was a
Japanese samurai
The samurai () were members of the warrior class in Japan. They were originally provincial warriors who came from wealthy landowning families who could afford to train their men to be mounted archers. In the 8th century AD, the imperial court d ...
who served under the ''
shōgun
, officially , was the title of the military rulers of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, except during parts of the Kamak ...
''
Tokugawa Ieyasu
Tokugawa Ieyasu (born Matsudaira Takechiyo; 31 January 1543 – 1 June 1616) was the founder and first ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, which ruled from 1603 until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. He was the third of the three "Gr ...
. Shōsan was born in modern-day
Aichi Prefecture
is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,461,111 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the ...
of Japan. He participated in the
Battle of Sekigahara
The Battle of Sekigahara (Shinjitai: ; Kyūjitai: , Hepburn romanization: ''Sekigahara no Tatakai'') was an important battle in Japan which occurred on October 21, 1600 (Keichō 5, 15th day of the 9th month) in what is now Gifu Prefecture, ...
and the
Battle of Osaka before renouncing life as a warrior and becoming a
Zen Buddhist monk in 1621.
Zen training
Shōsan traveled throughout Japan seeking out
Zen masters and trained in several
hermitages and
temples
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
, most notably at
Myōshin-ji
is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, which serves as the 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: ...
in
Kyoto
Kyoto ( or ; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in the Kansai region of Japan's largest and most populous island of Honshu. , the city had a population of 1.46 million, making it t ...
training under
Gudō Toshoku (1577–1661). In 1636 Shōsan created a Zen booklet entitled ''Fumoto no Kusawake'' (or, ''Parting the Grasses at the Foot of the Mountain'').
Shōsan trained under a little-known Zen master,
Daigu Sochiku, who allowed Shōsan to keep his original name. Shōsan never actually received ''
inka'' but was one of many in the Tokugawa period to claim ''
jigo-jishō
Wisdom without a teacher (Chinese: 無師智, pinyin: wúshīzhì; Japanese: 無師独悟, mushi-dokugo, Sanskrit, Skt. svayaṃbhūjñāna anācāryaka), sometimes also called "self-enlightened and self-certified," or in Japanese, is a term use ...
'' or "self-enlightenment without a teacher". He was a Zen Master who amassed a large following. In 1642, Shōsan, along with his brother, built 32 Buddhist temples in Japan. One was a
Pure Land Buddhist temple in which he honoured the ''shōguns'' Tokugawa Ieyasu and
Tokugawa Hidetada
was the second ''shōgun'' of the Tokugawa dynasty, who ruled from 1605 until his abdication in 1623. He was the third son of Tokugawa Ieyasu.
Early life (1579–1593)
Tokugawa Hidetada was born to Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Lady Saigō on May ...
. Shōsan went on to write several treatises before his death in 1655 at 76 years old.
Niō Zen
Suzuki Shōsan developed his own style of Zen, ''Niō Zen'' “仁王不動禪”, or ''Guardian King Zen''. Shōsan instructed his students to meditate on the ''
Niō'', the fierce-looking Guardians that represent
Vajrapani and can be seen at the gates of many Buddhist temples, to help them channel energy to use in meditation and in developing vitality, courage and "death energy" or the readiness to confront death at any moment which are the most important characteristics of a warrior.
Shosan's dedication to bringing Buddhism to people from all segments of society intensified as he grew older. He believed that the virtue of Buddhism depended on its usefulness to one's country and people in the real world. Shosan taught that true enlightenment comes during one's daily tasks. Whether one is "tilling fields, or selling wares, or even confronting an enemy in the heat of battle, direct enlightenment will occur at key moments of one's day to day life".
[The Samurai Zen of Suzuki Shosan, King Winston L, Asian Humanities Press, 1986] Shosan saw true enlightenment in an untraditional way by discarding the belief that enlightenment can only occur in matters of direct recluse or the renouncement, and therefore true Buddhism has nothing to do with "gentle piety or theory, even though most monks were taught to practice in this manner". Sometimes he asked learners to physically emulate the postures of the Niō, as well as other warrior deities like Fudo and Bishamonten, to aid them in concentration. The energy gained by thinking about the Niō was purported to help learners develop a warrior's fortitude, and to overcome the evil energies that inhibited them from progressing towards enlightenment.
Works
* , 1619
* ''Fumoto no Kusawake'' ("Parting the Grasses at the Foot of the Mountain"), 1636
* , 1642
* , 1648
* , 1664
* , 1661
References
Further reading
*''Warrior of Zen: The Diamond-Hard Wisdom Mind of Suzuki Shosan'' by
Arthur Braverman
*Nakamura Hajime, Johnston, William (1967)
Suzuki Shōsan, 1579–1655 and the Spirit of Capitalism in Japanese Buddhism Monumenta Nipponica 22 (1/2), 1–14
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Shosan
Samurai
People from Aichi Prefecture
Zen Buddhist monks
1579 births
1655 deaths
Japanese Zen Buddhists
Soto Zen Buddhists
Buddhist clergy of the Edo period
17th-century Japanese philosophers