Ikkyū Sōjun 1394-1481; Japanese Zen master of the Rinzai school. He is known in the history of Zen quite as much for his profound wit as for his profound realization of Zen. Because of his unconventional lifestyle, he is often referred to as a kind of Puck of Zen, and is defi n itely the most popular figure of Zen in Japan. In the manner of a holy madman, he mocked the deteriorating Zen of the great monasteries of his time. Many authentic and legendary tales are in circulation concerning his life and his indifference to social convention. He was an outstanding painter, calligrapher (shōdō), and poet. In his poems recorded in the Kyōun-shū, he praised the great masters of ancient times, lamented the decline of Zen, and sang the praises of wine and physical love. Two typical poems of Ikkyū, who often called himself “the blind ass,” are as follows:
Who among Rinzai’s students
Gives a hoot
About the authentic transmission?
In their school
There’s no shelter
For the blind ass
Who, on the road
With staff and straw sandals,
Finds truth.
There they practice Zen on sure ground,
Comfortably leaning back,
For their own profit.
Ten days
In the monastery
Made me restless.
The red thread
On my feet
Is long and unbroken.
If one day you come
Looking for me,
Ask for me
At the fishmonger’s,
In the tavern,
Or in the brothel.
In 1420, while meditating by night in a boat on a lake, at the sudden caw of a crow Ikkyū experienced enlightenment. Confirmed by his master as his dharma successor (inka-shōmei), like his master Ikkyū kept monastic life at a distance. Initially he lived as a hermiton Mount Jōu and later in his “hut of the blind ass” (Jap., katsuro-an) in Kyōto. In 1474 he was appointed by the imperial house as abbot of Daitoku-ji. He could not avoid this appointment; however, he lived not in Daitoku-ji but in Shūon-an, a small temple in his home village of Maki, where, until his death, in his unconventional style, he instructed those who sought him out in the truth of Zen. Ikkyū, who in bitterness over the state of the Zen of his day once tore up his own certificate of confirmation as a Zen master, himself confirmed no dharma successor.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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