2008/06/03

Hakuin Zenji

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Hakuin Zenji 白隠禅師
Hakuin Ekaku (1686-1768)

CLICK for more of his works

The Zen teachings of Daruma Daishi entered Japan during the Kamakura period, where he is revered as the First Patriarch of the Zen Sect.
During the middle of the Edo period the famous Zen priest and painter Hakuin (1685 - 1768) painted many simple impressive pictures to teach the townspeople of Edo who could not read.

MORE about
. Who is Daruma ? What is Daruma? .

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Two Blind Men Crossing a Log Bridge


Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴 Hakuin Ekaku)
1686-1769 or 1685-1768)

was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He revived the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, refocusing it on its traditionally rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice. Hakuin's influence was such that all Rinzai Zen masters today trace their lineage through him, and all modern practitioners of Rinzai Zen use practices directly derived from his teachings.

Hakuin was born in 1686 in the small village of Hara, at the foot of Mount Fuji. His mother was a devout Nichiren Buddhist, and it is likely that her piety was a major influence on his decision to become a Buddhist monk. As a child, Hakuin attended a lecture by a Nichiren monk on the topic of the Eight Hot Hells. This deeply impressed the young Hakuin, and he developed a pressing fear of hell, seeking a way to escape it. He eventually came to the conclusion that it would be necessary to become a monk. 。。。

The most important and influential teaching of Hakuin was his emphasis on, and systemization of, koan practice. Hakuin deeply believed that the most effective way for a student to achieve insight was through extensive meditation on a koan. The psychological pressure and doubt that comes when one struggles with a koan is meant to create tension that leads to awakening. Hakuin called this the "great doubt", writing, "At the bottom of great doubt lies great awakening. If you doubt fully, you will awaken fully". Only with incessant investigation of their koan will a student be able to become one with the koan, and attain enlightenment.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !


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Those who practice only in silence/tranquility,
cannot establish their freedom when entering into activity.

When they engage into worldly activities,
their usual satori (enlightenment)
will eventually disappear without any trace.



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一つ目達磨 hitotsume Daruma

Daruma with one eye
(It almost looks as if a man was sitting there with a big round hat, looking in the background.)

Hakuin teaches us that we can hear the sound of one hand or view the world with one eye ...

This special painting was featured in an NHK program about precious paintings.

. 一つ目小僧 Hitotsume Kozo / me hitotsu kozoo 目一つ小僧 .
- Young Monk with One Eye


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© www.tv-tokyo.co.jp


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Exhibition at Bunkamura, Tokyo - 白隠展 文化村
December 2012 - Feburary 2013







The sight of one hand clapping

source : www.japantimes.co.jp



. Koan, Haiku and more .

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source : Akiba Sajakubo

Akiba Sajakubo - 秋葉三尺坊大権現 - Akiba Gongen

. Akiba Gongen 秋葉権現 .





bonji 梵字 Sanskrit Character (for Fudo Myo-O)


. Fudō Myō-ō, Fudoo Myoo-Oo 不動明王 Fudo Myo-O
Acala Vidyârâja – Vidyaraja – Fudo Myoo .



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An old peasant
Plucks a flower -
Spring in myriad lands.


野老拈花万国春
yaroo hana o nenzu bankoku no haru

the Record of Rinzai:
"The green of the winter pines endures a thousand years.
An old peasant plucks a flower-spring in myriad lands."


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The monkey is reaching
For the moon in the water.
Until death overtakes him
He'll never give up.

If he'd let go the branch and
Disappear in the deep pool,
The whole world would shine
With dazzling pureness.


. Monkey and Daruma .


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papermachee doll of a Hakuin Daruma

Made from washi Japanese paper made in Tosa.
- source : kamakura-info.jp



- source : mukoke.blogspot.jp


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1 comment:

News said...

Hakuin: T
the sight of one hand clapping

By C.B. LIDDELL

Most people know the famous riddle,
"What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
Many are also aware that it is connected with Zen Buddhism, and some will even know that it is a famous koan by the 18th-century monk Hakuin.
- snip -
On the one hand there was his meditation and thought, expressed in his koans and other writings, while on the other there was his art, now the subject of "Hakuin: The Hidden Messages of Zen Art" at Bunkamura, The Museum, in Tokyo.
- snip -
His subjects include Buddha; Kannon the Goddess of Mercy; various Buddhist saints, especially Bodhidharma, the reputed founder of Zen Buddhism; figures from Japanese folk beliefs such as Ofuku-san, the bringer of happiness, and the Seven Gods of Good Fortune; as well as anthropomorphic images of animals.

This variety contrasts with Enku, another Buddhist monk and artist, who is the subject of another exhibition across town at the Tokyo National Museum. Limiting himself mainly to sitting statues of Buddha, Enku is much more repetitive in his art. This reflects one of the strands of Buddhist practice, namely ritualistic repetition, something that is also expressed in the prolonged spinning of prayer wheels and the chanting of mantras.
- snip -
An early experience of asceticism led to a long period of illness. This is reflected in a couple of works on the theme of "Shakyamuni Leaving the Mountain," in which Buddha is shown after a period of severe ascetic practices with protruding ribs and an emaciated look, testifying to the rigors of the spiritual quest.

This contrasts with the almost insouciant serenity of Hakuin's "Lotus Kannon." The Goddess of Mercy is in relaxed mode, contemplating a pond bedecked with lotus flowers. In a world that has always had so much suffering, we cannot help feeling that she is being perhaps a little remiss in her duties.
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MORE
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fa20130117a1.html