Publication details
Ikkjú Sódžun a jeho zenové vtipy
| Title in English | Ikkyu Sojun and his Zen jokes |
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| Authors | |
| Year of publication | 2009 |
| Type | Article in Proceedings |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Philosophy and religion |
| Keywords | Zen Buddhism; Rinzai Zen; gozan temples; Zen poems; Zen training |
| Description | The Zen monk Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481) was ill-famous as a renegade monk, ignorant to the teaching of traditional Japanese Zen schools. On one hand, he was worshipped as an enlightened master, yet on the other he was dishonoured and rejected by the traditional Zen establishment of the era. Ikkyu was a great lover of life, poetry, calligraphy and women. In an unsettled period of Japanese civil wars and political upheaval, he fought for survival of himself, and that of the Zen teachings, by bringing it nearer to the masses by means of the language of its presentation. In his poems, Ikkyu celebrated the pleasures of life, and at the same time he criticised and ridiculed the Zen monks and life in Zen temples of his times, including the official gozan monasteries and its patrons. This work about his life and poetry aims to reach a fuller understanding of the historical circumstances, and the possiblity of employing poems as a technique in Zen training. |