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白幽子

Pronunciations

Basic Meaning: Hakuyūshi

Senses:

  • (1646–1709) A Japanese mountain hermit and calligrapher who lived during the Edo period 江戶時代, known to have resided in a cave in the mountains of Kitashirakawa 北白川 (Kyoto prefecture). His real name was Ishikawa Jishun 石川慈俊, and he was a native of Kanazawa 金澤 (Kanagawa 神奈川 prefecture). He was the disciple of Ishikawa Jozan 石川丈山 (1583–1672), an eminent Neo-Confucian 宋學 scholar and poet. At the age of sixteen, Jishun left Ishikawa Jozan and disappeared into the mountains on the outskirts of Kyoto. There he lived for forty-eight years, changing his dwelling place from time to time. He died in the hills near Kitashirakawa in 1709 as the result of an accidental fall from a cliff. He was buried to the north of the Shinnyodō 眞如堂, a Tendai temple on Kurodani 黑谷, Kyoto. Hakuyūshi is known primarily for guiding Hakuin Ekaku 白隱慧鶴 (1686–1769) in a meditation technique of internal observation 內觀, which seems to have been derived from passages in the Yijing 易經 and other Daoist teachings. According to Hakuinʼs Yasen kanna 夜船閑話, he was suffering from a nervous malady called 'Zen sickness'  禪病—a result of overly intense meditation practice. Since the usual medical remedies were ineffective, he sought out the hermit who taught him an unusual type of introspection of the body called Nanso no hō 輭酥の法 ( 'soft-butter method' ). After three years of applying this remedy, Hakuin was entirely cured. Although Ito Kazuo 伊藤和男 (1956) has proved that Hakuyūshi was an actual person, it is still unclear how much of Hakuinʼs narrative of their meeting actually took place. See Waddell, p. 89–112.

    References:

    Itō Kazuo. 1956. “Hakuyūshi no hito to sho.” Zen bunka(6): 40–48.

    Waddell, Norman. 2010. Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin. Shambhala Publications.

    [Erez Joskovich]
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    Zen Dust (Sasaki) 215

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    Entry created: 2020-01-02