Thanks to Routledge Taylor & Francis Group for permission to republish this. This article appears in the Encyclopedia of Buddhism on pages 615 to 617 by editors Damien Keown and Charles S. Prebish, first published in 2007 by Routledge. To purchase the book, visit: http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415556248/
Rinzai is, along with Sōtō, one of the two major schools of Zen Buddhism in Japan. It carries on the Linji Chan tradition in emphasizing the use of kōans (Ch. gongan) – stories of “precedents” involving a riddle to be solved – as a central practice to attain enlightenment.
The Rinzai tradition was first transmitted to Japan by Eisai (Yōsai, 1141 – 1215), who studied at the Tendai headquarters on Mount Hiei and then in 1168 traveled to China. He made a second trip to China in 1187, but his plans to make a pilgrimage to India were thwarted by Chinese officials. Instead, Eisai began to propagate Rinzai teachings, along with the Tendai and esoteric Buddhist teachings and practice, also emphasizing the importance of observing the Buddhist precepts. Faced with opposition from the Tendai establishment, Eisai wrote Shukke taikō (Essentials of the Monastic Life) and Kōzen-gokoku-ron (Dissemination of Zen for the Defense of the Nation) in which he claimed that Zen teachings should reform and not threaten Tendai Buddhism, and would strengthen rather than weaken society. In 1199 Eisai went to Kamakura to seek the support of the new shogunate. Eventually he was put in charge of Kennin-ji, a new monastery, where he served the shogunate and became involved in the restoration of various temples, such as Tōdai-ji in Nara.
Eisai is recognized as the founder of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism in Japan, but Eisai himself taught an eclectic “mixed” form of Buddhism that included many elements from the esoteric tradition. He also saw himself as a reformer of Tendai rather than the founder of a new movement. He is most famous for introducing tea to Japan, which he recommended to monks for their health and as an aid to meditation.
The Rinzai Zen tradition after Eisai, reinforced by cultured Chinese monks escaping to Japan to avoid the Mongols, was patronized by the warrior elite and aristocratic families, eventually forming the cultural centers of the Five Mountains (gozan) temples. Temples such as Nanzanji and Daitokuji became great centers of the arts.
A representative figure from this period is Musō Soseki (or Musō Kokushi; 1275 – 1351). Musō first studied esoteric Tendai and Shingon Buddhism before studying Zen under the Chinese master Yishan Yining (1247 – 1317), and then under Kōhō Kennichi (1241 – 1316) in Kamakura. He spent many years wandering and meditating in the mountains. Eventually he was invited to be abbot of Nanzenji, and played a central role in the establishment of the Gozan system. He headed a number of major Zen temples (including Nanzanji and Enkakuji), trained numerous disciples, founded many more temples (including Tenryūji), and was an influential figure in the political world of his day, ushering the Gozan Temple system into a leading role in the culture and life of medieval Japan.
Musō taught a traditional Rinzai combination of seated meditation and kōan study, as well as incorporating elements of esoteric Buddhism. His many works include Muchū mondō (Dialogue in a Dream) in which he explains Zen Buddhism in response to questions raised by the Shogun Ashikaga Tadayoshi. He also compiled strict rules for the community of Zen monks. Musō was also a designer of gardens, the most famous being the “moss garden” at Saihō-ji in Kyoto.
The wars of the sixteenth century put an end to the Gozan system as a dominant cultural establishment, and the lineages of Daitokuji and Myōshinji became most important for the Rinzai tradition. Two contrasting representatives of Daitokuji and the Rinzai Zen of this period are Ikkyū and Takuan Sōhō.
Ikkyū Sōjun (1394 – 1481) was an eccentric Japanese Zen master and noted poet and calligrapher who disdained worldly conventions and the Gozan Zen establishment. He was the son of Emperor Go-Komatsu (r. 1382 – 1412) and was schooled from childhood at the Zen temple Ankoku-ji in Kyoto. He came to detest the sophisticated Zen establishment and left Ankoku-ji to practice with Ken’ō Sōi (d. 1415) and then Kasō Sōdon (1352 – 1428), under whose strict tutelage he experienced enlightenment. Ikkyū spent many years in Sakai (currently Osaka), where he frequented the local taverns and brothels and exhibited a mad eccentricity, such as marching down the street waving a human skull. Ikkyū Accepted an appointment as abbot of Daitoku-jiin 1474, and succeeded somewhat in its restoration from the ravages of the Ōnin war, but he soon left the position. His love affair late in life with the blind singer Mori is well known, and the subject of many poignant poems. Ikkyū Is also famed for his many striking poems in the classic Chinese style, and his dynamic calligraphy. His finest collection of poetry is the Kyōunshō (Crazy Cloud Anthology), containing over 1,000 poems. Ikkyū Is well known in the modern popular mind, because of his role as the hero of a Japanese cartoon, as an adolescent novice monk who betters his superiors through which an clever antics. He also lives on in legend as an exemplar of the unconventional Zen monk whose eccentric behavior exposes the vanity of worldly pretensions.
Takuan Sōhō (1573 – 1645), in contrast, was also a noted scholar, calligrapher, and painter. Appointed abbot of Daitokuji at the young age of thirty-five, he made important contributions to the Zen art of tea, swordsmanship, calligraphy, poetry, and painting. He was spiritual advisor to the Shogun Tokugawa Iemitsu, and Takuan’s relationship with Iemitsu’s sword master Yagyū Munenori is especially well known. Takuan also wrote extensively on Zen theory and was well acquainted with Confucian studies. His Ri-ki sabetsu ron (The Difference between Ri and Ki) is a study of Confucianism from the perspective of Zen Buddhism.
The Myōshinji branch was influenced by the arrival of the Ōbaku lineage, a third (though smaller) school of Japanese Zen. A famous, though not necessarily representative, monk of the Myōshinji branch is Bankei Yōtaku (1622 – 93). Bankei was born into a Confucian family in Hamada, a small village on the Inland Sea, but studied Rinzai Zen under Umpo Zenjō (1568 – 1653) at Zuiōji in Akō, And the Ming Chinese monk Dezhe. During a time of extreme physical illness he experienced the insight that “all things are resolved in the Unborn (fushō).” He was affiliated with the Zen temple Myōshinji but spent most of his time traveling, training disciples and preaching to the people. He tirelessly proclaimed the principle of fushō, the Unborn, which for him express the essence of Buddhism and the universality of the unborn Buddha mind. He rejected the traditional Rinzai use of the kōan, and was famed as a preacher who spoke to the people in simple, ordinary language.
The most important figure for modern Rinzai, however, was Hakuin Ekaku (1686 – 1769). Hakuin showed an inclination for the religious life from the time he was a child and entered the Zen temple Shōin-ji at the age of fifteen. When he was twenty-four Hakuin experienced a “Great Doubt,” which was in turn shattered like the smashing of a sheet of ice or a jade tower. Driven by this enlightening experience, he visited the master Shōju Rōjin (1643 – 1721) at his hermitage of Shōju-an in Nagano. Further intense practice and struggling with kōans resulted in a deeper understanding of the Zen way. Further travels provided many more intense experiences of enlightenment, each revealing a new level of awareness. Hakuin also suffered from repeated bouts of psychosomatic disturbances, called “Zen sickness;” these were slowly cured after a visit to the hermit Hakuyū, Who pointed out that the symptoms were based on Hakuin’s extreme ascetic and meditational practices. This experience aided Hakuin in providing methods which he in turn used to help his disciples with regard to health problems. Hakuin finally returned to Shōin-ji in 1716, where he guided a growing number of disciples and his fame spread throughout Japan.
Hakuin’s many writings include Yasen kanna (Talks on a Boat in the Evening). Even more famous is Orategama (The Embossed Tea Kettle) in which Hakuin outlined his theories on health and long life. Hakuin is also famous for his bold in original calligraphy. Hakuin emphasized a strict regimen of meditation accompanied by active participation in daily chores in order to “perceive one’s (true) nature” (kenshō). He revitalized the Rinzai process of meditating on kōans, and his teachings became the central Rinzai tradition in Japan. All modern Rinzai master’s in Japan trace their lineage to Hakuin.