Ryōkan

Ryokan (Japanese良 寛; born November 2, 1758 in Izumozaki, province of Echigo (now Niigata prefecture), † February 18, 1831 ) was a Zen Buddhist monk of the Japanese Soto shū. For most of his life he lived as a hermit. He became famous in the fields of poetry and calligraphy. His stage name was Taigu (大愚).

Life

Ryokan was born 1758 in Izumozaki in the province of Echigo on the west coast in Japan as Eizo Yamamoto (山 本 栄 蔵), the son of a respected merchant family. He entered 1777 in the Zen temple Kosho -ji (光照 寺), where he got the name Ryokan. After four years he followed the Zen master Kokusen (国 仙, 1723-1791 ) in whose temple Entsū -ji (円 通 寺), located in Tamashima ( today Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture belonging ). After a stay of 12 years on Entsū -ji Kokusen confirmed his enlightenment ( satori ) and died a year later. Ryokan then went for five years of wandering before he settled down as a hermit on the mountain Kugami, near his hometown Izumozaki; he lived in a hut that belonged to the Shingon temple Kokujō -ji (国 上 寺).

For his livelihood, he had to rely on the support of friends and begging. Especially in the snowy winter of his life was very hard, and the threat of starvation was always given. 1826 forced him health problems, abandon the life of a hermit and move into a house on the estate of a wealthy friend and promoter in Shimazaki. He then met his famous pupil Teishin (贞 心, 1798-1872 ). She was 40 years younger than him, but when they met, it was immediately a heart encounter. She remained until his death in 1831 with him.

Character

Some of his contemporaries saw him as a saint, many a great poets, some only a special union and a little crazy Zen monk. His pen name Taigu means " big fool ". He loved the simple life in the countryside, surrounded by plants and animals ( in Thoreau comparable), and did not even like a louse to do anything wrong. In his poems a special love for the moonlight as well as pine trees is expressed. Unusually for a monk was that he liked to participated in village festivals the farmers and thereby also drank sake. He is said to have sneaked disguised as a woman at these festivals. To play with children he loved so much that he often forgot about his begging round.

There are many very well-known in Japan anecdotes of Ryokan:

• One evening a thief ransacked ryokans hut, but had to realize that there was nothing to steal there. Ryokan returned home and caught him. "You're probably gone a long way to visit me," he said to the vagabonds, " and thou shalt not go away empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift. " The thief was taken aback. He took the clothes and made ​​off. Ryokan sat naked, watching the moon. " Poor fellow ," he muttered, " I wish I could give him this beautiful moon. "
• Ryokans hut was in a bamboo grove, and once broke a young budding sapling, the floor of the hut. Ryokan pursued its growth with loving proportion. Last he saw how the bamboo was too high for the room, and decided to remove the roof in place. He tried with a candle burning a hole in the roof. The result was that the whole hut burned down.
• Once Ryokan played all day with some kids hiding. When he was my turn to hide, he hid carefully in a stack of straw on the field. It was already dark, and the children who could not find him, they went home. Early the next morning a peasant on the field to fortzuräumen the hay stocks. When he found Ryokan in it, he exclaimed: " O Ryokan - sama, what are you doing here " The poet replied: "Hush, do not talk so loud, otherwise find me the kids! "

Seal

Everything that moved him was, caught in his poems, which he wrote, depending on the mood in various forms, sometimes in Chinese, sometimes in the classic Japanese with 17 or 31 syllables, sometimes in the manner of the folk song or vielsilbigen style of Man'yōshū. He mastered all of these styles perfectly, but held not strictly follow literary rules. He left behind, scattered to the four winds, about 1800 poems. They show that he, in good Zen tradition, had a healthy sense of humor and not taking yourself too seriously. They also offer illuminating insights into the practice of Zen.

A few examples:

In rags, rags And again in rags - this is my life: To eat I pick herbs from the roadside, At the hut of straw and bamboo is collected, In the moonlight I sit engrossed throughout the night, When I see flowers, I will not forget the way home - This life goals I've done to mine, Since I entered the Buddha's Brotherhood.

The rain has stopped, the clouds have moved away, And the sky is clear again. If your heart is pure, Then all the things of your world are pure. Give up this transitory world, to give yourself to. Then the moon and flowers will Show you the way.

This was his farewell poem:

Their backs, they show Then their front pages, the falling maple leaves.