, sometimes called , is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

term used in

Zen 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 ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

which expresses the phenomenon known as "awakening alone, without a master".Faure, 48

Etymology

''Mushi-dokugo'' (無師独悟) is a Japanese term composed of four Chinese characters, or

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

, meaning "independent realization without a master." The character ''mu'' (無) means "without" or "no", ''shi'' (師) means "master" or "teacher", ''doku'' (独) means "independent" or "alone", and ''go'' (悟) means "realization" or "understanding" (

satoru is a Japanese verb meaning "to know" or "understand". It is a common masculine Japanese given name. Satoru is the root of the Zen Buddhist word . Possible writings ''Satoru'' can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *悟 ...

), also translated as "enlightenment" (

satori is a Japanese Buddhist term for awakening, "comprehension; understanding". It is derived from the Japanese verb satoru. In the Zen Buddhist tradition, ''satori'' refers to a deep experience of '' kenshō'', "seeing into one's true nature ...

). When strung together, the characters literally read, "no (無) master (師) independent (独) understanding (悟)." The equivalent Chinese pronunciation is ''wúshī dúwù.''

Examples

Nōnin (died 1196) is an example of mushi-dokugo: During the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characte ...

in Japan, there were a great many priests who proclaimed to be "self-enlightened." These included "such notables as the

Myōshin-ji is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, and head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The Myōshin-ji school is by far the largest school in Rinzai Zen, approximately as big as the other thirteen branches combined: it contains wit ...

masters Daigu, Ungo, Isshi and the

Sōtō Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngsh� ...

priest Suzuki Shōsan."Haskel, 20 The famous Korean master

Jinul Jinul Puril Bojo Daesa (, "Bojo Jinul"; 1158–1210), often called Jinul or Chinul for short, was a Korean monk of the Goryeo period, who is considered to be the most influential figure in the formation of Korean Seon (Zen) Buddhism. He is credi ...

could also be seen as an example.

Statements

According to

William Bodiford William M. Bodiford (born December 3, 1955) is an American professor and author. He teaches Buddhist Studies and the religion of Japan and East Asia at the University of California, Los Angeles. Education and early career In his section "Acknowle ...

, it is "usually considered suspect since the risk of self-delusion or "fake-Zen" is always high. ... To guarantee that his experience of the truth of Buddhism is genuine, the Zen disciple relies upon his teacher to authenticate and formally acknowledge his enlightenment."

Dōgen Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a J ...

, the founder of the

school of Japanese Zen, acknowledged in his lifetime that such a phenomenon exists. According to Hee-Jin Kim, Critical, reflective thinking as an integral part of meditation is mentioned in the fascicles of the ''

Shōbōgenzō is the title most commonly used to refer to the collection of works written in Japan by the 13th century Buddhist monk and founder of the Sōtō Zen school, Eihei Dōgen. Several other works exist with the same title (see above), and it is som ...

''. Anyone practising alone or together, without dharma transmission, may be regarded a dharma practitioner:

Etymology

Examples

Statements

See also

Notes

References

Web reference

Sources