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650 to the Present - A Quite Precise Timeline:
The 'Myō' & 'An' "Pair"?
- The 'Myō' versus 'An' Duality Philosophical Challenge
- From Huineng to Post-WW2 Myōan Shakuhachi Ideologues
明暗雙雙/明暗雙々/明暗双双/明暗双々 - 明暗寺
MYŌAN - MYŌAN SŌZŌ - MYŌAN-JI
Webpage last updated on April 2, 2026
L: Early 9th century Fuke Zenji's 4-line statement on the Duality of 'Myōan'.
Calligraphy in a Tani-ha/Kyotaku Tradition 'gakufu orihon' by Nishimura Kokū, possibly 1970s?
R: Fuke Zenji painted by Kōgetsu Sōgan, 1642, detail.
Source: https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Puhua.html
"The Duality of Lightness Appears, the Duality of Lightness Hits [Fuke's bell];
The Duality of Darkness Appears, the Duality of Darkness Hits [Fuke's bell].
Whichever Dualities Appear, Wherever from, Whirlwinds Hit [Fuke's bell].
Non-Duality Appears, Duality is Cut Away [Lit.: "Empty Sky Appears, A harvesting knife cuts."].
Translation/interpretation by Torsten Olafsson, June, 2025.
TAKUAN SŌHŌ, early 17th century:
The expression and term 'Myōan sōzō',
the "Pair of Lightness and Darkness Duality Illusion",
may seem to have first been made recognized in Japan with the anthology of Chinese poems by Zen master and multi creative artist
Takuan Sōhō, 1573-1645, that were collected by his students and followers sometime after their master's death in 1645.
L: Takuan Sōhō memorable portrait dated 1650.
Read more at this source, c/o Wikipedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Takuan_S%C5%8Dh%C5%8D.jpg.
C: 'Myōan sōzō-shū' title page kanji.
R: 'Takuan Sōhō zen-shū' title page.
The SAT Daizōkyō Database
But actually, that expression already existed at least around 1125 CE in the important
"Blue Cliff Record", Japanese: Hekigan-roku, Chinese: Biyan lu:
Source: https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT/satdb2015.php?lang=en
- search with the 'kanji' 明暗雙雙.
Do note that if you search the database with only the two 'myō-an' 'kanji',
you'll get plenty more results that confirm
the early importance of 'myō-an' in Mahayana Buddhist ideology.
HUINENG - SHI-T'OU - P'U-K'O (alt.: P'U-HUA))
L: The putative mummy of Huineng.
Source, read more here: https://asia-archive.si.edu/essays/lacquer-relics-and-self-mummification/
R: "The 6th Patriarch Cutting Bamboo"
by Liang-k'ai, late 12th to early 13th century.
7th century: Fa-pao-T'an Ching and Huineng/Enō on 'Myō' and 'An
"Darkness does not become darkness by itself;
it is dark because there is brightness.
Darkness is manifested by brightness, and brightness is revealed by darkness.
One is the cause of the other."
8th century: Ts'an-t'ung-ch'i/Sandōkai and Shih't'ou/Sekitō on 'Myō' and 'An
" - - - Right in light there is darkness,
but don't confront it as darkness.
Right in darkness there is light,
but don't see it as light.
Light and dark are relative to one another
like forward and backward steps. - - - "
9th century: Lin-chi lu/Rinzai roku & P'u-k'o/Fuke on 'Myō' and 'An
"The Duality of Lightness Appears, the Duality of Lightness Hits [Fuke's bell];
The Duality of Darkness Appears, the Duality of Darkness Hits [Fuke's bell].
Whichever Dualities Appear, Wherever from, Whirlwinds Hit [Fuke's bell].
Non-Duality Appears, Duality is Cut Away [Lit.: "Empty Sky Appears, A harvesting knife cuts."].
Translation/interpretation by Torsten Olafsson, Spring, 2025.
Source readings:
• CHINA 2: 500 CE ...
Huineng, Shih-t'ou & P'u-k'o on 'Myōan sōzō
- The Complementary Pair "The Bright" & "The Dark"
The True Meaning of 'Myō-An Sōzō'
- The "Light & Darkness" of Hui-neng, Shi-t'ou, and P'u-k'o
Mid-13th century: Dōgen on 'Myōan'
"The Clear Mirror is everything that is bright and clear.
Therefore it is said, 'Clearness comes, Clearness hits'.
As there is no 'where?', there is no 'what place?" [it can be]."
• JAPAN 2: 1233 - 1477
1320: The classic Chinese Ch'an text Linchi lu is published in Japan as Rinzai roku for the first time, as woodblock print.
1330s: Ming-chi Ch'u-chun a.k.a. Minki Soshun, 1262-1336:
"Some time ago Kusunoki Masashige [1294-July 4, 1336] journeyed to the Kōgon Temple [in Kōbe, present Hyōgo Prefecture] to pay a visit,
asking for advice,
'At the time when facing one's death, what to do?'
Answered Soshun [the master],
'Cut off (your) dualism; a single sword rests against the heavenly cold."
• JAPAN 2: 1233 - 1477
15th CENTURY:
1474: Ikkyū Sōjun inaugurates the partly rebuilt Daitoku Temple in N. Kyōto as its newly Imperically ordered and appointed abbot,
plays the 'Shakuhachi', and recites Fuke Zenji's 'Myōan' Credo
1474: Tōyō Eichō and Ikkyū Sōjun at the Inauguration
of the Then Partly Rebuilt Daitoku Temple, Kyōto
1477?: The Legendary 'Rōan' Picture & 'Setsudan' Poem Scroll
1477?: The Legendary 'Rōan' Picture
& 'Setsudan' Poem Scroll
Late 15th century?: The Kyōgen play Rakuami and "Cut Through Dualism"
両頭を切断
RYŌTŌ wo SETSUDAN - "Cut Off Dualism"
"When Dualism is cut off,
the inside of the shakuhachi transcends
the Past and the Present.
That unique Sound of Impermanence blowing forth
brings even the Purest of Wisdom [Skt.: Jnana] to an end,
without limit."
Translation by T.O.
Late 15th Century?: The 'Kyōgen' Play 'Rakuami'
and the Shakuhachi "Cutting Through" Dualistic Thinking
Late 15th century or perhaps much later?: Rōan picture scroll
"When Dualism is cut off,
the shakuhachi dissolves the distinction between Past and Present.
That one unique Sound of Everlasting Impermanence
brings even the Purest of Wisdom [Skt.: Jnana] to an end,
without limit."
Translation by T.O.
1477-1560 - The ERA of the ORIGINAL KOMO-SŌ
Mid-16th century: The character dictionary Setsuyōshū:
Some Fuke Zenji and 16th century 'Komosō' connection documented?
Details from the 'Ryūmon bunko no Setsuyōshū'
Library of Nara Women's University - precise date unclear.
Japan 1560 - 1614
1614: The Keichō kenmonshū tells a story about a 'Fuke Komosō'
who walks in Fuke's footsteps, eventually losing a bet.
"I have no inward possessions, no outward desires, and I calmly follow in the footprints of Priest Fuke
and have entered upon the way of True Detachment and Spiritual Deliverance."
1614: The Keichō kenmon-shū Short Story Book:
The 'Fuke-Komosō' in Hachiōji, West of Edo City
This is how that 1614 'Fuke-komosō' could have looked at the time:
Yet not fully identified, so far undated, very early 17th century 'komosō' picture.
Apparently part of a rather typical Azuchi-Momoyama Period gold-leaf decorated folding screen
with everyday scenes, quite certainly dating from the early 1600s.
1623: A 'Komosō' demands to be called 'Fuke-sō, "Fuke monk"
"While, at one occasion, I had a conversation with an elder named Sawarō [?]
at the temple Yūfuku-ji in Bishū [mod. Aichi Pref.],
I heard a 'komosō' who had arrived [and played] in the courtyard.
When Sawarō asked him to come up [and join us] on the veranda [where we
were sitting], he readily stepped on the veranda.
As, somehow or other, there was nothing [for him] to sit on,
Sawarō addressed him a second time, [this time] as "Fuke Monk" [Jap.: 'Fuke-sō]'.
After some time, finally he [the 'Komosō' responded.
He unrolled his sitting mat."
Anrakuan Sakuden, 1554-1642, in 'Seisuishō', "Laughter
Which Disperses Sleep", 1623, maki 8.
Trsl. by Torsten Olafsson, 2010.
Sources: Ueno, 1984, pp. 206-207, and
The Komazawa University Library Text Database
1628: Kaidō honsoku referring to Fuke's Myōan statement
"Where from does the Komo come?
Fuke said,
'The Dualistic Notion of "Darkness" appears ... '
Does he come from the Realm of Obscurity?
Fuke said,
'The Dualistic Notion of "Brightness" appears ... '
Does he come from the Realm of Clarity?"
Read a lot more about Kaidō honsoku here:
1628: The Kaidō honsoku Fuke-komosō Credo Version 1
This is how an early Kan'ei Period Kaidō honsoku 'Fuke-komosō'¨could have looked:
Iwasa Matabei's painting of Two Komosō & An Umbrella Maker, detail.
Now in the possession of the Smithsonian/Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Dated no later than 1630, according to Japanese art historians
c/o the Nezu Museum in Tokyo.
1636: Neo-Confucian historian and author composes a poem about Fuke Zenji.
1642: The Ōkura 'Kyōgen' School publishes the play Rakuami.
L: The "Reject Dualism" poem in 'Rakuami', 1642 version.
R: The "Cut Off Dualism" poem in 'Rakuami', 1642,
transcribed and printed in Ikeda & Kitahara, 1973, Vol. 2, p. 392.
Says Rakuami,
"What for is this so mysterious ... ?
It also says in that writing of the Rōan Temple in Uji,
'When Dualism is cut off [or, eliminated, rejected],
the inside of the shakuhachi transcends
[the distinction between] Past and Present.
That unique Sound of Impermanence blowing forth
brings even the Purest of Wisdom [Skt.: Jnana] to an end,
without limit.'"
New translation by T.O., Spring, 2019
Read more about Rakuami here:
Late 15th Century?: The 'Kyōgen' Play 'Rakuami'
and the Shakuhachi "Cutting Through" Dualistic Thinking
1642: Kōgetsu Sōgan, a Fuke painting with a poem about 'Myōan'
Fuke Zenji, by Kōgetsu Sōgan, 1642.
Source: https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Puhua.html
Source: https://terebess.hu/zen/mesterek/Puhua.html
Kōgetsu Sōgan's Fuke poem and I. Nagy's English "translation"
is challenged here with a relatively more critical interpretation
of two central sentences, in particular, nanely these
四方八面來旋風打
明頭來明頭打暗頭來暗頭打
"All Directions Come, Whirlwinds Hit;
[Duality of] Brightness Comes, [Duality of] Brightness Hits,
[Duality of] Darkness Comes, [Duality of] Darkness Hits."
After 1645: Takuan Sōhō and the 'Myōan sōzō' anthology
L: Takuan Sōhō memorable portrait dated 1650.
Read more at this source, c/o Wikipedia:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Takuan_S%C5%8Dh%C5%8D.jpg.
C: 'Myōan sōzō-shū' title page kanji.
R: 'Takuan Sōhō zen-shū' title page.
1646 at the latest: Isshi Bunshu, Fuke Zenji, and the "kidnapped" Shinchi Kakushin,
a.k.a. Hottō Kokushi
Renowned Rinzai Zen abbot Isshi Bunshu was the very first to fraudfully connect
Fuke Zenji and the 'Shakuhachi' with 13th century Shinchi Kakushin.
"In China there was Fuke; as for my own country itself, how possibly could Hottō Kokushi accomplish
as the originator of the congregation?"
Trsl. Torsten Olafsson, 2010-2011.
1646 at the latest: Abbot Isshi Bunshu's Letter to
"a Proto-Komusō" named Sandō Mugetsu
1684/1686: YŌSHŪFU-SHI - Records of the Kyōto Area:
Earliest mention of Kyōto Myōan-ji?
Were Ikkyū Sōjun and Rōan Really "Friends"?
"Myōan-ji is located south of the Rengeō-in,
蓮華王院, "Hall of the Lotus King" [the Sanjūsangen-dō], and it is a Zen temple."
Trsl. Torsten Olafsson, 2013.
1871, November 30: The "Fuke Sect" is closed down by a new, devastating Meiji Government decree.
Myōan-ji is abandoned, property including buildings are ordered to be sold off or simply destroyed.
'Komusō' Pseudo-Buddhist begging practices are prohibited, on a national scale,
along with the mountain adoring activities of the so-called 'Yamabushi' lay practitioners.
As many of Myōan-ji's belongings and special treasures as possible are, reportedly, saved and preserved elsewhere.
"Edict No. 558 issued by the Meiji Government's Grand Council of State ('Daijōkan') on November 30, 1871 (Meiji 4):
"(According) to the article on the abolishing of the rules of the Fuke-shū,
(effective) from today, monastic officials and monks ('ju-sō' 住[職]僧)
are to be restored into the status of citizens ('minseki' 民籍),
to be transferred to the fixed conditions and it should be arranged that they enter professions appropriate to the region.
The temples left after the abolishment of the order ('haishū' 廃宗),
however, be sold for an appropriate price,
a duty and auxiliary service to their original inhabitants after they have returned to laïty ('kizoku' 歸俗).
Shinmatsu 辛末, 10th month, Daijōkan 太政官."
Trsl. by Max Deeg, 2007, p. 33, note 86.
明暗協会
1890, officially so: The 'Myōan Kyōkai', The "Myōan Society", is established in Kyōto.
Some possible permanent arrangement of cooperation with the Rinzai Zen sub temple Zen'e-in c/o SE Kyōto Tōfuku-ji was,
allegedly, established - possibly even before this time?
1951:
'MYŌAN SŌ BŌ'
"Bright-Dark Pair Forget"
Calligraphy in honkyoku ori-hon dated 1951 (Shōwa 26)
by Tanikita Rōan Muchiku, 1878-1957
Reproduced in Inagaki, 1981
1972: Two unique calligraphies treasured at Kyōto Myōan Temple as of 1972,
reproduced in a fine, small book published by Kyōto Myōan-ji at that very same time:
'Suizen' & 'Myōan sōzō'
吹禅 - 明暗雙々
'Suizen' & 'Myōan sōzō'
'Suizen' was written by Yasuda Tenzan, quite undoubtedly between 1950 and 1953.
Yasuda Tenzan was the first genuine resident Zen monk of the revived Myōan Temple
since 1950.
'Myōan sōzō' was written by Hayashi Ekō, not dated.
Hayashi Ekō (no dates) was a chief abbot of the grand Zen temple Tōfuku-ji in SE Kyōto,
where the new, revived Kyōto Myōan Temple has been formally and officially situated
since 1950.
1978, Spring: Ozawa Seizan
Detail of a letter of recommendation for T.O.
written by Ozawa Seizan in Spring, 1978.
See translation below.
"Myōan Shakuhachi is related to the Fuke Sect of Shakuhachi and it has as its purpose to employ the ancient Japanese shakuhachi flute as a Dharma instrument ['hō-ki']
in order that one understands the Ultimately Adual Nature of the 'Clear' and the 'Un-clear' ['Myō-An'] and experiences the Essence of Non-substantiality ['kyo']
through self-cultivation.
This practice is called 'Suizen'."
By Ozawa Seizan, 1939-2012, Myōan-ji, 1978, in a letter
of recommendation to the author. Trsl. by Torsten Olafsson.
1985: CD by Sakaguchi Tesshin, 1907-1986, titled 'Myōan sō-da'
坂口鉄心 - 明暗双打
Source: https://music.douban.com/subject/35914660/
1985: Matsumoto Kyozan - Japanese version of Fuke Zenji's 'Myō-An' statement
Calligraphy by Matsumoto Kyozan, 1936-1991, in a Tani-ha 'Shakuhachi' music notations book written by him, dated 1985.
Do note, that the Japanese 'kana' character 'ya' is an exclamatory particle that is certainly not to be seen
in Fuke's original statement recorded in Rinzai roku.
EPILOGUE: A unique calligraphy scroll by 'Myōan Taizan' alias Hirazumi Taizan, d. 1984
無孔笛吹禅
L: 'Myōan Taizan's seals and signature.
C: 'Mu-ku-teki suizen', standard 'kanji'.
R: 'Mu-ku-teki suizen' calligraphy by 'Myōan Taizan' alias Hirazumi Taizan,
2nd genuine resident Zen monk of the new Kyōto Mōan Temple, in office 1953-1984.
A present from Ozawa Seizan to Torsten Olafsson in Spring, 1978.
The signature 'Myōan Taizan' was most kindly verified by the Komusō Kenkyūkai's Kosuge Daitetsu
through the valuable assistance of SOAS PhD Kiku Day.
To be continued, elaborated on ... :-)
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