Muso Soseki

Musō Soseki, also called Musō Kokushi (1275-1351)

Musō Soseki ( Japanese 夢 窓 疎 石 ; * 1275 in Ise ; † September 30, 1351 ), also called Musō Kokushi ( 夢 窓 国 師 ), was a Japanese Zen master , policy advisor , garden designer , writer of Zen poems and Zen sayings as well Calligrapher . He is considered the founder of the Japanese tea ceremony .

life and work

Musō Soseki (his monk name, his birth name is unknown) was one of the most influential Zen masters and one of the most important Japanese gardeners of the early days. His life and work marked the transition phase between the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period (= Ashikaga period).

education

He was born in Ise in 1275, but his father moved with him to Kōshū as early as 1278 (spelling also: Kai; in today's Yamanashi Prefecture ), at that time a place of pilgrimage for the nobles. Already at the age of 6 years (according to other sources 8 years) he began to deal with Buddhism, initially the Shingon direction. B. with the writings of its founder Kūkai (774-835). At the age of 19 (according to other sources in 1297) he converted to the Tendai direction (he later integrated elements of both directions into his school). In 1294 he entered the Kennin-ji monastery (Japanese: ji = temple) in Kyōto after passing an entrance examination , where he worked with Muin Zenshi (according to other sources: Yishan Yining [also spelled: I-shan I-ning, Issan Ichinei]) (1247–1317), a famous Zen priest and teacher who emigrated from China at the time, whose model was the Chan master Huai Su (Tang period, 737 to after 798) and masters of the Sung period), later also with Koho Kennichi (1241-1316) received his training in the Rinzai direction (= Zen Buddhism). Both Kūkai and Ichinei's influence can be felt in Soseki's calligraphic work, which distinguishes it from the calligraphy of other contemporary Zen masters. The Rinzai School was closely associated with the imperial family and the military government.

Ascent

In the Kamakura period , Soseki began to rise politically to become a kind of state priest. He was called to Kamakura as an advisor to various Shogun , which at that time was the seat of Bakufu , the Shogun's military government. At times he also advised three Japanese Tennō (emperors).

First he was appointed by the Tennō Go-Daigo (ruled 1318-39) as head of the Nanzen-ji monastery in southeastern Kyoto. Like Kennin-ji, this was also a large monastery supported by the government.

In this function he was also the chief adviser to the Shogun Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358). This was the first Shogun who no longer had his seat in Kamakura, but in Muromachi, a district of Kyoto . Takauji had occupied Kyōto in 1333, forced the Tennō Go-Daigo to flee into exile (where he set up the so-called southern courtyard as a counter-government) and was declared the shogun of the so-called northern court by a part of the imperial family who remained in Kyoto, who worked with him . This began the time of the north and south courtyards ( Nanboku-chō ).

Political, religious and cultural importance

Takauji was the head of the Zen movement and because of this, as well as the influence of Musô Soseki, Zen teaching became the dominant branch of Buddhism during the Ashikaga shogunate.

Takauji and Soseki had a “temple of peace” (Ankoku-ji) or “divine tower” (Rishou-tou) built in each of the 66 provinces to mediate between the north and south courtyards. It was also Soseki who initiated the construction of the temples and gardens in Tenryū-ji and Saihō-ji . Dozens of other gardens at Zen monasteries are ascribed to him.

These major construction projects were financed from the proceeds of an official trade mission ("Tenryuji-bune") sent to China around 1341. Soseki was the initiator of the economic re-opening and resumption of trade relations between Japan and China , the country of origin of Zen.

Calligraphy by Musō Soseki: "No further meaning" , dated 1299 ( Kamakura period )

Zen, which Soseki established as the leading Buddhist movement, had a major impact on Japanese culture, especially literature (the spread of the “ Gozan -Bungaku” culture [“literature of the five mountains”]; this movement saw literature and calligraphy as a central element training to become a monk).

Soseki himself published numerous poems and writings on Rinzai-shu Buddhism. Meditation in the garden was, according to Kokushi, the best way to experience the Buddha.

The best known is his writing "Muchū mondō" ( "Dialogues in dreams. About Buddhism and Zen" ). It contains his basic thoughts on meditation, koan , and enlightenment, as well as comments on the tea ceremony, the arts, and gardens. The textbook is structured in the form of a conversation, in which Kokushi answers 93 questions from Ashikaga Tadayoshi (1306-1352), the brother of Shogun Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358).

Soseki taught numerous Zen students (he is said to have taught over 13,000 students, including 52 Zen masters appointed by him) and received from three emperors - Go-Daigo (1318-1339), Kogen (1313-1364) and Komyo (1321-1380) - the honorary title "Kokushi" ("national teacher"). The monastery rule he established for the Rinzen-ji monastery is one of the earliest in Japan. Some western critics doubt the seriousness of his Zen teachings, since a real move to Zen requires breaking away from writing. The direct transfer of enlightenment from master to student, which is required in Zen teaching, is also impossible with so many students.

Gardens attributed to Musō Soseki

• Saihō-ji (also: Kokedera ), around 1339, the oldest known Kare-san-sui garden. The temple, which dates back to the 8th century, was taken over by Soseki in 1334 and converted into a Zen monastery, and the existing garden was restored by him around 1339. The elements and structures introduced by Soseki have not been preserved; they were destroyed by wars in the 15th century.
• Tenryū-ji , around 1343. UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994 . The attribution is controversial, according to other opinions due to Chinese stylistic features rather created by the Chinese priest Lanqi Daolong .
• Zuisen-ji
• Eiho-ji (attribution)
• Erin-ji

Fonts

• Muso Soseki (author), Taro Yamada and others Guido Keller (transl.): Conversations in Dreams , (Große Zenmeister, Vol. 1), Frankfurt am Main: Angkor Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-936018-20-0
• Musô Kokushi, Thomas Cleary (transl. And ed.): Dream Conversations. On Buddhism and Zen , Random House, 1996, ISBN 1-57062-206-X

Secondary literature

• Oskar Benl : Muso Kokushi - A Japanese Zen Master , in: Oriens Extremus, Vol. 2, pp. 86-108, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1955
• Martin Collcutt (author), Jeffrey P. Mass (ed.): Musō Soseki , in: The Origins of Japan's Medieval World: Courtiers, Clerics, Warriors, and Peasants in the Fourteen Century , Stanford (Calif.): Stanford University Press , 1997, pp. 261-94.
• Karl Hennig: The Karesansui garden as an expression of the culture of the Muromachi period , Hamburg: Society for nature u. Ethnology, 1982 (Communications Society for Nature and Ethnology of East Asia eV, Hamburg; 92). At the same time: Hamburg, Univ., Diss., 1982
• Norris Brock Johnson: Zen Buddhist Landscapes and the Idea of ​​Temple: Muso Kokushi and Zuisen-ji, Kamakura, Japan . Arch. & Comport./Arch. Behavior, 1993, Vol. 9, No. 2, pp 213-226. See also: PDF
• Shunmyo Masuno: Muso Soseki: Nihon teien wo kiwameta zenso (Muso Soseki: The Zen Priest who Mastered the Japanese Garden), Tokyo: NHK Books, 2005
• Joseph D. Parker: Zen Buddhist landscape arts of early Muromachi Japan (1336-1573) , (SUNY series in Buddhist studies), Albany: State University of New York Press, 1999, ISBN 0-7914-3909-7 ( hardback ) , ISBN 0-7914-3910-0 (Paperback)
• Ildegarda Scheidegger: Bokutotsusô: studies on the calligraphy of the Zen master Musô Soseki (1275 - 1351) , (Worlds of East Asia; 6), Bern a. a. : Lang, 2005, ISBN 3-03910-692-9
• WS Merwin and Soiku Shigematsu: Sun at Midnight: Poems and Sermons by Musō Kokushi , San Francisco: North

Point Press, 1989.

• Takeji Tamamura: Musō Kokushi , Kyōto: Heirakuji Shoten, 1958.

Web links

Commons : Musō Soseki  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Musō Soseki in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography (English) , with explanations of the gardens of Musō Soseki
• Zen Buddhist Landscapes and the Idea of ​​Temple: Muso Kokushi and Zuisen-Ji, Kamakura, Japan (PDF file; 690 kB)
• Portraits and calligraphies by Musō Soseki
• Jiki Ninki, a Japanese folk tale about Musō Soseki (English)

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