Mu-an (monk)
Mu-an Hsing'tao ( Chinese 木 菴 性 瑫 , Pinyin: Mùān Xìngtāo, Japanese Mokuan Shōtō ; * 1611 in Chinchiang ; † 1684 ), was one of the three Chinese founding fathers of the Ōbaku-shū , Zen Buddhism , which after Japan came.
Under his leadership, the organization of the school grew rapidly, and despite the hostility of the Rinzai establishment , it managed to win numerous followers.
Life path
Like his teacher Yin-Yüan , whom he followed to Nagasaki in 1655, Mu-an Hsing'tao belonged to the Lin-chi tsung ( Chinese 臨濟 宗 , Pinyin Línjì zōng ) of Chinese Chan Buddhism, which is different from its Japanese Zen offshoots did not sectarian isolation from new influences, but also syncretistically incorporated elements of the Pure Land during the Yuan and Ming dynasties . However, this style, despised by Japanese dogmatists of the Rinzai school as Nembutsu Zen, exerted a great attraction.
Like all foreigners, he was initially denied travel in the country during the closure of Japan. In Fukusai-ji , he took care of the interests of the Chinese community in Nagasaki. When Yin-Yuan left Nagasaki, Mu-an took over almost all of his disciples. After receiving permission to travel from Bakufu in 1660 , he followed his teacher, who, like 14 others, had already given him inka ( 印 可 ) to confirm his enlightenment in China , to Fumon-ji .
Mu-an was supervised in 1664 with the control of the construction of the Mampuku-ji , which is still the main temple of the sect today. Mu-an became the second abbot there until 1679. On several visits to Edo , he was able to secure the promotion of Bakufu . In 1667 he received 20,000 ryō gold and teak from the Shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna for construction. Due to his good connections to the sword nobility, he was also able to obtain exemptions regarding the restrictions against the establishment of new temples ( jiin hatto ), so that 24 temples consider him their founder. The most important of these is the main temple in Edo, the Zuishō-ji .
The eight-day ordination ritual of the Ōbaku ( sandan kaie ) took place for the first time in 1674 under his direction in Zuishō-ji . Whether there were actually 5,000 participants, as claimed in his biography, of whom 3,000 took Bodhisattva vows , must be doubted.
Mu-an appointed 46 Dharma followers, 43 of whom were born in Japan. He himself established two subsidiary lines ( ha ) within the school, Manju-ha and Shiun-ha , which were continued by his successors in eleven branches ( ge ). Hui-lin Hsing-chi (1609–81), who belonged to the group of monks who had accompanied Yin-Yüan, succeeded him as abbot .
The calligraphies of Mu-an, like those of his master, are highly valued. He is one of the three artists known as Ōbaku no Sampitsu . He should not be confused with the Zen painter of the Kamakura period , Mokuan Reien ( 黙 庵 霊 淵 ).
Literature and Sources
- Helen Baroni: Obaku Zen. The Emergence of the Third Sect of Zen in Tokugawa Japan . University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 2000, ISBN 0-8248-2195-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ cf. Kinsei Ōbakushū matsujichō shūsei
- ↑ Overview of works see: Eike Moog: Biobibliographisches Handbuch Japanese and Chinese, Buddhist and Shintôist priests, monks and nuns and artists associated with them with importance for writing and painting . Galerie Eike Moog, Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-921981-1000-1 , p. 304
See also
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mu-an |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Mu-an Hsing'tao; 木 菴 性 瑫 (Japanese); Mokuan Shōtō; Mùān Xìngtāo (Pinyin) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chinese monk, one of the three Chinese founding fathers of the Japanese Ōbaku-shū and calligrapher |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1611 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chinchiang , China |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1684 |