A is a
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
staff which curves slightly, approximately 15 inches (or half a
metre
The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...
[Koun, 205-206]) long, which is used as a "symbol of a Zen master's authority" in
Zen Buddhism
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
.
[Baroni, 300] In contrast to the ''
keisaku
In Zen Buddhism, the ''keisaku'' (Japanese: 警策, Chinese: 香板, ''xiāng bǎn''; ''kyōsaku'' in the Soto school) is a flat wooden stick or slat used during periods of meditation to remedy sleepiness or lapses of concentration. This is acco ...
'', the shippei was often used as a disciplinary measure for meditating monks. It can often be found at the side of a
Zen master
Zen master is a somewhat vague English term that arose in the first half of the 20th century, sometimes used to refer to an individual who teaches Zen Buddhist meditation and practices, usually implying longtime study and subsequent authorizat ...
in a
zendo and is also "one of seven items that make up a Zen monk's equipment."
It is fashioned out of two pieces of
bamboo
Bamboos are a diverse group of evergreen perennial flowering plants making up the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. The origin of the word "bamboo" is uncertain, bu ...
that are shaped into the form of a spatula
[ (or short bow), wound with ]rattan
Rattan, also spelled ratan, is the name for roughly 600 species of Old World climbing palms belonging to subfamily Calamoideae. The greatest diversity of rattan palm species and genera are in the closed-canopy old-growth tropical forests of ...
, and lacquered
Lacquer is a type of hard and usually shiny coating or finish applied to materials such as wood or metal. It is most often made from resin extracted from trees and waxes and has been in use since antiquity.
Asian lacquerware, which may be ca ...
.[
Sometimes curved in the shape of an S, the shippei may be elaborately decorated with a silk cord or have ]carving
Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...
s. It is still "sometimes employed to hit monks".[Hori, 701-702]
See also
*''Keisaku
In Zen Buddhism, the ''keisaku'' (Japanese: 警策, Chinese: 香板, ''xiāng bǎn''; ''kyōsaku'' in the Soto school) is a flat wooden stick or slat used during periods of meditation to remedy sleepiness or lapses of concentration. This is acco ...
''
Explanatory notes
References
;Citations
;Bibliography
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*
*
*
Zen
{{zen-stub