Obaku (school of Buddhism) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ōbaku-shū

School:	Linji Linji Línjì Yìxuán was the founder of the Linji school of Chán Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. Linji was born into a family named Xing in Caozhou , which he left at a young age to study Buddhism in many places.... Zen Buddhism
Founder:	Yinyuan Longqi
Founded:	1661
Head temple:	Manpuku-ji
Subtemples:	420
Lineage:	Yinyuan
Primary location:	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
Website

http://www.obakusan.or.jp

The , is (with Sōtō

Soto

Sōtō Zen , or is, with Rinzai and Ōbaku, one of the three most populous sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.The Sōtō sect was first established as the Caodong sect during the Tang Dynasty in China by Dongshan Liangjie in the 9th century, which Dōgen Zenji then brought to Japan in the 13th century...

and Rinzai

Rinzai school

The Rinzai school is , one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan...

), one of three sects of Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

in Japanese Buddhism.

History

Often termed the third sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, it was established in 1661 by a small faction of masters from China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

and their Japanese students at Manpuku-ji in Uji, Japan.

Today Manpuku-ji serves as the Ōbaku's head temple, with 420 subtemples spread throughout Japan as of 2006. In addition to their contribution to the culture of Zen in Japan, the Ōbaku also "disseminated many aspects of Ming-period culture" in the country. Many of the monks who came from China were accomplished calligraphers

East Asian calligraphy

East Asian calligraphy is a form of calligraphy widely practised and revered in the Sinosphere. This most often includes China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. The East Asian calligraphic tradition originated and developed from China. There is a general standardization of the various styles of...

, and Obaku's founder Yinyuan Longqi and two other Ōbaku masters, Mokuan Shōtō and Sokuhi Nyoitsu

Sokuhi Nyoitsu

was a Buddhist monk of the Obaku Zen sect, and was also an accomplished poet and calligrapher. His teacher Ingen Ryūki, Mokuan Shōtō and Sokuhi were together known as the "Three Brushes of Ōbaku" or Ōbaku no Sanpitsu.-China:...

, became known as the Ōbaku no Sanpitsu

Obaku no Sanpitsu

is a name given to a group of three famous Chinese calligraphers who lived in Japan:* Ingen Ryūki, 隱元隆琦 1592-1673* Mokuan Shōtō,木庵性瑫 1611-1684* Sokuhi Nyoitsu, 即非如一 1616-1671...

(or, the "Three Brushes of Ōbaku"). Author Steven Heine

Steven Heine

Steven Heine, Ph.D., is a Professor of Religion and History as well as Director of the Institute for Asian Studies at Florida International University . He specializes in East Asian and comparative religions, Japanese Buddhism and medieval intellectual history, Buddhist studies, and religion and...

writes, "Areas where the influence of—or the reaction to—Ōbaku left an imprint on Japanese Buddhism is manifold, and its impact even reached the fields of Japanese cultural techniques, such as printing and painting. Chinese medicine and architecture were also introduced, as was the practice of "spirit writing"—practiced by Ōbaku monks who were said to communicate with Chen Tuan.

Rooted in the lineage (or, school) of Linji

Linji

Línjì Yìxuán was the founder of the Linji school of Chán Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. Linji was born into a family named Xing in Caozhou , which he left at a young age to study Buddhism in many places....

and therefore sharing a familial relationship, of sorts, with the Rinzai-shu of Japan, the Ōbaku's approach to practice is tinged with a hint of Chinese influence today. Historically, the Ōbaku-shū has sometimes been referred to as "Nembutsu Zen"—a derogatory characterization intended to describe their use of "Zen and Pure Land

Pure land

A pure land, in Mahayana Buddhism, is the celestial realm or pure abode of a Buddha or Bodhisattva. The various traditions that focus on Pure Lands have been given the nomenclature Pure Land Buddhism. Pure lands are also evident in the literature and traditions of Taoism and Bön.The notion of 'pure...

practices." Helen J. Baroni writes that today, "With a few notable exceptions, such as the style of sutra chanting (which continues to be done in an approximation of Fujian

Fujian

' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

dialect), Ōbaku temples and monasteries appear very like their Rinzai neighbors." Statistically the smallest school/sect of Zen in modern day Japan, the Ōbaku is also like the Rinzai-shū

Rinzai school

The Rinzai school is , one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism.Rinzai is the Japanese line of the Chinese Linji school, which was founded during the Tang Dynasty by Linji Yixuan...

in that it is known to be more conservative and intellectually inclined than the Sōtō-shū

Soto

The development of the Ōbaku-shū in Japan began somewhere around 1620, a period when Chinese emigrants were coming to Nagasaki

Nagasaki

is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...

due to a decree by the shogunate allowing Chinese traders to conduct business there. The Chinese traders, in turn, began to request that monks from China come to Nagasaki "to serve the religious needs of their community and build monasteries in the late-Ming style with which they were familiar." The Chinese community was therefore thrilled when the founder of the Ōbaku, a master of the Linji school/sect named Yinyuan Longqi (J. Ingen Ryūki), arrived from China in Nagasaki in 1654 with a small group of his Chinese

China

students. Furthermore, Yinyuan himself was happy to get away from China, which was then amidst a terrible war. Yinyuan was there with the explicit purpose of helping three underdeveloped temples founded by Chinese emigrants grow in the city. These Nagasaki temples were known as the three "temples of good fortune," respectively Kōfuku-ji

Kofuku-ji

is a Buddhist temple in the city of Nara, Nara Prefecture, Japan. The temple is the national headquarters of the Hossō school and is one of the eight Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.-History:...

, Fukusai-ji and Sōfuku-ji

Sofuku-ji (Nagasaki)

is an Ōbaku Zen temple that was built by the Chinese monk Chaonian in 1629 as the family temple of the Chinese from Fujian Province who settled in Nagasaki.-Description:...

. In time many Japanese heard of his teachings and traveled to Nagasaki to see him, some of whom came to join his community and become a student. Having planned to stay in Japan for a short period of time, Yinyuan was persuaded by a group of his Japanese students to remain in Japan; this group got him governmental permission to relocate to Kyoto

Kyoto

is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

, where his student Ryūkai Shōsen wished he would then become abbot of the Rinzai temple Myoshin-ji

Myoshin-ji

is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan. The Myōshin-ji school of Rinzai Zen Buddhism is the largest school in Rinzai Zen. This particular school contains within it more than three thousand temples throughout Japan, along with nineteen monasteries. The head temple was founded in the year 1342 by the...

. Authorities within the Rinzai organization were not keen on this idea, the divide stemming primarily from a disagreement within the congregation as to whether or not Yinyuan presented a take on Zen that was too distinctly Chinese for Japanese tastes. As a consequence, Yinyuan began construction of the modern day head temple of the Ōbaku known as Ōbaku-san Manpuku-ji in 1661 in Uji of Kyoto prefecture

Kyoto Prefecture

is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of the island of Honshu. The capital is the city of Kyoto.- History :Until the Meiji Restoration, the area of Kyoto prefecture was known as Yamashiro....

(Ōbaku-san being the mountain name). This marks the emergence of the Ōbaku school/sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan.

Construction was completed in 1669, the architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

done in the Chinese

China

Ming dynasty

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

style. By authorization of the local bakufu leaders (i.e. Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

Tokugawa Tsunayoshi

was the fifth shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty of Japan. He was the younger brother of Tokugawa Ietsuna, thus making him the son of Tokugawa Iemitsu, the grandson of Tokugawa Hidetada, and the great-grandson of Tokugawa Ieyasu....

), the Ōbaku-shu emerged to help revitalize Rinzai practice in Japan. The practice at Manpuku-ji was different from that in other Rinzai temples and monasteries of Japan during this period, much more Chinese in its approach. Yinyuan brought with him aspects of esoteric Buddhism and Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism , also referred to as Amidism in English, is a broad branch of Mahāyāna Buddhism and currently one of the most popular traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. Pure Land is a branch of Buddhism focused on Amitābha Buddha...

. As Heinrich Dumoulin

Heinrich Dumoulin

Heinrich Dumoulin, S.J. was a Jesuit theologian, a widely published author on Zen Buddhism, and a professor of philosophy and history at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan...

puts it, "For Zen practice in general, seated meditation and the practice of kōan are central, while cultic ceremony is of secondary importance. Insofar as the Ōbaku belonged to the Rinzai tradition, zazen
Zazen
In Zen Buddhism, zazen is a meditative discipline practitioners perform to calm the body and the mind, and be able to concentrate enough to experience insight into the nature of existence and thereby gain enlightenment .- Significance :Zazen is considered the heart of Zen Buddhist practice...

and kōan practice were made part of daily life, but ritual was also accorded a place of considerable importance." Furthermore, Ōbaku monasteries and temples came to be governed by a doctrine known as Ōbaku shingi, which both imported Chinese practices such as the recitation (dharani

Dharani

A ' is a type of ritual speech similar to a mantra. The terms dharani and satheesh may be seen as synonyms, although they are normally used in distinct contexts....

) of nembutsu and "sought to preserve the Chinese character of the group." The Ōbaku also chanted sutra

Sutra

Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...

s derived from the Pure Land Buddhism

Pure Land Buddhism

sect set to Chinese music.

After Yinyuan's retirement in 1664 and death in 1673, other monks who had come to Japan

Japan

around the same time as he helped to carry on the tradition of practice at Manpuku-ji. The foremost of his disciples was Mokuan Shōtō, who became 2nd abbot of Manpuku-ji in 1664. During its formative years, Manpuku-ji was very popular in Japan with many adherents coming to the temple for instruction. According to the book Latter Days of the Law, "For the next century, Manpuku-ji was headed by Chinese immigrant monks, and they sent their Japanese followers to found other temples. Obaku Zen quickly spread through the country." At least one abbot of Manpuku-ji during this period of early Obaku history proved to be controversial. His name was Tu-chan Hsing-jung (Dokutan Shōtei), and he served as 4th abbot of Manpuku-ji. Critics charge that he took his emphasis on nembutsu recitation at Manpuku-ji too far, and he is today derisively nicknamed "Nembutsu Dokutan".

Perhaps the most important Ōbaku practitioner besides Yinyuan Longqi was Tetsugen Dōkō

Tetsugen Doko

Tetsugen Dōkō was a Japanese Zen Master, and an important early leader of the Ōbaku school of Buddhism.Tetsugen was born in the seventh year of the Kan'ei era in Higo Province. He became a priest of the Jodo Shinshu sect at the age of 13...

, a Japanese man who lived from 1630 to 1682. Tetsugen is remembered for having transcribed the entire Ming period Chinese Tripitaka

Tripiṭaka

' is a traditional term used by various Buddhist sects to describe their various canons of scriptures. As the name suggests, a traditionally contains three "baskets" of teachings: a , a and an .-The three categories:Tripitaka is the three main categories of texts that make up the...

to woodblock

Woodcut

Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...

s—known as the Tetsugen-ban or Ōbaku-ban (ban meaning edition). Raised as part of the Jōdo Shinshū

Jodo Shinshu

, also known as Shin Buddhism, is a school of Pure Land Buddhism. It was founded by the former Tendai Japanese monk Shinran. Today, Shin Buddhism is considered the most widely practiced branch of Buddhism in Japan.-Shinran :...

of Japan, Tetsugen first met Yinyuan in 1655 at Kōfuku-ji

Kofuku-ji

in Nagasaki and eventually came to join the Ōbaku. The first Japanese abbot of Mampuku-ji assumed leadership of the Ōbaku in 1740, a man by the name of Ryūtō Gentō. From 1786 on through to modern day, the Ōbaku has been run and controlled by exclusively Japanese leadership.

Characteristics

Monastic practices of the Ōbaku-shū were once largely informed by the Ōbaku shingi (or, Ōbaku codes), composed in 1672 with ten sections outlining the practice regimen at Manpuku-ji. Steven Heine

Steven Heine

writes that, "The text reflected a few evolutionary changes that had taken place in Chinese monasteries since the Yuan, but it was squarely in the tradition of classical rules of purity such as the Chanyuan qingui and Chixiu baizhang qingqui." It should be noted that the Rinzai branch Myōshin-ji

Myoshin-ji

authored their own set of monastic regulations (penned by Mujaku Dōchū) in response to this later in 1685. To be sure, Myoshinji was worried about losing students to the Ōbaku, who were growing in popularity. The Ōbaku's "emphasis on the precepts and the strict observance of monastic regulations embodied in Ōbaku shingi seem to have stimulated and encouraged certain Japanese masters of similar bent. In the Sōtō sect, for example, the Chinese teachers influenced the monastic codes of reformers like Gesshū Sōko

Gesshū Sōko

Gesshū Sōko was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher and a member of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. He studied under teachers of the lesser known, and more strictly monastic, Obaku School of Zen and contributed to a reformation of Sōtō monastic codes...

and Manzan Dōhaku who had studied under Ōbaku masters."

The Ōbaku-shū emphasized the taking of various precepts and also observed the Vinaya

Vinaya

The Vinaya is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based in the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline...

of the Dharmagupta tradition as well as sutra

Sutra

translation. But perhaps most obvious to the Japanese was their use of nembutsu and also their use of the "nembutsu kōan" which entailed the practice of reciting the name of Amitabha

Amitabha

Amitābha is a celestial buddha described in the scriptures of the Mahāyāna school of Buddhism...

while holding in one's mind the kōan, "Who is reciting?" While foreign to the Japanese (despite this "dual practice" being introduced in Japan as early as the late 13th century), this was very common in Ming period Ch'an, where there was no sectarian divide between Pure Land

Pure land

Buddhists and Ch'an practitioners. Author Steven Heine writes that, "...regardless of its inclusion of Pure Land elements, the fact remained that the Ōbaku school, with its group practice of zazen on the platforms in a meditation hall and its emphasis on keeping the precepts, represented a type of communal monastic discipline far more rigorous than anything that existed at the time in Japanese Buddhism." As a result of their approach, many Rinzai and Sōtō masters undertook reforming and revitalizing their own monastic institutions, such as Rinzai master Ungo Kiyō who even began implementing the use of nembutsu into his training regimen at Zuigan-ji

Zuigan-ji

is a famous Rinzai Zen Buddhist temple in Matsushima, Japan—of the Myoshin-ji branch.-Overview:The temple, commonly referred to as Zuigan-ji, was originally founded in 828 by Jikaku Daishi, but was rebuilt by the feudal lord Date Masamune from 1604 onwards using lumber brought from Mount Kumano in...

. T. Griffith Foulk writes that, "The followers of Hakuin Ekaku

Hakuin Ekaku

was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism. He revived the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, refocusing it on its traditionally rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice...

(1687—1769) tried to purge the elements of Ōbaku Zen they found objectionable. They suppressed the Pure Land practice of reciting Amida

Amida

Amida can mean:* Amitabha, an important Buddha in East Asian Buddhism* Amida , a beetle genus* Amida Buddha* Amidah, the central prayer of the Jewish services* Amidakuji, a way of drawing lots* Amitabh Bachchan, an actor...

Buddha's name, deemphasized the Vinaya, and replaced sutra study with a more narrow focus on traditional koan collections." Additionally, Buddhist sutras in the Ōbaku-shū continue today to be chanted in Chinese

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

. Manpuku-ji is also well-known for its style of vegetarian cooking known as fucha-ryōri, introduced by Yinyuan and his group.

Head temple

Manpuku-ji – Construction began in 1661 and concluded in 1669. Located in Kyoto
Kyoto
is a city in the central part of the island of Honshū, Japan. It has a population close to 1.5 million. Formerly the imperial capital of Japan, it is now the capital of Kyoto Prefecture, as well as a major part of the Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto metropolitan area.-History:...

, Manpuku-ji serves as the head temple of the Ōbaku school. It provides a "rare example" of a temple built in a purely Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

Ming period architectural style in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Subtemples

Fukusai-ji – Founded in 1628 in Nagasaki
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Nagasaki was founded by the Portuguese in the second half of the 16th century on the site of a small fishing village, formerly part of Nishisonogi District...

and later destroyed in 1945, Fukusai-ji has since been reconstructed in the shape of a turtle with an 18-metre high aluminum alloy statue of Kannon, the Bodhisattva
Bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is either an enlightened existence or an enlightenment-being or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment ." The Pali term has sometimes been translated as "wisdom-being," although in modern publications, and...

of compassion. The interior is famous for the 25-metre Foucault Pendulum
Foucault pendulum
The Foucault pendulum , or Foucault's pendulum, named after the French physicist Léon Foucault, is a simple device conceived as an experiment to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. While it had long been known that the Earth rotated, the introduction of the Foucault pendulum in 1851 was the...

which swings over the remains of 16,500 Japanese killed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.
Kōfuku-ji (Nagasaki)
Kofuku-ji (Nagasaki)
is an Ōbaku Zen Buddhist temple established in 1624 in Nagasaki, Japan. It is an important cultural asset designated by the government.-External references:* *...
Ryūshin-ji
Shōhō-ji (Gifu)
Shoho-ji (Gifu)
is a Buddhist temple of the Ōbaku school of Buddhism in Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. It is a branch temple of Mampuku-ji in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture. The temple has many aspects of the Ōbaku school, but its building style and sacraments are in the Chinese style. Additionally, it is much larger than...
Sōfuku-ji (Nagasaki)
Sofuku-ji (Nagasaki)
is an Ōbaku Zen temple that was built by the Chinese monk Chaonian in 1629 as the family temple of the Chinese from Fujian Province who settled in Nagasaki.-Description:...
Toko-ji
Zuishō-ji

External links

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History

Characteristics

Head temple

Subtemples

See also

External links