Shidō Bu'nan (Munan) (1603–1676) was a Japanese Rinzai Zen monk, and the teacher of Shoju Rojin (1642–1721), who was the principal teacher of

Hakuin Ekaku was one of the most influential figures in Japanese Zen Buddhism, who regarded bodhicitta, working for the benefit of others, as the ultimate concern of Zen-training. While never having received formal dharma transmission, he is regarded as th ...

(1686–1769).

Biography

Born in Sekigahara as the son of an inn-keeper (just like Hakuin), at age 14 Munan started Zen-Studies with

Gudō Toshoku Gudō Toshoku (1577–1661) was a Japanese Rinzai school zen monk from the early Tokugawa period. Biography He was a leading figure in the Ōtōkan lineage of the Myōshin-ji, where he led a reform movement to revitalize the practice of Rinzai. He ...

(1577–1661) in Kyoto as a lay-practitioner. He was assigned the koan "from the beginning not a thing exists," a quote attributed to

Huineng Dajian Huineng or Hui-nengThe Sutra of Hui-neng, Grand Master of Zen, with Hui-neng's Commentary on the Diamond Sutra, translated by Thomas Cleary, Shambhala Publications, 1998 (; February 27, 638 – August 28, 713), also commonly known as the ...

, the sixth Zen-patriarch. Returning to Sekigahara to work at the inn, he kept practicing, tutelaged by Gudō when he was around. Munan took over the inn, married, but eventually became addicted to drinking and gambling. In 1656, after a reprimande form Gudo, Munan broke with his addictions and became his attendant, following him to Edo and becoming a monk. He evaded the Rinzai-hierarchy, criticising it's failings such as a compromised koan-system and an over-emphasis on developing literary and artistic skills. In his teachings, he asserted that awakening is not an end in itself, but the beginning of the true practice of the Buddha-way:

Writings

* Ryūtakuji Shozō Hōgo (1666) * Sokushinki (On the mind, 1670), tr. Kobori Sōhaku, Norman A. Waddell * Jishōki (On self-nature, 1672), tr. Kusumita Priscella Pedersen * Bunan zenji dōka shū (1844)

Biography

Writings

References

Sources

Further reading

External links