Ingen Ryūki () (December 7, 1592 – May 19, 1673) was a Chinese poet, calligrapher, and
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedic ...
of
Linji Chan Buddhism from
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
.
[Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ingen" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nussbaum, ''see']
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Authority File
. He is most known for founding the
Ōbaku school of
Zen in
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
.
Biography
Ingen was born on December 7, 1592, in
Fuqing
(; Foochow Romanized: Hók-chiăng; also romanized as Hokchia) is a county-level city of Fujian Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Fuzhou.
Geography
Fuqing is located in the north-central par ...
,
Fujian
Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its ...
, during China's
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...
. Ingen's father disappeared when he was five. At age 20, while searching for him, Ingen arrived at
Mount Putuo
Mount Putuo (, from Sanskrit: " Mount Potalaka") is an island in Putuo District, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China. It is a renowned site in Chinese Buddhism and is the bodhimaṇḍa of the bodhisattva Guanyin.
Mount Putuo is one of the four sa ...
off
Zhejiang
Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by Ji ...
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
, where he served tea to monks. At 28, after the death of his mother, he was ordained as a monk at his family temple -
Wanfu Temple,
Mount Huangbo
Mount Huangbo () is a mountain in Fuqing county of Fujian Province, in the East China region of the People's Republic of China.
The mountain is famous for its Buddhist temples, including Wanfu Temple (home of Yinyuan Longqi, founder of the Japa ...
, Fujian. Ingen's teachers there were
Miyun Yuanwu and
Feiyin Tongrong. In 1633 he received
dharma transmission from the latter, and in 1637 served his first term as abbot. His second term as 33rd abbot of the temple began in 1646 and at this time he is credited with helping Mount Huangbo to develop into a thriving Buddhist centre.
In 1654, after repeated requests of
Itsunen Shoyu, he went to
Nagasaki
is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan.
It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
, Japan with around 30 monks and artisans, including his disciple
Muyan. He founded the Ōbaku
school of Zen.
He established the Ōbaku head temple
Manpuku-ji at
Uji, Kyoto in 1661.
On May 21, 1673 (''Enpō 1, 5th day of the 4th month''), he died at Mampuku-ji.
Calligraphy
Ingen was a skilled calligrapher, introducing the Ming style of calligraphy to Japan.
Along with his disciples
Muyan and
Sokuhi Nyoitsu, he was one of the ''
Ōbaku no Sanpitsu'' ("Three Brushes of Ōbaku"). He is known to have carried paintings by
Chen Xian with him to Japan.
Selected work
Ingen's published writings encompass 35 works in 46 publications in 4 languages and 226 library holdings.
WorldCat Identities
隱元 1592-1673
/ref>
* 1979 —
See also
* Egoku Dōmyō
Notes
References
* Nussbaum, Louis Frédéric and Käthe Roth. (2005). ''Japan Encyclopedia.'' Cambridge: Harvard University Press
Harvard University Press (HUP) is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. After the retir ...
.
OCLC 48943301
* Titsingh, Isaac. (1834). ''Annales des empereurs du Japon.'' Paris: Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland
OCLC 251800045
see also '' Imprimerie Royale de France,''
{{Authority control
Qing dynasty Buddhist monks
Obaku Buddhists
Zen Buddhist abbots
1592 births
1673 deaths
Chinese Zen Buddhists
Rinzai Buddhists
Ming dynasty calligraphers
Qing dynasty calligraphers
Writers from Fuzhou
Artists from Fuzhou
Poets from Fujian
Qing dynasty poets
Chan Buddhist monks
Ming dynasty Buddhist monks
17th-century Buddhist monks
Chinese tea masters
Buddhist artists
Edo period Buddhist clergy
category:17th-century Chinese calligraphers
17th-century Japanese calligraphers