Japanese history."

"The truth is never taken From another. One carries it always By oneself. Katsu!"

"I look now at the very moment Even the Buddha is dumbfounded. All turns with a swing. I land on the plain of nothingness."

"Jakurei of Yotaku. The zen master's initiatory name was Jakurei; he was styled Tsugen. He was from Kyoto. He was orphaned as a child and was raised by his grandmother. He saw that he was physically unfit for worldly occupations, and climbed Mount Hiei to have his head shaved."

"In 1837, when Sengai Gibon was asked by one of his students if he had anything to say before passing away, he replied, “I don't want to die.""

"All four pillars of enlightenment Crumble at once - See! See! Moonlight wreathing coral branches - What does it mean? Now all grows as dark As the palace of hell in The grasp of Satan / Katsu!"

"Words of Tetto Osho (ja: 『徹翁和尚語録』), 2Vols., 応永32 年(1435)"

"This year, the twenty-ninth of the twelfth No longer has a place to come to. The twenty-ninth of the twelfth next year Already has no place to go."

"My final words are these: As I fall I throw all on a high mountain peak - Lo! All creation shatters; thus it is That I destroy Zen doctrine."

"Sōen played a major role in the tea world as an active tea participant and as a powerful abbot of several Zen temples around the Kansai, though he is primarily associated with Daitokuji. Like the Daitokuji priest Kogaku Sōkō (1465–1548) before him, Soen was particularly active as a bridge between Kyoto, and its large community of tea practitioners, and Sakai, the merchant city south of present-day Osaka that gave birth to the new breed of sixteenth-century tea masters."

"[E]ven while the Daitokuji was in ashes, the basis for its recovery and expansion was being laid by the monks Yoso Soi (1376- 1458) and Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481). Both Yoso and Ikkyu began their Zen training in gozan monasteries. But like growing numbers of monks in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, they quickly became dissatisfied with what they perceived as the formalism, and aestheticism of the official monasteries and so turned to masters of the Daio school like Kaso Sodon (1352-1428) for training in a more rugged Zen."

"A drop of water freezes instantly - My seven years and seventy. All changes at a blow Springs of water welling from the fire."

"Kogaku Soko was granted the title Busshin Seito Zenji in 1522 (Daiei 2) by Emperor , and was also granted the title Shobo Daisho Kokushi in 1536 (Tenmon 5) by ."

"To depart while seated or standing is all one. All I shall leave behind me Is a heap of bones. In empty space I twist and soar And come down with the roar of thunder To the sea."

"After Shorei Sokin's death, Rikyu became a devoted follower of Shorei's successor, Kokei Sochin. Kokei was a member of the Asakura family and, although ten years Rikyu's junior, was greatly admired by Rikyu for his abilities. It is said that when Kokei became head abbot of Daitokuji in 1573, Rikyu bestowed upon him the unprecedented sum of one hundred kanmon as a congratulatory gift. An event that well illustrates the trust between Kokei and Rikyu is the tea gathering held by Rikyu on 1 588."

"For over sixty years I often cried Katsu! to not avail. And now, while dying, Once more to cry Katsu! Won't change a thing."

"Koho Kenichi (1241-1316) was one of the most renowned Zen prelates of his era, his era, not least because of his Japanese origin. As son of , he began his religious career in the esoteric Buddhist school. In 1256 he was admitted into the Tofukuji by Enni Ben'en. Four years later he met Gottan Funei, who had just moved there from China. As instructed by his teacher Enni Ben'en, Koho followed Gottan Funei to Kamakura. On Ichio Ingo's recommendation he came under the care of Koho Kennichi. He was calm and self-willed and preferred to live in seclusion. For this reason he spent many years in a remote area until his appointment as leading priest of the Jomyoji in 1300 and later of the Manjuji in Kamakura. In 1314 Mugaku Sogen entrusted him with the leadership of the great Kenchoji."