Hakuin Ekaku. Hakuin Ekaku was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism.
He is regarded as the reviver of the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, refocusing it on its traditionally rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice. Hakuin was born in 1686 in the small village of Hara, at the foot of Mount Fuji.
His mother was a devout Nichiren Buddhist, and it is likely that her piety was a major influence on his decision to become a Buddhist monk. As a child, Hakuin attended a lecture by a Nichiren monk on the topic of the Eight Hot Hells.
This deeply impressed the young Hakuin, and he developed a pressing fear of hell, seeking a way to escape it. He eventually came to the conclusion that it would be necessary to become a monk. At the age of fifteen, he obtained consent from his parents to join the monastic life, and was ordained at the local Zen temple, Shoin-ji.
When the head monk at Shoin-ji took ill, Hakuin was sent to a neighboring temple, Daisho-ji, where he served as a novice for three or four years, studying Buddhist texts. While at Daisho-ji, he read the Lotus Sutra, considered by the Nichiren sect to be the king of all Buddhist sutras, and found it disappointing, saying it consisted of nothing more than simple tales about cause and effect. At age eighteen, he left Daisho-ji for Zenso-ji, a temple close to Hara. At the age of nin
He is regarded as the reviver of the Rinzai school from a moribund period of stagnation, refocusing it on its traditionally rigorous training methods integrating meditation and koan practice. Hakuin was born in 1686 in the small village of Hara, at the foot of Mount Fuji.
His mother was a devout Nichiren Buddhist, and it is likely that her piety was a major influence on his decision to become a Buddhist monk. As a child, Hakuin attended a lecture by a Nichiren monk on the topic of the Eight Hot Hells.
This deeply impressed the young Hakuin, and he developed a pressing fear of hell, seeking a way to escape it. He eventually came to the conclusion that it would be necessary to become a monk. At the age of fifteen, he obtained consent from his parents to join the monastic life, and was ordained at the local Zen temple, Shoin-ji.
When the head monk at Shoin-ji took ill, Hakuin was sent to a neighboring temple, Daisho-ji, where he served as a novice for three or four years, studying Buddhist texts. While at Daisho-ji, he read the Lotus Sutra, considered by the Nichiren sect to be the king of all Buddhist sutras, and found it disappointing, saying it consisted of nothing more than simple tales about cause and effect. At age eighteen, he left Daisho-ji for Zenso-ji, a temple close to Hara. At the age of nin
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