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Researching the secrets of Fuke Shakuhachi ...
INTRODUCTION
To be - or not to be - a "Zen Buddhist Priest" ...
Were the komusō "Zen priests"?
Was the Fuke Sect a "Zen Buddhist sect"?
Acc. to Wikipedia, Japan:
虚無僧（こむそう）とは禅宗の一派である普化宗の僧であり、剃髪しない半僧半俗の存在である。
"The socalled komusō were monks of the Fuke Sect, a branch of the Zen Sect;
they lived a life as half monks, half lay Buddhist practitioners [han-zō han-zoku] who did not shave their heads [teihatsu shinai]."
Link: Wikipedia, Japan:
虚無僧
Acc. to the official homepage of Izu City, Shizuoka Prefecture:
瀧源寺虚無僧の墓碑
普化宗は、髪を剃らずに袈裟を掛け、天蓋（編笠）に顔を隠し、尺八を吹奏しながら諸国を行脚する虚無僧の宗派で、臨済宗の一派といわれます。
修験宗などとともに普化宗では葬式をしないため、瀧源寺(ろうげんじ)の僧侶は金龍院の檀家となり、金龍院の僧が葬式をしていたようです。
ただし、墓のある場所から、埋葬は瀧源寺の境内にされたことがわかります。
"Komusō gravestones at Rōgen-ji
(The members of) the Fuke Sect, while not having their heads shaved, wore a sacred shoulder scarf [kesa] (over their shoulders)
and concealed their faces under braided basket hats [tengai/amigasa].
The sect of the komusō who blew the shakuhachi while travelling (as ascetics) all over the country,
are said to have been a branch sect of the Rinzai Sect.
Together with the Shugendō (of the yamabushi) and the like, as the Fuke Sect did not perform funeral ceremonies,
the (komusō) monks of Rōgen-ji were patrons [danka] of the Kinryū-in (temple),
and it seems that the Buddhist priests of Kinryū-in performed their funeral rites.
However, judging from the location of the graves, we understand that these were placed inside the precincts of the Rōgen-ji (itself)."
Links: Izu City Official Website
&
モリリン日記 weblog
Acc. to Nakatsuka Chikuzen (1979, p. 97),
Rōgen-ji was a subtemple of Anraku-ji, the
head temple of which was Reihō-ji near Edo.
Rōgen-ji was located in the vicinity of Izu City
on the Izu Peninsula, southwest of Tokyo.
Published by Jiko Shōkai* on August 10, 2007, on his Shakuhachi, Ikkyū & Komusō homepage:
「禅宗には、臨済宗と曹洞宗、黄檗宗、そして普化宗の4 つがあり、
虚無僧は普化宗の僧侶です」と中学の教科書にまで書いてある。
インターネットで関連サイトを見ても、すべてこう書いてある。
「虚無僧は、中国の普化(フケ)という禅僧を祖とする普化宗で、
日本には、鎌倉時代、紀州由良興国寺の法灯国師心地覚心が
伝えた」と。
みな間違い、大嘘だ。
- - -
虚無僧は、剃髪もせず、得度受戒もせず、僧籍も無いのだから、
僧ではない。
「僧であって僧でない」。
まるで禅問答である。
"It is written in Japanese junior high school textbooks that (quotation)
"Within the Zen sect, there are 4 sects, namely the Rinzai Sect and the Sōtō Sect, the Ōbaku Sect, as well as the Fuke Sect;
the komusō are Buddhist priests [sōryo] of the Fuke Sect."
Also, when looking at related internet sites, it generally reads as follows:
"As for the komusō, the founder of the Fuke Sect was the Chinese Zen monk Fuke;
the tradition was transmitted to Japan by Hottō Kokushi Shinchi Kakushin of the Kōkoku Temple in Yura in the Ki Province [present Wakayama Prefecture]."
This is all wrong, a big lie [ō-uso].
- - -
Because the komusō neither shaved their heads [teihatsu mo sezu], were not initiated into Buddhist monastic life
receiving the precepts [tokudo jukai mo sezu],
nor were members of the Buddhist priesthood [sōseki mo nai], they were not Buddhist priests.
"Being a priest, or not a priest."
That is, in everything, a Zen paradox [Zen mondō]."
Link:
尺八と一休語りの虚無僧一路
Published by Jiko Shōkai* on August 10, 2007, on his Shakuhachi, Ikkyū & Komusō homepage
虚無僧寺は元々浪人の溜り場である。葬儀を執り行うこともせず、墓地もない。
"Originally, the komusō temples were places for masterless samurai to gather [rōnin no tomariba].
They neither conducted funerary services, nor did they have cemeteries [bochi mo nai]."
Link:
尺八と一休語りの虚無僧一路
Published by Jiko Shōkai* on October 24, 2007, on his Heisei no Komusō homepage:
もともと仏教界には普化宗など存在しませんし、虚無僧は出家得度を受けた僧では
ありませんので、本物の僧侶ではありません。
"From the outset, the Fuke Sect and the like did not exist within the world of Buddhism [bukkyō-kai ni wa ... sonzai shimasen],
and - because the komusō were not monks who had been initiated into Buddhist monastic life
receiving the precepts [shukke tokudo o uketa sō de wa arimasen] -
they were not real Buddhist priests [hommono no sōryo de wa arimasen]."
Link:
平成の虚無僧一路の日記
Acc. to Yamaguchi Masayoshi, 2005, p. 187:
普化宗寺院や虚無僧たちの経済的基盤はどのようなものであったのだろうか。
一般の寺院と異なり、経典らしきものもなく檀家もなく従って仏事も行なわない 。
"What, possibly, constituted the financial basis of the Fuke Sect temples and
the komusō? In contrast to the ordinary Buddhist temples, they had nothing
similar to Buddhist scriptures [kyōten], nor did they have any patron households
[danka] and, therefore, did not perform Buddhist funerals and memorial services [Butsu-ji]."
Acc. to Yamaguchi Masayoshi, 2005, p. 128:
普化宗の虚無僧の特徴は、まず普通の禅僧のように座禅や禅問答、民衆への説法
などは一切行わず、また檀家を持たないので法事などを行うこともなかったこと
である。
- - -
つまり禅宗側から 「禅宗の一派」であると積極的に認めた形跡は全く見えず。
"As for the distinctive features of the komusō of the Fuke Sect, they did
above everything not at all - like ordinary Zen monks - engage in practices
such as seated meditation [zazen], Zen questions and answers [mondō], or
preaching (the Dharma) to the populace [seppō].
Furthermore, as they did not have any patron households [danka], they did
not perform Buddhist funerals and memorial services [hōji]."
- - -
"In the final analysis, from the viewpoint of the Zen Sect there is not at
all to be seen any positively recognizable evidence of (anything like)
"a branch of the Zen Sect" [Zenshū no ippa] whatsoever."
* Jiko Shōkai
自己紹介
is, apparently, a pen name for Yamato Hōmei
山戸朋盟,
a Kinko-ryū player and student of Yamaguchi Gorō.
Link to
Hōmei's Homepage
References:
Nakatsuka Chikuzen: Kinko-ryū Shakuhachi Shikan.
Nihon Ongaku-sha, Tokyo, 1979.
Yamaguchi Masayoshi: Shakuhachi-shi gaisetsu.
(An Outline of Shakuhachi History).
Shuppan Geijutsu-sha, Tokyo, 2005.
Opening pages of a honkyoku book (ori-hon)
written by Matsumoto Kyozan, dated 1985.
To the right: 'Suizen godō':
'Suizen Way of Buddhist Enlightenment'.
To the left the Sanskrit seed syllable 'A' (Jap.: 'A')
of the Buddha Mahāvairocana, or
Dainichi Nyorai, residing in the center of the
Taizō-kai (Womb Realm) mandala (Skt.: Garbhadātu)
of Japanese Tantric Buddhism (Shingon).
Taizō-kai (Womb Realm) mandala - Tō-ji, Kyōto, 9th century
Vairocana Buddha (Jap.: Dainichi Nyorai) - Tōdai-ji, Nara, 8th c.
In Sino-Japanese Buddhism, Vairocana is seen as the embodiment
of the Buddhist concept of 'shunyata' or "emptiness".
Vairocana is a central figure in Japanese Shingon Buddhism.
The Great Buddha Hall (Jap.: Daibutsu-den) - Tōdai-ji, Nara
in which the Great Vairocana Buddha is seated.
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Fuke Shakuhachi
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