Imakita Kosen

Imakita Kosen ( Jap. 今北洪川 , Imakita Kosen , * 3. August 1816 in Fukushima, Nishinarigun, histor. Settsu province ; † 16th January 1892 ) was a Japanese monk and master of the Rinzai -School of Zen - Buddhism and trailers of Neoconfucianism . He was the abbot of the Engaku-ji temple in Kamakura .

He is known for his good relations with the political circles of the Meiji government and played an active role as a teacher in the Great Teaching Campaign of the Ministry of Education and Doctrine ( Kyōbushō ) in the 1870s. Imakita Kōsen studied under Daisetsu Jōen and Gisan Zenrai and got his inka from the latter , which is similar to the Dharma transmission . His successor was Shaku Sōen .

Life

Imakita Kōsen was born in Settsu Province (now Osaka Prefecture and Hyōgo Prefecture ) as the third son of Imakita Zenzō ( 今 北 善 蔵 ) as Imakita Shinsaburō ( 今 北 新 三郎 ). Since the study of Confucian texts was not enough for him, he decided to become a monk against parental resistance and began in 1840 to study under Daisetsu Jōen in Shōkoku-ji in Kyōto . He also went to Bizen to Sōgen-ji to learn from Gisan Zenrai ( 儀 山 善 来 ). In 1858 Imakita became abbot at Eikō-ji in Iwakuni and helped rebuild it. At this time Imakita taught the unity of Confucian and Buddhist doctrine to fight against the anti-Buddhist tendencies Haibutsu kishaku of the time. At the same time, the abbot began to sharply criticize Christianity .

In 1875 he was invited to Tokyo, where he took over the management of a teaching institution at the Rinzai School. In the same year he became abbot of Engaku-ji in Kamakura at the request of the Ministry of Doctrine and Education . As abbot in Engakuji, he concentrated his energies on maintaining the Rinzai Zen school. One aspect was the support of a group of laypeople, who u. a. Yamaoka Tasshū and Kawajiri Hōkin belonged. Under him, u. a. Shaku Sōen , who succeeded him, and Daisetsu Teitarō Suzuki , who was to play an important role in the spread of Zen teaching in the 20th century.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} 今 北 洪川 . In: kotobank.jp . Retrieved January 6, 2012.

literature

• Heinrich Dumoulin : Zen Buddhism: A History . World Wisdom , Inc., 2005, ISBN 0941532909 .
• Janine Anderson Sawada: Confucian Values ​​and Popular Zen: Sekimon Shingaku in Eighteenth-Century Japan . University of Hawaii Press, 1993, ISBN 0824814142 .
• Janine Tasca (Anderson) Sawada: Practical Pursuits: Religion, Politics, and Personal Cultivation in Nineteenth-Century Japan . University of Hawaii Press, 2004, ISBN 082482752X .
• Daizen Victoria: Zen War Stories . Routledge, 2002, ISBN 0700715800 .

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Imakita is the family name, Kōsen the first name.