(
fl.
''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...
1190s) was a Japanese
Buddhist monk who started the first
Zen
Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...
school in Japan called the Darumashū, or "Bodhidharma school."
Biography
While a monk with the
Tendai
, also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...
school, Nōnin came across Zen texts which had been brought from China. In 1189, he dispatched two of his disciples to China to meet with Zhuóān Déguāng (拙庵德光, 1121–1203), himself a student of the
Rinzai
The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...
master
Dahui Zonggao. The disciples presented a letter Nōnin had written describing his
realization from
practicing Zen on his own. Deguang apparently approved and sent a letter certifying Nōnin’s enlightenment.
Daruma-school
The Daruma-school depended on two sources for their teachings: early Chán as "transmitted on
Hiei-zan within the
Tendai
, also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...
tradition", with clear elements of teachings from the Northern School, and the
Chinese Rinzai-school. The Chán-teaching of 'inherent awakening', or
hongaku
The moon reflected in water is a popular simile for enlightenment used by Dōgen in the '' East Asian Buddhist doctrine often translated as "inherent", "innate", "intrinsic" or "original" enlightenment in Buddhism">awakeness.
This doctrine hold ...
, influenced the Tendai-teachings. It explains:
Eisai gives the following report of the Daruma-shū in the ''Seijin ketsugiron'', the third book of his ''Kōzen gokokuron'':
Someone asked: "Some people recklessly call the Daruma-shū the Zen sect. But they he Daruma-shū adeptsthemselves say that there are no precepts to follow, no practices to engage in. From the outset there are no passions; from the beginning we are enlightened. Therefore do not practice, do not follow the precepts, eat when hungry, rest when tired. Why practice nembutsu, why give maigre feasts, why curtail eating? How can this be?" Eisai replied that the adherents of the Daruma-shū are those who are described in the sūtras as having a false view of emptiness. One must not speak with them or associate with them, and must keep as far away as possible.[Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History, Volume 2: Japan, page 9, World Wisdom, Inc., 2005]
Because of his nonstandard
Dharma transmission
In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' ('' kechimyaku'') theoretically traced back to the Buddha him ...
and extensive blending of various teachings, his school was heavily criticized.
Heinrich Dumoulin wrote of Nōnin:
On the other hand, in opposition to this supposed diversity of teachings, Hee-Jin Kim states:
The Bodhidharma School apparently drew a number of followers, but in 1194 the
Tendai
, also known as the Tendai Dharma Flower School (天台法華宗, ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just ''Hokkeshū''), is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition with significant esoteric elements that was officially established in Japan in 806 by t ...
establishment requested that the government have it shut down. They accepted the proposal for the school "being 'incomprehensible' and circulating nonsense." His students continued the school for a brief time, but eventually they dispersed to study with
Dōgen
was a Japanese people, Japanese Zen Buddhism, Buddhist Bhikkhu, monk, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. He is also known as Dōgen Kigen (), Eihei Dōgen (), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (), and Busshō Dent� ...
or
Eisai. In fact,
Koun Ejō
(1198–1280) was the second Lineage (Buddhism), patriarch of the Japanese Sōtō school of Zen Buddhism who lived during the Kamakura period. He was initially a disciple of the short-lived Darumashu, Darumashū sect of Japanese Zen founded by Non ...
and
Tettsū Gikai
is the third spiritual leader of the Sōtō Zen school of Buddhism in Japan. He began his Buddhist life as a student of the Darumashū's Ekan, but later both became students of Eihei Dōgen's newly established Sōtō school. Gikai received dharm ...
, both prominent students of
Dōgen
was a Japanese people, Japanese Zen Buddhism, Buddhist Bhikkhu, monk, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. He is also known as Dōgen Kigen (), Eihei Dōgen (), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (), and Busshō Dent� ...
to whom nearly all modern Soto Zen teachers trace their lineages, were originally students of Nonin's successors. The transfer of Dogen to Echizen in 1243 may in part have been due "to the fact that the Daruma-''shu'' had a strong following in that province".
There may have been members of the Daruma-school until the
Ōnin War
The , also known as the Upheaval of Ōnin and Ōnin-Bunmei war, was a civil war that lasted from 1467 to 1477, during the Muromachi period in Japan. ''Ōnin'' refers to the Japanese era name, Japanese era during which the war started; the war ende ...
1467–1477, which destroyed much of Zen monasticism.
See also
*
Mushi dokugo
References
Sources
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Further reading
*
External links
The Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, ''Nōnin[能忍]''
{{Zen
Zen Buddhist monks
Japanese Buddhist clergy
Founders of Buddhist sects
Buddhist clergy of the Heian period