Jump to content

Ōbaku

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ōbaku
Cây hoàng bá tông
Manpuku-jiinUji,head temple of the Ōbaku sect
ClassificationBuddhism
OrientationZen
HeadquartersManpuku-ji
FounderIngen Ryūki
Origin1661
Japan
Branched fromLinji school
Places of worship420
Official websitehttp:// obakusan.or.jp
禪 Zen
Part ofa serieson
Zen Buddhism
Ensō
Main articles
Teachings
The "essence"

The way

The "goal"

Background

Practices
Zen scripture
Indian Mahayana texts

Chinese texts

Traditions
Persons
Chán in China

Classical

Post-classical

Contemporary

Zen in Japan

Seon in Korea

Thiền in Vietnam

Western Zen

Category: Zen Buddhists
Institution
Related schools
Part of a series on
Buddhism in Japan
Schools
Key figures
Key topics

Ōbaku Zenor theŌbaku school(Japanese:Cây hoàng bá tông,romanized:Ōbaku-shū) is one of three main schools of JapaneseZenBuddhism,in addition to theSōtōandRinzaischools. The school was founded in Japan by the Chinese monkIngen Ryūki,who immigrated to Japan during theManchu conquest of Chinain the 17th century.

It had a strong influence on Japanese Rinzai, which partly adopted Ōbaku practices, and partly reinstored older practices in response to the Ōbaku school.

History

[edit]
Meditation HallatKōfuku-jiinNagasaki
Meditation HallatSōfuku-jiinNagasaki

The development of the Ōbaku-shū in Japan began somewhere around 1620, a period when Chinese emigrants were coming toNagasakidue to a decree by theshogunateallowing 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."[1]The Chinese community was therefore thrilled when the founder of the Ōbaku, a master of the Linji school/sect namedYinyuan Longqi(J.Ingen Ryūki), arrived from China in Nagasaki in 1654 with a small group of hisChinesestudents. Furthermore, Yinyuan himself was happy to get away from China, which wasthen amidst a terrible war.[1]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," respectivelyKōfuku-ji,Fukusai-ji andSōfuku-ji.[2]In time many Japanese heard of his teachings and traveled to Nagasaki to see him, while some came to join his community and become students.[3]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 secured him governmental permission to relocate toKyoto,where his student Ryūkai Shōsen wished he would then become abbot of theRinzaitempleMyoshin-ji.Authorities within the Rinzai organization were not keen on this idea, due primarily to a disagreement within the congregation as to whether or not Yinyuan presented a take on Zen that was too distinctly Chinese for Japanese tastes.[2]As a consequence, Yinyuan began construction of the modern day head temple of the Ōbaku known asŌbaku-san Manpuku-jiin 1661 inUjiofKyoto prefecture(Ōbaku-san being the mountain name). This marks the emergence of the Ōbaku school/sect of Zen Buddhism in Japan.[3]

Construction was completed in 1669, thearchitecturedone in theChineseMing dynastystyle. By authorization of the localbakufuleaders (i.e.Tokugawa Tsunayoshi[4]), 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, being much more Chinese in its approach. Yinyuan brought with him aspects ofesoteric BuddhismandPure Land Buddhism.AsHeinrich Dumoulinputs it, "For Zen practice in general, seated meditation and the practice ofkōanare central, while cultic ceremony is of secondary importance. Insofar as the Ōbaku belonged to the Rinzai tradition,zazenand kōan practice were made part of daily life, but ritual was also accorded a place of considerable importance. "[2]Furthermore, Ōbaku monasteries and temples came to be governed by a doctrine known asŌbaku shingi,which both imported Chinese practices such as the recitation (dharani) ofnembutsuand "sought to preserve the Chinese character of the group."[3]The Ōbaku also chantedsutrasderived from the Pure Land Buddhist sect set to Chinese music.[2]

After Yinyuan's retirement in 1664[5]and death in 1673, other monks who had come toJapanaround the same time as he helped to carry on the tradition of practice atManpuku-ji.The foremost of his disciples wasMokuan 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.[2]According to the bookLatter 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. Ōbaku Zen quickly spread through the country."[5]At least one abbot ofManpuku-jiduring this period of early Ōbaku 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 onnembutsurecitation at Manpuku-ji too far, and he is today derisively nicknamed "Nembutsu Dokutan".[6]

Perhaps the most important Ōbaku practitioner besides Yinyuan Longqi wasTetsugen Dōkō,a Japanese man who lived from 1630 to 1682. Tetsugen is remembered for having transcribed the entireMing periodChineseTripitakatowoodblocks—known as theTetsugen-banorŌbaku-ban(banmeaning edition).[7]Raised as part of theJōdo Shinshūof Japan, Tetsugen first met Yinyuan in 1655 atKōfuku-jiin Nagasaki and eventually came to join the Ōbaku.[2]The first Japanese abbot of Manpuku-ji assumed leadership of the Ōbaku in 1740, a man by the name of Ryūtō Gentō. From 1786 on through to the modern-day, the Ōbaku has been run and controlled by exclusively Japanese leadership.

Today Manpuku-ji serves as the Ōbaku's head temple, with 420 subtemples spread throughout Japan as of 2006.[8]

Characteristics and influence

[edit]
Portrait of Chinese monk Yinyuan (Ingen), who founded the Ōbaku school

Monastic practice

[edit]

Monastic practices of the Ōbaku-shū were once largely informed by theŌbaku shingi(or,Ōbaku codes), composed in 1672 with ten sections outlining the practice regimen atManpuku-ji.Steven Heinewrites that, "The text reflected a few evolutionary changes that had taken place in Chinese monasteries since theYuan,but it was squarely in the tradition of classical rules of purity such as theChanyuan qinguiandChixiu baizhang qingqui."[1]TheRinzaibranchMyōshin-jiauthored their own set of monastic regulations (penned by Mujaku Dōchū)[9]in response to this later in 1685.[10]To be sure, Myoshinji was worried about losing students to the Ōbaku, who were growing in popularity. The Ōbaku's "emphasis on thepreceptsand the strict observance of monastic regulations embodied inŌbaku shingiseem 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 likeGesshū Sōkoand Manzan Dōhaku who had studied under Ōbaku masters. "[11]

Historically, the Ōbaku-shū has sometimes been referred to as "NembutsuZen "—a derogatory characterization intended to describe their use of" Zen andPure Landpractices. "[12]The Ōbaku-shū emphasized the taking of various precepts and also observed theVinayaof theDharmaguptakatradition as well assutratranslation. But perhaps most obvious to the Japanese was their use ofnembutsu[13]and also their use of the "nembutsukōan"which entailed the practice of reciting the name ofAmitabhawhile holding in one's mind the kōan, "Who is reciting?"[1]While foreign to the Japanese (despite this "dual practice" being introduced in Japan as early as the late 13th century),[14]this was very common inMing periodCh'an, where there was no sectarian divide betweenPure LandBuddhists and Ch'an practitioners.

Convergence with Rinzai-Zen

[edit]

Heine and Wright note that:[9]

... 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, which caused a stir in Japan, 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 ofnembutsuinto his training regimen atZuigan-ji.[9]T. Griffith Foulk writes:

The followers ofHakuin Ekaku(1687—1769) tried to purge the elements of Ōbaku Zen they found objectionable. They suppressed the Pure Land practice of recitingAmidaBuddha's name, deemphasized the Vinaya, and replaced sutra study with a more narrow focus on traditional koan collections.[15]

Rooted in the lineage (school) ofLinji,and therefore sharing a familial relationship with theRinzai-shūof Japan, the Ōbaku's approach to practice is today tinged with a hint of Chinese influence.Helen J. Baroniwrites that today, "With a few notable exceptions, such as the style of sutra chanting (which continues to be done in an approximation ofFu giandialect), Ōbaku temples and monasteries appear very like their Rinzai neighbors. "[16]Statistically the smallest school/sect of Zen in modern-day Japan, the Ōbaku is also like theRinzai-shūin that it is known to be more conservative and intellectually inclined than theSōtō-shū.[17]

Ōbaku abbots are now all from theŌtōkanlineage, the same as Rinzai, and thus practices are largely similar, though this was not the case originally. Specifically, starting under the leadership of chief abbot Ryochu Nyoryu lương trung như long (1793–1868), Zen practice largely became the same as Rinzai practice, but monastic and cultural differences remain. Additionally, Buddhist sutras in the Ōbaku-shū continue today to be chanted inTō-on.[18]

Culture

[edit]

In addition to their contribution to Zen in Japan, the Ōbaku also "disseminated many aspects ofMing-periodculture "in the country.[19]Many of the monks who came from China were accomplishedcalligraphers,and Obaku's founderYinyuan Longqiand two other Ōbaku masters,Mokuan ShōtōandSokuhi Nyoitsu,became known as theŌbaku no Sanpitsu(or, the "Three Brushes of Ōbaku" ). AuthorSteven Heinewrites, "Areas where the influence of — or the reaction to — Ōbaku left an imprint onJapanese Buddhismis manifold, and its impact even reached the fields of Japanese cultural techniques, such as printing and painting.[10]Chinese medicineand architecture were also introduced, as was the practice of "spirit writing",the latter practiced by Ōbaku monks who were said to communicate withChen Tuan.[11]

The Ōbaku school is also well known for its style ofvegetariancooking known asfucha ryōri(Phổ trà liệu lý),its version ofBuddhist cuisine(in Japan known asshōjin ryōri(Tinh tiến liệu lý,devotion cuisine)). This is similar to usualshōjin ryōri,but with more Chinese influence. It was introduced by Yinyuan and his group, and served at the main temple of Manpuku-ji,[20]along with various subtemples such asKanga-an.[21][22]

The Ōbaku school also introduced loose-leaf tea to Japan. This would later producea variantof theJapanese tea ceremonywhich usessenchaleaf tea, rather than the more usualmatchapowdered tea.

Notable temples

[edit]

Head temple

[edit]

Subtemples

[edit]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^abcdHeine & Wright (2005),p. 151.
  2. ^abcdefDumoulin, 299-356
  3. ^abcIron Eyes; 5-6
  4. ^Totman; 404
  5. ^abWeidner, 293
  6. ^Obaku Zen; 116
  7. ^Obaku Zen; 82
  8. ^Dougill, 78
  9. ^abcHeine & Wright (2005),p. 151-152.
  10. ^abHeine, 255
  11. ^abHaskel, 37-38
  12. ^Obaku Zen; 87
  13. ^Baskind, 19-34
  14. ^Obaku Zen; 112
  15. ^Griffith Foulk (1988),p. 165.
  16. ^Iron Eyes; 6
  17. ^Allen, 131
  18. ^Lloyd; 365
  19. ^Fischer, et al.; 98
  20. ^"Rinzai-Obaku zen | Head Temples - Manpukuji Temple".Archivedfrom the original on 2020-01-27.Retrieved2008-03-29.
  21. ^Coldicott 2009
  22. ^Kinh hoài thạch phổ trà liệu lýArchived2012-04-22 at theWayback Machine,Nhàn nằm amArchived2012-04-22 at theWayback Machine(in Japanese)
  23. ^Cali, Joseph; Dougill, John (November 30, 2012).Shinto Shrines: A Guide to the Sacred Sites of Japan’s Ancient Religion.University of Hawaiʻi Press.p. 142.ISBN9780824837754.
  24. ^Rowthorn, 89
  25. ^Dodd, 722

Sources

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ōbaku&oldid=1225297392"