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2. The Introduction of
the So-To School3 of Zen.
Although the Rin Zai school
was, as mentioned above, established by Ei-sai, yet he himself was not a pure
Zen teacher, being a Ten Dai scholar as well as an experienced practiser of
Mantra. The first establishment of Zen in its
purest form was done by
Do-gen, now known as Jo Yo Dai Shi. Like Ei-sai, he was admitted into the
Hi-yei Monastery at an early age, and devoted himself to the study of the
Canon. As his scriptural knowledge increased, he was troubled by inexpressible
doubts and fears, as is usual with great religious teachers. Consequently, one
day he consulted his uncle, Ko-in, a distinguished Ten Dai scholar, about his
troubles. The latter, being unable to satisfy him, recommended him Ei-sai, the
founder of the new faith. But as Ei-sai died soon afterwards, he felt that he
had no competent teacher left, and crossed the sea for China, at the age of
twenty-four, in 1223. There he was admitted into the monastery of Tien Tung
Shan (Ten-do-san), and assigned the lowest seat in the hall, simply because be
was a foreigner. Against this affront he strongly protested. In the Buddhist
community, he said, all were brothers, and there was no difference of
nationality. The only way to rank the brethren was by seniority, and he
therefore claimed to occupy his proper rank. Nobody, however, lent an ear to
the poor new-comer's protest, so he appealed twice to the Chinese Emperor Ning
Tsung (1195-1224), and by the Imperial order he gained his object.
After four years' study and
discipline, he was Enlightened and acknowledged as the successor by his master
Jü Tsing (Nyo-jo died in 1228), who belonged to the Tsao Tung (So To) school.
He came home in 1227, bringing with him three important Zen books.1
Some three years he did what Bodhidharma, the Wall-gazing Brahmin, had done
seven hundred years before him, retiring to a hermitage.
at Fuka-kusa, not very far
from Kyo-to. Just like Bodhidharma, denouncing all worldly fame and gain, his
attitude toward the world was diametrically opposed to that of Ei-sai. As we
have seen above, Ei-sai never shunned, but rather sought the society of the
powerful and the rich, and made for his goal by every means. But to the Sage of
Fuka-kusa, as Do-gen was called at that time, pomp and power was the most
disgusting thing in the world. Judging from his poems, be seems to have spent
these years chiefly in meditation; dwelling now on the transitoriness of life,
now on the eternal peace of Nirvana; now on the vanities and miseries of the
world; now listening to the voices of Nature amongst the hills; now gazing into
the brooklet that was, as he thought, carrying away his image reflected on it
into the world.
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