Jōjin

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Jōjin ( Japanese 成 尋 ; * 1011 ; † 1081 ) was a Buddhist monastic scholar of the Japanese Heian period . 1072-1073 he made a pilgrimage to Buddhist sites in China. He left a detailed account of this trip.

Family and career

Jōjin was a descendant of Daigo -Tennō on his mother's side. His great-grandfather was his son Minamoto no Takaakira (914-82). His mother (988-1073?), Whose name is not known, was the daughter of Minamoto no Toshikatas (959-1027). His father was probably Fujiwara no Sadanobu , in all likelihood he was a son of the poet Fujiwara no Sanekata (? -999).

His father died when he was seven years old. Together with his brother he was entrusted to the care of a monastery. He became a student of the Tendai-shu monk Monkei (967-1024). He was thus in the spiritual tradition of the China pilgrim Enchin (814-91; in China 853-8; 円 珍). Around the year 1042 he became abbot of Daiun-ji ( 大 雲 寺 ), who is about 10 km outside the capital, in Iwakura . Ten years later he became an imperial exorcist ( gojisō ) at court. Two years later he received the honorary title ācārya (skr: ajari;依止 師) of Enryaku-ji . He spent the year 1068 traveling between the imperial court and Uji , the residence of the regent Fujiwara no Yorimichi , whom he and Emperor Go-Reizei tried to pray well. In 1070/1/11 he formally asked permission to go on a pilgrimage to China. He left without waiting for approval.

China

Jōjin left a travelogue San Tendai Godai san ki (about "report of a pilgrimage to Tiantai and Wutai " 参天 台 五台山 記), which differs from the usual literature of the Heian period by its objective style.

The diary begins with his embarkation in Hakata in 1072/3/15 ; the crossing to Hangzhou took a week. In his luggage there were over 600 fascicles of Buddhist texts, which he made available to the monks there during his 5-month stay on the Tiantai . In return he was given the opportunity to study unknown works in Japan, including the works of Ch'an poet Han Shan , which he sent to Japan. He was familiar with Zen teachings about 100 years before their "official" introduction in Japan by Eisai ( 明 庵 栄 西 ).

After two months, the government asked him to come to the Song Court in Kaifeng as a state guest . The trip took 65 days. He was accommodated in the Institute for Sutra Translation (ch .: chuanfuayuan ). On the 22nd day of the 10th month 1072, he attended an audience in the Imperial Palace, after which a purple robe was sent to him.

In 1072/11/1 he set out with an escort of 20 soldiers for Wutai-Shan , which he reached 27 days later. There he handed over offerings he had brought with him and prayed for the deceased Go-Reizei -Tennō and members of the Fujiwara . Three days later he began his return journey to Kaifeng, where he arrived in 1072/12/27.

In total, he sent about 600 books in advance by five of his students. After another audience (1073/1/27) he received gifts for the Tennō. For the Chinese side, these were also intended to serve the purpose of refreshing the diplomatic relations that had been interrupted since 894. In 1073/4/14 he left for Mingzhou , after praying for rain so effectively that he then had to pray for it to end. His students embarked in the port of Mingzhou to bring the gifts and books they received to Japan. His diary ends on the 12th day of the 6th month. He himself planned to go to a monastery on the Tientai. Nothing is known about his further life, except that the following year he sent a letter from Kaifeng to a student in Japan.

Jōjin is said to have died in 1081.

literature

Original text of the San Tendai Godai san ki

  • Facsimile of the oldest surviving manuscript from 1220 in: Tōyō Bunko Sōkan, No. 7 (1937)
  • in: Vol. 3 of the Dai Nihon bukkyō zensho; Tokyo 1912-22 (Bussho Kanōkai), 151 vol .; Reprint 1970-3 (Kodansha), 100 vols.

Remarks

  1. ↑ Many alternative spellings possible
  2. ↑ Chōya gunsei 461-2
  3. ↑ the Chinese lunar calendar
  4. ^ Signs of patriarchal dignity

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jōjin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 成 尋 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese Tendai monk and China pilgrim
DATE OF BIRTH 1011
DATE OF DEATH 1081