Ryōkan Taigu
(1758 – 6 January 1831) was a quiet and unconventional Sōtō Zen Buddhist monk who lived much of his life as a hermit. Ryōkan is remembered for his poetry and calligraphy, which present the essence of Zen life. He is also known by the name ''Ryokwan'' in English. Early life Ryōkan was born in the village of Izumozaki in Echigo Province (now Niigata Prefecture) in Japan to the village headman. He renounced the world at an early age to train at nearby Sōtō Zen temple Kōshō-ji, refusing to meet with or accept charity from his family. Once the Zen master Kokusen visited the temple, and Ryōkan was deeply impressed with his demeanour. He solicited permission to become Kokusen's disciple. Kokusen accepted, and the two returned to Entsū-ji monastery in Tamashima (now Okayama Prefecture). It was at Entsū-ji that Ryōkan attained satori and was presented with an Inka by Kokusen. Kokusen died the following year, and Ryōkan left Entsū-ji to embark on a long pilgrima ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Niigata Prefecture
is a prefecture in the Chūbu region of Honshu of Japan. Niigata Prefecture has a population of 2,227,496 (1 July 2019) and is the fifth-largest prefecture of Japan by geographic area at . Niigata Prefecture borders Toyama Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture to the southwest, Gunma Prefecture to the south, Fukushima Prefecture to the east, and Yamagata Prefecture to the northeast. Niigata is the capital and largest city of Niigata Prefecture, with other major cities including Nagaoka, Jōetsu, and Sanjō. Niigata Prefecture contains the Niigata Major Metropolitan Area centered on Niigata with a population of 1,395,612, the largest metropolitan area on the Sea of Japan coast and the twelfth-largest in Japan. Niigata Prefecture is part of the historic Hokuriku region and features Sado Island, the sixth largest island of Japan in area following the four main islands and Okinawa Island. History Until after the Meiji Restoration, the area that is now Niigata Prefectu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Michel Mohr
Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), Spanish former footballer and manager * ''Michel'' (TV series), a Korean animated series * German auxiliary cruiser ''Michel'' * Michel catalog, a German-language stamp catalog * St. Michael's Church, Hamburg or Michel * S:t Michel, a Finnish town in Southern Savonia, Finland People * Alain Michel (other), several people * Ambroise Michel (born 1982), French actor, director and writer. * André Michel (director), French film director and screenwriter * André Michel (lawyer), human rights and anti-corruption lawyer and opposition leader in Haiti * Anette Michel (born 1971), Mexican actress * Anneliese Michel (1952 - 1976), German Catholic woman undergone exorcism * Annett Wagner-Michel (born 1955), German Woman Internati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Misao Kodama
Misao (written: 操 or みさを in hiragana) is a unisex Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese philosophy student and poet *, Japanese textile artist, weaver and educator *, Japanese murderer *, Japanese biathlete *, Japanese high jumper *, Japanese footballer *, Japanese swimmer * Misao, a Serbian publication Fictional characters *, a character in the anime series ''Magical Girl Pretty Sammy'' *, protagonist of the manga series '' Black Bird'' *, a character in the manga series ''Lucky Star'' *, a character in the manga series ''Rurouni Kenshin'' *, a character in the light novel series ''Asura Cryin''' *, a character in the video game ''Gate Keepers'' *, a character in the manga series ''First Love Limited , also known as ''Hatsukoi Limited'', is a Japanese ''shōnen'' romantic comedy manga by Mizuki Kawashita. It was serialized by Shueisha in the manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October 2007 to May 2008 and collected in four ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ryuichi Abe
is the Reischauer Institute Professor of Japanese Religions at Harvard University. Until May 2004, he was professor of Japanese religions in the departments of religion and East Asian languages and culture at Columbia University. Abe, through his teaching and books, has made an important contribution to the Western understanding of Buddhism in Japan. His book on Kūkai, ''The Weaving of Mantra: Kūkai and the Construction of Esoteric Buddhist Discourse'', underscores Kūkai's impact on 9th-century Japanese society. At a time when Confucian discourse dominated Japan, Kūkai developed a “voice” for Buddhism. He has also written about Ryōkan and Saichō. He received his bachelor's degree in economics from Keio University and his master's degree from School of Advanced International Affairs, Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the olde ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Burton Watson
Burton Dewitt Watson (June 13, 1925April 1, 2017) was an American sinologist, translator, and writer known for his English translations of Chinese and Japanese literature.Stirling 2006, pg. 92 Watson's translations received many awards, including the Gold Medal Award of the Translation Center at Columbia University in 1979, the PEN Translation Prize in 1982 for his translation with Hiroaki Sato of ''From the Country of Eight Islands: An Anthology of Japanese Poetry'', and again in 1995 for ''Selected Poems of Su Tung-p'o''. In 2015, at age 88, Watson was awarded the PEN/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation for his long and prolific translation career. Life and career Burton Watson was born on June 13, 1925, in New Rochelle, New York, where his father was a hotel manager. In 1943, at age 17, Watson dropped out of high school to join the U.S. Navy, and was stationed on repair vessels in the South Pacific during the final years of the Pacific Theatre of World War II. His ship wa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shambhala Publications
Shambhala Publications is an independent publishing company based in Boulder, Colorado. According to the company, it specializes in "books that present creative and conscious ways of transforming the individual, the society, and the planet". Many of its titles deal with Buddhism and related topics in religion and philosophy. The company's name was inspired by the Sanskrit word Shambhala, referring to a mystical kingdom hidden beyond the snowpeaks of the Himalayas, according to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Its authors include Chögyam Trungpa, Pema Chödrön, Thomas Cleary, Ken Wilber, Fritjof Capra, A. H. Almaas, John Daido Loori, John Stevens, Edward Espe Brown and Natalie Goldberg. The company is unaffiliated with Shambhala Buddhism, Shambhala International, or '' Lion's Roar'' (previously entitled ''Shambhala Sun'') magazine. History Shambhala was founded in 1969 by Samuel Bercholz and Michael Fagan, in Berkeley, California. Its books are distributed by Peng ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Stevens (scholar)
John Stevens (born 1947) is a Buddhist priest, teacher of Buddhist studies and Aikido teacher. Stevens formerly taught Eastern philosophy at Tohoku Fukushi University in Japan. His Aikido rank is 7th dan Aikikai. He lived in Sendai from 1973 to 2013. He currently resides in Honolulu, Hawaii where he instructs at Aikido-Ohana dojo. Biography John Stevens was born in Chicago but grew up in Evanston, Illinois. He moved to Sendai in Japan in 1973 in order to study Buddhism and began practising Aikido soon afterwards. He practiced under Hanzawa Yoshimi Sensei and then under Shirata Rinjiro Sensei (白田林二郎). He has created his own system of Aikido, which he calls Classical Aikido, which is a complete system emphasizing misogi, kotodama, and the unity of aiki-ken, aiki-jo, and taijutsu (body arts). He has taught it all over the world. Bibliography Stevens has written over thirty books on Buddhism, Aikido and Asian culture, including: * ''Training with the Master – Lessons ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stephen Mitchell (translator)
Stephen Mitchell (born 1943 in Brooklyn, New York) is a poet, translator, scholar, and anthologist. He is married to Byron Katie, founder of The Work. Education Stephen Mitchell was born to a Jewish family, educated at Amherst College, the University of Paris, and Yale University, and "de-educated" through intensive Zen practice. He studied for four and a half years with Zen master Seungsahn and for two and a half years with Robert Baker Aitken, Rōshi. Career Mitchell's translations and adaptions include the ''Tao Te Ching'', which has sold over million copies, ''Gilgamesh'', ''The Iliad'', ''The Odyssey'', ''The Gospel According to Jesus'', ''Bhagavad Gita'', ''The Book of Job'', ''The Second Book of the Tao'', and ''The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke''. He twice won the Harold Morton Landon Translation Award from the Academy of American Poets. His Selected Rilke has been called “the most beautiful group of poetic translations he twentiethcentury has produced” (Chic ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 ''On (Japanese prosody), on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or seasonal reference. Similar poems that do not adhere to these rules are generally classified as ''senryū''. Haiku originated as an opening part of a larger Japanese poem called renga. These haiku written as an opening stanza were known as ''hokku'' and over time they began to be written as stand-alone poems. Haiku was given its current name by the Japanese writer Masaoka Shiki at the end of the 19th century. Originally from Japan, haiku today are written by authors worldwide. Haiku in English and Haiku in languages other than Japanese, haiku in other languages have different styles and traditions while still incorporating aspects of the traditional haiku form. Non-Japanese haiku vary widely on how closely they follow ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Momiji
''Acer palmatum'', commonly known as Japanese maple, palmate maple, or smooth Japanese maple (Japanese: ''irohamomiji'', , or ''momiji'', (栴), is a species of woody plant native to Japan, Korea, China, eastern Mongolia, and southeast Russia. Many different cultivars of this maple have been selected and they are grown worldwide for their large variety of attractive forms, leaf shapes, and spectacular colors. Description ''Acer palmatum'' is a deciduous shrub or small tree reaching heights of , rarely , reaching a mature width of , often growing as an understory plant in shady woodlands. It may have multiple trunks joining close to the ground. In habit, its canopy often takes on a dome-like form, especially when mature.van Gelderen, C.J. & van Gelderen, D.M. (1999). ''Maples for Gardens: A Color Encyclopedia''. The leaves are long and wide, palmately lobed with five, seven, or nine acutely pointed lobes. The flowers are produced in small cymes, the individual flowers with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Death Poem
The death poem is a genre of poetry that developed in the literary traditions of East Asian cultures—most prominently in Japan as well as certain periods of Chinese history and Joseon Korea. They tend to offer a reflection on death—both in general and concerning the imminent death of the author—that is often coupled with a meaningful observation on life. The practice of writing a death poem has its origins in Zen Buddhism. It is a concept or worldview derived from the Buddhist teaching of the , specifically that the material world is transient and , that attachment to it causes , and ultimately all reality is an . These poems became associated with the literate, spiritual, and ruling segments of society, as they were customarily composed by a poet, warrior, nobleman, or Buddhist monk. The writing of a poem at the time of one's death and reflecting on the nature of death in an impermanent, transitory world is unique to East Asian culture. It has close ties with Buddhism, an ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |