Tetsugen Dōkō (鉄眼道光 1630–1682) was a Japanese Zen Master, and an important early leader of the

Ōbaku Ōbaku Zen or the Ōbaku school () is one of three main schools of Japanese Zen Buddhism, in addition to the Sōtō and Rinzai schools. The school was founded in Japan by the Chinese monk Ingen Ryūki, who immigrated to Japan during the Manch ...

school of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. Tetsugen was born in the seventh year of the

Kan'ei was a after '' Genna'' and before ''Shōhō.'' This period spanned the years from February 1624 through December 1644. The reigning emperors and single empress were , and .Titsingh, Isaac. (1834) ''Annales des empereurs du japon'', p. 411./re ...

era (1630) in

Higo Province was an old province of Japan in the area that is today Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyūshū. It was sometimes called , with Hizen Province. Higo bordered on Chikugo, Bungo, Hyūga, Ōsumi, and Satsuma Provinces. History The cas ...

. He became a priest of the Jodo Shinshu sect at the age of 13. When

Ingen Ingen Ryūki (, ,, born , December 7, 1592 – May 19, 1673) was a Chinese poet, calligrapher, and monk of Linji Chan Buddhism from China.Nussbaum, Louis-Frédéric. (2005). "Ingen" in ; n.b., Louis-Frédéric is pseudonym of Louis-Frédéric Nu ...

came to Japan, Tetsugen became his follower in the

school. In 1681, Tetsugen oversaw the production of the first complete

woodcut Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...

edition (consisting of around 60,000 pieces) of the Chinese Buddhist

sutras ''Sutra'' ()Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an aphorism or a collection of aphorisms in the form of a manual or, more broadly, a ...

in Japan. Tetsugen died at the age of 53 in the second year of the

Tenna was a after ''Enpō'' and before ''Jōkyō.'' This period spanned the years from September 1681 through February 1684. The reigning emperor was . Change of era * '': The new era name of ''Tenna'' (meaning "Heavenly Imperial Peace") was creat ...

era (1682). The anniversary of Tetsugen's birth is celebrated on January 1 in the

Western calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

Tetsugen and the Sutras

The following story is told of Tetsugen's efforts to publish the sutras. :Tetsugen decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking. :Tetsugen began by travelling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude. After ten years Tetsugen had enough money to begin his task. :It happened that at that time the

Uji is a city on the southern outskirts of the city of Kyoto, in Kyoto Prefecture, Japan. Founded on March 1, 1951, Uji is between the two ancient capitals of Nara and Kyoto. The city sits on the Uji River, which has its source in Lake Biwa ...

River overflowed. Famine followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the books and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting. :Several years afterward an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen again gave away what he had collected. :For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in Ōbaku monastery 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 ...

. :The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.

References

Bibliography

* Baroni, HJ (1994)
Bottled Anger: Episodes in Ōbaku Conflict in the Tokugawa Period
Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 21/2-3, 191-210

External links

Tetsugen's cremation place
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tetsugen Obaku Buddhists Zen Buddhist priests 1630 births 1682 deaths Japanese Zen Buddhists Tripiṭaka Buddhist clergy of the Edo period People from Kumamoto Prefecture