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Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴 Hakuin Ekaku, 1686-1769) was undoubtedly one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He transformed the Rinzai school from a declining tradition that lacked rigorous practice into a tradition that focused on arduous meditation and koan practice. Essentially all modern practitioners of Rinzai Zen use practices directly derived from the teachings of Hakuin. Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, SiddhÄrtha Gautama, who lived between approximately 566 and 486 BCE. Originating in India, Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia...
The cultural elements of Buddhism vary by region and include: Buddhist cuisine Buddhist art Buddharupa Art and architecture of Japan Greco-Buddhism Tibetan Buddhist sacred art Buddhist music Buddhist chant Shomyo Categories: Buddhism-related stubs ...
The history of Buddhism spans from the 6th century BCE to the present, starting with the birth of the Buddha Siddharta Gautama. ...
Contents: Top - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z The following is a List of Buddhist topics: A Abhidharma Ahimsa Ajahn Ajahn Chah Ajanta Aksobhya Alexandra David-Néel Amara Sinha B...
Buddhist beliefs and practices vary according to region. ...
The percentage of Buddhist population of each country was taken from the US State Departments International Religious Freedom Report 2004 [1]. Other sources used were CIA Factbook [2] and adherents. ...
An image of Gautama Buddha with a swastika, traditionally a Buddhist symbol of good luck, on his chest. ...
The Buddhist temple Wat Chiang Man, in Chiang Mai, Thailand, which dates from the late 13th century Buddhist temples and monasteries, sorted by location. ...
Several Buddhist terms and concepts lack direct translations into English that cover the breadth of the original term. ...
There is great variety in Buddhist texts. ...
// Before Common Era Trad. ...
Events The League of Augsburg is founded. ...
1769 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...
Bodhidharma, woodblock print by Yoshitoshi, 1887. ...
A replica of an ancient statue found among the ruins of a temple at Sarnath Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, SiddhÄrtha Gautama, who lived between approximately 566 and 486 BCE. Originating in India, Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia...
The dry garden at Ryoan-ji, a Rinzai Zen temple in Kyoto. ...
Meditation usually refers to a state in which the body is consciously relaxed and the mind is allowed to become calm and focused. ...
A koan is a story, dialog, question, or statement in the history and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to Intuition. ...
Life Hakuin was born in 1685 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. Mount Fuji (富士山 Fuji-san, IPA: ) is the highest mountain on the island of Honshu and indeed in all of Japan. ...
Nichiren Buddhism (日蓮系諸宗派 Nichiren-kei sho shūha) is a branch of Buddhism stemming from the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren (1222–1282). ...
A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ...
Medieval illustration of the Mouth of Hell Hell is, according to many religious beliefs, a place or a state of painful suffering. ...
At the age of fifteen, he obtained consent from his parents to join the monastic life, and was ordained at the local Zen temple, Shoin-ji. When the head monk at Shoin-ji took ill, Hakuin was sent to a neighboring temple, Daisho-ji, where he served as a novice for three or four years, studying Buddhist texts. While at Daisho-ji, he read the Lotus Sutra, considered by the Nichiren sect to be the king of all Buddhist sutras, and found it disappointing, saying "it consisted of nothing more than simple tales about cause and effect". The Lotus Sutra or Sutra on the White Lotus of the Sublime Dharma (Sanskrit: Saddharmapundarīka-sūtra; 妙法蓮華經 Cn: Miàofǎ Liánhuā Jīng; Jp: Myōhō Renge Kyō) is one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sutras in East Asia and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren sects of Buddhism...
The philosophical concept of causality or causation refers to the set of all particular causal or cause-and-effect relations. ...
At the age of nineteen, he came across in his studies the story of the Chinese Zen master Yen-t'ou, who had been brutally murdered by bandits. Hakuin despaired over this story, as it showed that even a great monk could not be saved from a bloody death in this life. How then could he, just a simple monk, hope to be saved from the tortures of hell in the next life? He gave up his goal of becoming an enlightened monk, and not wanting to return home in shame, traveled around studying literature and poetry. While studying with the poet-monk Bao, he had an experience that put him back along the path of monasticism. He saw a number of books piled out in the temple courtyard, books from every school of Buddhism. Struck by the sight of all these volumes of literature, Hakuin prayed to the gods of the Dharma to help him choose a path. He then reached out and took a book; it was a collection of Zen stories from the Ming Dynasty. Inspired by this, he repented and dedicated himself to the practice of Zen. Dharma (sanskrit, roughly (natural) law or way) is the way of the higher Truths. ...
The Ming Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644. ...
He again went traveling for two years, settling down at the Eigan-ji temple. It was here that Hakuin had his first experience of enlightenment. He locked himself away in a shrine in the temple for seven days, and eventually reached what he believed to be an intense awakening upon hearing the ringing of the temple bell. However, his master refused to acknowledge this enlightenment, and Hakuin left the temple. Enlightenment may refer to: Enlightenment (concept), a concept in mysticism, philosophy and psychology For the Hindu religious concept of enlightenment, see moksha For the Buddhist religious concept, see Bodhi, Satori For the Yoga concept of enlightenment, see Yogic Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment, a period in European history For the...
After leaving Eigan-ji, Hakuin met and studied with the teacher who would be most influential on his spiritual practice, Shoju. Shoju was an intensely demanding teacher, who hurled insults and blows at Hakuin, in an attempt to get him to reach satori. After several more experiences of enlightenment, Hakuin left Shoju after eight months of study. Though he never saw Shoju again, and the master would die thirteen years later, Hakuin would continue to think of Shoju as his "root master". Satori (悟 Japanese satori; Chinese: wù - from the verb, Satoru) is a Zen Buddhist term for enlightenment. ...
After another several years of travel, and periods of spiritual sickness akin to kundalini, at age 31 Hakuin returned to Shoin-ji, the temple where he had been ordained. He was soon installed as abbot, a capacity in which he would serve for the next half-century. At age 41, he experienced a final and total experience of enlightenment, while reading the Lotus Sutra, the sutra that he had disregarded as a young student. He wrote of this experience, saying "suddenly I penetrated to the perfect, true, ultimate meaning of the Lotus". Kundalini is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning either coiled up or coiling like a snake. There are a number of other translations of the term usually emphasizing a more serpent nature to the word— e. ...
Abbots coat of arms An abbot (from the Hebrew ab, a father, through the Syriac abba, Latin abbas (genitive form, abbatis), Old English abbad, ; German Abt; French abbé) is the head and chief governor of a community of monks, called also in the East hegumenos or The English version...
Sutra (सूतà¥à¤°) in Sanskrit is derived from the verb √siv, meaning to sew. ...
This event marked a turning point in Hakuin's life. His total enlightenment finally achieved, he dedicated the rest of his life to helping others achieve kensho. He would spend the next forty years teaching at Shoin-ji, writing, and giving lectures. At first there were only a few monks there, but soon word spread, and Zen students began to come from all over the country to study with Hakuin. Eventually, an entire community of monks had built up in Hara and the surrounding areas, and Hakuin's students numbered in the hundreds. He eventually would certify over eighty disciples to go out and teach Hakuin-style Zen. Hakuin died in Hara, the same village in which he was born and which he had transformed into a center of Zen teaching, at the age of 83. KenshŠ(見性), literally seeing the nature, is an experience described in the context of Zen Buddhism. ...
Teachings The most important and influential teaching of Hakuin was his emphasis on koan practice. Hakuin deeply believed that the most effective way for a student to achieve enlightenment 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. A koan is a story, dialog, question, or statement in the history and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to Intuition. ...
Bodhi (Pali and Sanskrit. ...
Meditation usually refers to a state in which the body is consciously relaxed and the mind is allowed to become calm and focused. ...
Hakuin's systematization of koan practice brought about a major revolution in Zen teaching. In the system developed by Hakuin and his followers, (it is unclear how much of the koan system in Hakuin Zen was developed by him personally) students would be assigned koans by their teacher and would meditate on them. Once they had broken through the great doubt, they would be tested by the teacher and given another koan. Hakuin's main role in the development of this koan system was most likely the selection and creation of koans to be used. He originated what is probably the most famous koan in Zen, "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" as a substitute for the traditional first koan given to students, the Mu koan. He found this to be a much more effective koan at raising doubt in his students, and remarked that "its superiority to the former methods is like the difference between cloud and mud". Mu (Japanese) or wú (Chinese; 無, simplified: 无) is a word which can be roughly translated as without. While typically used as a prefix to imply the absence of something (ie. ...
One of Hakuin's major teachings was to speak out against the sect of "Do-nothing Zen" teachers, who upon reaching enlightenment, devoted the rest of their life to, as he puts it, "passing day after day in a state of seated sleep". Hakuin believed that it was the duty of one who had achieved kensho to strive to assist others in the same goal. He told his students to never be satisfied with small attainments of enlightenment, and truly believed that enlightenment was possible for anybody to achieve if they exerted themselves and approached their koan with real energy.
 Scroll calligraphy by Hakuin Ekaku. It reads “Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha.” This Japanese scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma reads “Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha”. It was created by Hakuin Ekaku (1685 to 1768) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and...
This Japanese scroll calligraphy of Bodhidharma reads “Zen points directly to the human heart, see into your nature and become Buddha”. It was created by Hakuin Ekaku (1685 to 1768) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and...
Practice Much of Hakuin's practice focused, as his teachings did, on zazen and koan practice. His motto was "meditation in the midst of activity is a billion times superior to meditation in stillness". Hakuin's experiences of enlightenment seemed to come at unexpected moments, often when he was just walking or reading. One experience that he wrote about took place while he was walking through a torrential rain. As the water reached his knees, he suddenly realized the meaning of a particular verse that he had read earlier, and was seized by enlightenment. He had many such experiences, both large and small. Laughter was a large part of Hakuin's reaction to his enlightenments, and he was known to burst into spontaneous laughter upon realizing the essence of a particular koan, causing those around him to believe him to be a madman. Kodo Sawaki practicing zazen In Zen Buddhism, sitting meditation or zazen (Japanese: 座禅; literally seated concentration) is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind and experience insight into the nature of existence. ...
Hakuin's early extreme exertions affected his health, and at one point in his young life he fell ill for almost two years, experiencing what would now probably be classified as a nervous breakdown by Western medicine, though the symptoms were similar to kundalini. He called it Zen sickness, and sought the advice of a Taoist hermit, who prescribed a chakra visualisation practice which eventually relieved his symptoms. Although not a medical term, the phrase nervous breakdown is often used by laymen to describe a sudden and acute attack of mental illness—for instance, clinical depression or anxiety disorder—in a previously outwardly healthy person. ...
Kundalini is derived from a Sanskrit word meaning either coiled up or coiling like a snake. There are a number of other translations of the term usually emphasizing a more serpent nature to the word— e. ...
For other uses of the words tao and dao, see Dao (disambiguation). ...
In Hinduism and its spiritual systems of yoga and in some related eastern cultures, as well as in some segments of the New Age movement, a chakra is thought to be an energy node in the human body. ...
Visualization can refer to: Visualization as in any technique for creating images, diagrams, or animations to communicate any message. ...
From this point on, Hakuin put a great deal of importance on physical strength and health in his Zen practice, and studying Hakuin-style Zen required a great deal of stamina. Hakuin often spoke of strengthening the body by concentrating the spirit, and followed this advice himself. Well into his seventies, he claimed to have more physical strength than he had at age thirty, and was able to sit in zazen meditation or chant sutras for an entire day.
Another important part of Hakuin's practice of Zen was his painting and calligraphy. He seriously took up painting only late in his life, at almost age sixty, but is recognized as one of the greatest Japanese Zen painters. His paintings were meant to capture Zen values, serving as sorts of "visual sermons" that were extremely popular among the laypeople of the time, many of whom were illiterate. Calligraphy in a Latin Bible of AD 1407 on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. ...
Literacy is the ability to use text to communicate across space and time. ...
Social Role An extremely well-known and popular Zen master during his later life, Hakuin was a firm believer in bringing the wisdom of Zen to all people. Thanks to his upbringing as a commoner and his many travels around the country, he was able to relate to the rural population, and served as a sort of spiritual father to the people in the areas surrounding Shoin-ji. In fact, he turned down offers to serve in the great monasteries in Kyoto, preferring to stay at Shoin-ji. Most of his instruction to the common people focused on living a morally virtuous life. Showing a surprising broad-mindedness, his ethical teachings drew on elements from Confucianism, ancient Japanese traditions, and traditional Buddhist teachings. He also never sought to stop the rural population from observing non-Zen traditions, despite the seeming intolerance for other schools' practices in his writings. Rural areas are sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities and towns. ...
This page is about the city Kyoto. ...
Confucianism (儒家 Pinyin: rújiÄ, literally The School of the Scholars; or, less accurately, å”æ•™ kÅng jià o The Religion of Kong) is an East Asian ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of Confucius. ...
In addition to this, Hakuin was also a popular Zen lecturer, traveling all over the country, often to Kyoto, to teach and speak on Zen. He wrote frequently in the last fifteen years of his life, trying to record his lessons and experiences for posterity. Much of his writing was in the vernacular, and in popular forms of poetry that commoners would read. sheshoKKKK Categories: Sociolinguistics | Language varieties and styles ...
See also A number of noted individuals have been Buddhists. ...
Contents: Top - A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z The following is a List of Buddhist topics: A Abhidharma Ahimsa Ajahn Ajahn Chah Ajanta Aksobhya Alexandra David-Néel Amara Sinha B...
Most Japanese people profess to not believe in any one particular religion. ...
References - Dumoulin, Heinrich. Zen: A Buddhism History. New York: MacMillan, 1990.
- Trevor Leggett, The Tiger's Cave, ISBN 080482021X, contains the story of Hakuin's illness.
- Stevens, John. Three Zen Masters: Ikkyu, Hakuin, and Ryokan. New York: Kodansha, 1993,
- Waddell, Norman, trans. Wild Ivy, the Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin. By Hakuin Ekaku. Boston: Shambhala, 1999.
- Yampolsky, Philip. "Hakuin Ekaku." The Encyclopedia of Religion. Ed. Mircea Eliade. Vol. 6. New York: MacMillan, 1987.
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