SHINCHI KAKUSHIN
Richard Bryan McDaniel: Zen Masters of Japan. The Second Step East. Rutland, Vermont: Tuttle Publishing, 2013.
Shinchi Kakushin was a contemporary of Enni Ben’en. He attended a Buddhist school associated with the local Shinto shrine and became a monk at the age of 19. When he had his head shaved, he was given the Buddhist name “Kakushin” which means “Enlightened Mind.”
In 1235, he became interested in Zen after meeting Gyoyu Zenji, one of Myoan Eisai’s heirs. Four years later, he accompanied Gyoyu to Jufukuji in Kamakura, where Gyoyu put him in charge of the operations of the temple.
After Gyoyu’s death. Kakushin studied for a while with Dogen, but ultimately decided that he needed to go to China to better understand Zen. There he had hoped to study with Mujun Shiban as had Bukko Kokushi and Shoichi, but Shiban had recently died. Instead, Kakushin became a student of Mumon Ekai (Wumen Huikai—cf. Zen Masters of China, Chapter Twenty-One) the famed author of the koan collection entitled The Mumonkan, or Gateless Gate.
When Kakushin presented himself before Mumon, the master challenged him by saying, “There is no gate into my temple. Where did you enter?”
“I entered through no-gate (wu-men),” Kakushin retorted.
“And what is your name?”
“My name is Enlightened Mind [Kakushin]!”
Wumen was so pleased with this exchange that he composed a poem on the spot,
Mind, just this is Buddha.
Buddha, just this is Mind.
Mind and Buddha, thus, thus,
In the past and now.(Zen Dust, p. 201.)
Under Mumon’s direction, Kakushin was introduced to koan practice. He achieved awakening after only six months in China, and won the admiration of his teacher. When it was time for him to return to Japan, Mumon presented him with a hand-written copy of the Mumonkan. It was the first copy to come to Japan.
Back in his homeland, Kakushin served at various temples where he trained students using the koans in Mumon’s collection. He also gave public lectures on the first koan in the series—Joshu’s Mu. He was invited to speak on Buddhism to both the reigning and the retired emperors. When the Emperor Go-Uta asked about Zen, Kakushin told him: “A Buddha is one who understands mind. The ordinary fellow does not understand mind. You cannot achieve this by depending upon others. To attain Buddhahood you must look into your own mind.”
Kakushin was likewise the teacher of the samurai, Yoritake Ryoen. Yoritake was said to have attained enlightenment after hearing the sound of a flute following a battle. Under Kakushin’s direction he was able to use the music of the flute to bring others to awakening. The sect they founded in this way was known as Fuke. The practitioners of Fuke included samurai and other lay people who made use of a distinctive headgear that included a basket-like covering of the face. In later years, highwaymen and other criminals would wear this headgear as a way of disguising their features and consequently the sect would eventually be banned. Long before that, however, through the guidance of men like Kakushin and Bukko Kokushi, Zen became the religion of the samurai.
I had no idea Wumen and Dogen were in competition. Or of these deeper roots of the flutist basket cases. Before Bankei, more living zen was moving than I had thought. (Thanks, third tweet.)
Submitted July 18, 2022 at 01:42AM by plenun_of_one https://ift.tt/LrA9myf
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