The Zen Master Hakuin

by Hakuin Ekaku (Translator)

The Zen Master Hakuin

Genres: Buddhism, Zen, Philosophy, Japanese Literature, Religion

253 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 1971

About the author

Hakuin Ekaku (白隠 慧鶴), also known as Hakuin Zenji, 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.

Reviews

[Owlseyes · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Even though I am past seventy now my vitality is ten times as great as it was when I was thirty or forty. My mind and my body are strong and I have never the feeling that I absolutely must lie to rest."
in: Letter to Lord Nabeshima, Governor of the Settu province, June 20, 1748





"For effective meditation nothing is better than practice when one is ill"
in: Letter to a sick Monk living far away

"At fifteen I left home to become a monk and at that time I vowed to myself: 'even if I should die I will not cease my efforts to gain the power of one whom fire will not burn and water will not drown' .

When I was twenty two I went to the province of Wasaka and while attending lectures on the Hsü-t' ang -lu, I gained an awakening"
in: Letter to old Nun of the Hoke sect





"Yet nowadays those who practice The Pure Land teaching recite the name daily a thousand times, ten thousand times, a million times, but none of them has determined the Great Matter of salvation. Don't they realize that Amida Buddha refused to accept true enlightenment?

Eshin Sozu, at the age of twenty four,...retired to the fastness of Yokawa and during the day practiced the three sutras of the Lotus and at night called the Buddha's name sixty thousand times.

Moyen Sozu of Mount Koya, in the fall of a year when he was in his fifties entered into a deep samadhi of calling the Buddha's name"
in: Letter in answer to the question: which is superior the Koan or the Nembutsu?

"If you become aware that you have heard even to a small extent the Sound of the Single Hand, please let me know about it by letter"
in: YABUKOJI

"The warrior who has not investigated the death koan is weak and timid in body and mind and in the end is unable to determine the mind-as-master"
in: HEBIICHIGO II, 1754

Around 300 years have gone by and these letters and drafts seem as if written yesterday. It's an authoritative voice and pen*, you may hear about while reading. I'm still struggling with this sort of 'Koanic' doubt: the writing is so good, should I attribute it to the translator or the author? Maybe both. Maybe none. Maybe to the message itself.

The Letters aren't limited to religious affairs, but they approach topics as diverse as Herbal science, Healing, Pilgrimage, History and Political views on tyranny.

At the end of the book you may find an Appendix which describes the "voluminous" written output of Hakuin.

PS At a certain letter, I've sensed a bit of "animosity" towards the followers of the Pure Land sect; but, that's a minor detail.

*and brush.

[Cylob Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

These words are life-giving therapy for me.