Hi all
We know that the lineage of Zen ancestors is rather male dominated but it is possible that the first Zen student from Japan was a woman, and an empress.
This is from one of Taigen Dan Leighton's notes to Dōgen's dharma hall discourses in the Eihei Kōroku (on p317).
Anyway, Jundo is currently reading a book on Zen history so may denounce the above as baloney but I thought it was an interesting observation on the early Japanese encounters with Zen.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-
We know that the lineage of Zen ancestors is rather male dominated but it is possible that the first Zen student from Japan was a woman, and an empress.
This is from one of Taigen Dan Leighton's notes to Dōgen's dharma hall discourses in the Eihei Kōroku (on p317).
The Saga empress, Tachibana Kachiko (786-850), sent a Japanese monk to China to bring back a Chan teacher, as she had heard about Chan from the great Japanese Shingon school founder Kukai (also known as Kōbō Daishi, 774-835), who has visited China. The monk she sent found the national teacher Yanguan Qian, who sent to Japan his disciple Yikung. Yikung first taught at a subtemple of Tōji, the great Shingon temple in southern Kyoto, founded by Kukai. Later the saga empress founded a temple, Danrinji, in the Arashiyama section of Saga in the west of Kyoto. Yikung was the first abbot.
Danrinji could be said to have been the first Zen temple in Japan, although Yikung later returned to China without having established any enduring Zen lineage in Japan. The empress Tachibana Kachiko herself became a nun. So the first Zen practitioner in Japan was a woman. Danrinji was destroyed by fire in 928. It was reconstructed in 1345 as Tenryuji, which was one of the main headquarters temples of Rinzai Zen and still remains in western Kyoto.
Danrinji could be said to have been the first Zen temple in Japan, although Yikung later returned to China without having established any enduring Zen lineage in Japan. The empress Tachibana Kachiko herself became a nun. So the first Zen practitioner in Japan was a woman. Danrinji was destroyed by fire in 928. It was reconstructed in 1345 as Tenryuji, which was one of the main headquarters temples of Rinzai Zen and still remains in western Kyoto.
Anyway, Jundo is currently reading a book on Zen history so may denounce the above as baloney but I thought it was an interesting observation on the early Japanese encounters with Zen.
Gassho
Kokuu
-sattoday-
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