Bassui Tokusho

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Bassui Tokushō ( Japanese 抜 隊 得勝 , born March 10, 1327 in Nakamura, Sagami Province (today: Kanagawa Prefecture ); † November 20, 1387 in Enzan ) was a Japanese Buddhist , Rōshi , Zazen and Satori teacher of the Rinzai-shū .

Life

As a child, Bassui Tokushō was abandoned by his own mother because she dreamed of him that he would slay his parents as a libertine. Bassui was then raised by a servant. After the death of his father, he began to think about religious questions as a child from 1334. The child plagued "hell punishments" and " hunger ghosts ". In 1337 he observed a puzzling light flaring up, then going out.

As a youth he commented on the Sutras saying “the teachings of the sutras have a finger that points to the moon”, stating that one could see the finger but overlook the moon. Then he spoke out in favor of Zen .

As a Buddhist novice , he had his head shaved in 1356 after a long refusal. Bassui Tokushō did not stay in the temple, but in remote huts. To wean himself from sleep, he meditated on trees.

Mu revealed himself in his epigram :

Mountain and river,
grass and tree,
equally reveal Mu.

He received his proof of enlightenment after he ran out of the temple, bumped into walls several times after sweating and cried for hours. As a strict scholar, he established 33 rules and taught numerous students. He taught that the frog, worm, wind and rain spoke the language of Dharma more like praying monks. In zazen , good and bad dissolved for him.

Bassui Tokushō died in the lotus position among his students in 1387.

Works

  • Wadaigassui (collection of mud and water)
  • Liberate man. Conversations from a Zen Master , 2001

literature

  • Braverman, Arthur: (2002), Mud and Water: The Teachings of Zen Master Bassui, Wisdom Publications, p. 56, ISBN 0-86171-320-6 (English)
  • Hoffman, Yoel: (1998). Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the * * Verge of Death. Tuttle Publishing. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6 . (English)
  • Kapleau, Philip: (1989), The three pillars of Zen (English)
  • Ulrich Holbein : Narratorium. 255 images of life. Ammann Verlag , Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-250-10523-7 . Pp. 114-117

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 中 尾 良 信 : 抜 隊 得勝 . In: 朝日 日本 歴 史 人物 事 典 in kotobank.jp. Retrieved September 14, 2019 (Japanese).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Ulrich Holbein: Narratorium. 255 images of life. Ammann Verlag , Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-250-10523-7 . P. 114 f.
personal data
SURNAME Bassui
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 抜 隊 得勝
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Master of the Rinzai School of Zen Buddhism
DATE OF BIRTH March 10, 1327
PLACE OF BIRTH Nakamura, Sagami Province (now: Kanagawa Prefecture )
DATE OF DEATH November 20, 1387