A PRESENTATION OF THE POET IKKYU WITH TRANSLATIONS FROM THE

KYOUNSHU "MAD CLOUD ANTHOLOGY."

by

SONJA AHNTZEN B.A., University of B r i t i s h Colombia, 1966

A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

M.A.

in the Department of

Asian Studies

We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard

THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Ap r i l , 1970

In p r e s e n t i n g t h i s t h e s i s i n p a r t i a l f u l f i l m e n t o f the r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r

an advanced degree at the U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h C o l u m b i a , I a g r ee t h a t

the L i b r a r y s h a l l make i t f r e e l y a v a i l a b l e f o r r e f e r e n c e and s t u d y .

I f u r t h e r ag ree t h a t p e r m i s s i o n f o r e x t e n s i v e c o p y i n g o f t h i s t h e s i s

f o r s c h o l a r l y pu rpo se s may be g r a n t e d by the Head o f my Department o r

by h i s r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s . I t i s u n d e r s t o o d t h a t c o p y i n g o r p u b l i c a t i o n

o f t h i s t h e s i s f o r f i n a n c i a l g a i n s h a l l not be a l l o w e d w i t h o u t my

w r i t t e n p e r m i s s i o n .

Department o f -/\f^A h) ' b T U f o l E S

The U n i v e r s i t y o f B r i t i s h Co l umb i a Vancouve r 8, Canada

ABSTRACT

This thesis presents a resume of the t r a d i t i o n a l biography of the

Japanese Zen poet, Ikkyu Sojun and translations with commentaries of a

selected number of poems from the Kyounshu, "Mad Cloud Anthology,", a

e o l l e c t i o n of Ikkyu's Chinese poems. The Ky5unshu consists of one

thousand and s i x t y Chinese poems, some with prose introductions and

d i a r y - l i k e descriptions of the circumstances surrounding t h e i r

composition. Thus, the Kyounshu,aside from i t s wealth of poetry,

philosophy, and h i s t o r i c a l i n t e r e s t , i s also a valuable source of

biographical information about the poet himself.

There are some d i f f i c u l t i e s inherent i n t h i s study. To begin

w i t h ? i t involved research i n two languages, Japanese and c l a s s i c a l

Chinese. Secondly, the subject range of Ikkyu's poetry i s very large;

i t includes the whole of Zen l i t e r a t u r e , the Mahayana Sutras, the

c l a s s i c s of Chinese poetry and Chinese h i s t o r y as w e l l . Although

biographical information about Ikkyu i n Japanese i s f a i r l y s u bstantial,

textual c r i t i c i s m and commentary for h i s poetry i s extremely l i m i t e d ,

thus, one i s sent often without a chart to the maze of f i r s t sources

seeking a l l u s i o n s . This, coupled with the very subjective nature of the

poetry i t s e l f - with Ikkyu, o r i g i n a l i t y tends to make for obscurity -

makes the unraveling of sources a thorny problem sometimes. Thus, i t i s

no wonder that few attempts have been made by scholars, even i n Japan,to

write commentaries for these poems. To my knowledge, t h i s i s the f i r s t

attempt to translate into English and give commentaries f o r t h i s large

number of poems from the Kyounshu?although,compared to the t o t a l number

of poems, t h i s i s s t i l l few indeed. This thesis thenjis really-

preparatory work for a more complete t r a n s l a t i o n of the Kyonnshu which

could well) and w i l l , I hope, constitute the subject of a Ph.D. t h e s i s .

Having outlined the d i f f i c u l t i e s inherent i n the subject of t h i s

t h e s i s , i t would be well to point out i n what ways t h i s study i s of

p a r t i c u l a r i n t e r e s t . To begin with, the f i e l d of kanbun, l i t e r a t u r e i n

Chinese written by Japanese w r i t e r s , has been r e l a t i v e l y untouched i n so

far as translations into English are concerned; thus, to some extent these

translations are an opening up of new t e r r i t o r y i n Japanese Literature.

Secondly, Ikkyu's voice i s an unusual one i n Japanese poetry. Japanese

poetry has been so c l o s e l y associated with a contemplative appreciation

of nature, delicate and restrained emotions, suggestion rather then

statement, and a subtle sense of nuance, q u a l i t i e s rather constant

throughout the development of uta, renga and haiku. However, i t i s with

some int e r e s t then, that one greets a poet such as Ikkyu i n whose poetry

these q u a l i t i e s are quite absent. Ikkyu's poetry seldom seems to be the

product of quiet r e f l e c t i o n ; rather his poems have the q u a l i t y of being

written i n the heat of the moment; strong and sometimes v i o l e n t emotions,,

defiance, anger, passion, remorse, love, are boldly expressed. Ikkyu's

poetry also tends, because of h i s own eruditeness; to be quite i n t e l l e c t u a l

poetry which would lean toward the extremely abstract were i t not for his

strong personal voice which i s ever-present. In short, Ikkyu's poetry i s

very i n d i v i d u a l i s t i c i n a culture which has never put a high store on

i n d i v i d u a l i t y . Thus i t i s , that Ikkyu adds a new dimension to our

conception of Japanese poetry.

OS )

Table of Contents

I. Introduction 1

I I . H i s t o r i c a l Background 4

I I I . Biographical Information & Comment 9

IV. Philosophical Poems 25

V. C r i t i c a l Poems 69

VI. Love Poems 83

V I I . Footnotes 115

VI I I . Bibliography 120

( i l l )

I. Introduction

Ikkyu i s p r a c t i c a l l y unknown as a l i t e r a r y f i g u r e . Legends that

grew up around him i n the Tokugawa period were passed on to succeeding

generations of children f o r entertainment's sake^so Ikkyu i s well-known

by name i n Japan today, but as a poet, he i s t o t a l l y ignored. Thus,it

i s not strange that i n the Vest he should hardly be known at a l l . The

greatest reason for h i s obscurity as a poet, both i n Japan and the West, i s

the fact that he wrote h i s most important work i n kanbun, that i s Chinese.

As Japan had no system of w r i t i n g before contact with China, i t

was only natural that educated peopleAshould write i n Chinese; indeed;

the a b i l i t y to read and write Chinese constituted the only l i t e r a t e

education possible, Even a f t e r a phonetic system of w r i t i n g had evolved

from the use of Chinese characters, s t i l l , a greater part of any person's

education consisted of learning to read and write Chinese. This was

true r i g h t up to the Tokugawa period, and no one thought i t strange. Thus,

a great number of Japan's most g i f t e d and i n t e l l i g e n t men, including most

of the great monks, wrote i n Chinese. However, i n the Tokugawa Period

with Motoori Norinaga, a movement against Chinese language and learning "took mo­

mentum. The great scholar Motoori Norfcaga was the f i r s t scholar i n Japan

to apply himself to things purely Japanese, his great work being the

elucidation of the e a r l i e s t Japanese History, the Ko.jiki, on the basis

of which he drew conclusions about Japanese language and Japanese

s e n s i b i l i t y . He too was the f i r s t to claim the uta, waka, and i t ' s

related forms as the only true Japanese poetry, a l l the poetry written

i n Chinese being only imitations. He also c r i t i c i z e d Buddhism for being

2

a Chinese r e l i g i o n and, thus, not suitable f o r the Japanese soul which

found i t s true f u l f i l l m e n t i n Shinto. These ideas caught on and spread

quickly, e s p e c i a l l y when Japanese i d e n t i t y was newly threatened from the

outside by confrontation with the West. Thus, by the time Western

scholars became interested i n Japanese Li t e r a t u r e , i t was a f i r m l y

entrenched idea that the only Japanese Literature was l i t e r a t u r e written

i n Japanese, which i n poetry means the waka, uta, renga and haiku. So

i t i s that the overwhelming number of translations into Western languages

are of these forms. This, coupled with the decline among Japanese people

of the a b i l i t y to read Chinese after the opening to the West and the

necessary rush to acquire Western learning, has removed the enormous

store of Japanese Literature written i n Chinese farther and farther away

from the reach of most people i n Japan as well as i n the West. Western

interest i n Zen and other forms of Buddhism has, however, i n i t i a t e d some

work i n the rediscovery of kawbun l i t e r a t u r e . Such i s the case with

t h i s t h e s i s , f o r i t was my own interest i n Zen and Buddhism i n general

that led me to choose Ikkyu's poems as a subject f o r t r a n s l a t i o n .

I t should be noted at t h i s point that Ikkyu did not write a l l

h i s work i n Chinese. There i s a mass of material i n Japanese which i s

attributed to him^but, of that, very l i t t l e i s considered to be act u a l l y

h i s . A c o l l e c t i o n of Doka, "Poems of the Way," that i s , waka written on

common r e l i g i o u s themes, which has been translated into English by R. H.

Bly t h , * i s perhaps the most surely Ikkyu's. Bukigun, a r e l i g i o u s

allegory which t e l l s of a ba t t l e between the forces of Heaven and H e l l ^ i s

less c e r t a i n l y Ikkyu's. Af t e r that, a l l the rest has been attributed to

one or more other monks as well and so i s l i k e l y not Ikkyu's. The

3

Kyounshu i s r e a l l y the only work of Ikkyu which expresses his unique

personality) and also the only work which contains d e f i n i t e personal

references, dates and d i a r y - l i k e descriptions of noteworthy events i n

Ikkyu's l i f e . I t i s , therefore, the most int e r e s t i n g .

The Kyounshu, "Had Cloud Anthology*1 i s a c o l l e c t i o n of 1060 poems

written i n Chinese. Some of the poems have date a, but most of them do notj>

So i t i s very d i f f i c u l t to know during which period of Ikkyu's l i f e they

were written. In the Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho and Ikkyu Osho zen^hu they

are divided into jo kan and ge k a n . " f i r s t s c r o l l ""second s c r o l l , " and i t

i s assumed that these correspond to an early and a l a t e r i^eriod i n Ikkyu's

l i f e . The Yamato Bunka[lfaikan e d i t i o n of the Kyounshu. the text of which

I have used most extensively since i t i s the most recent and comprehensive

ed i t i o n of the Kyounshu, does not maintain t h i s d i v i s i o n but keeps

b a s i c a l l y the same order i n i t s arrangement of the poems. A detailed

commentary to the whole of the Kyounshu has never been done. The Yamato

BunkejKaikan edit i o n concerns i t s e l f only with the establishment of the

text. The commentary i n the Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho i s cursory to say the

le a s t . I am indebted, however, to Professors Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka 2

Skirt who have provided, i n the p e r i o d i c a l Kokubungaku y detailed commentaries

for over a hundred poems of the Kyounshu.

I I . H i s t o r i c a l Background

Ikkyu was born i n 139^ and died i n 1481, Thus,his l i f e

was -witVim one of the most re s t l e s s and v i o l e n t periods i n Japanese

History, the rule, of the Ashikaga Shogunate, better known perhaps as

the Muromachi Period;after the area i n Kyoto where the government of

the Shogunate was centered. I t was a time of almost incessant c i v i l war,

shot through with sporadic desperate revolts among the hard-pressed

a g r i c u l t u r a l population,, Many of the battles were fought r i g h t i n the

streets of Kyoto. Thusj the "Capital of Peace" suffered great damage

during t h i s period; es p e c i a l l y since f i r e was as popular a weapon as the

sword. Power struggles between the various clans of samurai were at the

root of these c o n f l i c t s ^ but, as i s so t y p i c a l of Japan, a l l f i g h t i n g was

done i n the name of the Emperor, succession disputes between the two

imperial l i n e s being the persistant excuse for trouble during t h i s

period.

The samurai attitude toward the old aristocracy of Kyoto was

somewhat ambiguous. Unlike Yo,t»itomo who regarded the court at Kyoto

as a corrupting influence on the stern v i r t u e of the warrior and, therefore,

kept himself and h i s warriors as f a r away as he could from t h e i r effete

company, the Ashikaga Shoguns were only too fascinated with the court's

c u l t u r a l a l l u r e . They cu l t i v a t e d quite conscientiously the learning

and arts of the c a p i t a l and, thus, were themselves t y p i c a l of a new kind

of "aesthete warrior". On the other hand,there was never the shadow of

an intention on the part of the Ashikaga Shoguns to allow the a r i s t o c r a t s

to regain any of the p o l i t i c a l power they had once held. Thus^ the

aristocracy was paid nominal respect but kept poor; a r i s t o c r a t s were

cul t i v a t e d as friends but denied any say i n important p o l i t i c a l

decisions.

However, as Karaki Junzo" i n his book Causei no bungaku points

out, i t was not an unenviable po s i t i o n to be i n at that time, since poor

for the aristocracy was never starving; a l i t t l e money could always be

obtained by tutoring eager samurai i n the arts of calligraphy and poetry.

The aristocracy were at least i n a more stable position than the samurai

whose fortunes were precarious to an extreme. Having l i t t l e or no

p o l i t i c a l power was i n r e a l i t y the safest p o s i t i o n to be i n , for those

with p o l i t i c a l power were the immediate targets for everyone around them.

Ikkyu was born into the aristocracy.

The Tokugawa historians did not f i n d much worthy of praise when

they cast t h e i r eyes on the s o c i a l and p o l i t i c a l disorder of the Muromach

Period. This s l i g h t l y perjorative point of view of the Muromachi Period

was transmitted to the post-Meiji era and further augmented by the

influence of the conc«pt of the Middle or Dark Ages i n Western History.

There were enough s i m i l a r i t i e s between the European feudal period and the

Japanese feudal period to make an equation of them easy. Thus, the

Muromachi Period along with the Kamakura and Tokugawa periods came to be

considered a kind of dark or unenlightened age. And at least i n so f a r

as moral and s o c i a l order i s concerned, t h i s i s to a certain extent true

of the Muromachi Period. However, to an Art Hi s t o r i a n i t i s exceedingly

d i f f i c u l t to accept the Muromachi Period as a Dark Age; a glance through

any o r i e n t a l a rt book at the masterpieces of Sesshu, Sesson, the

Ginkakuji, the Kinkakuji, or the Saihoji garden, not to mention the

anonymous masterpieces i n the c r a f t of pottery, point to an age of

a r t i s t i c b r i l l i a n c y . As mentioned above, t h i s perjorative view o f the

Muromachi Period i n Japan mirrors the Western view of the European Middle

Ages that prevailed from the Renaissance through the Age of Enlightenment

into quite modern times. Here i n the West, i t was a rejuvenated

appreciation of Medieval A r t s t a r t i n g i n the 19th century that preceded

a comprehensive re-evaluation of the middle ages as a whole. A s i m i l a r

phenomenon seems to be occurring i n Japan, except that i t seems to be

the effect of a cross influence, that i s , i t i s Western interest i n

Japanese Medieval Art that has sparked Japanese scholars to re-examine

that period of t h e i r culture from a d i f f e r e n t point of view. Thus, we

see karaki Junzo quoting scholars who are of the opinion that there are

s i m i l a r i t i e s between t h e ^ I t a l i a n Renaissance i n so f a r as the growth of 2

individualism and a kind of humanism are concerned. This shows the

trend that contemporary thought on the Medieval Period i n Japan i s taking.

The overwhelming f l a v o r of the art of the Muromachi Period which

has so caught the eye of the contemporary West i s without a doubt the

f l a v o r of Zen. I t i s a q u a l i t y which can only sound cliched when

described, especially when i t has been described so often. Such words

as s i m p l i c i t y , naturalness, an "accidental" f e e l i n g , are the most

frequently used i n description. In r e a l i t y , i t i s an ineffable q u a l i t y e

which i s however immediately recognizable upon confrontation with those

objects i n which i t i s embodied. I t i s not the purpose of t h i s paper to

analyse Zen aesthetics i n the v i s u a l arts. A s u f f i c e to say that Zen has

become so popularly i d e n t i f i e d with Japan and Japanese art here i n the

West, that many Westerners forget or even do not know that Zen i s an

7

imported r e l i g i o n to Japan.

Zen ( i n Chinese Ch'an) was imported from China. Ch'an i n China

had become the sect of Buddhism with the most d i s t i n c t i v e l y Chinese

f l a v o r . I t had received the quiet i n f i l t r a t i o n of Taoism and,-thus,"

a cosmic sense of humor. I t was a pared down version of Buddhism stripped

of a l l the Indian baroque, ornamental i n t r i c a c i e s . Something of these

q u a l i t i e s appealed to the Japanese as well, for Ch'an was very successfully

transplanted to Japan. There were, however, some differences between

Ch'an i n China and Zen i n Japan. For example, Ch'an was never as c l o s e l y

associated with the v i s u a l arts as Taoism was, while i n Japan i t was Zen

which acquired an intimate connection with aesthetics.

At any rate, from i t s introduction during the Eamakura period,

the Zen sect of Buddhism st e a d i l y grew i n numbers and influence. The

Muromachi Period marks the zenith of Zen's power and influence i n Japan.

At t h i s time, Zen was heavily supported by the Shogunate and the court.

The Gosan J i s s a t s u - "Five Mountains Ten Temples''were but a few of the

great monasteries f l o u r i s h i n g at that time. Yet another source of

prosperity was the p r o f i t a b l e trade with Ming China car r i e d on under the

auspices of the Zen sect. Of the two major Zen sects i n Japan, Soto and

Rin z a i , Binzai was the more expansive, f r e e l y involving i t s e l f i n

p o l i t i c a l and s o c i a l a f f a i r s . Soto, on the other hand, for the most part

eschewed the busy "dusty" l i f e of the c a p i t a l preferring to remain

" s i t t i n g q u i e t l y " i n the h i l l s , which, i t must be noted, was more i n

keeping with the usages of the great T'ang scViools.. Indeed, what the

Rinzai sect gained i n wealth, prestige, and influence, seems to have been

detrimental to the true s p i r i t of Zen.

8

There are many reasons for t h i s . The sheer increase i n the

number of followers made i t d i f f i c u l t for a r e l i g i o n which founds i t s e l f

on something so nebulous as the "wordless transmission of mind" to keep

i t s l i n e s of transmission pure. This increase i n numbers also tended to

turn the temples into large i n s t i t u t i o n s which demanded a numerous st a f f

of organizers and beaureaucrats rather than holy men to keep them going.

These large temples took over the function of tr a i n i n g schools for young

boys. So, whereas Zen was o r i g i n a l l y a r e l i g i o n designed to free the

mind of a mature man from the f e t t e r s of conventional thinking, now

Binzai temples were charged with task of i n s t i l l i n g manners i n raw youths.

However, perhaps the greatest single reason for the s p i r i t u a l degeneration

of the Rinzai sect at t h i s time l i e s i n the old axiom, power and wealth

inevitably corrupt. Where power and wealth reach t h e i r zenith, droves of

s e l f i s h people gather to struggle for the sp o i l s . Thus, the Rinzai sect,

at i t s height of power and influence, became f i l l e d with people of

insincere motives who propagated a double-standard morality and dabbled

in unsavory practices. The sit u a t i o n of the Rinzai sect i n Japan at t h i s

time was not unlike the Roman Catholic Church before the reformation.

I t was i n such a time, i n such a place, and i n such a milieu that

Ikkyu l i v e d .

I I I . Biographical Information and Comment

I t i s always d i f f i c u l t when describing famous figures of the past

to distinguish between the man and the myth about the man. With Ikkyu t h i s

i s no easy task, esp e c i a l l y since Tokugawa writers energetically created

an elaborate myth for Ikkyu by which he i s generally known i n Japan today.

The mythical Ikkyu i s a light-hearted carefree fellow, exceptionally

clever and w i t t y as a c h i l d , an evangelistic savior of courtesan's souls

as a monk, i n general a j o y f u l , f i s h - e a t i n g , sake-drinking, love-making,

prank-playing, Zen prelate. Yet when one turns and examines Ikkyu's own

poems of the Kyounshu, how d i f f e r e n t i s the impression one gets of his

character. Whereas the mythical Ikkyu was clever, the author of the

Kyounshu i s learned and erudite to a fine extreme* V h i l e the mythical

Ikkyu, the c l e r i c a l Don Juan, abandoned himself to pleasure, Ikkyu of

Kyounshu explores a l l the philosophical and metaphysical levels of love.

"Whereas the mythical Ikkyu was happy and carefree, the Kyounshu shows a man

who knows sorrow and indeed a l l the darker depths of the soul. Somewhere

between the popular biographies and Ikkyu's own poems l i e s the

t r a d i t i o n a l biography of Ikkyu which has been handed down for many years

wit h i n the Zen church and a small c i r c l e of scholars. This t r a d i t i o n a l

biography i s a mixture undoubtedly of fact and myth, but i t i s as close to

h i s t o r i c a l l y objective as can be obtained so f a r as Ikkyu i s concerned.

The Tokugawa popular biographies of Ikkyu t e l l more about the Tokugawa

period and those writers themselves than about Ikkyu and so I have

lar g e l y disregarded them i n forming my interpretation of Ikkyu's

character. I have rather concentrated on studying the man through his

own poems. Xn finding an approach to both the man and his poems, the

t r a d i t i o n a l h i s t o r i c a l material has, of course, been very h e l p f u l . Thus,

I would l i k e to begin t h i s section with a resume of the t r a d i t i o n a l

biography of Ikkyu.*

Ikkyu was born i n 139** i n Kyoto. He i s said to have been the

i l l e g i t i m a t e son of the Emperor Go-Komatsu. I t i s quite probable that

he a c t u a l l y was, since i t i s recorded i n a l l the t r a d i t i o n a l biographies^

and h i s l a t e r close connections with the court indicate that h i s b i r t h

must have been very high. His mother was of the Fujiwara clan, but

during the dispute between the Northern and Southern courts, she was

accused of having treasonous intentions toward the emperor and so was

banished to a lesser dwelling i n Kyoto where Ikkyu was born.

In the t r a d i t i o n a l biography, there i s a l a s t testament supposedly - 2

w r i t t e n by Ikkyu's mother i n which she sounds l i k e a very i c o n o c l a s t i c

woman herself; she urges Ikkyu to make "servants of the Buddha and

Dharma" and warns that people who s t i c k to hoben ' "expedient means,"

are "just worms". However, the authenticity of t h i s document i s very

questionable, and i t could well be the f a b r i c a t i o n of people i n a l a t e r

time who f e l t that since Ikkyu was such an eccentric person he must have

had an eccentric mother. At any rate, Ikkyu was separated from h i s

mother quite early, being sent to the Zen monastery Ankokuji i n Kyoto 3

at the age of s i x . At the age of twelve he was supposed to have amazed -that KBCI

a gatheringAcome to hear Master Seisonin lecture by displaying a wisdom 4

very much beyond his years. At t h i r t e e n he began studying the

composition of Chinese Poems. Thus, i t can be seen that i t was not

strange f o r Ikkyu to have written most of his poems i n Chinese, f o r i t was

11

a genre that he had studied and practised since boyhood. At seventeen

he took his f i r s t r e a l master, Keno and l i v e d and studied with him for

f i v e years u n t i l that master's death. Keno i t seems, had not received

his transmission of Zen i n an orthodox way since he had no seal (the

sign of correct transmission) to pass on to Ikkyu. However, he i s

reputed to have t o l d Ikkyu that Ikkyu had advanced to the point where

Keno had no more to teach him. The relationship between Ikkyu and Keno

seems to have been a very warm one; the t r a d i t i o n a l biographies speak

glowingly of the s i m p l i c i t y and pure poverty of t h e i r l i f e i n retreat.

Keno died when Ikkyu was twenty-one and he was very saddened

indeed by the l o s s . Ikkyu wandered about i n a distracted fashion and

prayed for seventeen days before the Ishiyama Kannon but could not f i n d

any consolation and so resolved to drown himself i n Lake Biwa.^ However,

he was stopped from carrying out t h i s dreadful enterprise by a v i s i o n of

his mother which appeared and admonished him and t o l d him to perservere

i n the path toward enlightenment. Versions of t h i s story vary s l i g h t l y

but there seems to be a consensus that he did attempt suicide and that

his salvation had something to do with the memory of his mother.

Thus rescued from s e l f - a n n i l a t i o n he set out for the master Kaso's

hermitage at Katada. Kaso was somewhat famous for being a severe master

and c e r t a i n l y the story of Ikkyu's acceptance there bears t h i s out.

Ikkyu arrived at Katada and waited outside Kaso's gate for f i v e days

during which time Kaso did not deign even to notice his presence. F i n a l l y ,

one day on his way to a ceremony i n the v i l l a g e , he looked at Ikkyu and

said "Is t h i s monk s t i l l here? Throw some water on his head and chase

him away." which was duly carried out. However, after the ceremony was

12

f i n i s h e d Kaso returned and saw Ikkyu s t i l l standing t a l l and making no 7

move to go away. So Kaso relented and agreed to take him as a d i s c i p l e .

Kaso's d i s c i p l i n e was very rigorous and kept Ikkyu occupied night and

day. Again, the standard of l i v i n g i n the temple was very poor, very

l i t t l e to eat.and no warm clothes to wear i n the winter. Under such

hardships Ikkyu studied f o r some years. Eventually Ikkyu came to be

we l l loved by Kaso who was even supposed to have said once of Ikkyu, 8

"This boy i s smarter than me." 1

Wien Ikkyu was twenty-five he heard someone playing a song from

the Heike monogatari on the Biwa and suddenly grasped a koan of Unmon's.

At t h i s point Kaso gave Ikkyu h i s name; p r i o r to t h i s Ikkyu had been

known as Shuken. Ikkyu composed an uta with h i s new name exploring i t s

philosophical implications;

from.the realm of i l l u s i o n s , u r o j i y o r i

Ve return to the realm of no i l l u s i o n s , muroji e kaeru

One restt, hitoyasumi

I f i t r a i n s , l e t i t r a i n . ame furaba fure

I f the wind blows, l e t i t blow 0 kaze fukaba fuke

Ikkyu's name hitoyasumi i n Japanese reading, means one r e s t ,

one slumber; here, i t i s a metaphor f o r our short human l i f e 0 The

imp l i c a t i o n i s that i f one arrives at the state of mind where i t i s

evident that from b i r t h to death i s r e a l l y only a moment, then g r i e f s and

cares i n t h i s l i f e seem small things indeed.

Then, two years l a t e r , one spring night i n May, Ikkyu was

meditating, f l o a t i n g i n a boat on a lake, when;hearing a crow c a l l out

through the night, he was immediately enlightened. He hurried to Kaso

1 3

to witness his enlightenment, but Kaso said, "This i s just the enlightenment

of an arhat, you are not a r e a l master yet." Ikkyu said, "Then I am

happy to be an arhat, I just detest masters." "Now you are a r e a l master," - 10 -said Kaso. At t h i s time, Ikkyu was twenty-seven years old and had

been consciously seeking enlightenment for ten years. The poem he i s

said to have written recording t h i s important event i s the following:

Since ten years ago a mind longing f o r knowledge:

Raging and angry, the time i s nowl

The crow laughs, I leave the dust and end up an arhat:

B r i l l i a n t shining sun, i n the shadow 'Jeweled, face sings. (2vJt w V/awato Bunk* Kail<atr\ Edi-fcion o? KyouvisViOTi

This marks the d i v i s i o n between what i n the t r a d i t i o n a l biography is

calleJIkkyu's early l i f e and l a t e r l i f e . As we can see, the early part of

Ikkyu's l i f e was spent almost e n t i r e l y w i t h i n the confines of the various

monasteries and master's hermitages he studied at. I t was only a f t e r his

enlightenment that Ikkyu began to move away from such an austere and

s o l i t a r y environment and venture into the outside world. I t i s recorded

that Ikkyu stayed at Kaso's hermitage long enough to attend to some of

the i l l n e s s e s that accompanied Kaso's old age; but he began to come and 11

go.

This marks the beginning of his long companionship with the

"straw r a i n hat and bamboo walking s t i c k " that are mentioned so often i n

the Kyounshu. There i s no detailed record of his tra v e l s because he

seems to have traveled by whim and almost always u n o f f i c i a l l y . His few

o f f i c i a l v i s i t s to places other than temples, were mainly to the court.

For example, i t i s known that i n the year 1428, Ikkyu was i n v i t e d to the

court, and h i s b i r t h r i g h t s A o f f i c i a l l y recognized by the Emperor AKbmatsu.

14

Af t e r that time, he became quite a frequent and welcome v i s i t o r to the

court; the emperor himself was supposed to have been very fond of Ikkyu's 13

manner of explaining Zen.

His u n o f f i c i a l t r a v e l i n g must have brought him into contact with

the brothels and sakejshops that are another frequent theme i n the Kyounshu,

although about t h i s the t r a d i t i o n a l biographies have very l i t t l e to say.

, T h i s i s not to imply that brothels and sakeshops were the only

items on Ikkyu's u n o f f i c i a l i t i n e r a r i e s . One recorded incident gives a

good idea of the other a c t i v i t i e s Ikkyu must have indulged i n during his

t r a v e l s . I t i s recorded that i n the year 1436, Ikkyu was noticed wandering

through the streets of Sakai wearing a wooden sword, playing a shakuhachi

and regaling passers-by with s a t i r i c a l accounts of the behavior of 14 -

present-day monks. Thus, i t seems that during his t r a v e l s , Ikkyu some­times assumed the role of "street player" i n order to i n s t r u c t lay people i n the ways of Zen and the i l l s of the church.

Ikkyu was not always t r a v e l i n g . He spent a great portion

of h is time i n temples as w e l l , mainly Daitokuji which was his "base"

temple for the l a t t e r half of his l i f e . Not f a r from Daitokuji i n the

Muromachi section of Kyoto he had a personal hermitage c a l l e d Katsuroan,

"Blind Donkey Hermitage" and he spent much time there as w e l l . I t seems

that a pattern of movement for Ikkyu during the middle part of his l i f e

was to stay at Daitokuji and i n s t r u c t student monks u n t i l he could bear

the atmosphere of the temple no longer. At tVefc point, he would either go

off t r a v e l i n g among the "people" or else retreat into the seclusion of the

mountains u n t i l he could bear to come back.

Apart from the general degeneration of s p i r i t within the temple,

15

one of the reasons why D a i t o k u j i was unbearable to Ikkyu was the presence

of one prelate c a l l e d Yoso. Yoso, twenty years Ikkyu's senior had also

been a student of Kaso's. Thus, the two had a very close r e l a t i o n s h i p

i n common. However, they seem to have been as compatible as f i r e and

i c e . For Ikkyu, Yoso became the concrete embodiment of a l l that was

e v i l i n t n « church. I f we accept Ikkyu's description of Yoso, Yoso

was a monk who craved power and prestige, was arrogant to an extreme,

greedy for wealth, and h y p o c r i t i c a l . He was the epitome of the f a l s e

monk parading as holy and duping the l a i t y . A l l the most venemous

invectives i n the Kyounshu are reserved for Yoso.

The t r a d i t i o n a l biographies record one incident which t y p i f i e s

the nature of the enmity between them. The occasion was the t h i r t e e n t h

anniversary of t h e i r master Kaso"s death, held on the 27th of J u l y i n

1343. A week previously Ikkyu, upon the request of temple elders, had

taken up residence at Nyoian i n D a i t o k u j i . Yoso, o f f i c i a l l y head of the

temple, arranged the ceremony and had e s p e c i a l l y i n v i t e d c e r t a i n wealthy

merchants from Sakai. They came and were noisy and unruly, but each gave

Yoso r i c h presents afterwards. Two days l a t e r , Ikkyu wrote t h i s poem

on the w a l l of Yoso'a house:

Let us put some necessary things i n a cottage.

Like wooden l a d l e s , bamboo baskets, hanging on the east w a l l ,

I don't have a l o t of fur n i t u r e l i k e you do.

Rivers and seas, many years, t r a v e l i n g with straw r a i n coat, straw

r a i n hat. Yamato Bunka Ka'ikavx e < M W T J

and then l e f t another poem addressed to Yoso personally which states his

feelings more d i r e c t l y :

16

Dwelling i n the temple ten days, my mind i s spinning" 15

Under my feet the red thread i s very long.

I f you come tomorrow and ask af t e r me;

I ' l l he im the f i s h and sake shops or else a brothel. L"vio.85 "Vamato Buwka Ka.ikav\ ecSMooCJ] ^

With that Ikkyu gathered up hi s r a i n coat and hat and l e f t . Such was the h o s t i l i t y between Yoso and Ikkyu.

Ikkyu was once even driven by the state of things at Daitokuji

to the point of resolving to starve himself to death. The event which i s

discussed i n d e t a i l i n the commentaries to poems/involved slanderous

accusations on the part of f a l s e monks and temple i n t r i g u e . Ikkyu i n a

f i t of despair f l e d to Mount Jo-u's S h i d a j i , one of hi s f a v o r i t e retreats,

and decided to commit suicide by starving to death. News of t h i s came to

the court,however, and an imperial edict was issued to dissuade him

from carrying out his resolve. The edict said: " I f the honourable monk

does t h i s , Buddha's way, the King's way w i l l be caused to perish. How

can the master cast us aside l i k e t h i s , how can the master forget h i s 17

country l i k e t h i s . " From the wording of t h i s edict we can see how

high an esteem the emperor held fo r Ikkyu,and also how personal the

connection between Ikkyu and the court was. This edict from the emperor

combined with friend's entreaties gradually moved Ikkyu to change h i s

mind. He f i n a l l y came back to Kyoto^ and from that time u n t i l he was

made Bishop^ he dwelt only i n Katsuroan and not wi t h i n the Daitokuji A 18 grounds.

Another incident of interest during t h i s middle period of Ikkyu's

l i f e which was his receiving of Kaso's seal of correct transmission.

17 Kaso had decided on the occassion of Ikkyu's enlightenment to make him

his sole successor; the document stated s p e c i f i c a l l y , "This i s my only

son/' and was dated A p r i l of the year 1421, the same year as the afore-19

mentioned enlightenment. However, for what reasons we know not, he

did not give t h i s document to Ikkyu himself but rather entrusted i t to

a lady of the court named Sokitsu to keep u n t i l a f t e r his death at which

time she was to transfer i t to Ikkyu. She, i n turn, however, entrusted i t

to Prime Minister Minamoto who kept i t f o r some years. F i n a l l y i n the

year 1438, when Ikkyu was forty-four years old, Ikkyu paid the Prime

Minister a v i s i t , a n d the Prime Minister gave him the seal. Ikkyu i s

supposed to have said on t h i s occassion: "How we l l we can see today's con­

d i t i o n s , Buddha's great dharma scattered and ruined, jewels and stones,

good and bad, mixed and confused. Those who have understood the true

v i s i o n f i n d that p r i e s t s who resemble p r i e s t s but are not p r i e s t s are

l i t t l e by l i t t l e presumptuously trampling the true dharma more and more 20

to the ground." Me then burnt the seal. This act did not i n any

way represent disrespect for his old master but rather a profound respect

for the phenomenenof "wordless transmission" that i s at the foundation

of Zen. A l l around him he could see f a l s e monks l i k e Yoso with scraps

of paper claiming true transmission; Ikkyu himself needed no such papers

to prove his enlightenment.

In l a t e r years, Ikkyu's l i f e moderated somewhat; at least the

tone of the episodes is . not so extreme. He found i n the temple Shuonan

i n Takigi a quiet retreat, not so remote and w i l d as Mount Jo-u and yet

far enough removed from the confusion of Kyoto and Daitokuji to be a

18

suitable place f o r rest and renewal. However, as Ikkyu's l i f e became

more calm, the p o l i t i c a l state of the nation rose to a fever p i t c h . The

Onin disorder broke out i n 1468. Ikkyu was seventy-four years old.

He was forced to f l e e from Kyoto as f i g h t i n g broke out i n the streets,

and indeed, during the conflagration that followed, Ikkyu's Katsuroan 21 -

was burned to the ground. Ikkyu escaped to Takigi which remained

peaceful f o r some time. Ikkyu was able to hold the hundredth anniversary

of Reizan Osho there, and the people who gathered to hear him on that 22

occassion were many. A year l a t e r , m i l i t a r y s t r i f e spread to Takigi as w e l l , and Ikkyu f l e d to the Izumi region t h i s time, staying i n various

23 places u n t i l the f i g h t i n g had abated.

Seven years l a t e r , at the age of eighty-one Ikkyu was c a l l e d to

become Bishop of D a i t o k u j i . The poem he wrote on the day he assumed "tfoe -

post eloquently describes his feelings toward the receiving of t h i s honor:

Daito's school destroyed h i s remaining l i g h t D

D i f f i c u l t to explain singing i n the heart,one night's e t e r n i t y .

For f i f t y years a fellow of straw r a i n hat and coat, 24

Shameful today, a purple-robed monk. tjno. 514 Yamato Bunka Kaikan edition ]

Having been & renegade f o r most of h i s l i f e , taking up such a d i g n i f i e d and l o f t y p o s i t i o n i n an i n s t i t u t i o n he had c r i t i c i s e d f o r so many years

must have been odd for Ikkyu. However, i t was a time of d i f f i c u l t y f o r

Daitokuji since i t had been l a r g e l y destroyed by f i r e i n the preceding

wars and was i n need of a strong and j u s t man to lead the reconstruction.

Thus, i t was not j u s t a p o s i t i o n of eminence Ikkyu acceeded to,but also

an opportunity to be of great help. In the next few years he i s supposed 25

to have exhausted himself with aiding i n the reconstruction.

19

Ikkyu apparently suffered greatly from the heat i n his l a s t years and

took every opportunity he could to retreat to Takigi and his beloved

Shuonan. He f i n a l l y died there i n 1482 at the age of eighty-eight and

was also buried there. His death poem i s recorded as being:

South of Mount Sumeru,

Who meets my Zen ?

Even i f Kido comes, 26

He's not worth half a penny. Cnot vn Ysvnato BuWka Ka'ikaw ecTrtiovnTJ

Even from the description i n the t r a d i t i o n a l biography, i t i s

obvious that Ikkyu was quite an eccentric fig u r e . Ikkyu too seems to

have had t h i s sense of himself; since the name he gave himself was Kyoun,

"Mad Cloud". This does not necessarily mean, however, that he considered

himself crazy. Ikkyu was simply aware that to the rest of the world

assuming the v a l i d i t y of mundane r e a l i t y , he appeared to be crazy, while

at a transcendental l e v e l of r e a l i t y he was not crazy at a l l ; but rather

quite sane, more sane perhaps than any one else. Thus, he was not a f r a i d

to c a l l himself crazy for i t was a way of pointing at his supra-mundane

r e a l i t y sanity.

One of Ikkyu's e c c e n t r i c i t i e s which i s almost completely l e f t out

of the t r a d i t i o n a l biographies i s his love of making love and i n general

a soft spot for women. One of the reasons why the t r a d i t i o n a l biographies

have so l i t t l e to say of Ikkyu's propensity for love, i s that t h e i r main

int e r e s t was i n preserving Ikkyu's reputation as a great Zen monk. Thus,

they found i t embarrassing to deal with t h i s aspect of his character.

More recent researchers into Ikkyu l i k e Karaki Junzo f i n d i t impossible

to ignore t h i s information but s t i l l f i n d i t d i f f i c u l t to harmonize with

20

Ikkyu'8 reputation as a great monk0 Sfaraki Junzo f i n a l l y concludes that

i t was unfortunate that Ikkyu, who had no trouble r i d d i n g himself of

attachment to "name and profit," was so hopelessly addicted to the weak­e s t 27

ness of the f l e s h but/lin spite of i t a l l he was s t i l l a great monk.

However, apologies and excuses are not r e a l l y necessary.

In point of f a c t , as the translated poems w i l l show, Ikkyu himself

almost never f e l t any shame for h i s actions<, This may have been p a r t l y

due to the temper of the times. As has already been mentioned, t h i s was

not a time of p a r t i c u l a r l y stern v i r t u e w i t h i n the Zen church. Many of

the monks kept concubines s e c r e t l y and homosexuality was also r i f e . For

Ikkyu to do openly what other monks kept h a l f hidden was c e r t a i n l y an

expression of honesty i f nothing else and also a kind of protest.

However, more importantly, the nature of Zen enlightenment does

not necessarily condemn experience of the senses. Zen,as a branch of

Mahayana Buddhism, i n s i s t s on the essential unity of nirvana "enlightenment'1

and samsara "the sphere of b i r t h and death", Suzuki, i n his book on

Mahayana Buddhism, presents the formula which i s at the core of Mahayana

Buddhism, "Yas klec^as so \bodhi, yas samsaras t a t nirvananaj' "What i s

s i n or passion, that i s I n t e l l i g e n c e , what i s b i r t h and death that — 28 . — i s Nirvana". This means that there i s no nirvana to be sought outside

t h i s worldly l i f e . Or as t h i s passage from the V i m a l a k i r t i Sutra

expresses i t :

"Just as the lotus flowers do not grow i n the dry-land, but i n the dark colored watery mire, 0 son of good family, i t i s even so [with Intelligence (prajna or bodhi)J. In non-activity and eternal a n n i h i l a t i o n which are cherished by the Cravakas and Pratyekabuddhas there i s no opportunity f o r the seeds and sprouts of Buddhahood to grow. Int e l l i g e n c e can grow only i n the mire and d i r t of passion

21

and s i n . I t i s by v i r t u e of passion and s i n that the seeds and sprouts of buddhahood are able to grow,"29

Suzuki himself i s very eloquent i n the elucidation of t h i s most subtle

point:

"Nirvana i s not to be sought i n the heavens nor after a departure from t h i s earthly l i f e nor i n the a n n i h i l a t i o n of human passions and aspirations o On the contrary, i t must be sought i n the midst of worldliness, as l i f e with a l l i t s t h r i l l s of pain and pleasure i s no more than Nirvana i t s e l f . " 3 0

This conception has inherent i n i t a more pos i t i v e attitude toward the

phenomenal world. This c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of Mahayana Buddhism contrasts

quite s t r i k i n g l y with the more austere and world-disdaining tendencies

of Hinayana Buddhism,

This conception of the essential unity and voidness of the universe

led to a great p r o l i f e r a t i o n i n the ways and means of attaining enlighten­

ment or salvation, <Dne of the most astounding, at least from a t r a d i t i o n a l

Western r e l i g i o u s viewpoint, being that form of Tantric Buddhism which

saw the b l i s s of physical union as the profound experience of the non-31

dual nature of the universe and celebrated i t as such. This i s not to

suggest that Ikkyu was influenced by t h i s form of Buddhism for he c e r t a i n l y

was not, but only to make clear that Ikkyu's fascination with the act of

love was not contradictory to the basic p r i n c i p l e s of Mahayana Buddhism.

Perhaps a useful comparison to make here would be one with the

English poet John Donne, who i s also known equally as an amourous

adventurer and devout prelate. Donne i s often spoken of as having a

" s p l i t personality." In his youth, he i s depicted as a debauched p r o f l i g a t e

chasing f u g i t i v e pleasures one after another. Then l a t e r i n l i f e , he

i s supposed to have renounced and repented his previous l i f e of s i n and

pursued his redemption with a l l the powers of body and soul. However,

22

there seems to have been more unity to h i s personality than that*

C e r t a i n l y , the same s p i r i t runs through a l l h i s poems whether secular or

r e l i g i o u s . There are passages i n h i s love poems that display a pro­

foundly mystical or r e l i g i o u s attitude toward the act of love. For

example i n the "Canonization":

"So, to one neutral thing both sexes f i t

wee dye and r i s e the same, and prove 32

Mysterious by t h i s love."

And then l a t e r , i n his r e l i g i o u s poems he often entreats God as though

God were a powerful mistress; W Y e t dearly I love you and would be lov'd faine,

But am betroth'd unto your enemie,

Divorce mee, untie, or break that knot againe,

Take me to you, imprison me, f o r I

Except you e n t h r a l l me, never s h a l l be free,

Nor ever chast, except you ravi s h mee.

I t seems that John Donne was seeking f o r something throughout

his whole l i f e , i n his youth through union with women and i n his

maturity through union with God. This same seeking i s at the root

of a l l r e l i g i o n s . With Ikkyu, the integration of r e l i g i o n and love,

or love of God and love of women i s more complete. This may be

par t l y due to the fact that he experienced union with God or the

void before he experienced union with women. I t w i l l be remembered

that Ikkyu spent his youth i n s t r i c t r e l i g i o u s t r a i n i n g , and only

af t e r he had attained enlightenment did he discover women. I t was

exactly the opposite with John Donne, and, moreover, i t i s d i f f i c u l t to

23

speak of enlightenment with John Donne. The doubts never seemed to have

ceased i n his mind. One gets the impression that he was never r e a l l y sure

that he had found what he was looking f o r , whereas Ikkyu a f t e r his

enlightenment; never doubted his own grasp of Zen. Thus, he could say things

l i k e "once enter a brothel, then great wisdom happens " and be

absolutely sure of h i s rightness i n saying i t . So i t i s that a freer

s p i r i t breathes through the poems of Ikkyu,and one i s not tempted to speak

of a " s p l i t personality."

24

Translations:

1 have roughly divided the translated poems into the categories

of philosophical, c r i t i c a l , and love, simply to introduce some

organization into the presentation. These categories, however, are only

loosely applicable since i n many poems these themes overlap. I have

t r i e d to place the poems according to which theme predominates.

N.B. I t should be noted that the number i n brackets before each poem

refers to i t s number i n the Yamato Bunka]Kaikan e d i t i o n of the Kyounshu

since i t was that text which I took as f i n a l authority.

IV. Philosophical Poems

Ikkyu's philosophical poems are almost exclusively concerned with

points of Zen philosophy. Ikkyu, i n some poems, explores the various

special c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the philosophies of the former great masters

and i n other poems presents his own thought; but they are a l l linked by

t h e i r common basis i n Zen thought and i t s ultimate goal, enlightenment.

The phenomenon of enlightenment i s the topic of many of these poems.

Perhaps the word philosophical i s misleading because of i t s a n a l y t i c a l

connotations^and these poems are c e r t a i n l y not a n a l y t i c a l . However,

I hesitated to c a l l them r e l i g i o u s because of t h e i r abstract content;

something between philosophical and r e l i g i o u s would have been the

proper word.

r i n z a i shiryoken a b Hinzai's Four Points of View

a. Rinzai Gigen (Lin - c h i I-hsiian) $u fit h i (? - 850) was a great

T'ang master, founder of the Hinzai Sect of Zen to which Ikkyu belonged.

b. The "Four Points of View" shiryoken; are among Hinzai*s teachings

recorded i n the Rinzai roku (Lin-chi lu) 7 " ^ I I. 1 Although i t i s

not known whether Rinzai himself refered to them as "Points of View" or 2

not, they were c e r t a i n l y known to l a t e r generations as such. In essense,

they represent four ways of conceiving the relationship between subject

and object,which are also four ways of conceiving r e a l i t y . Ikkyu takes

these "Four Points of View" as t i t l e s for four poems which are then

26 comments on them.

if f*\ | 4- <L & t

f f # & * - &

datsu nin fudatsu kyo

Hyakujo Isan na imada kyu sezu

yako no mi to suikogyu to

zenctvono k o j i so no j u suru nashi

koyoshufu tomo n i i c h i r o

Taking away the subject, not taking away the object

Hyakujo, a Isan,^ names not yet s t i l l : c d Wild fox body and water buffalo b u l l .

No monks dwell i n the former dynasty's old temples;

Yellow leaves and autumn wind share the pa v i l i o n .

a. ^Hyakujo "was a Zen monk of the T'ang Dynasty, born 720, died 814; his

f u l l name i s Hyakujo Ekai (Po-chang Huai-hai) He

studied Zen with Baso Doitsu (Ma-tsu Dao-i) He i s

most famous for drawing up a set of rules for the organization of Zen

27

communities, one of the most basic miles being "a day of no working i s a 3

day of no eating".

b. °Isan"is another monk of the T'ang dynasty, died 813. His f u l l name

i s Isan Reiyu (Wei-shan Mng-yu) /fe] ' $L s He was a student of _ 4 Hyakujo and co-founder of the Igyo (Wei-yangj sect of Zen i n China.

c. "Wild fox body"is an a l l u s i o n to a story concerning Hyakujo. The

story goes as follows: "There was an old man who l i s t e n e d everyday to

Hyakujo expounding the law and afterwards l e f t with the crowd. One day he

stayed behind. Hyakujo asked him who he was. The old man r e p l i e d saying,

'Once i n the time of Eashobutsu (a Buddha before ShakyameniJ there was a

teacher named Boko [a Mister So and So] l i v i n g on t h i s mountain. A

student of h i s asked him, 'Can a man of great t r a i n i n g f a l l i n t o the chain

of Karma or not?' Boko said, lNo, he does not f a l l i n t o the chains of

Karma." Then,after t h i s Boko died;he was reincarnated f i v e hundred times

as a fox. Now, I ask you f o r the sake of t h i s Boko, say the word of

enlightenment that he may be l i b e r a t e d from h i s fox body.' Hyakujo

said , 'The man of great t r a i n i n g does not ignore Karma.' At t h i s the old - «5

man was immediately enlightened and revered Hyakujo. ...

d. *'Water buffalo"refers to a koan of Isan's i n which he confronts his

students with the problem: "Suppose, a hundred years a f t e r I die, a water

buffalo comes to the parochial houses with an i n s c r i p t i o n on his l e f t

flank saying 'Monk Isan'. Then, i f you say 'This i s Isan,' i t i s s t i l l a

water buffalo, i f you say ' I t i s a water bu f f a l o . ' then i t i s s t i l l Monk

Isan. I f you say, 'What kind of a thing i s t h i s ? ' , then you understand."^

e. R i n z a i , when asked for further explanation of his "Four Points of

View" provided comments for each one and these are given at the end of

each of Ikkyu ' s poems for the sake of comparison, Kudu's cotwnenHW Os):

9 & % q

The shining sun, breaking forth, the earth is spread with a

brocade of flowers,*

On the child hangs hair as white as thread.

w f >i % if • A .

* $ if l |

* ftfl *L*^

* * i . & 4 M fif .

datsu kyo fudatsu nin

Rinzai no jison tare ka tekiden

shufu mekkyaku su katsuro hen

boai chikujo furyu no tomo

kyokuroku Ssokuvjo myori no zen

Taking away the object, not taking away the subject

Who, among Rinzai' s descendents received the true transmission? 4My teaching w i l l be lost in the hands of blind donkeys I a

Straw sandals, bamboo walking stick, I ' l l be a friend of wind and stream*

29

Monk's chairs, wooden beds, you can have your Zen of name and ... c.d. p r o f i t .

a, "My teaching w i l l be l o s t i n the hands of b l i n d donkeys" i s a quote

from the Rinzai o»oku. At the occasion of t h i s remark, Rinzai was s i c k

and close to death. Re had c a l l e d his f a v o r i t e d i s c i p l e to his bedside

and asked what he would say a f t e r Rinzai was dead to someone who came and

asked,"\rfhat was Rinzai's teaching?" The d i s c i p l e shouted, whereupon Rinzai 7

said, "You see my teaching w i l l be l o s t i n the hands of b l i n d donkeys."

This i s one of the paradoxes of R i n z a i Zen., for according to t r a d i t i o n ,

Rinzai's Zen was transmitted to that p u p i l , yet the story seems to

indicate otherwise.

b. "Monk's chairs, wooden beds" - These pieces of furniture are

associated with high-ranking monks. The p o r t r a i t s of famous monks

usually show them seated i n a chair. Wooden beds were considered

more luxurious than t r a d i t i o n a l rope ones because they were usually

ornate.

c. "Name and p r o f i t " i s a c l a s s i c expression which denotes a l l desire a f t e r

personal aggrandizement and wealth. The word r i or " p r o f i t " has had a

decidedly p e j o r a t i v e connotation ever since Mencius i n the opening

passage of h i s book so soundly berated the King of Wei for even mentioning

i t 0 I t c e r t a i n l y has that sense here.

d. Rinzai'8 comment for the same "Ppint of View":

n l i ^ it 4 / l

The King's commands already carried out a l l over the country,

The general outside the f r o n t i e r brings an end to smoke and dust.

30

U5J

If t *. I il it # ifc tt'ii ft /$ A. L A if itf K £

if & a <9 & M

ninkyo gudatsu

e h i e i kisho mi chanten

Hei)Fun shin o zetsu shite wato madoka nari

y a r a i mekkyaku su s h i j i n no kyo

ke i wa oru shufu hakuro no mae

Taking away both subject and object a b The pheasant takes for cover, the t o r t o i s e i s scorched, one i s

obstructed.

Revolts i n P i n and Fen, b e l i e f i s cut off yet people chatter.

Night comes and the poet's i n s p i r a t i o n dies avay. Q

Before white f r o s t , the cinnamon tree l i e s broken, autumn wind.

a. "The pheasant takes for cover" refers to a story about a forest f i r e g

i n which a pheasant plays a heroic but desperate part. I t i s a metaphor

for a d i s t r e s s i n g s i t u a t i o n .

b. "The t o r t o i s e i s scorched" refers to the ancient custom of obtaining

31

oracles by patting a hot i r o n to a t o r t o i s e s h e l l and then in t e r p r e t i n g

the cracks thereby produced. In times of d i s t r e s s , oracles are frequently

sought.

c. "One i s obstructed" means the oracle i s bad; one cannot do what one

wants to do. The l i n e as a whole i s suggesting a time of misfortune.

d. "Revolts i n Pi n and Fen b e l i e f i s cut o f f " . This i s a d i r e c t quote

from Rinzai's comment on the same opinion, (see following). The

commentary to the Rinzai's Roku says that P i n and Fen were two provinces

of the T'ang empire who revolted against the dynasty under the leadership

of Go Gensai (Wu Yuan-chi) % L lw . 9 The meaning of Rinzai's

comment seems to be that b e l i e f or t r u s t i n humanity i s extinguished by

the treacherous r e v o l t of Pin and Fan. That i s , i t i s no longer possible

to believe that human order can p r e v a i l forever. This i s an i r o n i c

contrast to the previous prose poem of Rinzai's where human order, the

King's way, looked to be permanent.

e. Rinzai's comment for the t h i r d "Point of View".

# ft ifc ft

i f k - * The revolts of Ron and Fan cut off b e l i e f ,

He i s alone, staying i n one corner.

(16)

A. A A r- 4 | i t H it ^ & tf i ii to & * %

ninkyo gufudatsu

i u nakare s a i r a i sen hanmon to

inbo shushi n i kokun a r i

tada h i t o no Sojo ga katsu o wa su n i yotte

chodan su kindai nippo no kumo

Not taking away subject or object

Don't say bring on some more moneyI

Brothels and sake-shops have t h e i r own merit.

I t ' s j ust for that people t a l k of Sojo's a t h i r s t :

Breathtaking, music from the koto stand, clouds at sunset.^

a. Sojo's t h i r s t - Sojo i s a famous character of the Han dynasty. His

f u l l name i s Shiba Sojo (Ssu-ma Hsiang-ju) He was

a man of high rank and served as an o f f i c i a l from time to time, but he -tVius,

was extremely fond of reading books and drinking wine and'1 never kept a

pos i t i o n for long and was always poor. One day he f e l l i n love with a

lord's daughter Bunkun ^Wen-chun) ^- . He won her love by playing

to her night after night on his Koto, ^hence the reference to the Koto

i n the fourth l i n e ) . However, he was s t i l l too poor to support his newly-

won wife, so he sold his carriage, one of his few remaining possessions

and bought a wine shop. The wine shop was a f i n a n c i a l success and

content with his wife and his !koto, Sojo never had to want for wine again.

b. Rinzai's comment for the fourth "Point of View."

£ f f it if Jt i& i !

33

The King goes up to h i s treasure house

In the f i e l d an old man sings

"Rinzai's Four Points of View" can be interpreted i n two ways,

eit h e r as four ways of conceiving r e a l i t y or four stages of attainment i n

the course of enlightenmento Suzuki i s of the opinion that they are four

ways of s t a t i n g r e a l i t y which are at the same time independent from one 11

another and connected to one another. Suzuki lays emphasis on the

understanding of the word nin A ; he maintains that i t i s not "man"

i n any absolute sense nor an i n d i v i d u a l man but rather "subject" i n

intimate r e l a t i o n s h i p with and opposition to "object" kyo \ while

the terms datsu and fudatsu ~& ^ correspond to "negating", 12

"taking away", and "affirming", "not taking away". Suzuki also says

that since Rinzai l e f t these four phrases with only the four sets of

oblique comments for explanation, i t always has been and i s very unclear

what Rin z a i himself exactly meant by these "Four Points of View." He

concludes that i t i s f o r each person who undertakes to study the "Four 13

Points of View" to make hxs own commentary as Suzuki himself has done.

Thus, with encouragement and a i d from Suzuki Daisetsu, I have humbly

attempted a commentary of my own for these evasive "Four Points of View"

and Ikkyu's poems, which are no more straightforward.

The f i r s t of the "Four Points of View", "Taking away the subject,

not taking away the object" denotes a state i n which the object i s

affirmed and the subject i s negated. This r e a l l y amounts to the affirmation

of the substance or r e a l i t y of the object as opposed to the non-substance

and u n r e a l i t y of the subject,, In the human world, the subject i s always

34

" I " or the ego-self, while the object i s the world at large, the objective

universe. Here then,it i s a case where the " I " has no r e a l substance to

i t while the world at large does. Thus, i n Rinzai's comments the f i e l d

brocaded with flowers represents the objective world or nature which with

i t s ever-renewing cycles i s f u l l of substance and r e a l i t y ^ w h i l e the image

of the c h i l d with white h a i r denotes the " I " , the ego-self, which when i t

dies i s gone and so has no r e a l substance. In Ikkyu's poem, Hyakujo and

Isan represent two " I , M s who have c e r t a i n l y passed away? t h e i r names l i v e

by the s t o r i e s connected with them, but i t i s c e r t a i n that no monks are

dwelling i n the temples where they used to l i v e . There i s only the yellow

leaves and autumn wind, Ikkyu's images f o r the objective world of nature,win

complement Binzai's spring f i e l d of flowers.

I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g that although the view that objects possess

r e a l substance i s a false view i n Buddhism, i n t h i s context i t leads toward

the negation of ego. That i s , the idea of the absolute r e a l i t y of the

objective universe leads to a r e a l i z a t i o n of how small and ephemeral the

ego i s i n comparison, and t h i s tends towards a sense of egolessness which

i s a step i n the r i g h t d i r e c t i o n so f a r as Buddhism i s concerned. Thus,

t h i s point of view can be looked on as a stage i n at t a i n i n g enlightenment.

The second "Point of View" designates the s i t u a t i o n where the

subject i s affirmed and the object i s negated, that i s , subject i s regarded

as r e a l and object i s regarded as unreal. This conception approaches a

kind of absolute idealism; indeed, Ui describes t h i s "Point of View" as

the opinion "that the entire world i s merely a r e f l e c t i o n of one's own

consciousness.

Kinzai's comment for t h i s one seems to r e f e r to Confucianism. His

35

meaning i s hard to grasp here, but perhaps he i s pointing at the Confucian

tendency to regard ideas l i k e jen \z~ "Benevolence," i_ "Justice," and

wang-tao %- "the Way of the King,"as more r e a l or having more

substance than the objective world. Certainly the attention of the

Confucians was centered on ideas, and t h i s quite altered t h e i r perception of

the objective world. Ikkyu, i n his poem, on the other hand, takes the

opportunity to brandish fo r t h his own self-confident ego, by asserting,

as he does often, that he with his simple habits has inherited the true

transmission while other monks bewitched by the fame and gain of the

objective world go t h e i r way to pe r d i t i o n . Ikkyu asserts himself, h i s

" o r i g i n a l nature" and,thus, sees through the i l l u s i o n s of the objective

world.

Although i t i s not essential to the inte r p r e t a t i o n of Ikkyu's poem,

i t should be noted here that t h i s "Point of View", too, corresponds to a

stage i n enlightenment because i t implys an awareness of the intimate

connection between subject and object. The subject i s i n a sense creating

the object^and, thus, the two are i n the end one.

The t h i r d "Point of View" presents the s i t u a t i o n where both subject

and object are negated. In the language of the Lankavatara sutra t h i s

state i s known as pudgaladharmanairatmya (here ho

has the same meaning as kyo i f j ) "the egol essness of both the ind i v i d u a l 15

soul and external objects". In other words, there i s "no self-substance l 6

i n anything." This i s regarded as a state of true enlightenment because

du a l i t y i s f i n a l l y transcended, and a l l things are r e a l i z e d to be void.

This i s the point of view which has popularly gained Buddhism a reputation

for n i h i l i s m . This negative statement of the non-dual tr u t h of the

36

universe presupposes, however, that the opposite p o s i t i v e statement i s also

true since nothing can be absolute not even negation.

However, c e r t a i n l y both Rinzai's comment and Ikkyu's poem have a

gloomy aspect about them. Rinzai'8 comment for t h i s "Point of View"

seems to be i n i r o n i c contrast to the l a s t one where the King's way was

followed and a l l was i n peace; here, revolts i n Pin and Fan cut off b e l i e f

i n a l l things, the subject ceases to act. Ikkyu makes a collage of images

of distress and suffering i n the human, animal, and plant worlds, bad

luck f o r the pheasant and everyone; men aren't dependable, but no one

learns; even the poets i n s p i r a t i o n i s ephemeral; autumn brings death,

destruction and cold. Under such circumstances,who wouldn't welcome the

ex t i n c t i o n of subject and object.

The fourth "Point of View" happily presents the p o s i t i v e expression

of the non-dual t r u t h ' subject and object are both affirmed as r e a l .

As was mentioned i n the previous discussion of the t h i r d "Point of View",

the negative expression presupposes that the p o s i t i v e expression i s also

true°. unreal and r e a l , when d u a l i t y i s transcended^are the same. This

i s the f i n a l goal of Mahayana Buddhism, to come back to the world and

act i n the world but cleansed of false notions by the process described.

Rinzai's comment describes a s i t u a t i o n where a l l seems as i t should, the

king i n his treasure house and the old man singing i n the f i e l d . Ikkyu's

poem emphasizes the fact that from t h i s enlightened point of view there

i s merit i n brothels and sake-shops too. He also advocates l i v i n g at

each moment and not worrying f o r the future. So, i f you have only a l i t t l e

money now, don't worry about spending i t on wine for who knows what t o ­

morrow may bring, luck l i k e Sojo's perhaps. This i s Ikkyu's way of saying

37

"Live i n the eternal now."

(7)

* A t

* On -f

ii

Kido Osho o san su

Ikuo no j u i n yo mina somuku

hoe o hoge shite haai no gotoshi

Rinzai no shoden i t t e n nashi

i t t e n no fugetsu gin kai n i mitsu

Praising Monk Kido b

The master of YH-wang revolted i n every way against the world,

Abandoning his habit as though i t were a broken sandal,

Rinzai's correct transmission, not a single point.

Whole sky, wind whistling moon, f i l l s a singing heart.

a. ,' H<mk< Kido - Kido Chigu (Hsu-t'ang Chih-yu) it ^ was a

monk of the Sung i>ynasty; he died i n 1269 at the age of eighty-five. He

received his teaching from Renan (&V«n-an) |f_ , a master of the Rinzai

38

l i n e . He was noted f o r being a wanderer, never long i n one place and

very unpredictable,, His death poem, recorded i n the Kido @)sho ^oroku,

i s as follows:

Eighty-five years

Not even knowing the Patriarchs,

Rowing with elbow, serving, going, 17

Erasing my tracks i n the Great Void.

be "Yu-wang"- This i s one of the many mountain temples that Kido served

at. He was supposed to have been the Master of Yu-wang for a three year 18

period s t a r t i n g i n 1258.

Ikkyu often found encouragement and consolation i n studying the

teachings and exploits of the great Zen masters of the T'ang and Sung

periods. He f e l t p a r t i c u l a r l y close to Kido Osho since there was some

s i m i l a r i t i e s i n t h e i r l i f e s t y l e s . Ikkyu sometimes signed himself as,

"Ikkyu Sojun, the seventh generation of Kido." I t w i l l also be remembered

that he mentioned Kido i n his death poem, " i f Kido comes, he's not worth

hal f a penny." This sounds disrespectful,but i t i s r e a l l y l i k e a joke

between soulmates. Kido, only wanting to obscure his tracks i n the void

had no intention whatsoever to be remembered as worthy. Thus, Ikkyu's poem

i s a c t u a l l y a kind of backhand compliment.

This poem praising Kido i s more straightforward. Ikkyu praises

him f o r being such an "homme revolte" and so marvelously detached from

hi s status as a monk. He could discard his habit as i f i t were a broken

sandal. Kido didn't even know about the Patriarchs, how much less

concerned must he have been with the f i n e points of the correct transmission

39 of R i n z a i , something which was probably debated at great length i n the

temples that Ikkyu was accustomed to. Ikkyu f i n i s h e s the poem with an image

from nature, the moon on a windy night which symbolizes the free s p i r i t

of Kido. Thinking of him,Ikkyu i s f i l l e d with poems.

(9)

*> #[ I ;f f f £ & $ 3 * A ?$ %

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hi f IL 4 | *

i k a nam ka kore Rinzai ka no j i , . QoSo en iwaku gogyaku r a i o kiku

kisen no ikkatsu tetsuchi kuzuru

gogyaku ganrai noso n i a r i

t o r i shun^pu seien no yube

hansei hahsui shu jo no gotoshi

What i s i t l i k e , the Rinzai sect? Ihe F i f t h Patriarch l e c t u r i n g said,

"the f i v e sins, and one hears thunder."

Just at the threshold^ one shout and the iro n cage crumbles.

The f i v e sins are i n monks since the beginning.

Peach and plum, spring wind, a beautiful feast at evening:

Half sober, half drunk, sake's l i k e a rope.

40

a. "The F i f t h P a t r i a r c h " - Gunin (Hung-jen) >1« i s the F i f t h

P atriarch of the Zen sect and l i v e d during the T'ang dynasty i n China.

A l l the patriarchs before the Sixth Patriarch have a somewhat legendary

existence and therefore d e f i n i t e dates are not available. He was reported

to be the f i r s t Zen patriarch to have a very large following,, However,

his fame i s somewhat overshadowed by the pre-eminence of the Sixth

P a t r i a r c h . \i „ anJ one. ,,

b. The Five SinsAhears thunder - These are a l i s t of f i v e crimes against

Buddhism which are supposed to without f a i l send one to i n f e r n a l punish­

ment. In order of ascending seriousness they are: to k i l l one's father,

to k i l l one's mother, to k i l l an arhat (an enlightened man), to draw blood 19

from a Buddha, and to cause dissension wi t h i n the Order. I think,

however, that here the Five Sins are not to be taken too l i t e r a l l y but

rather as a metaphor for man's propensity to do e v i l . "To hear thunder"

i s to be shocked into an awareness of the nature of s i n . Ikkyu

seems to equate i t with Rinzai*s shouting.

c 0 "The threshold" refers to the point i n time which i s r i g h t f o r

att a i n i n g enlightenment.

Rinzai was famous for shouting at the r i g h t time to push his

students to sudden enlightenment. At the breaking point, a l l d i s t i n c t i o n s

between good and e v i l , s i n and v i r t u e , are di s p e l l e d and the i r o n cage

that such d u a l i s t i c thinking produces collapses. A l l monks are chained

by the notion of s i n . Rinzai's katsu has also been compared to "Vajra's 20

precious sword", t h u s ^ i t i s capable of cutting the rope of attachment

to the spring evening feasts and over-indulgence i n wine. Above a l l , the

special c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of Rinzai's Zen i s complete l i b e r a t i o n .

(10)

+• n L t ?? & •% i*« «? $ f « A. c a i- g -V + * i n $ n - f i ? M ^ * « . i i » 4.

i k a nam ka kore Vomon shu, en iwaku koki senjaku

kaki kaze atataka n i shite shundai n i ugoku

hachiju j o i n sh i seki hiraku

i c h i j i kan, sankutai

ikubaku h i t o ka ganri n i koai o tsuku

What i s i t l i k e , Unmon's sect? He l e c t u r i n g s a i d , "The red f l a g

sparkles and flashes"**

The f i n e f l a g i n the warm wind moves above the spring dais,

Eighty people or more, the master begins his lecture. c d One word b a r r i e r , three phrase body of knowledge :

How many people have red specks i n t h e i r eyes?

a. Unmon Bunen (Yun-men Wen-yen) ^ f l was a monk of the

Late T'ang dynasty (died 9^9). Seppo Gizon (Hsueh-feng I-ts'un)

42

^ was his master. Seppo broke Unmon's leg by closing a 21

door on i t , and the r e s u l t i n g pain enlightened him. He was founder of

the Unmon sect which,however, was never brought to Japan.

b„ The red f l a g sparkles and flashes i s a koan of Unmon's about the 22

nature of enlightenment.

c. ''One word b a r r i e r " - This refers to a story i n which Unmon i s involved.

I t goes, "At the end of the summer, Suigan said to a gathering, 'For one

gammer now, I have been explaining the Dharma to you students„ See, do I

s t i l l have eyebrows?' \People who f a l s i f y the Dharma are supposed to get

leprosy, one of the f i r s t signs of which i s the loss of eyebrowsTj

Hofuku said, 'Robbers have f a l s e hearts.* Chokei said, ' your eyebrows

are growing.' Unmon said, l!lkantl ( b a r r i e r ) . 0 This came to be known as,

"Unmon's one word b a r r i e r . " I t i s believed Unmon meant something l i k e

"There's a trap here."

d. "Three phrase body of Knowledge"refers to three famous phrases of Unmon's.

The f i r s t being kangai kenkon, l l "box and l i d , heaven and

earth; the second, setsudan shuryu, (5v >«Ll /^cutting o f f ,

everything flows;" and the t h i r d , zuiha chikuro, ft. it i i . >L

''following waves, chasing waves." A clear explanation of these phrases

which i n themselves are koans i s a thorny problem indeed. I have decided

to follow the lead of l/umoulin and take as a guide his interpretation of

the commentary on these three phrases by Engo Kokugon. Accordingly, the

meaning of the f i r s t i s "True R e a l i t y , True Emptiness i s the marvelous

existence i n each perception, each cognition, completely evident and

unequivocal." The second phrase means, "True R e a l i t y defies understanding

or expression i n words. When a l l appearances suddenly come to a re s t , the

passions are destroyed." And the t h i r d means, "The knowledge of r e a l i t y

gained through outside objects i s said to be l i k e the characterizing and

knowing of the earth from i t s germs or a man from his words. (That i s , 24

appearances are completely r e l a t i v e ; . . . . ) "

Many of Ikkyu's poems seem to be composed l i k e collages; the

connection, s between the l i n e s are not based on any l o g i c a l or r a t i o n a l

kind of continuity. One l i n e simply evokes the next, sometimes by way

of complement, sometimes by way of contrast, sometimes by way of random

association. This i s a poem of t h i s type. The subject of the poem,

"What i s i t l i k e Unmon's sect?,"unifies the poem, the content of the poem

being b i t s and pieces of what Ikkyu knows about Unmon. The red f l a g c a l l s

into Ikkyu's mind the image of a spring meeting of monks under banners,

Unmon presiding, enlightening the gathering with his c h a r a c t e r i s t i c a l l y

laconic teaching. Since t h i s i s not R i n z a i , however, Ikkyu fe e l s moved

to c r i t i c i z e t h i s sect, so the l a s t l i n e , "How many people have red

specks i n t h e i r eyes?" has a p e j o r a t i v e sense, meaning how many people

have received t h i s teaching and s t i l l remain unenlightened.

(11)

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44

Ika nam ka kore Igyo shu, en iwaku danbi koro n i yokotau

Ejaku wa shaka Reiyu wa ushi

himo sabutsu mata furyu

kohi michi tayu chokei no kaku

bansei no seimei koyv> no aki

••ft What i s i t l i k e , t h i s Igyo sect? He le c t u r i n g said, "a cut down stone

marker l y i n g on i t s side on the old road." b —c Ejaku became a monk, Heiyu became a cow;

A Buddha covered with hsdr £$ Also d e l i g h t f u l .

Old stone marker, the road stops, man of the long valley.**

10,000 generations of names, autumn's yellow leaves.

a. Igyo (Wei-yang) sect - During the T'ang dynasty the Zen sect was

s p l i t into North and South. The Igyo sect was one of the Five houses, of

the Southern branch. The sect was co-founded by Isan Reiyu (Wei-shan

Ling-yu) i* %_ and Ryozan Ejaku (Yang-shan Hui-chi) $f <b

between the years 806 to 820. The Igyo sect was not long-lived

however, and by the beginning of the Sung dynasty, i n 960, i t was 25

amalgamated into the Rinzai sect.

b. Ejaku-The aforementioned Ryozan Ejaku was born i n 814 and died i n 890.

As a youth of f i f t e e n he wanted to leave his family home and become a

monk but he was denied permission from his parents. At the age of

seventeen he cut off two fingers to impress his parents with the earnest­

ness of his intention and was f i n a l l y allowed to g o . ^

c. Isan Reiyu (see poem 13 for biographical information and the story of

45

the cow.)

d. ''man of the long v a l l e y " - i n the Sotei j i e n (Tsu-t'ing shih-yuan)

)tj Isan i s described as having been "born i n the long 27

v a l l e y of Fukushu (Fu-chou)"

This poem i s another collage poem, t h i s time the subject being

the Igyo sect. This sect was already long extinct by Ikkyu's time and

the second part of the t i t l e about the old stone marker l y i n g on the road

refers to t h i s f a c t . Whenever Ikkyu mentions Isan, the next reference i s

to a cow, since Ikkyu's fav o r i t e story i n connection with Isan seems to

have been the story of the water buffalo reincarnation. Here again,

Ikkyu expresses his amusement at the idea of a Buddha covered with hair.

The t h i r d l i n e harks back to the fact that the Igyo sect i s no more. The

fourth l i n e i s very s i m i l a r to the l a s t l i n e of poem 13, the image being

autumn leaves expressing the relentless passing away of generations of

people and leaves, the c l a s s i c Buddhist theme of impermanence.

( 12 )

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46

i k a nam ka kore Hogen shu

en iwaku junnin yo o okasu

i t t e k i no Sogen, i t t e k i fukashi

junnin nyonyo yo chinchin

seizan manmoku kore nan no ho zo

kashu nao hoshin o manabu ga gotoshi

What i s i t l i k e t h i s Hogen sect , he l e c t u r i n g said,

"The watchman breaks into the night."

One drop at the source of the Ts'ao,** one drop deep.

The watchman raises a row,but the night i s s i l e n t and deep.

Verdant mountains f i l l everyone's eyes, what kind of law i s t h i s ?

I t i s l i k e the ugly women studying to frown.

a. The Hogen (Fa-yen) sect was a sect of the l a t e T'ang dynasty and

Five Dynastj^js period. I t was founded by the Hogen Buneki (Fa-yen Wen-i)

jC- 885-958, a very learned man who brought Zen closer to

a form of sutra Buddhism than any other of the great T'ang Zen masters

b. "One drop at the source of the Ts'ao r i v e r " - There i s a story about

Hogen i n the Sha shi tsukin (Shin shih t'ung chien) $ f ^ ifL -4f«. which

goes as follows: "Master Shokoku asked Hogen, 'What i s i t l i k e , one drop of

water from the Ts'ao r i v e r ? ' Hogen said, ' I t i s one drop of water from the - 29 Ts'ao r i v e r . ' Shokoku hearing t h i s was immediately enlightened. ..." The

other story which helps to elucidate the meaning of t h i s reference, i s one

from the Dento Roku, (Ch'uan teng lu) which records that "In

the year 502, there was a monk named Chih-yao who s a i l e d i n a boat u n t i l he

47 VIM - cVlot>

reached issssfea and the waters of the Ts'ao r i v e r . Ue had heard of the

excellent taste of t h i s water and said that at the upper reaches of t h i s

r i v e r there was f i n e land. Accordingly, he b u i l t a mountain temple there

and c a l l e d i t P a o - l i n . Many years a f t e r , the Sixth Patriarch Eno (Hui-

nengj l i v e d and taught there. Thus, water from the r i v e r Ts'ao i s also

a metaphor f o r the Zen teachings of the Sixth Patriarch c ^

In t h i s poem, the watchman represents the unenlightened person.

This i s made cl e a r i n the second l i n e by the contrast between the watch­

man, b l i n d l y c l a t t e r i n g about i n the night and the night i t s e l f which i s

i n f i n i t e l y deep and calm and would appear so to the watchman i f he

could only s t i l l himself for a moment. One i s reminded of Tokusan (T&»

shan) "/vc i* who attained sudden enlightenment when his master blew 31

out the candle, and Tokusan experienced the deepness of the night. I t

w i l l be remembered that Ikkyu also experienced his enlightenment at night.

Hogen's words of enlightenment to Shokoku make up the f i r s t l i n e of the

poem. The meaning of t h i s l i n e i s s i m i l a r to Blake's "to see the world

i n a grain of sand," or the passage from the Lankavatara sutra which says

that knowing one dharma i s to know the 10,000 dharmas. In essence^ i t

means that by thoroughly penetrating one thing, one can understand a l l

things. The l a s t three l i n e s , however, seem to c r i t i c i z e Hogen. I t

appears that Ikkyu feels either Hogen or his followers couldn't perceive

essential truths for making too much noise. I t w i l l be remembered that

Hogen brought Zen closest to a form of Sutra Buddhism,and i t may be to

t h i s that Ikkyu i s ref e r i n g . The t h i r d l i n e contrasts with the second

by being an image of day rather than night; ihtke-dayi-b^such people do not

48

understand. The fourth l i n e refers to the story of the ugly woman who

copied a famous beauty's frown, only to make herself more ugly. The

implication i s that Hogen mimics true Zen but only makes himself r i d i c u l o u s .

(8)

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Daito Kokushi gyojo no sue n i daisu

«laito o kakage okoshite i t t e n n i kagayaku

iranyo homare o kisou hodo no mae

•fusan suishuku h i to no kisuru nashi

Daigo kyohen n i n i j u nen

Inscri-p-tion {or the s t o r y a of the behavior of Daito Kokushi b

Raise up high the great lamp, 0 l e t i t l i g h t the whole sky,

The phoenix carriages'* compete to praise before the Dharma H a l l , e

Wind-eating, water-dwelling , no one remembers f

The twenty years he spent around Gojo Bridge.

a. story - The character i s matsu "the end", but here i t i s an

49 abbrieviation for jt£ j^. beginning and end, meaning a story.

b. Daito Myocho Kokushi A it # ti D if was the founder of

D a i t o k u j i . He died at the age of f i f t y - s i x i n 1337.

c. "The great lamp"is a l i t e r a l t r a n s l a t i o n of Daito's name. I think i t

i s i n t h i s sense that Ikkyu meant i t to be taken here.

d. "Phoenix carriages"means "important" people.

e. uVind-eating, water-dwelling'-'is a conventional phrase for describing

the l i f e of a very poor person or beggar.

f. "Gojo Bridge"is a bridge over the Kamogawa i n Kyoto. Daito l i v e d

i n a temple close to there named Unkoji and begged at the bridge during 33 T

that time. "

So i t i s with men who become famous, people often forget the time

they spent i n obscurity. In Ikkyu's time, Daitokuji was such a large

and wealthy temple, the celebrations for i t s founder were l a v i s h and

attracted many of the most powerful people i n the country. However, few

of these people bothered to remember that part of Daito's greatness was

due to the fact that he had spent twenty years begging around Gojo J

Bridge. Ikkyu remembers i t .

(311, 312, 313, and 314)

prose introduction:

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50

Good and e v i l have never been confused. In t h i s world, those

who do good are a l l friends of Shun, and those who do e v i l are a l l friends

of Chieho^ The pheasant i s always attacked by the hawk, the r a t i s

always b i t t e n by the cat, t h i s i s innate i n them and decided beforehand.

The way i n which a l l l i v i n g creatures take refuge i n Buddha's Virtue and

escape sinking into b i r t h and death i s also l i k e t h a t . 0 Therefore, I

made poems and instructed a gathering with them.

a. Shun = The legendary Emperor Shun, one of the triumvirate of model

rulers, Yu, Yao and Shun.

b. Chieh - the cruel l a s t r u l e r of the Hsia Dynasty who was as infamous

for e v i l as Shun was famous f o r good.

c. They also have t h i s capacity f o r goodness innate i n them.

1311)

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yochi somyo moto jinen

ion gorai kyu innen

terashi miru Basel zangetsu no akatsuki

Meiko no kikan Bakai no mae

Eagle and pheasant, rat and cat, are o r i g i n a l l y so of themselves;

Since time immemorial the ancient lav of karma.

To see the moon remaining at dawn at Hua-ch'ing, — b c Was Genso's reminder of what happened at Ma-wei.

a. "Hua-ch1ing"was a palace b u i l t by the T'ang Emperor Genso (Hsuan-tsung) "Kin.

f o r h i s f a v o r i t e concubine Yokihi (Yang-kuei-fei). The l i n e as a

whole seems to allude to the l i n e i n PbjChu-i's poem "The Long Grie f " ; i J * h h % K &

35

"At the temporary palace, see the moon, color of a wounded heart,"

This l i n e describes Genso s t i l l i n e x i l e at a temporary palace a f t e r

Yokihi i s dead, looking at the moon.

b. "Genso's reminder"- The T'ang Emperor Genso was so infatuated with

the concubine Yokihi that he shamefully neglected the a f f a i r s of state.

Because of t h i s neglect and also the l a v i s h amounts of money Genso

spent i n b u i l d i n g palaces and gardens for Y o k i h i , the country was close

to f i n a n c i a l r u i n . An o f f i c e r of high rank i n the army, Anrokuzan (An-

lu-shanj, seeing his opportunity started a r e v o l t which at f i r s t was

very successful and swept him into the c a p i t a l . The Emperor and his

court were forced to f l e e with the remnants of the Imperial army. At

Ma-wei, however, the army refused to defend the Emperor u n t i l he k i l l e d

Yokihi whom they considered as primarily responsible for the decline

of the country. Thus, to save the dynasty, Genso was forced to k i l l

Yokihi himself. This p a c i f i e d his troops. His son then set himself

up as Emperor i n another part of the country and gradually won back

t h e i r losses. Genso was eventually c a l l e d back to the c a p i t a l and

l i v e d the rest of his l i f e i n lonely retirement with only the memories

of the former happy times with Yokihi to comfort him.

c. As mentioned above, Ma-wei was the place where Yokihi was

k i l l e d .

(312;

A I it A : t t & i %

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kagen^mi tarebito ka ryodatsu su

akunin wa c h i n r i n shi zensha wa datsu su

furyu aisubeshi koan madokanari

Tokusan no bo Rinzai no katsu

Past, present, and future, who comprehends i t ?

Bad people sink, good people are released;

Pleasure i s lovable, the koan i s complete: a b Tokusan's s t i c k , Hinzai's shout.

a. "Tokusan's s t i c k " - The Zen master Tokusan Senkan (Te-shan Hsiian-

chien) ifL- b 2 WL was noted fo r his use of the s t i c k i n Zen

teaching, He i s recorded as saying to a group of his followers,

"Whether a person can explain or not, he receives t h i r t y blows with the

s t i c k , " This gives some idea of the extent to which Tokusan used his

s t i c k .

b. "Rinzai's shout"- The Zen master Rinzai Gigen was equally famous f o r

shouting at the r i g h t occassions.

(313)

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furyu no shifun mata kosho

Tomyo no Nyorai dancho o ikansen

shinnu kore Bakaisen ka no haku

rikon no senjo fuso n i takuseraru

Elegant i n her powder and rouge;

Even a Supremely Enlightened Buddha would be touched.

See she i s the s p i r i t from the spring of Ma-wei:

The beauty's departed soul was banished to Japan, perhaps.

54

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s h i n j i n sadamarazu ka to shin to

yokkai no shujo kushin n i shizumu

shumu sansho rokujikko

gokku raushiki Bakai no kami i

Body and mind cannot be separated into temporary or r e a l .

In the world of desire, everyone sinks into s u f f e r i n g .

Bittersweet dream, past, present and future, s i x t y k a l p a s , a

The kalpas are void and formless, the s p i r i t of Ma-wei.

a. kalpa - a Buddhist measurement of time, q u a l i f i e d i n such poetic ways

as, "The period required f o r a c e l e s t i a l woman to wear away a ten-mile

cubic stone i f she touched i t with her garments once every three years^" •30

which means that i t i s a very long period of time.

karma, the Buddhist concept of cause and e f f e c t . In the beginning i t seems

quite simple: good acts bring good e f f e c t s , bad acts bring bad e f f e c t s ,

and c e r t a i n things are set; the eagle always attacks the pheasant, the

cat always b i t e s the r a t . Nothing leads one to r e f l e c t on the laws of

Ikkyu i n these poems and prose passage r e f l e c t s on the nature of

55 karma so much as examples of people i n l o f t y positions f a l l i n g from

grace at a single blow,, So, i n the f i r s t poem Ikkyu thinks of Y o k i h i ,

who had r i s e n so high i n the world that the mothers and fathers of China

began to wish f o r g i r l babies rather than boy babies so that they could

follow her example. However, no sooner was she at her zenith than by

fate i n the guise of the Anrokuzan r e b e l l i o n , she was cut down. Genso

too, was i n the same p o s i t i o n , having found a woman who pleased him more

than anything i n the world, he was forced to k i l l her the next moment.

The second poem brings the r e s o l u t i o n to t h i s seemingly untenable

s i t u a t i o n ; a l l i s as i t should be, only f a l s e t h i n k i n g makes i t seem

otherwise and there i s always Tokusan's s t i c k and Rinzai's shout to j o l t

one out of that. The t h i r d and fourth poem present a p o s i t i v e and

negative a t t i t u d e towards the world and,more p a r t i c u l a r l y , the s i t u a t i o n

©f Genso and Y o k i h i . They correspond roughly to the l a s t two of Hinzai*s

"Four Points of View", the p o s i t i v e and negative way of s t a t i n g the

t r u t h of the universe. The t h i r d poem presents the p o s i t i v e attitude.

Ikkyu delights i n beauty and i s optimistic for since great beauties

l i k e everyone else are reincarnated time and time again into the world;

maybe Yokihi w i l l be reincarnated i n Japan next time. This attitude i s

one that sees the whole world as a stage and players, playing out dramas

forever,that i f they are not r e a l , are b e a u t i f u l . The fourth poem

presents a negative attitude to the same s i t u a t i o n , a l l the world i s a

dream, not r e a l , and no one can escape su f f e r i n g unless they escape the

dream altogether. In essense, the universe i s void and ..fQfinless; there

you w i l l f i n d the s p i r i t of MarwaJ.

56

(73)

I ft <5 f I * f lb tfC * A 4 & * ^ ^ if i 4 ii-f. fli * *f iii *v ft

ushi

i r u i kochu kore waga so

no wa kyo n i y o r i mata kyo wa no n i yoru

shussho bokyaku su r a i j i no michi

shirazu tonen t a ga u j i no so

The Cow

Come amohg the beasts to teach, t h i s i s what I have done.

The perceiver depends on the perceived; the perceived depends on perceiver.

We are born and forget the path which we came;

No one knows i n those times what monk's name I had.

^ ^§ <t* a. Iruikochu 1 J j i s a s p e c i f i c Buddhist term f o r a

3 9

teacher's being born as an animal i n order to explicate the dharma.

b. "perceiver" - The character no i n t h i s context i s almost equatable

with the idea of teacher. In t h i s sense, i t i s often paired with sho ft\.

Thus, noke ht> iLi i s the teacher who transforms and shoke i s the

student who i s transformed. Another way of conceiving t h i s i s i n the terms

of subject and object, no being the subject and kyo t% being the object.

57

Here,I chose perceiver and perceived because i t i s a case of Ikkyu's

seeing the cow which occassions t h i s poem.

In t h i s poem, Ikkyu again embellishes the theme of Isan's koan

about coming back as a cow. I t seems to have been a koan he found

endlessly amusing. In t h i s poem the cow speaks i n the f i r s t person.

The circumstances surrounding t h i s poem w i l l explain why. The story

goes that Ikkyu one day v i s i t e d the house of a lay temple supporter. In

an enclosure he noticed an old cow and wrote the preceding poem which he

then hung on the end of the cow's horn, j u s t as though i t was a poem

the cow might say. . The next day the cow died and when the owner of

the cow saw Ikkyu,he teased him, saying "Your poem k i l l e d my cow." and

Ikkyu laughed.^

The second l i n e refers to the fact that to the farmer the cow was

jus t a cow but to Ikkyu i t was a memory of Isan and a vehicle f o r

r e f l e c t i n g on the nature of karma. Hence,what was seen depended on the seer,

and the seer,Adepended on what was seen for his i n s p i r a t i o n .

(18)

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58

Ganto senkyo no zu, nisha

Esho igo sogyo o yaburu

ichidan no furyu k a j i s e i

to o mawashite imada i n i n no te to nasu o omowazu

token t s u k i n i sakende yo san ko

This i s the f i r s t of two poems e n t i t l e d :

Picture of Ganto l i v i n g on a boat ^two poems)

After Hui-ch 1angk, monks were abolished.

A l i t t l e more graceful, how about i t .

S c u l l i n g the oar, you wouldn't believe i t was by human hand;

A cuckoo c r i e s at the moon, midnight.

master of the T'ang dynasty, died i n 887 at the age of s i x t y . He was

eighteen at the time of the great persecution of Buddhism and became a 41

ferryboat man u n t i l the persecution was over. b. The persecution of Buddhism was started i n the f i f t h year of the

42 Hui-ch'ang era, 845.

Buddhism unfortunate. This was not so with Ikkyu however, who found

many pompous robed pr i e s t s just as odious as the T'ang Emperor did. •

"What could be a more d e l i g h t f u l and appropriate occupation for a Buddhist

monk than that of a ferryman. I t w i l l be remembered that Buddha's law i s

often refered to as a ferryboat for crossing to the shore of enlightenment.

a. Ganto Zenkatsu ^Yen-t'ou Ch' uan-huo)

One would expect a Buddhist monk to f i n d any persecution of

59

The cuckoo c a l l i n g through the moonlit night over the water, i s reminiscent

of the conditions surrounding Ikkyu's own enlightenment.

(362)

& ^ f$ H h * i i f i «

H % h L K

Honen Shonin o sansu

Honen tsutaekiku katsu Wyorai

anza su renge jobon dai

chisha o shit e ninyudo no gotoku narashimu

ichimai no kisho mottomo k i naru kana

*•* ft

P r a i s i n g Saint Honen

Honen, I heard, was a l i v i n g Buddha;

Peacefully s i t t i n g on the highest rank of the Lotus dais,

Teaching learned men as though they were nuns and lay followers.** — c Honen's One Sheet Document, how marvelous!

a. Honen 1133 - 1212 was the founder of the Jodoshu, Pure Land sect, of

Buddhism i n Japan. I t i s a form of Buddhism which focuses i t s attention

on the most compassionate of the Buddhas, Amida„

60

b. That i s , at least i n the case of the nuns, as though they were

i l l i t e r a t e .

C o "Honen's One Sheet Document"contains the essence of h i s doctrine.

"The method of f i n a l salvation that I have propounded i s neither a sort

of meditation, such as has been practised by many scholars i n China and

Japan, nor i s i t a r e p e t i t i o n of the Buddha's name by those who have

studied and understood the deep meaning of i t . I t i s nothing but the

mere r e p e t i t i o n of the "Namu Amida Butsu" without a doubt i n h i s mercy,

whereby one may be born into the Land of Perfect B l i s s . . . . Those who

believe t h i s , though they c l e a r l y understand a l l the teachings Shaka

taught throughout h i s whole l i f e , should behave themselves l i k e simple-

minded f o l k , who know not a single l e t t e r , or l i k e ignorant nuns or monks

whose f a i t h i s i m p l i c i t l y simple. Thus,without pedantic a i r s , they should 43

fer v e n t l y practise the r e p e t i t i o n of the name of Amida, and that alone."

I t may seem strange to read a poem wr i t t e n by a Zen monk p r a i s i n g

the Pure Land sect founder, since Zen and the Pure Land Sect are usually

considered to be opposed i n doctrine. A c t u a l l y , the Pure Land Sect and

Zen have a common point i n t h e i r d i s t r u s t of the scholastic or

i n t e l l e c t u a l approach to Buddhism; Zen i s always emphasizing the

inadequacy of words to convey the doctrine while the Pure Land sect

merely considers i n t e l l e c t u a l knowledge misleading. H i s t o r i c a l l y as

w e l l , there have been incidents i n which Zen and the Pure Land sect

have been linked. One of the candidates for Sixth Patriarch, Chih-

hsien, had a d i s c i p l e Ch'u-chi who leaned toward the Amidist t r a d i t i o n ,

and his d i s c i p l e i n turn became a prominent teacher i n the Pure Land

61

school.

However, i t i s not that Ikkyu i s praising Honen's doctrine here,

but rather Honen's overwhelming genuineness, as compared with some of the

phoney Zen monks with whom Ikkyu was acquainted.

(20)

u M n it

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Ni So o sansu

Taito konko zenji nashi

danpi no kyoden h ito shirazu

tada yurusu nanzan dosen ga fude

atakamo tsu^sho n i shinsui o orosu ga gotoshi

Pr a i s i n g the Second Patriarch

From China, now and since old times, there are no Zen masters.

No one knows the legend of Danpi; c

Only Nanzan Dosen's story i s allowed: Just as i f a needle had been applied to a painful spot.

a. The Second Patriarch Keika (Hui-k'o) C- $L % *\ was supposed

62

to have been born i n 487 and died at the age of a hundred and seven i n

593. He received h i s transmission at the age of thirty-two from the 45

F i r s t P a t r i a r c h Bodhidharma. (see following story)

b. "Danpi"is a nickname f o r the Second P a t r i a r c h and means "cut off arm".

The story of how he got his arm cut off which i s also the story of his

enlightenment, according to the Humonkan (Wu-men-kuan), i s as follows:

"Daruma sat staring at the w a l l , the second P a t r i a r c h stood i n the snow

and [ f i n a l l y a f t e r a long time, to prove his earnestnessj cut off h i s arm,

saying, 'My mind i s not yet p a c i f i e d , please master pacify my mind.'

Daruma said, 'Then bring out your mind and show i t to me.' The Second

Pa t r i a r c h said, 'Whenever 1 look f o r my mind I can't f i n d i t . ' 'There,' 46

said Daruma, 'I have p a c i f i e d your mind.'" and the Second P a t r i a r c h

was immediately enlightened.

c. Nanzan Dos en (Nan-shan Tao-hsuan) ^ J-i jjL i 596-667, was

the founder of the Nanzan Eisshu sect i n China. He rewrote the story of

how the Second Pa t r i a r c h l o s t his arm i n the Zokukosoden (Hsu-kao s«*\ c-U'oan) and apparently, at least as f a r as we can t e l l from the poem, i t was

quite current i n Japan at Ikkyu's time. His version of the story i s as

follows:

"The Great Patriarch Keika met robbers and had his arm cut o f f .

Controlling his mind with Buddha's law, he didn't f e e l any pain; with

f i r e he burned the wound, and bound i t up with c l o t h . As though he

had been on his way begging, he didn't t e l l anyone. Later, a p r i e s t

named E i n (Lin) also met robbers and had his arm cut o f f . He shouted

through the night; Keika came and tended his wounds, and begged food to

give to him. Kin got angry with Keika's clumsiness. Keika said 'You

63

have r i c e cakes i n front of you, -why don't you wrap them up?' Rin

sa i d , 'I've l o s t an arm, don't you know?1 Eeika said, '1 don't have an 47

arm e i t h e r , what i s there to get angry about?'" '

Ikkyu obviously prefers the t r a d i t i o n a l Danpi story, because

i t i s the closest to the tr u t h of Zen. Nanzan Dosen's version i s

t y p i c a l of the glowing accounts of famous monks i n the face of hardship;

i t i s an edifying story i n the conventional sense of the word, but not

condusive to pushing the mind beyond i t s conventional l i m i t s . Yet, i t

i s p a r t i c u l a r l y t h i s kind of story which people prefer; the idea of a

monk going so f a r as to cut off h i s arm for the sake of a few words of

enlightenment, s t r i k e s a painful spot i n most people.

The metaphor of the needle i n the l a s t l i n e must refer to the

technique of acupuncture. Thus, the Danpi story i s l i k e the acupuncture

needle which, though i t hurts, cures. Danpi's act, i t s e l f , though

painful cured him of his uneasy mind.

There i s also a c e r t a i n amount of scholarly evidence to support

the opinion that the legend which t e l l s of the Second P a t r i a r c h c u t t i n g

©ff h i s arm i s perhaps the true story. Ui Hakuju argues t h i s way,

f i r s t by c i t i n g an i n s c r i p t i o n recorded by Horin ( F a - l i n ) m

572-640, which has t h i s version of the story and d e f i n i t e l y pre-dates / 48

Nansan JDosen's version. Then he quotes two manuscripts from Tun-Huang,

the P'u-t'i-ta-mo-nan-ta'un-t'ing-shih-fei-lun^ % ^

$?> !_ f ife and the Leng-ch" i e h - s h i h - t s u - c h i ^ M» £f

fL iLS which both record the version where the Second P a t r i a r c h cuts

o f f h is own arm. Thus the textual evidence for t h i s story i s su b s t a n t i a l .

Suzuki,too,is of the opinion that t h i s story i s the true one, and

64 he backs up his argument with psychological reasoning. He maintains

that, as t h i s was the culmination f o r Keika of many years of seeking for

enlightenment through scholastic sutra Buddhism which had always l e f t

him u n s a t i s f i e d , even such a dras t i c act was understandable. In

amother place, Suzuki, again r e f l e c t i n g on the story of Danpi, fe e l s

that maybe i t i s too much that Keika should be standing i n the snow as

w e l l at the time, and perhaps t h i s d e t a i l was added to make i t a good 52.

story. However, his essential acceptance of the story remains unchanged.

U i , also provides a psychological argument to support his view that the

Danf>i story i s the true one. I t i s r e a l l y an argument against those who

cannot accept the story on the basis of common sense. He says people

l i k e that, modern scholars, simply cannot imagine what such a "desire 55

to seek the way" i s l i k e because they do not f e e l i t themselves. This i s close to what Ikkyu meant when he said that the Danpi story h i t s a

54-p a i n f u l spot i n people. '

(25, 26, and 27) f P '> % £

Kido Osho santibengo

Monk Kido's three sayings of enlightenment

"Three sayings of enlightenment" ( l i t e r a l l y "three turn-around

words") have been recorded for many of the great Zen monks. Ikkyu

wrote poems for the sancfcengo of the masters, Joshu, Daito, Shogen, and

Kido. These of Kido, I found the most i n t e r e s t i n g . The three sayings

of Kido are t i t l e s f o r the three poems.

(25)

6 Ik t fl * 0 i J » i t ft f # I

]|: t < t & i - * A i$ f t * 4 *

kogan imada akiraka narazaru t e i , nani n i yotte

ka koku o motte fuko to nashite tsuku

ga^_byo r e i cho ue imada mitazu

nyojo nojkogan mite mo no gotoshi

kando i c h i ya koromo o amou i

r a k i senju an n i genjo

One's own eyes not yet clea r , how with empty space make cotton

breeches to wear? a

Painted rice-cakes, cold stomach hungry, never f u l l ;

Born from woman with eyes of f l e s h seeing as though b l i n d .

In the cold h a l l s , one night, think of clothes:

Figured gauze, a thousand f o l d s , i n the darkness appears.*'

66

a. A metaphor for unreal things which bring no s a t i s f a c t i o n .

b. I t was impossible to render the double sense of t h i s i n t r a n s l a t i o n ,

Genjo also means hirvana, the sudden appearance of things as they are.55

(26)

i-j ih h ¥ k & i it. * i % i i

JL L L %r & 5

e k- %• JtL i * f

c h i n i "kakushite, ro to nasu t e i , nani n i yotte ka shako o

t o r i sugizaru

nanigoto zo shunjyu kyo imada kiwamarazu

j i n s h i n wa mottomo kore kakuhai no kyu

tendo j o j u s h i , jikoku metsusu

h i wa nagashi rakuka h i j o no uchi

Divide the earth, make a cage, how i s i t that you penetrate but

do not pass through?

How i s i t that i n spring-revelry, my interest i s never exhausted?

People's minds are just l i k e the bow i n the guest's cup.

Heaven attained, H e l l i s destroyed.

Long day amid f a l l i n g flowers, willow f l u f f .

a. There i s a story about a man who went to v i s i t a f r i e n d and took a

cup of wine. In the cup, he saw a snake but said nothing and drank the

wine. When he l e f t he f e l t very i l l and at t r i b u t e d i t to the snake

i n the cup. He didn't v i s i t that f r i e n d for a long time. F i n a l l y he

had occassion to go again. His f r i e n d asked him why he had stayed away

so long. He t o l d the f r i e n d about the snake i n his cup and h i s i l l n e s s .

The f r i e n d gave him another cup of wine; he sat i n the same place and

saw another snake i n his eup„ He t o l d h i s f r i e n d who pointed to a bow

on the wall that was decorated with a snake design and was r e f l e c t e d i n

his cup.^The snake was not re a l , and yet the man had become i l l . xV The

bow i n the guest's cup"is a metaphor for the i l l u s i o n s that man's mind

i s prey to.

( 2 7 )

x # % ft $ i if If- ft X k L

^ fe AS *f ii * it % i s.«. >t

kai n i i r i t e isago o kazouru t e i , nani ni yotte ka shinbo tojo

n i ashi o tsumadatsu

do o satsushi isago o kazoete fukaku ko o tatsu

shinpo ni ashi o tsumadatete j i n z u o genzu

sanzo ga shari rau^no no kan

tokai no j i s o n Tentaku no kaze

Go to the sea and count the sand, how do you stand t i p t o e on the

head of a needle?

Scatter the earth and count the sand, i t builds up great merit,

Stand tiptoe on the point of a needle and paranormal powers appear,

Among the mountain monks, there i s no one of a b i l i t y ,

The son of the Eastern Sea i s of Kido's s t y l e .

a. The son of the Eastern Sea means Ikkyu.

¥. Poems of C r i t i c i s m about other monks

I f there seems to be a rather large number of poems c r i t i c i s i n g

the c l e r i c a l society, i t should be remembered that the Einzai sect was

i n a state of severe decline.. Ikkyu, although from the standpoint of

conventional morality he appeared to be a prime example of moral

decadence, was actually the only one who had the s p i r i t of the ancient

masters, true Zen. This was f i r s t and foremost, Ikkyu's own opinion, so

deeply convinced was he of the rightness of his own perception. From t h i s

firm base of self-confidence, a qua l i t y much i n evidence among the

masters of old as w e l l , he attacks the monks for t h e i r petty concerns and

petty quarrels brought about by narrow egotism, and t h e i r preoccupation

with the propagation of the "name" of Zen - i t s power of influence i n

secular a f f a i r s - and the " p r o f i t " of the Zen, When we consider that

Ikkyu was involved with the Zen as an i n s t i t u t i o n for p r a c t i c a l l y his

whole l i f e , i t i s no wonder that he should be moved quite often to pen

off violent tirades, i f only to somehow ease his own mind. The poems

presented here are some of the milder tirades.

(74)

•ft 4? % .fe * - 4 & if *>k $ A it -ft

^ f/f ft fa # % L

K 1 ft /f f * %

70

a keigei o t s u r u n i narete warai i c h i j o

deisha n i ho o k i s h i r i t e hanahada hobo

awaremubeshi s e i t e i n i sondai to shosu

tenka no noso mina Shiyo

The f r o g a

Accustomed to f i s h i n g f o r whales, I had to laugh

£At the frog,1 thrashing through the mud so b u s i l y .

They are p i t i a b l e , those at the bottom of w e l l s , c a l l i n g themselves great;

A l l the patch-cloaked monks under heaven are j u s t l i k e Shiyo^.

a. u f r o g " - The frog at the bottom of the we l l i s w e l l known i n China

and Japan as an aphorism f o r narrow-minded people; people who boast

and consider themselves important simply because they are b l i n d to the

rest of the world.

b. Shiyo (Tzu-yang) whose o f f i c i a l name was Koson Jutsu (Kung-

sun Shu) Mi i b ( ? - 36) was a figure of the Han Dynasty. He

became King of Szechwan and rather pretentiously c a l l e d himself

emperor. He spent much money build i n g palaces but his reign was short;

i n the end, he was assassinated. Ma-Yuan, i n a History of the Later

Han Dynasty, says of him "Shiyo was j u s t a frog at the bottom of the

w e l l " . 1 This i s one of the famous incidents of the use of t h i s

expression.

Ikkyu always keeps his mind on the great t r u t h , which i s here

likened to a whale while a l l the other monks occupy themselves with the

s u p e r f i c i a l aspects of the doctrine, busy l i k e frogs thrashing through

mud. One i s reminded of the Toba Sojo animal s c r o l l which parodies

monks by painting them i n the forms of frogs, r a b b i t s , and monkeys.

(75)

A. ^ ii *- /V tf. ft

< x « p % &

fr # n * i t

shakuhachi

i s s h i no shakuhachi urami tae gatashi

f u i t e koka s a i j o no g i n n i i r u

j u j i g a i t o t a ga u j i no kyoku zo

Shorin mooka c h i i n o zessu

Shakuhachi*

Music from the shakuhachi, sorrow d i f f i c u l t to bear.

Blowing into the barbarian flute,** a song at the f r o n t i e r ;

At the crossroads, whose piece does he play?

Among the students of Zen , I have few friends.

72

a. Shakuhachi - This i s a bamboo f l u t e with fingering holes which has

a very s h r i l l sound. There was a kind of wandering,mendicant monk

c a l l e d komuso who played the shakuhachi as he went about begging. I t

i s perhaps one of these monks that Ikkyu hears go by.

b. Barbarian f l u t e - koka i s a whistle made out of a reed with no holes

f o r fingering. This i s a prim i t i v e instrument that was used among the

barbarians on the borders of China.

c. The expression here i s "the students of Shorin" (Sha-lin), Shorin

waa the temple of BohdhijDharma, thus i t means students of Zen.

This i s a description of Ikkyu's loneliness. He hears an

umfamiliar song played on a shakuhachi at the crossroads, and he imagines

that he i s at some f r o n t i e r post i n China hearing the strange music of

the barbarians. The poem as a whole i s reminiscent of many T'ang poems

on the subject of lonely duties at f r o n t i e r outposts. A further

i m p l i c a t i o n i s that the people who occupy the temples, l i k e Yoso and his

company, are l i t t l e more than barbarians so f a r as Ikkyu i s concerned.

(76)

& % $ fa i i Affi. 1 # f i A .

73

k a i r a i

ippo tojo n i genshin o genzu

aruiwa oko-to ka-shi aruiwa shomin

moknzen shin no mokuketsu o hokyakn shite

c h i j i n wa yonde honrai no h i t o to nasu

Puppets

On the shelf, appear whole bodies,

Sometimes they are transformed into kings and nobles, sometimes commoners,

Forgetting that before t h e i r eyes there are r e a l l y only wooden s t i c k s ,

I d i o t s c a l l them r e a l people.

The point of t h i s poem i s that just as the audience at a puppet

theater are t r i c k e d into taking puppets for r e a l people, so the l a i t y of

the Zen church were deceived into accepting fake monks as r e a l monks.

(101,108)

Prose introduction:

f i t & $ %

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* # i - <f 8

i\ f L it i i if i _ f ta t % * f

$ A •! 4 4 it * f I i M M i

74

i i f h t i *k t IL ± % q q L $

t % A ftt 1 # ih i t i if t f 1$

& % *

In the sutumn of the year 1447, there was a monk at Daitoku

temple who,for no reason, committed su i c i d e . Scandal-loving monks made

slanderous reports to the o f f i c i a l s . So, i n connection with t h i s calamity

f i v e or seven of my fellow monks were imprisoned. This was s u f f i c i e n t

to cause great trouble w i t h i n my school. At that time, people were

n o i s i l y spreading rumours about i t . I li s t e n e d to them and that very

day disappeared into the mountains. The reason for my leaving was that

I simply couldn't bear i t . I t chanced that a scholar should come by

here, himself j u s t from Kyoto, and he has informed me of the various

things going on at the temple. I found i t a l l the more impossible to

bear my g r i e f . I made poems expressing my g r i e f . As t h i s happened to

occur on the ninth day of the ninth month, I made nine poems. £l have

chosen to translate two of these poems, the second and the ninth.}

(101)

tff & f i * 1 & | i f U l l f

75

% t J% 1 t L %

hazu ware seimei nao imada tsutsumazu

sanZen gakudo j inro o chozu

Ryozan no shobo chi o hara t^te metsusu

omowazariki Kao no jujo takakaran to wa

I am ashamed my name and fame are not yet obscured;

Practis ing Zen, studying the way, dusty troubles grow long;

The true doctrine of Ryozan is swept from the earth and destroyed:

Unexpecte3]y/, the King"of Demons^ has grown a hundred feet high.

a. Ryozan i s an abbreviation for Rycjusan "Holy Eagle Mountain" which

i s a translation of the Sanskrit name of the mountain Grdhrakuta. This

mountain is located in Rajgirof modern Bihar. It gets i t s name from the

fact that i t has the shape of an eagle. Shakymuni i s said to have

preached there and?hence, i t s connection with the "true doctr ine . "^

b 0 The king of Demons here means something l ike the devil i n Chris t iani ty ,

but, since Buddhism is essential ly a non-dualistic philosophy, that i s ,

one which emphasizes a transcendent truth encompassing both good and

e v i l , the King of Demons does not have the unique character of being in

absolute opposition to good as does the Christ ian dev i l . U i ' s

dictionary says of him "The kind of devi l who is the lord of the six

heavens in the world of desire. Together with his followers, he hinders

people from adhering to the Buddhist r e l i g i o n . "

76

(108)

% A fa k) iL K { i | * * H US * f A . , 4 # I * *

# - i * f (fit.

fugai no shosan midarete kumo n i i r u

shoho wa shu o uagokashi mata gun o odorokasu

liinkyo kikan ware e sezu

dakuro issan yotte kunkun.

The wind outside, pines and cedars i n confusion enter clouds.

Elsewhere, everywhere, crowds move and people are suprised i n groups.

The workings of humanity I do not understand;

One cup of cloudy sake and I'm drunk.

a. Cloudy sake means unrefined sake, poor q u a l i t y and perhaps even

home-made.

These poems and the prose passage record the incident over which

Ikkyu i s supposed to have resolved to starve himself to death i n protest.

As can be seen, Ikkyu himself makes no dir e c t reference to the idea of

suicide. However, i t i s obvious i n these poems that i t was a deeply

depressing s i t u a t i o n f o r him. The poems graphically express his f e e l i n g

of helplessness before such overwhelming manifestations of e v i l and

77

corruption w i t h i n the church. In the f i r s t poem, he uses the image of a

d e v i l a hundred feet high to express the magnitude of the e v i l he sees.

In the second poem, a storm i n nature symbolizes the p o l i t i c a l storm at

Da i t o k u j i .

(130)

f t * 1k t h if n t $ fa iiihfi

- V $ # & >tj^

j i s a n

Kaso no j i s o n Zen o shirazu

Kyoun menzen tare ka Zen o toku

sanju nenrai kenjo omoshi

i c h i n i n katansu Shogen no Zen

Self-praise

The descendents of Kaso don't know Zen,

Before Mad Cloud's face, who would explain Zen?

For t h i r t y years, heavy on my shoulders, — b

I have c a r r i e d the burden of Shogen 1s Zeno

78

a. Kaso - I t w i l l be remembered that Kaso was Ikkyu's master, (see

introduction)

b. Shogen' - Shogen Sogaku (Sung-yuan Ch'ung-yo) ^ |t

was a Emzai master of the Sung Dynasty A died 1209 at the age of seventy-4

one.

This poem i s directed p r i n c i p a l y at Yoso who was the senior

descendant of Kaso with whom Ikkyu was i n b i t t e r c o n f l i c t for many years.

(134, 135 and 136)

E r i no to n i shimesu san shu

Three poems to show to a meeting of monks

(134)

f t 4 1 - it. n

» * ** M * I

j L 0 A ix - i °t

rakuchu ku a r i Ikkyu no mon

koko u arasou s e i t e i no son

chuya kokoro n i oku genjikyaku

79 zehi ninga issho kamabisushi

In the midst of harmony there i s trouble i n Ikkyu's school. a Each frog f i g h t i n g for respect at the bottom of the w e l l ;

Day and night,busy thinking about d e t a i l s of the scriptures;

Right and wrong, myself and other**, fussing away a whole l i f e .

a. See poem 7k The Frog.

b. Myself and others - Dor the enlightened monk the d i s t i n c t i o n between

r i g h t and wrong, myself and other, i s extinguished.

U 3 5 )

koan s a n j i k i t a t t e mei r e k i r e k i

kyokin kanpa sureba an konkon

onzo shi shi n i i t a r u made bokyakushi gatashi

doban no chugen j i kon n i sakarau

Involved i n the koan, i t comes d i s t i n c t and clear.

Breaking into the heart, blackness i s dark, dark. There are resentments that u n t i l death are d i f f i c u l t to forget:

The sincere reproofs of fellow monks grates the ears.

80

(136)

4 4 « f t f- ^ *

i f i t i A. | , 9 55

i t a z u r a n i soshi no gonku o gakutokushite

s b i k i j o wa Tozan ge va kenju

miyo, miyo, hinpin t a no h i o kosuru o

chi o fukunde h i t o n i haku sono kuchi kegaru

In vain do you learn the words and phrases of the old masters.

Knowledge i s l i k e the tusks of Tozan,** sown swords.

See them, following one upon another, bringing up the f a u l t s of others.

Whoever holds blood i n his mouth to spout out at others, his mouth i s

polluted.

a. "words and phrases of the old masters"- Most of the teachings of the

T'ang and Sung Zen masters are recorded i n laconic saying and anecdotes

such as one one finds i n the Mumonkan. These verbal teachings consist

mainly of key words and phrases which serve as touchstones for a c e r t a i n

kind of conciousness which wo,s not meant to be i n t e l l e c t u a l l y

r a t i o n a l i z e d .

b. "Tusks of Tozan'7- Tozan i s a mythical mountain i n h e l l , a mountain 5

of sharp edges.

81

These three poems are inter e s t i n g because they are examples of

the kind of lessons Ikkyu gave to his followers. A l l three poems are

quite severe i n tone, but perhaps the t h i r d one especially so. The

f i r s t poem i s simple enough; i t admonishes preoccupation with the l e t t e r

off the scriptures which only leads to occasion for dispute. The second

poem i s a description of the f a u l t y understanding of a koan. I n t e l l e c t u a l ­

l y i t may appear clear, but,deep i n the heart, resentments that are

d i f f i c u l t to root out remain. When t h i s i s the case, then even the

well-meant council of friends i s annoying. The strong imagery i n the

t h i r d poem emphasizes the dangers of purely verbal knowledge which i s

turned as a sword against others.

Akizuki Ryumin i s of the opinion that these c r i t i c i s m s were

leveled p a r t i c u l a r l y at Yoso's handling of koan i n s t r u c t i o n w i t h i n d — —

D a i t o k u j i . Apparently Yoso was allowing students to get by with mere

i n t e l l e c t u a l understanding of the koana and i n fact setting up a kind of

"koan m i l l " much as we c a l l some of our educational i n s t i t u t i o n s "diploma

m i l l s . "

(179)

{ 1 M 4 M f 4 f 1

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82

Yoso no Daiyuan n i daisu

sanrin wa f u k i (jjosan wa otorou

tada j a s h i nomi a r i t e , shoshi nashi

ikkan o t o t t e gyokaku to naran to hossureba

koko kindai gyaku f u fuku

An i n s c r i p t i o n f o r the hermitage of Yoso Daiyu (the second of two

poems on the subject)

The temples are wealthy, but the Five Mountains are degenerating,

There are only f a l s e masters, there are no true masters?

1 would l i k e to take a f i s h i n g rod and go f i s h i n g :

But these days, on the r i v e r s and lakes, a contrary wind blows.

a. v VThe Five Mountains"are the f i v e primary temples of the Ri n z a i sect.

Here, they symbolize the Rinzai sect i n general.

This poem i s very s i m i l a r to the two poems directed against Yoso

that were c i t e d i n the introduction. Before Yoso, Ikkyu always emphasizes

"simple things", straw sandals, bamboo walking s t i c k , a l i f e of p l a i n

pleasures, as compared to the l i f e of wealth and ostentation that Yoso

pursued i n the temple. Here the f i s h i n g rod and going f i s h i n g symbolize

the simple l i f e that Ikkyu i s so fond of, while the contrary wind

represents the ti d e of the times toward degeneration which Yoso and

other monks are swept up i n .

VI. Ikkyu's Love Poems

Among Ikkyu's poems that deal predominantly with love, two kinds

can be distinguished. There are those poems that concern love i n general,

ranging from simple longing for the company of the brothels, to

philosophical r e f l e c t i o n s on eros i n a large sense. And,there are those

poems addressed to Lady Mori which deal with his p a r t i c u l a r and personal

love f o r her.

(89 and 90)

These two poems come under the t i t l e :

j* % =- n Sankyo n i shu

Dwelling i n the mountains

(89)

M 1 A & i

& t ilL £

inbo j i s s a i kyo kiwame gatashi

s h i i t e kuzan yu^koku no uchi n i j u su

kokyo kumo saegiru sanman r i

chosho mimi n i sakarau okuto no kaze

VI. Ikkyu *s Love Poems

Among Ikkyu's poems that deal predominantly v i t h love, two kinds

can be distinguished. There are those poems that concern love i n general,

ranging from simple longing for the company of the brothels, to

philosophical r e f l e c t i o n s on eros i n a large sense. And there are those

poems addressed to Lady Mori which deal with his p a r t i c u l a r and personal

love f o r her.

(89 and 90)

These two poems come under the t i t l e :

Sankyo n i shu

Dwelling i n the mountains

(89)

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Inbo jtl s s a i kyo kiwame gatashi

s h i i t e kuzan yu^koku no uchi n i j u su

kokyo kumo saegiru sanman r i

chosho mimi n i sakarau okuto no kaze

84

Ten years spent i n brothels, e l a t i o n d i f f i c u l t to exhaust.

Now, forced to l i v e amid empty mountains, gloomy v a l l e y s ,

30,000 miles of cloud spread between here and those d e l i g h t f u l places;

The wind i n the t a l l pines around the house grates upon my ears.

a. a r h e t o r i c a l exaggeration

(90)

H L L

Ifyoun wa shin n i kore Daito no mago

kikutsu kokuzan natazo son to shosen

Omou mukashi soka unu no yube

furyu no netasho kinson 0 toseshi koto 0

Mad cloud i s t r u l y the descendant of D a i t o . 8

Demon caves, black mountains, what i s there to revere here?

I remember a former time's songs on the pan pipe, evenings of

cloud-rain, b

Youthful pleasures, draining the golden cask. c

a. Daito Myocho Zenshi, a Ei n z a i p r i e s t , founder of Daitokuji. See poem 8.

85

b. "cloud-rain 1' - One of Ikkyu's most frequent metaphors for lovemaking

i s "cloud-rain", a metaphor which comes from a Chinese story about the

King of Ch'u. The King of Ch'u^while t r a v e l i n g i n Kao T'ang, dreamed he

met and made love with the s p i r i t of Wushan(Sorceress's Mountain), He

pleaded with her to stay with him;but she i n s i s t e d on leaving saying

that i n the morning she became a cloud on the south side of the mountain,,

and i n the evening she became the r a i n . In the morning, the King saw

that t h i s was so and b u i l t a shrine for her there. Thereafter i n China,

the phrases, "the dream of Wushan", "the cloud ofWuslian", "the r a i n of

WusJnart" or "cloud-rain", a l l came to be metaphors for the relationship 1

between men and women. e „ a p o l i t e expression'for drinking a l o t of sake.

The s i t u a t i o n described i n these poems i s aelf-evidleht.; Ikkyu has

been forced by what circumstances we know not, to retreat to a mountain

hermitage. He has no romantic sentiments toward these' "gloomy v a l l e y s "

and "black mountains"j on the contrary, they only arouse i n him, an acute

longing for the warm company, drink)and song of the brothels. One might

think that such shameless longing would be unworthy of a Zen monk and

that Ikkyu's Zen would seem more v a l i d i f he welcomed t h i s forced retreat

to the mountains as an opportunity for rest and meditation away from the

"dusty" world, but Ikkyu says no, just as he i s , he i s the true i n h e r i t o r

of Daito's Zen.

I t i s int e r e s t i n g how the treatment of natural images i n these

poems d i f f e r s from that of the more t r a d i t i o n a l genres of Japanese poetry,

notably the waka or uta. What waka poet would dare to say that the wind

86

i n the pines grated, his ears. Wind i n the pines i s always musical in

the waka world, such extreme emotions were not encompassed within the

gentle sens ib i l i ty of t radi t ional Japanese poetry. Not only was there

no place i n tradi t ional genres for extreme and violent emotions;

philosophical or inte l lec tua l thought did not come within that framework

either. ThiSj perhaps, was one of the basic reasons why Ikkyu chose to

express his most profound and intense subjective moods and thoughts in

Chinese forms rather than Japanese ones; the range of possible emotions,

ideas^and subject matter was simply wider in Chinese poetry.

The reader w i l l perhaps bring up the case of the doka attributed

to Ikkyu which are in waka form and which deal exclusively with

Buddhist themes. These poems, however, although they are i n basic t h i r t y -

one syllable form, represent an entirely different genre. They are not

rea l ly poetic in the same sense as the waka in that they are not concerned

at a l l with the expression of a subjective state of mind, nor with the

poetic description of nature, nor even with the manipulation of subtleties

of language. The basic concern of these <&oka is to express in as simple

and comprehensible a language as possible the fundamental tenets of

Buddhism. That i s , they are in essence didat ic , "old saws" of the

Buddhist f a i th . Blytb, •' i n the preface to his translation of

Ikkyu's doka, states that doka i n general are of l i t t l e poetical value

and the Ikkyu's doka i n particular portray "a man of deep s incer i ty , too 2

honest perhaps to be a great l y r i c a l poet." However,it i s precisely i n

his Chinese poems that his genius as a l y r i c a l poet i s revealed.

87

(94)

This poem has a prose introduction which t e l l s the story that i s

the background to the poem:

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Once a long time ago there was an old woman, who for twenty years

supported the head of a hermitage. Usually, she sent a sixteen year old

g i r l to bring meals and serve him. One day, she t o l d the g i r l to embrace

him and ask him, "Right at t h i s moment, what i s i t l i k e ? " She did so

and the monk said, "I f e e l l i k e an old whithered tree leaning against

cold stones, during the three months of winter when there i s no warm

weather. The g i r l returned and described what had happened'. The old

women said, "For twenty years I have been supporting a phoney." Then

she chased him out and burnt the hermitage down.

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88

robashin zoku no tame n i kakehashi o kasu

shojo no shamon n i nyosai o atau

konya b i j i n moshi ware n i yakuseba

koyo. haru oite sara n i nikobae o shozu

The old woman's intention was to make a ladder for that r a s c a l ;

So, to the "celibate" monk, she gave a g i r l bride.

Tonight, i f a b e a u t i f u l woman promised herself to me,

Spring's w_ithered old willow tree would put f o r t h new shoots.

The issue here i s the authenticity of the monk's pu r i t y . Ikkyu

obviously concurs with the old woman's opinion that the monk was probably

seething inside with erotic i n t e r e s t i n the young g i r l but because of

slavery to l i f e l e s s conventions, denied his true f e e l i n g and gave the

stereotyped, expected verbal response. Clinging to anything whatsoever,

even the laws of conventional morality i s contrary to the practise of

Zen; therefore, the monk was a phoney and a scoundrel.

The "ladder" here i s a metaphor for the g i r l that the old woman

wanted to give the monk. The implication i s that the g i r l represented

a way by which the monk might r i s e to new realms of awareness.

{lkk)

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89

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i g . K % it I Inbo n i daisu

b i j i n no unu aiga fukashi

roshi rozen rojo no gin

ware n i h o j i sofun no kyo a r i

t s u i n i kajushashin no kokoro nashi

I n s c r i p t i o n for a brothel

A b e a u t i f u l women's cloud-rain, love's deep r i v e r :

Up i n the p a v i l i o n , the p a v i l i o n g i r l and the old monk sing.

I f i n d i n s p i r a t i o n i n embraces and kisses,

Thus, I don't think at a l l of abandoning my body as though i t were a

heap of f i r e . a

a. kaju - The meaning f o r kaju "accumulation of f i r e " here, i s to be

found i n the Nirvana Sutra 4 i n the l i n e , "Regarding one's body as though

i t were an accumulation of f i r e , t h i s i s c a l l e d self-righteousness"

TEhat i s , regarding

the body as though i t were a heap of f i r e , a dangerous thing, i s the

correct view.

This regarding one's body as though i t were a heap of f i r e

represents the orthodox pejorative view of sex i n Buddhism,, The idea

behind t h i s point of view i s that a man s t r i v i n g for s p i r i t u a l develop­

ment must harness a l l his energies toward that end. In other words, i t

90

i s not that sex i s i n i t s e l f e v i l or s i n f u l but that the v i t a l energy

which i s the essence of sex, once expended i n physical union,is then l o s t

to the man who would use i t to s t r i v e upward for union with god. Edward

Conze i n a discussion of monastic celibacy says of t h i s : "Meditation

and sexual intercourse have i n common the goal and the force that they

use. For the simple reason that one cannot use the same force twice,

complete suppression of sexual behavior i s indispensable to success i n 5 _ meditation." This point of view i s the most prevalent i n Hinayana

Buddhism and coupled there with a disdain i n general for experiences of

the phenomenal world', thus, sex came to have darker and darker connotations

there. This b e l i e f i s shared also by some sects of Hinduism. The story

of the holy man who has amassed through years of a u s t e r i t i e s immense

s p i r i t u a l powers and i s then t r i c k e d by some beautiful women into

pouring f o r t h a l l his power i n one night's communion which leaves him

wasted and f o r l o r n , an ordinary being again, i s very common i n India.

This i s the kind of s i t u a t i o n that t h i s term implies.

However, t h i s i s not a universal point of view i n Buddhism. On

the contrary, the Mahayana doctrine of the "great delight", which has

already been discussed i n Chapter III, sees i n the sexual experience a

profound experience of the non-dual nature of the universe. This more

affirmative attitude not only towards sex but towards a l l phenomena i s

based on the equation of nirvana and samsara which i s close to the core

of Mahayana Buddhism. Thus, i t was no contradiction f o r Ikkyu to assert

the dignity and v a l i d i t y of the sexual experience.

However, i n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r poem, Ikkyu's reason for defending

sensual love i s not founded on any philosophical r a t i o n a l i z a t i o n at a l l

but rather on the q u a l i t y of the experience i t s e l f . In point of fa c t ,

h i s experience was e l a t i n g , energy-giving not exhaustingj therefore, he

could not see the sense of the old point of view.

(255)

The second of two poems depicting an arhat going to a brothel.

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rakan inbo n i asobu no zu

shutsujin no rakan but s u j i n i tozakaru

h i t o t a b i inbo n i i t t e daichi o hatsusu

fukaku warau Honju Ryogon o tonauru o shikkyakusu shonen furyu no j i

Picture of an arhat rev e l i n g i n a brothel

Emerging from the dust,*1 the arhat i s s t i l l far from Buddha;

Enter a brothel once and great wisdom happens.

I laugh deeply at Manjusri chanting i n the Surahgama Sutra;

Lost and gone are his youthful years of pleasure.

a. " A r h a t " o r i g i n a l l y meant simply a monk who had attained enlightenment.

However, lat e r , a3 the two schools of Hinayana and Mahayana diverged, i t

came to be more associated with the i n d i v i d u a l enlightenment attained

through the rigourous i m i t a t i o n of the h i s t o r i c a l Buddha,Shakyamuni,

emphasized by the Hinayana school. Thus, i n Mahayana Buddhism the term

came to have a s l i g h t l y pejorative meaning.

b. "Dust"is the common Buddhist metaphor f o r the mundane world.

c. In the Surangama Sutra, Ananda, an arhat, while on his way begging,

i s lured into a brothel. This i s the occasion for the Buddha to give

a special sermon and teach Manjusri a transcendental mantra to chant by

which he can cure Ananda of his sensuality.

Im t h i s poem Ikkyu's equation of the act of love with some kind

of transcendental experience which generates wisdom i s made more e x p l i c i t .

Ignorant of such experiences, the world-disdaining arhat has s t i l l a

long way to go before he attains a t o t a l r e a l i z a t i o n of ultimate t r u t h .

(263)

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93

Shi n i iwaku

Inpu kakoku sobo no u r e i

kimi miyo shokyu ka no su n i a r i

r e i n i shitagatte kyuga shuon no yube

gyokuhai ya ya iku shunju zo

The Book of Songs says c

LasUvious ways, the sorrow of losin g house and country.

The l o r d sees the fishhawk on the other bank of the r i v e r ;

Following example, the court lady receives her lord's favor i n the evening:

A jeweled cup, night a f t e r night, how many springs and autumns.

This poem alludes to the f i r s t poem i n the Book of songs, "Kuan

cri e s the Fish Hawk"." This love song t e l l s of a lord's infatuation with

a young g i r l . The image of the g i r l haunts him night and day, and he i s

not s a t i s f i e d u n t i l he has her. Ikkyu's poem superimposes upon t h i s

o r i g i n a l theme another theme common i n Chinese love s t o r i e s , that of a

ru l e r neglecting and losing his country for the excessive love of a

woman. Perhaps the best known story of t h i s kind i s the legend of the

love between the Emperor Genso and his concubine Yokihi. I t was a story

which fascinated Ikkyu. Ikkyu reading the f i r s t poem of the Book of

Songs was reminded of the f o l l y of over-ardent love among people i n

responsible positions. Yet, the predominant tone of the poem i s not a

mora l i s t i c one. Rather, i t evokes a mood of philosophical r e f l e c t i o n

on the sadness inherent i n the transience of a l l worldly things. Such

excessive love can only run a short course. Yet, i t i s i t s very f l e e t i n g

94

q u a l i t y which i n some ways gives such a love i t s s p e c i a l charm, much as

i t i s the f l e e t i n g q u a l i t y of the cherry blossoms which makes them so

breathtakingly b e a u t i f u l .

(264)

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zokujin inbo monzen n i shi o gi*\jite kaeru

roshi mushin kare ushin

shi n i insu shikaku i r o nanzo insu

shukuu n i s h i n i haru shoka no kure

tajo aisubeshi mon n i yotte ginzu

A layman r e c i t i n g a poem before the gate of a brothel and then

returning

A g i r l i n the p a v i l i o n has no mind but he has mind.

A poet overflowing i n poems, how his desire overflows too.

After the long r a i n , clear i n the west, a l i t t l e song at sunset;

So much f e e l i n g , lovable, the man leaning on the gate and r e c i t i n g .

95

a. This t r a n s l a t i o n may seem a l i t t l e s t i l t e d , but the only way to hi n t

at the double sense of the l i n e was to render i t as l i t e r a l l y as possible.

On the one hand, the courtesan i s mindless i n the sense that she has no

thought or doesn't care about the man singing at the gate, while he

"has mind" i n the sense that he has the courtesan and h i s own u n f u l f i l l e d

desires i n mind. On the other hand, mushin, • , "no mind" comes

so often i n Zen writings as a description of the enlightened person that

i t i s hard to ignore that sense of the expression. Take for example

Tokusan's statement, Only when you have no thing i n your mind and 6

no mind i n things are you vacant and s p i r i t u a l , empty and marvelous." °

Ikkyu may be saying then, that the courtesan, by v i r t u e of the mindless

performance of her dharma^is enlightened while the man at the gate s t i l l

has h i s mind muddled by words and ideas which pour ceaselessly f o r t h i n

poems. However, I think t h i s should be taken as l i g h t and p l a y f u l irony

6A the part of Ikkyu.

This vignette seems to be a scene witnessed by Ikkyu either from

inside a brothel or from the street as a passer-by. Ikkyu pokes fun

at the poet for r e c i t i n g poems about love outside the brothel. Yet, i t

i s obvious that Ikkyu sympathizes very strongly with the poet; Ikkyu,

after a l l , was as f u l l of poems as anyone. The description of the evening

sky after the long r a i n adds a l y r i c a l touch which rounds out t h i s

graceful poem. *

Love poems to Lady Mori

The love poems to and about the b l i n d g i r l Mori are quite

surprising. They are witnesses to a tender love. I t i s strange

enough that i t should be a Zen monk w r i t i n g these poems, but that i t

should be a p r o f l i g a t e Zen monk over seventy years of age experienced

i n a l l the wiles of debauchery i s a l l the more inc r e d i b l e . I t i s

obvious that t h i s love preoccupied his heart for the l a s t years of

his l i f e . Even his farewell to the world poem (death poem) refers to

Mori and his unforgotten love for her.

There i s p r a c t i c a l l y no biographical information about Mori

aside from that i n Ikkyu's poems. He c a l l s her Lady Mori i n places,

but t h i s almost c e r t a i n l y does not correspond to any r e a l rank. She

was most l i k e l y simply an attendant attached to the temple of Shuonan

i n T a k i g i . She seems to have sung professionally; singing was a

common profession for b l i n d people i n Japan. There i s one p o r t r a i t

of her at the.Shuonan; the painting i s p r i m a r i l y a p o r t r a i t of Ikkyu,

but she appears i n the lower half kneeling on a mat with a small hand

drum.

(548)

Prose introduction:

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97

In the second year of Bunmei ^1470), during the eleventh month,

the fourteenth day, I traveled to Yakushido and lis t e n e d to the b l i n d

g i r l ' s love songs. So, I made a poem recording i t .

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yuyu katsu yorokobu yakushido

dokuki benben kore waga harawata

gizan kansezu sesso no bin

g i n j i tsukusu genkan shuten no nagaki o

I traveled l e i s u r e l y to Yakushido and re j o i c e d there;

S t i l l , a poisonous s p i r i t l i n g e r s i n my viscera;

Ashamed I am, not to be concerned with my hoary h a i r ;

Singing t i l l exhaustion, severe cold, the melancholy note rings long.* 1

a. This i s Yakushido at Sumiyoshi.9

b. The character f o r melancholy should be but i n a l l editions of

the Kyounshu^the character printed i s Pf-, "autumn". However, i t i s

e x p l i c i t l y stated i n the prose passage that the season i s winter; thus,

i t obviously must stand f o r some other character. The closest character

i n sound and form to i t i s melancholy which, moreover, occurs very

98

frequently i n other poems of Ikkyu. Ikkyu usually uses i t to express

moods of bittersweet sadness and that seems to s u i t the tenor of t h i s

poem as w e l l .

This i s the f i r s t poem with a d e f i n i t e date which makes reference

to Mori. I t i s reasonable to think that t h i s might be one of his f i r s t

encounters with iAovi because the next poem dated 1471 records t h e i r f i r s t

r e a l confession of love for one another. I t seems Ikkyu was a b i t r e t i c e n t

at f i r s t to act on his i n c l i n a t i o n ; he i s a l i t t l e ashamed to f e e l the

r i s i n g of desires that make a mockery of the wisdom and dignity which

should accompany his white h a i r . I t i s not clear here whether "poisonous

s p i r i t " r e f e r s to sexual desire or just to the various i l l s that an

aging body i s subject to.

(549)

Prose introduction:

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I lodged for some years i n a small dwelling i n Takigi. The attendent

Morijhearing of my appearance and manner, already had feelingSof longing

toward me. I too, knew of i t , but remained undecided u n t i l now, the

spring of Shinbo ( l 4 7 l ) , I have met her by chance i n Suniiyoshi and

questioned her about her previous f e e l i n g s . She agreed and complied

with me. So I made a small poem recording i t .

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omou mukashi Shinen kyoju no t o k i

oson no biyo k i i t e aiomou

tanen kyuyaku sunawachi* b o j i t e nochi

nao aisu gyokukai shingetsu no sugata

I r e c a l l the old times l i v i n g at Ta k i g i , we

You heard of the renown of the king's descendent a and^loved.' K.

After the old promise had been many years forgotten,

S t i l l a l l the more I love the form of the new moon on jeweled s t a i r s .

a. This refer s to Ikkyu's royal b i r t h .

b. New moon on the jeweled s t a i r s i s an a l l u s i o n to a poem of L i Fo

"The jewelled s t a i r s repine".

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On the jeweled s t a i r s grows white dew

A l l night long sinking.into t h i n s i l k sheets.

P u l l down the c r y s t a l curtains, JO

The clear night, look at the autumn moon.

In t h i s poem the autumn moon stands also f o r a woman's face

behind the c r y s t a l c u r t a i n ; thus, i n Ikkyu's poem the new moon refers to

Mori.

This poem seems to indicate that there were r e l a t i o n s between

Mori and Ikkyu before t h i s time. The prose passage i s not e x p l i c i t as

to the exact nature of these r e l a t i o n s , mentioning only that they knew

of one another and that Ikkyu was indecisive i n h i s actions. However,

the "old promise" may refer to former re l a t i o n s with Mori.

( 5 4 U )

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101

Shinko koshi n i noru

.p-anyo no mo jo shibasliiba sliunyu su

utsuutsu taru kyokin yoshi u r e i o isur u n i

samo araba are shujo no kyosen suru koto o'

a i s h i miru Shin ya ga b i furyu

Lady Mori rides i n a cart

In the phoenix cart, the b l i n d g i r l often goes on spring outings.

When my heart i s oppressed, she l i k e s to comfort my melancholy.

Even though most people make fun of her,

I love to see Mori, so f a i r a beauty she i s .

Perhaps Mori was c a l l e d on i n the spring-to entertain at wealthy

people's hana mi "Flower-viewing" and so was brought there i n a ca r t .

Ikkyu, at any rate, embellishes the scene and makes i t a royal phoenix

cart . There i s also an i n d i c a t i o n i n t h i s poem that people did

laugh at the re l a t i o n s h i p between ikkyu and Mori, but, i f t h i s was s o ? i t

i s also obvious by t h i s poem that Ikkyu wasn't perturbed.

(5k6)

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The f i r s t day of the ninth month, my attendant Mori borrowed a paper

Kimono from a v i l l a g e p r i e s t to protect herself from the cold, so l i g h t

102

and pretty, lovable. I made a poem saying i t .

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ryosho no fugetsu shinto o midaru ikan sen soshi shin jo no aki

shumu chonn h i t o r i shosha t a r i

yaso ga shishu mata furyu

Fine evening, wind and moon, i n my heart confusion.

How w i l l our love fare as autumn comes over us?

Autumn mist, morning cloud, alone so del i c a t e and f a i r ^

Even i n the paper sleeves of a country p r i e s t , charming.

Due to t h e i r poor circumstances Mori i s forced to borrow a paper

kimono from a country p r i e s t i n order to ward off the approaching cold.

Paper kimonos were the cheapest, coarsest form of outer garment to be

obtained; thus, Ikkyu's praise of Mori's beauty i n t h i s humble garb i s -a.

tantamount to someone pra i s i n g the beauty of / t g i r l i n blue jeans. Yet,

there i s no doubt that the praise i s sincere, Ikkyu r e a l l y did f i n d Mori

endlessly charming i n no matter what costume. The tone of anxiousness

and uncertainty i n the f i r s t two l i n e s gives the poem a touching q u a l i t y .

103

(544)

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.Miroku asan o yakusu

mo Shin yaya ginshin n i tomonau

h i t e i no eno shigo arata nari

arata n i yakusu Jison san'e no akatsuki

honkyo kobutsubanpan no haru

Promise to be born i n the time of Miroku

B l i n d Mori every night accompanies me singing;

Under the covers, mandarin ducks,** intimate chattering always new:

Promise anew to meet i n the dawn of Miroku.

Here at the home of the old Buddha a l l things are i n spring.

a. Miroku J i s o n - the Buddha of the future who i s supposed to appear

5,670,000,000 years after Shakyamuni's death. 1 1

b. u Mandarin ducks"who take only one mate for a l i f e t i m e are a common

symbol for f i d e l i t y i n China and Japan.

c. The expression here i s r e a l l y "the dawn of Miroku's three meetings,"

104

which refers to the time of Miroku's future enlightenment when he w i l l

speak three times to countless numbers. I l e f t the "three meetings"

out for the sake of brevity.

Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho records a passage that describes the

"intimate chattering" of Genso and Yokihi . In the middle

of the night when no-one is around they talk of rebirth, " i f in the a i r ,

13

then as birds , i f on the land, then as two branches of one t ree . " Here,

Ikkyu and Mori likewise made promises for future l i ve s .

(543)

€ fa ;* £ tr fl A i & £ H

waga te o yonde Shin shu to nasu

waga te Shin no te ni izure zo

mizukara shinzu ko wa furyu no shu

hatsubyo gyokukei no ho o j i su

katsu yorokobu waga er i no shu

105

C a l l i n g my hand Mori's hand

My hand, how i t ressembles Mori's hand.

I believe the lady i s the master of loveplay;

I f I get i l l she can cure the jeweled stem:

And then they r e j o i c e , the monks at my meetings,

a, AChinese metaphor for the male sexual organ.

I t appears Mori was of great help keeping Ikkyu i n good s p i r i t s

with other monks during h i s l a t e r years.

This poem i s unusual i n the Kyounshu. because i t i s one of the

few poems that deviate from the seven character l i n e . Here the s i x

character l i n e seems to s u i t the l i g h t and whimsical mood of the poem.

(537)

11 % t $. % Ift #

I % % i f i±-

b i j i n no i n s u i o suu

Rinzai j i s o n Zen o shirazu

shoden shinko katsuro hen

unu sansho rokujikko go

shufu i c h i y a hyakusen nen

106

This poem i s the t h i r d poem of three poems under the t i t l e :

Sipping a beautiful woman's lascivi o u s f l u i d s

Rinzai's descendent's don't know Zen.

Correct transmission of the truth , t h i s i s to a b l i n d donkey.

Cloud-rain, past, present and future 60 kalpas,

Autumn wind, one night a 100,000 years.

a. An a l l u s i o n to a saying of R i n z a i , see poe U4-)nste a.<•

Rinzai's descendents don't know Zen, the true teaching i s with

b l i n d donkeys; but Ikkyu i s a b l i n d donkey so he has the true teaching,

yuch i s the assertion r e i t e r a t e d again and again throughout the

Kyounshu. Ikkyu's confidence was never shaken as regards his grasp

of Zen. The second half of the poem deals with love's a b i l i t y

to make time r e l a t i v e . While making love, past, present and future,

s i x t y kalpas of time might seem instantaneous, yet one night spent thus

could seem a hundred thousand years longo In other words, while making

love, ikkyu had the sense of "eternity i n an instant;- a phenomenon which

i s c l o s e l y associated with some mystical states. So here again, ikkyu

makes e x p l i c i t the connection he personally f e l t between the enlightenment

of Zen and the experience of love.

(542)

i & & t t & f

107

A >l u f i s RJ

b i j i n no i n , snisenka no ka a r i

Sodai masa n i nozomubeshi sara n i masa ni yozubeshi

hanya gyokusho shumu no aida

hana wa hokorobu i k k e i b a i j u no moto

ryoha no senshi yokan o meguru

A bea u t i f u l woman's dark place has the fragrance of a narcissus

KingCU'Ws h i l l , * * one must regard from afar and moreover climb.

Middle of the night, on the jeweled bed amid bittersweet dreams,

The flower opens under the branch of a plum tree,

D e l i c a t e l y the narcissus revolves between thighs.

a. The Chinese character here i s simply y i n of yin-yang, the two

p r i n c i p l e s , female and male respectively of the universe. Extended from

t h i s cosmic meaning the character i s also used to denote the female

sexual organ.

b. KingCWWs h i l l - refer to the f i r s t explanation of "cloud-rain"

poem 90.

This i s one of Ikkyu's more simply er o t i c poems. This elegant

and a l l u s i v e imagery must come from the vocabulary of Chinese eroticism.

However,A symbolic meaning of the reference to the Plum tree may be related

108

to t r a d i t i o n a l Japanese poetic imagery, The Plum tree i s usually thought

of there as old, gnarled and enduring, so Ikkyu may have chosen i t

p a r t i c u l a r l y to ref e r to himself.

(538 and 539)

Prose introduction:

i * k 4 * M i i $ « f i f c t # t fe *

t. t #

The b l i n d g i r l Mori's feelings of love are very strong. She i s

about to die from not eating; f u l l of sorrow, I made poems saying i t .

(538)

iL ft t t % f %

Hyakujo joto shinse sho su

hansen Enro katte amasazu

mojo ga enka roshi o warau

Sodai no bo'u t e k i shosho t a r i

109

In Hyakujo's hoe, my tr u s t i s extinguished.

Rice money, the Old Man of H e l l i s never generous.

The b l i n d g i r l ' s love songs laughed at by the p a v i l i o n g i r l s .

Chu's h i l l , evening r a i n drips lonesomely.

(539)

L ift. # If « * k

i i £ ® ii i $i #

miyo, miyo, Kehando r i no Zen

sekinen Hyakujo kakuto hen

yayu ransui su gabei no t e i

Bnro menzen hansen o ikan sen

See, see, the Zen i n si c k n e s s . a

Long ago there was nyakujo and his hoe.

Night's intoxicated revelry beneath painted screens.

Facing the Old Man of H e l l , how about some r i c e money.

a. The expression i n Chinese i s "Nirvana h a l l " which i s the hosp i t a l 15

i n Zen temples,but Ikkyu i s using i t here to re f e r to sickness.

The exact s i t u a t i o n surrounding these poems i s not known. I t must

110

be the t r i a l s of war that have caused t h e i r d i s t r e s s . I t i s clear from

the prose passage that the immediate problem i s Mori's nearness to

death from lack of food. The phrase used here usually means to f a s t to

death rather than starve to death', thus, i t probably indicates that due

to a shortage of food Mori i s refusing to eat l e s t Ikkyu should starve.

The poems are very e x p l i c i t about a lack of money to buy food.

In h is anxiety Ikkyu r e f l e c t s on two things; one, on Hyakujo,

the T'ang master who was the f i r s t to draw up a set of temple rules for

Zen monasteries, his most basic rule being "a day of no work, i s a day of

no eating". Hyakujo - ; - " ' was supposed to have refused to eat when

he got too old to do a day's work. Now, during t h i s p a r t i c u l a r time of

no eating, the rule no longer makes sense to ikkyu; there i s nothing

f o r Ikkyu to do with a hoe. No eating i s not always a r e s u l t of no

working. Then Ikkyu i s reminded, perhaps even a l i t t l e remorsefully^ o"f

the many previous years of pleasure and plenty i n the brothels. The

t h i r d l i n e s of both poems conjure up pictures of the brothels; i n the

f i r s t poem he imagines how the brothel harlots would laugh at the

b l i n d g i r l s naive songs, and i n the second poem he remembers the drunken

evenings i n gavtdy surroundings.

(550;

L i f . 1 k & >t

I l l

k i shibomi ha ochite sara n i haru o kaesu

ryoku o c h o j i ban a o shojite kyuyaku arata nari

Shin ya ga|shinon mo shi bokyakuseba

muryo oku go chiknsho no mi

The tree budded leaves that f e l l but once more round comes springe-

Green grows, flowers bloom, old promises are renewed.

Mori, i f 1 ever forget my deep bond to you,

Hundreds of thousands of kalpa_^s without measure, may I be born as a beast.

In t h i s poem Ikkyu simply asks to be reincarnated countless

times as a beast i f he ever forgets his love for Mori. The poem has a

charming s i m p l i c i t y about i t . Ikkyu i s l i k e an old tree which has

dropped i t s leaves,yet once more spring comes round, and he i s revived.

This could be a poem of reunion between Ikkyu and Mori, "old promises"

seems to indicate t h i s .

(1049;

i & tm 4 iL % & it. & *jr %L it I t- k

I t i s late autumn, the season of giving winter clothes. For t h i s

reason I had some new clothes cut and gave them to my late b l i n d

attendent Mori. Thus, I aided unfinished t i e s i n the other l i f e and said:

6 & & If 1 f

I « * C fl[ ft

haku hatsu zan so hachi j u nen

g i n j i nozorau yoyo heki un no ten

tajo no en zensai o tsugunawaseraru

danjisu sansho koen o yakusu

I remain, white haired old monk of eighty years.

Singing, looking up every night to blue sky and clouds.

Sad mandarin duck, redeeming former debts,

Snap fingers at present and future, the promise to love again.

There i s no record of what happened to Mori,but i t must be

concluded from t h i s poem that she died before Ikkyu. Under what

circumstances or from what cause we know not; however, i t i s possible that

the s i t u a t i o n described i n poems 538 and 539 a c t u a l l y lead to her death.

In t h i s poem, wri t t e n when Ikkyu was eighty, she i s already dead,and he

i s bringing an o f f e r i n g of winter clothes to her grave as a token of

his unforgotten t i e s to her.

113

(1060)

i *f fa * ft $ & - 1 1 i i £. ft -ft ** *j A 9 * * it * f n > 1

j i s e i no shi

junen hana no s h i t a hoiuei o osarau

ichidan no furyu mugen no jo

sekibetsusu chinto jinyo no h i z a

yoru fukakushite unu sansho o yakusu

Farewell to the world poem

Ten years ago, under the flowers, I made a fragrant a l l i a n c e ,

One step more de l i g h t , a f f e c t i o n without end.

I regret to leave p i l l o w i n g my head on a girl's lap.

Deep i n the night, cloud-rain, making the promise of past, present and

future.

Neither of these two l a s t poems appear i n the Kokuyaku Zanshu

Sosho or the Ikkyu Oaho genshu. They appear only i n the Yamanto

Bunkakaikan e d i t i o n of the Kyounshu which, however, i s the most recent

and comprehensive of the editions of the Kyounshu. This poem,then, can

stand with the "South of Mt. Sumeru, who meets my Zen" poem as a leaving

114

the world poem. How d i f f e r e n t i n character the two poems are. The

one has the r i n g of t r a d i t i o n a l Zen death poems, extremely confident,

almost defiant, going to meet death i n a warriors manner. The second i s

so gentle and nostalgic, fondly remembering back rather than going

forward zealously; Ikkyu even expresses regrets to leave rather than a

t o t a l break with the t i e s of t h i s world. Strangely enough, however, both

are t y p i c a l of Ikkyu at d i f f e r e n t times i n his l i f e . To c a l l one more

true than the other would be impossible,for i t would deny the man as a

whole. No man i s endlessly strong; i t i s from these poems where Ikkyu

honestly, with no thought as to whether i t was appropriate for a Zen

monk or not, expresses his feelings of attachment and longing that one

can see a complete man composed of both weak and strong. And t h i s

a b i l i t y , to without c r i t i c i s m accept whatever one fee l s as r e a l and v a l i d ,

i s a mark of true enlightenment. I t i s i n f a c t , to t r u s t i n one's Buddha

nature.

V I I . Footnotes

Introduction

1. H. H. Blyth , "Ikkyu's Doka," The Young East, I I . 2 to I I I . 9, 1952-54.

2, Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka Shin, "Kyounshu chukai," Kokubungaku, (Kansai Daigaku Eokubungaku K a i ) . no. 21-28, 1958-1960.

I I . H i s t o r i c a l Background

1. Karaki Junzo, Chusei no bungaku, pp. 233-34. 2. I b i d . , pp. 227-28.

3. This does not necessarily apply to a l l the T'ang masters; a difference may be noticed here between the Northern and Southern schools of Ch'an. The Southern schools taking Hui Neng (who himself declined i n v i t a t i o n s to the c a p i t a l ) as the Si x t h P a t r i a r c h , on the whole followed his example. The Northern schools on the other hand were quite c l o s e l y associated with the c a p i t a l . Thus when the persecutions of Buddhism came, they were more vulnerable to attack while the Southern schools survived better simply by v i r t u e of being more out of the way. I t i s also i n t e r e s t i n g that the Soto sect of Zen should choose to fo l l o w the Southern school i n t h i s respect, while also adopting the concept of gradual enlightenment, a concept associated with the Northern school.

I I I . Biographical Information and Comment

1. This resume i s based p r i n c i p a l l y on the account i n Takashima Daien's Ikkyu Qsho den.

2. Takashima Daien, 3. I b i d . , P- 58.

4. I b i d . 5o I b i d . , P. 59.

6. I b i d . , P- 60. 7. I b i d . , PP< , 60-61. 8. I b i d . , P- 62. 9. I b i d . , P- 64. 10. I b i d . » P< , 67.

116

11. I b i d . , p. 69. 12. I b i d . , p. 72. 13. I b i d . 14. I b i d . , p. 80. 15. The red thread symbolizes attachment to physical desire.

Morohashi T e t s u j i , Daikanva f j i t e n t v. V I I I , p. 947. 16. Takashima, op_. c i t . pp. 82-83. 17. I b i d . , p. 86. 18. I b i d . 19. I b i d . , p. 89. 20. I b i d . 21. I b i d . , p. 93-22. I b i d . , p. 95. 23. I b i d . , p. 96. 24. I b i d . , p. 100. 25. I b i d . , p. 101. 26. I b i d . , p. 103. 27. Karaki Junzo, Chasei no bnngaku, p. 246. 28. Suzuki Daisetsu, Outline of Mahayana Buddhism, p. 352. 29. As quoted by I b i d . , p. 351. See also Etienne Lamotte,

L'Enseignement de V i m a l a k i r t i , p. I l l and Shuo wu kuo ch'eng ching, Taisho shinshu daizokyo, v. XIV, p. 559a, I. 1.

30. Suzuki, op. c i t . , p. 357. 31. Heinrich Zimmer, Philosophies of India, p. 555. 32. John Shawcross, The Complete Poetry of John Donne, p. 97. 33. I b i d . , p. 344.

IV. Philosophical Poems

1. Rinzai roku, i n v. XI of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho, Chinese p. 5. 2. Suzuki Daisetsu, Zen shiso shi kenkyu, v. I l l , p. 425. 3. Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka Shin, "Kyounshu chukai,"

KoknTbungaku, no. 22, p. 60. 4. Oda Tokuno, Bukkyo dai.jiten, p. 1472. 5. Kaneko, op_0 c i t . , pp. b0-6l.

117

6. I b i d . , no. 27, p. 73. 7. Rinzai roku, i n v. XI of Kokuyaku genahu sosho, Chinese p. 29. 8. Kaneko, op. c i t . , no. 22, p. 62. 9. Rinzai roku, op. c i t . , kokuyaku, p. lOn. 10. Morohashi T e t s u j i , Paikanwa .jiten, v. V I I I , p. 175. 11. Suzuki Daisetsu, Zen shiso shi kenkyn, v. I l l , p. 424. 12. I b i d . , pp. 424-25. 13. I b i d . , p. 425. 14. Ui Hakuju, Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary, p. 288. 15. Suzuki Daisetsu, Studies i n the Lankavatara Sutra, p. 419. 16. I b i d . , p. 360. 17. Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka Shin, "Kyounshu chukai,"

Kokubungaku, no. 21, p» 6 l . 18. I b i d . 19. Kaneko, op_. c i t . , p. 63. 20. Suzuki Daisetsu, Zen shiso shi kenkyn, v. I l l , p. 475. 21. Heinrich Dumoulin, Ruth Sasaki, The Development of Chinese

Zen, p» 29. 22. Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka Shin, "Kyounshu chukai,"

Kokubungaku, no. 21, p. 63. 23o Hekigan roku, v. VII of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho, Chinese p. 30. 24. Dumoulin, op_. c i t . , p. 30. 25. Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka Shin, "Kyounshu chukai,"

Kokubungaku, no. 21, p. 64. 26. I b i d . 27. I b i d . 28. I b i d . , p. 65. See also P h i l i p Yamplosky, The Platform

Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, p. 62.

29. Dumoulin, op. c i t . , p. 31. 30. Kaneko, op. c i t . 31. Dumoulin, op_. c i t . , p. 8. 32. Kaneko, op_. c i t . , no. 21, p. 62.

33. I b i d . 34. Kyounshu, i n v, IX of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho, kokuyaku

p. 72n. 35. Takagi Masakazu (ed.), Haku kyo i (p*o-Ghii-i), v. XIII of

Chukoku shi.i i n senshu, p. 103.

118

36. Aft e r the description i n P'o Chu-i's aforementioned poem and more p a r t i c u l a r l y , Morohashi T e t s u j i , Daikanva j i t e n , v. XI, pp. 672-73.

37. Heinrich Dumoulin, The Development of Chinese Zen, p. 47, c i t i n g Goto Egen, Bk. V I I , Dainihon zokuzokyo, p. 116.

38. Ui Hakuju, Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary, p. 175-39- Jimbo Nyoten, Zengaku j i t e n , p. 53. 40. Mori Keizo, Ikkyu Osho zenshu, p. 5. 41. Kaneko, op_. c i t . , no. 22, p. 64. 42. I b i d . 43. As translated by Eev. Coates and Eev. Ishizuka i n Honen,

the Buddhist Saint, p. 728. 44. P h i l i p Yampolsky, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth P a t r i a r c h ,

pp. 42-43. 45. Kaneko, op_. c i t . , no. 23, p. 72. 46. Mumonkan, i n v. XI of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho, Chinese, p. 19. 47. Nanzan Dosen, To koso den, v. LXXVII of Kokuyaku i s s a i kyo,

pp. 9-10. O r i g i n a l Chinese, Hsu kao seng ch^jian, Taisho shinshu daizokyo, v. L, p. 552b, 11. 22-29-

48. Ui Hakuju, Zenshu shi kenkyu", p. 37. 49. For t h i s one see also, Yanagida Seisan, Shoki Zenshu shisho

no kenkyu, p. 103-50. U i , op. c i t . , p. 38. 51. Suzuki Daisetsu, Zen shiso shi kenkyu, v. IV, p. 215. 52. I b i d . , v. XVIII, p. 199. 53. U i , op_. c i t . , p. 39.. 54. There i s also a sutra reference to the cu t t i n g o f f of arms

as an o f f e r i n g to Buddha which may have been i n Keika 1s mind when he cut off his own arm. I t i s i n the Lotus Sutra; a Bodhisattva says to a gathering, "I threw away both arms and necessarily attained the Buddha's golden body." (MiftQ f a l i e n hua ching, Taisho shinshu daizokyo, v. IX, p. 262a, 11. 4-5.)

55. Kyounshu, i n v. IX,of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho, p. 6n. 56. Kaneko Matabee and Nishioka Shin, "Kyounshu chukai,"

Kokubungaku, no. 23, pp. 76-77.

119

V. C r i t i c a l Poems

1. Morohashi T e t s u j i , Daikanwa j i t e n , v. I I I , p 0 797. 2. Oda Tokuno, Bukkyo d a i j i t e n , p. 1794a. 3 „ U i Hakuju, Japanese-English Buddhist Dictionary, p« 195. 4. Kaneko, op. c i t . , p. 74. 5. Morohashi, op. c i t . , v. I I , p. 190. 6. A k i z u k i Kyumin, Zefrmion no i r y u , p. 3 1 4 .

VI. Love Poems 1. Morohashi T e t s u j i , Daikanwa j i t e n , v 0 X I I , p. 16. 2. B. H. Blyth , "Ikkyu's Doka," The Young East, v. I I . 2,

f i r s t page of the a r t i c l e . (Page numbers are missing from the xerox copies of the a r t i c l e s . )

3. Morohashi, op_. c i t . , v. V I I , p. 364. 4. Mochizuki does not record t h i s meaning f o r kaju but rather

itB use as a metaphor f o r the i l l u s i v e nature of existence, alatacakra, f i r e c i r c l e . (Mochizuki, Bukkyo d a i j i t e n , v. I l l , p. 2952bJ. However, I f e e l i t i s obvious that t h i s i s not the meaning here.

5. Edward Conze, Buddhism: i t s essence and development, p D 59.

6. Charles Luk, The Surafxgama Sutra, p. 2.

-j Kuan-ying, Shih ching i chu, pp. 1=3. 8. Heinrich Dumoulin, The Development of Chinese Zen, p. 48,

c i t i n g Bento Eyo, Bk. XX: Dainihon zokuzokyo, p. 378. 9. Kyounshu, i n v. IX of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho, kokuyaku,

p. l l l n . 10. Takabe Toshio, Rihaku ( l i p'o), v. V I I I of Chugoku shi n i n

senshu, p. 97. See also Pu-Tung-liua, L i ffeJ shih, p. 47. 11. Oda Tokuno, Bukkyo d a i j i t e n , p. l689a. 12. Mochizuki, Bukkyo d a i j i t e n , v. 5, p. 4990c. 13. Kyounshu, i n v. IX of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho, p. ll O n . 14. Ikkyu's comparison of_his hand to Mori's hand may be an

a l l u s i o n to the koan c a l l e d Oryu no sankan "Oryu's three b a r r i e r s , " the second question of which i s , "My hand how does i t ressemble Buddha's hand?" See Mochizuki, Bukkyo d a i j i t e n , v. I, p. 360c.

15. Jimbo Nyoten, Zengaku j i t e n , p. 1128.

V I I I . Bibliography

Editions of the Kyounshu used

Ito Toshiko (ed.) Kyounshu shohon no kogo n i t s u i t e ,

fu koi kyounshu- U t % tl * 9 & & "> * T ,

ftf k I It t I , jjo. 41 of the series Yamato Bunka A

. Kyoto: Yamato Bunka Kaikan, 1964.

Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho kankokai (comp.)

In v o l . IX of Kokuyaku Zenshu

sosho 13 ^ % . Tokyo: Kokuyaku Zenshu Sosho

Kankokai, 1921.

Mori Keizo (comp.) & >ft . Ikkyu Osho zenshu ^

-f* . Tokyo: Koyukan, 1899.

Works i n Buddhist c o l l e c t i o n s (by t i t l e )

note: Chinese characters appear f o r the name of a c o l l e c t i o n the f i r s t

time i t appears.

Hekigan roku 3? Jff^ & (Pi-yen-lu). Engo Kokugon (comp.) ^ h

in (Yuan-wu K'o-ch'in). In v o l . 7 of Kokuyaku 2enshu sosho

if % %. % . Tokyo: Kokuyaku Zenshu Sosho Kankokai, 1921,

121

Hsu, kao seng ch^uan £f & $a $ . By Nan-ahan Tao-hsuan ^ ilL

^ . In v o l . L of Taisho shinshu daizokyo ^ it ijf

*^ «, Tokyo: Taisho Tssaikyo Kankokai, 1926, • i , Jp. To koso den Jt W " $ 1? . By Nanzan Dosen. Vol. LXXVII

of Kokuyaku issaikyo Tokyo: Daito Shuppansha,

I960.

Mia-Q f a l i e n hua ching 4 f i t (Lotus Sutra). In v o l . IX

of Taisho shinshu daizokyo. Tokyo: Taisho Issaikyo Kankokan, 1926.

Mumonkan l l (¥u men kuan). Mumon Ekai (comp.)

(Vu-men M u i - k 1 a i ) . -In v o l . XI of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho. Tokyo:

Kokuyaku Zenshu Sosho Kankokai, 1921.

Rinzai roku i ( L i n c h i l u ) . Ezen (comp.) S (Hui-jan)

In v o l . XI of Kokuyaku Zenshu sosho. Tokyo: Kokuyaku Zenshu Sosho

Kankokai, 1921.

Shobo genzo ^ & $L ^ , By Dogen l£ ^ . In v o l . LXXXI of

Nihon koten bungaku t a i k e i # lh i Tokyo:

Ivanami Shoten, 1965.

Shuo -wu kou ch'eng ching (V i m a l a k l r t i Sutra). In

v o l . XIV of Taisho shinshu daizokyo. Tokyo: Taisho Issaikyo

Kankokan, 1926.

122

General Reference Works (by author)

Akizuki Hyumin Zenmon no i r y u

Tokyo: Chikuma Shobo, 1967.

Bly t h , R. H. (trans.)- "Ikkyu's Doka," The Young East, I I 2 to I I I 9,

1952-54.

i f n 9 1

Coates, Rev. H. and Rev. R. Ishizuka. Honen, the Buddhist Saint. Kyoto:

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