Hakuin ekaku biography of mahatma gandhi

Hakuin Ekaku died on January the 18th, 1769. He was born on the 19th of January, in 1686, in a village at the foot of Mount Fuji.

In those years between death and birth, Hakuin became the great reformer of Japanese Rinzai Zen. Curricular koan study traces to two major strains, both named for grand students of his.

As a child he attended a lecture given by a Nichiren priest on hell. The talk captured the boy’s imagination. He became obsessed with the idea of the hell realms. And he determined to escape them by becoming a monk.

When Hakuin turned fifteen he entered the monastic life as a Zen priest at Shoinji. Soon after he was sent to study at a neighboring temple, Daishoji. Here he delved deeply into Mahayana texts, and in particular he studied the Lotus Sutra. Ultimately he dismissed it as recorded in Wikipedia, as “nothing more than simple tales about cause and effect.”

Hakuin continued training and ended up at Zensoji. Here he became obsessed with the story of Yanto Quanhuo, a Chinese master who when murdered by robbers yelled so loudly that he could be heard valleys away. He despaired of ever escaping hell and while not formally disrobing, deciding to devote himself to literature and poetry.

When he was staying with the poet monk Dao Rojin he saw a stack of books about all the schools of Buddhism. He prayed to be directed to the right path, and reached with eyes closed to pick a book. It was about Zen.

At the age of twenty-three Hakuin had his first taste of awakening, hearing the ringing of the temple bell. He dug into koans with Shoju Rojin, who pushed him through three major awakening encounters. While he did not receive formal authorization from the master, he forever considered Shoju Roshi his master, and his contemporaries as well as history see him as the master’s heir.

Something happened, a medical or psychological crisis. He called it a “Zen sickness.” He ended up finding help with a Daoist he

On 27 August, following his month-long residency in the Lake District, Tony Shinro Doubleday presented Case 67 from the Blue Cliff Record at a Shuso Hossen ceremony at the Liverpool Centre.  This is the text of his talk and pictures from the well attended ceremony: 

MAHASATTVA FU EXPOUNDS THE SUTRA

The Emperor Wu of Liang requested Mahasattva Fu to expound the Diamond Sutra.  The Mahasattva struck the lectern and then descended from the dais.  The Emperor was flabbergasted.

Master Shi asked, “Your Majesty, do you understand?”
The Emperor said, “I do not understand.”
Master Shi said, “The Mahasattva Fu has expounded the Sutra.”

The great Japanese Rinzai Zen master, Hakuin Ekaku, said in the 18th century that Mahasattva Fu made a brilliant act in striking the lectern and that nothing more was required.  Even so, without more, we’re liable to see this koan as just one of those examples of an absurd-seeming Zen trope. It does need a bit of explanation and it may be helpful to consider what the characters in the koan say about us. For example, we could begin by admitting that the whipping boy, Emperor Wu of Liang, is like us. We do not understand either. Like him, we need to have Master Shi on hand, to explain. We expect more than a sudden rap on the lectern from our teachers.

So let’s look at the Emperor Wu. Quite a lot is known about him.  His original name Xiao Yan, and when he was born, in 464, China was fragmented into a number of kingdoms. This was the epoch known as the Northern and Southern Dynasties period. Xiao Yan grew into adulthood in the kingdom of the Southern Qi, as a member of the imperial family.

When the reigning emperor killed his prime minister, in 501, there was a revolt in which he himself was killed and Xiao Yan was able to overthrow the Southern Qi to establish the Liang dynasty with himself as Emperor. His capital was Jiankang (which is today a part of Nanjing). It’s recorded that Empe

ADVAITA – Dvaita means duality, so a-dvaita is no duality, which is the highest teaching of India. There are six major darshanas, or philosophies, in India – two that are dualistic, two that are between dualism and non-duality, and two that are non-dual. (Advaita Vedanta is one of the latter.) Non-dual means, literally, that there “are not two.” Many have spoken of “the Oneness of All Life.”

ANANDA – Pronounced anand in some Indian provinces, anand is joy or bliss of the highest, most permanent kind, coming from within. It is not temporary gratification from obtaining something desired. A good example of one bathed in anand would be the modern Swami Ramdas, an Indian saint who jumped up and down like a child, crying in joy during the latter years of his life. Sufi and Dervish masters, in their great devotion, often experience this anand. Many ashrams (Indian monasteries – originally forest dwellings) – have ananda as part of their names.

AURA – Religious paintings usually have a halo around the head of a saint, and this is what many people think of as the aura. On the other hand, we say, “He had an aura (air) of sanctity about him.” Here we are using the word in the greater sense, really referring to the vibrations around him. This is what we mean by aura when we speak of good vibes or bad vibes.

AUROBINDO, SRI [1872-1950] – This remarkable man, educated in England, was more at home in English than in the Indian languages. He spent much time in prison during the years of India’s fight for freedom from England, and during such times, he engaged in many religious austerities. His ashram at Pondicherry (an area of India where French is spoken) taught his Integral Yoga, which has become popular throughout the world. Some historians have difficulty in deciding whether to think of him as a scholar or a holy man.

BODH GAYA – Where the Buddha sat under the bodhi tree and by the light of the morning star, experienced his great enlightenment. Now it’s a city where pilg

Hakuin Ekaku, one of the two most important figures in the history Japanese Zen, died on this day, the 18th of January, in 1769.

He was born on the 19th of January, in 1686, in a village at the foot of Mount Fuji. As a child he attended a lecture given by a Nichiren priest on hell. The talk captured the boy’s imagination. He became obsessed with the idea of the hell realms. And he determined to escape them by becoming a monk.

When Hakuin turned fifteen he entered the monastic life as a Zen priest at Shoinji. Soon after he was sent to study at a neighboring temple, Daishoji. Here he delved deeply into Mahayana texts, and in particular he studied the Lotus Sutra. Ultimately he dismissed it as recorded in Wikipedia, as “nothing more than simple tales about cause and effect.”

Hakuin continued training and ended up at Zensoji. Here he became obsessed with the story of Yanto Quanhuo, a Chinese master who when murdered by robbers yelled so loudly that he could be heard valleys away. He despaired of ever escaping hell and while not formally disrobing, deciding to devote himself to literature and poetry.

When he was staying with the poet monk Dao Rojin he saw a stack of books about all the schools of Buddhism. He prayed to be directed to the right path, and reached with eyes closed to pick a book. It was about Zen.

At the age of twenty-three Hakuin had his first taste of awakening, hearing the ringing of the temple bell. He dug into koans with Shoju Rojin, who pushed him through three major awakening encounters. While he did not receive authorization from the master, he forever considered Shoju Roshi his master, and ultimately he himself, the master’s heir.

Something happened, a medical or psychological crisis. He called it a “Zen sickness.” He ended up finding help with a Daoisst hermit. And, from that period he included attention to health, what I think we would consider both physical and mental, a part of his practice.

At the