Jakuen
Encyclopedia
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...
monk and a disciple of Rujing
Rujing
Tiāntóng Rújìng was a Caodong Buddhist monk living in Qìngdé Temple on Tiāntóng Mountain in Yinzhou District, Ningbo...
. Most of his life is known to us only through medieval hagiography, legends, and sectarian works. It is generally agreed, though, that during his time at Tiāntóng Mountain
Yinzhou District, Ningbo
- History :In 220 BC, Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, established three counties called Yin, Mao and Gouzhang . Later they were merged into Gouzhang county during the Sui Dynasty. It was renamed Mao county during the Tang Dynasty. It had assumed its current name of "Yin" in...
he befriended Dōgen
Dogen
Dōgen Zenji was a Japanese Zen Buddhist teacher born in Kyōto, and the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan after travelling to China and training under the Chinese Caodong lineage there...
who was also studying under Rujing. After Rujing's death in 1228, Jakuen immigrated to Japan in order to join his friend's emerging 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...
school, but did not receive dharma transmission
Dharma transmission
Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...
from Dōgen directly, rather his disciple Koun Ejō
Koun Ejo
Koun Ejō was initially a disciple of the short-lived Darumashū sect of Japanese Zen under Nōnin, but later studied and received dharma transmission under Dōgen and is considered his spiritual successor by the Sōtō school. His transmission is the final koan chronicled in the Denkoroku...
.
Jakuen outlived Dōgen and became embroiled in the sandai sōron
Sandai soron
The sandai sōron , or third-generation differentiation, was a dispute over the orthodoxy and succession of Sōtō Zen Buddhism. The major figures involved were Jakuen, Gikai, Gien, and Giin, all of whom claimed the right to serve as abbot of Eihei-ji...
, a dispute over orthodoxy and succession. In 1261 he left Eihei-ji
Eihei-ji
is one of two main temples of the Sōtō sect of Zen Buddhism. Its founder was Eihei Dōgen. Eihei-ji is located about east of Fukui in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.- History :...
, leaving the other monks to resolve the power struggle amongst themselves, but allegedly taking with him many treasures of Eihei-ji entrusted to him by Dōgen. He arrived on a remote mountain in Fukui prefecture
Fukui Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region on Honshū island. The capital is the city of Fukui.- Prehistory :The Kitadani Dinosaur Quarry, on the Sugiyama River within the city limits of Katsuyama, has yielded the Fukuiraptor kitadaniensis and Fukuisaurus tetoriensis as well as an unnamed...
, where he became famous to the locals for his ascetic meditation on a mountainside without the benefit of any monastic community. During this time, according medieval legend, he gained the friendship of a cow and dog who would follow him into town during alms
Alms
Alms or almsgiving is a religious rite which, in general, involves giving materially to another as an act of religious virtue.It exists in a number of religions. In Philippine Regions, alms are given as charity to benefit the poor. In Buddhism, alms are given by lay people to monks and nuns to...
rounds. The rock that he sat on has also become a local landmark. Eventually he built a monastery called Hōkyō-ji (宝慶寺) in the style of Tiāntóng, which today owns the only surviving early treasures of Eihei-ji, and serves as a training center for Japanese and international Sōtō Zen Buddhists.
In medieval Japan Jakuen's monastic community split into two separate lineages, one at Hōkyō-ji and one at Eihei-ji which was responsible for some of the corruption that went on there.
Today, there are communities of monks in both China and Japan who claim descent from Jakuen. His disciple Giun became abbot of Eihei-ji. In Japan, there is a temple in Tokyo named Jakuen-ji. Hōkyō-ji is officially in communion with the official Sōtō lineage through Keizan
Keizan
-Biography:Keizan Jōkin 螢山紹瑾 , also known as Taiso Jōsai Daishi, was the second of the great founders of the Sōtō Zen sect in Japan. While Dōgen Zenji, as founder of Japanese Sōtō, is known as , Keizan is often referred to as Taiso , or Greatest Patriarch...
, but unofficially consider Jakuen their patriarch.