Tetsugen Dōkō

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Tetsugen Dōkō ( Japanese 鉄 眼 道光 ; * February 12, 1630 in Mashiki County, Higo Province ; † April 27, 1682 ) was a monk of the Ikkō-shū who converted to Ōbaku-shū . He is probably the most famous member of this school. His main work was the publication of the complete Buddhist canon , which was completed in 1681 .

Life path

Tetsugen Dōkō's father named Saeki was the priest ( shasō ) of the local Hachiman shrine. When he was 13, Tetsugen was accepted into the Jōdo Shinshū (= Ikkō) in the nearby temple . Soon afterwards he became a student of Saigen (1605-63), whom he followed to Kyoto in 1647 , where he then studied for several years in the sect's seminary. When the seminary was temporarily closed and his teacher was expelled from the Shinshū because of dogmatic disputes, he too broke with this direction in 1655.

Tetsugen left Kyoto and went to Yin-Yüan , who was teaching in Nagasaki , at that time still in Kofuku-ji . When Yin-yüan left for Kyoto, he left Tetsugen's further education to Mu-an , who initially refused to accept him as a student. Later he was accepted. He then also studied under Chi-fe and was thus a disciple of all three Chinese founders of the Ōbaku in Japan. He received Inca ( 印 可 ) as confirmation of his enlightenment in 1671.

Tetsugen was also extremely active in social terms. When he heard about the worsening famine in western Japan in 1681 in Edo, where he was staying to get permission to print his Canon Project, he returned to his home region to collect donations. Aid measures organized by the Zuiryū-ji , in particular he distributed food donations to thousands of needy people every day over several weeks. While in contact with these many people, Tetsugen became infected and died of a fever at the age of 53.

In his discourses, Tetsugen was an advocate of strict monastic discipline, according to the rules of Vinaya . He repeatedly attacked the Shinshu practice of marrying monks. In contrast to the other Japanese founding fathers of the school, such as Egoku Dōmyō , Ryōkei Shōsen and Chōon Dōkai , he did not appoint any Dharma successors.

Canon Edition

The edition of the entire Sino-Japanese Buddhist canon compiled by Tetsugen consists of 6956 fascicles that were produced using the wood printing process. The print is characterized by the clarity and size of the characters. The basis was the Chinese Wan Li edition of the Ming Dynasty , which was supplemented by Ōbaku-specific texts. The compilation is alternatively known as Ōbakuban Daizōku or Ōbaku Tetsugen Issaikyō . He collected the financial means for the production while traveling from 1669 at sermons in local temples.

Literature and Sources

  • Tetsugen Dōkō: Tetsugen Zenji yuiroku . 1691 (2 fascias; xylography)
  • Jōetsu Kyōiku Daigaku shozō Ōbaku Tetsugenban Issaikyō mokuroku . Jōetsu-shi, 1988
  • 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
  • Helen Baroni: Iron Eyes. The Life and Teachings of Baku Zen Master Tetsugen Doko . State University of New York, Albany 2006, ISBN 978-0-7914-6891-3
  • Martin Ramming (ed.): Japan manual . Berlin 1941, p. 595
  • Dieter Schwaller: The Japanese Ôbaku monk Tetsugen Dôkô: life, thought, writings . Bern u. a. 1989, (Zugl .: Zurich, Univ., Diss., 1987/88), ISBN 3-261-03960-4
  • Masumi Shibata, Gaston Renondeau: Le sermon de Tetsugen sur le zen [Tetsu-gen-zen-ji-na-hō-go]. Tokyo 1960

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Today's Ryūkoku University
  2. ↑ cf. Helen Baroni: Buddhism in Early Tokugawa Japan . Columbia University, Dissertation, 1993, pp. 209-52
personal data
SURNAME Tetsugen, Dōkō
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 鉄 眼 道光 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese monk of the Ikkō sect
DATE OF BIRTH February 12, 1630
PLACE OF BIRTH Mashiki County, Higo Province , Japan
DATE OF DEATH April 27, 1682