Introduction
Sitemap - All Menu Items List
Newly Added Extra Web Page Menus
About this Research Project
Preliminary Realizations & Conclusions
The Chinese Ch'an Monk P'u-k'o, the Komosō Beggars
& the Imperialistic Catholic Christian Intruders
- the Rōnin Samurai, the Fuke-Komosō, the Komusō
& the Kyōto Myōan Temple - an Unbiased Narrative
The Amazing Fuke Zenji / Fuke Shakuhachi /
Fuke-shū Legend Fabrication Hoax
To be - or not to be: a "Zen Buddhist Priest"?
Highlighted Illustrations
1549 ... The Catholic Christian Century in Japan
& the Temple Patron Household System
Ascetic Shakuhachi Ideology
and the Realization of The Non-Dual
- Highlighted Quotations
Chronology of Ascetic Shakuhachi
Ideology-related Terms, Concepts & Names
Various Errors, Misconceptions & Loose Ends
Wikipedia: Inaccuracies & Misunderstandings
about 'Komusō', 'Fuke-shū', 'Suizen' et cetera
The Source Collections
The Japanese Written Sources - An Overview
Texts, Quotations & Illustrations
A Chronological Panorama
• INDIA - 1 web page
• CHINA - 2 web pages
• JAPAN - 8 web pages
• The WEST - 1 web page
Research Cases of Particular Significance,
Real Importance & Special Concern
ERA of the KOMOSŌ - The "Mat Monks"
c. 1450 to c. 1550
1470s?: The Dance-kyōgen Play Rakuami
1474: Tōyō Eichō and Ikkyū Sōjun at the
Inauguration of the Rebuilt Daitoku Temple, Kyōto
1494 & 1501: Two Enchanting Muromachi Period
Poetry Contest Picture Scrolls
1512: The Taigenshō Court Music Treatise
ERA of the FUKE-SŌ / FUKE-KOMOSŌ
c. 1550 to c. 1628?
The Komosō & Fuke-sō / Fuke-komosō Sources
1550-1560: The Early Setsuyō-shū Dictionaries
1614: The Keichō kenmon-shū Short Story Book:
The Fuke-komosō in Hachiō-ji, West of Edo City
1621-1625: The Neo-Confucian Scholar Hayashi Razan
on the Shakuhachi, Komosō and Related Matters
1623: Anrakuan Sakuden's Encounter
with a Wandering Fuke-komosō
1627-1629: Takuan Sōhō, the Purple Robe Affair, the
Concept of 'Mu-shin Mu-nen' and the Myōan sōsō-shū
1628: The Kaidō honsoku Fuke-komosō Credo
ERA of the KOMUSŌ
"Monks of the Non-Dual & None-ness"
c. 1628? to 1871
The Early Komusō-related Texts
- from c. 1628? to c. 1750
1628?: A "Fuke Shakuhachi" related Murder Case
in the Province of Tosa on the Island of Shikoku?
1637-1640: The Shimabara Uprising on Kyūshū,
the National "Sects Inspection Bureau", and the
Efficient Extinction of Catholic Christian Believers
c. 1640?: The Kaidō honsoku "Version 2"
Copy
1640?: Is a Very Early "Komusō Temple" built
in Nagasaki on the Island of Kyūshū?
c. 1640?: The Strange Butsu-gen Komusō Document
1646: Abbot Isshi Bunshu's Letter to a
"Proto-Komusō" named Sandō Mugetsu
1646 ... The Hottō Kokushi / Kakushin Legend:
"The Four Buddhist Laymen" & the "disciple" Kichiku
1650s?: The Kaidō honsoku "Version 3" Copy
The Kyōto/Kansai Sources
1659?: A Falsely Dated Myōan-ji Document Revealed
1664: The Shichiku shoshinshū Music Treatise
c, 1665-1675?: The Kyotaku denki Fairy Tale:
Shinchi Kakushin, Kichiku & Kyōto Myōan-ji
The Edo/Kantō/Tōkyō Sources
1677: The Enpō 5, 6th Month
Reihō-ji Komusō Set of Rules
1678: The Enpō 5, 12th Month Komusō-ha Oboe
Bakufu Memorandum of January 11th, 1678
1687: The Jōkyō 4, 6th Month
Reihō-ji Komusō Set of Rules
c. 1685-1690: The Yōshū fu-shi
& Jinrin kinmō zu-i - Evidence of Kyōto Myōan-ji
1694: Myōan-ji Founder Engetsu Ryōgen's
23 Rules for his Komusō Disciples
1703 & 1705: The Kyōto Myōan-ji
c/o Kōkoku-ji & Myōshin-ji Interrelationship
1722: The Kyōhō 7, 6th Month,
Reihō-ji Komusō Memorandum
1730: The Kyōhō 15, 7th Month, Ichigetsu-ji
& Reihō-ji Komusō Memorandum
1732: The Shakuhachi denrai-ki
and Early 'Honkyoku' History
1735: Kyōto Myōan-ji Temple Chief Administrator
Kandō Ichiyū's Letter about 'Sankyorei-fu',
the "Three Non-Dual Spirit Music Pieces"
1751: The Keichō 19/1614 Komusō Certificate
The Many Different All Fabricated Versions
1752: Kyōto Myōan-ji Founder Engetsu
Ryōgen's 23 Fixed Rules for the Komusō
1795: The Kyotaku denki kokujikai Source Book
1816: Miyaji Ikkan's Shakuhachi hikki Book
1823: Hisamatsu Fūyō's Hitori mondō a.o. texts
The Kiyū shōran Encyclopedia
on 'Komosō' & 'Shakuhachi'
Post-Edo & Post-WW2 Period History Sources & Matters
The Re-Writing & Re-Falsification
of "Fuke Shakuhachi" Narratives
1 - MEIJI PERIOD till the mid-20th CENTURY
1868-1945
1871? (1843-44): The Komusō zakki
Source Collection
From 1879 ... 1896-1914:
The Koji ruien Historical Encyclopedia
1890: Higuchi Taizan - Teaching, the "Myōan Society",
and the Taizan-ha Tradition of Shakuhachi Asceticism
1902: Mikami Sanji's Critical Article
'Fuke-shū ni tsuite', "About the Fuke Sect"
Early 20th Century Historians & Musicians, Japan:
Kurihara Kōta, Uramoto Setchō,
Nakatsuka Chikuzen, Tanikita Mujiku,
Tomimori Kyozan, Ikeda Jūzan a.o.
1931-1932: Tokugawa kinreikō - A Source Collection
of Tokugawa Period Prohibition Laws
2 - POST-WW2 till TODAY: JAPAN
1945 ...
1950: "The Myōan Temple of the True Fuke Sect"
Inauguration at Tōfuku Temple in SE Kyōto
1950s: Yasuda Tenzan, Hirazumi Taizan & 'Suizen'
1960: Uramoto Setchō's Essay about
'Gyō no ongaku': "Music of Asceticism"
Shakuhachi Historianship in Japan Today?:
The "Traditionalists" and the "Truth Tellers"
The Legacy of the Late Myōan Taizan-ha Teachers
Yoshimura Fuan Sōshin & Ozawa Seizan
3 - POST-WW2 till TODAY: The WEST
1945 ...
1945 ... : Some Early Post-WW2 Shakuhachi Narratives
Written and Published in Western Languages
Translations of Shakuhachi Source Texts
published in the West / Outside of Japan
including the Internet / WWW
- The Translators
Literature / References
Links
Profile / Bio / CV
Contact Info
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c. 600 to c. 1480: Pre-Komosō Non-Duality
The Non-Dualism of Huineng, Shih-t'ou, P'u-k'o, Dōgen,
Ming-chi, Ikkyū, Rōan & Rakuami
The BEGINNINGS - The ORIGINAL SOURCES:
The UPANISHADS & ADVAITA VEDANTA
ADVAITA - "Not Dual", "Non-Duality", "Non-Division"
अद्वैत (Advaita)
"This realization of non-duality is the end to be attained."
Shankara in his introduction to the Māndūkya Upanishad
Kārikā by Gaudapāda, 8th century CE
Trsl. by Swami Nikhilananda, 1936.
"Vedānta certainly does not help us to bring grist to our individual mill.
It certainly does not tell us how to increase our capacity to enjoy the pleasures derived from material objects.
But Vedānta really teaches us how to enjoy this world after realizing its true nature.
To embrace or comprehend the universe after realizing it as the non-dual Brahman, gives us peace that passeth all understanding."
Swami Nikhilananda in the preface for his translation of the
Māndūkya Upanishad, 1936.
ADVAITA ("Non-Duality") & NIRVANA ("Perfect Stilness", lit.: 'Breathed Out'):
The Ultimate Original Inspiration for Shakuhachi Asceticism
अद्वैत (Advaita) &
निर्वाण (Nirvana)
"Nirvana is a freeing from the chains of a false sense of individuality.
Nirvana is a state of nonduality (Advaita or Advaya);
a state where the illusion of a false sense of "I" (Parikalpita Swabhava, Fen-bie-xing – in Chinese) does not exist.
Expressed differently, liberation from the illusion of separateness
of the individual Self from the Whole is Nirvana.
Freedom is, Nirvana is, Truth is."
Dr. Amartya Kumar Bhattacharya, 2019
TAITTIRYA ARANYAKA:
"The blind one found the jewel;
The one without fingers picked it up;
The one with no neck put it on;
And the one with no voice praised it."
EARLY BUDDHISM
SHŪRANGAMA SAMĀDHI SŪTRA:
"Buddha said, 'The sound of the bell continues during a space of time;
How do we become conscious of it?
Does the sound come from the ear, or the ear go to the origin of the sound?
If it does not go (one way or the other) there is no hearing.
For this reason, it must be understood, that hearing and sound are neither special.
We mistakenly put hearing and sound in two (different) places.
Originally it is not a matter of cause and effect or of natural law."
NĀGĀRJUNA - c. 150 to c. 250 CE:
शून्यता
ŚŪNYATĀ - "Non-Substantiality", "Non-Self", "Voidness", "Non-Duality"
sarvaṃ ca yujyate tasya śūnyatā yasya yujyate
sarvaṃ na yujyate tasya śūnyaṃ yasya na yujyate
"All is possible when Emptiness is possible.
Nothing is possible when Emptiness is impossible."
Quotation from Chapter 24, verse 14, in the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarjuna
शून्यता - ŚŪNYATĀ
-
空 - KŪ
"Kū: (Skt.: shūnya or shūnyatā)
A fundamental Buddhist concept, variously translated as non-substantiality, emptiness, void, latency, relativity, etc.
The concept that entities have no fixed or independent nature.
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. INDIA c. 2600 BCE ...
TAOISM:
6th-5th Century BCE:
TAO TE CHING:
無爲 - WU WEI - "Non-action"/"Non-effort"
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. CHINA 1 - ca. 6.000 BCE to 500 CE
HUINENG (Enō) - 7th century, China
暗不自暗、以明故暗。
以明顯暗、以暗現明。
來去相因。
"Darkness ['An'/'An'] does not become darkness by itself;
it is dark because there is brightness ['Ming'/'Myō:].
Darkness is manifested by brightness, and brightness is revealed by darkness.
One is the cause of the other."
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. CHINA 2 - 500 CE ...
SHIH-T'OU (Sekitō) - 8th century, China
闇合上中言 明明清濁句
(8) "High and middle words unite in the dark,
clean and dirty sentences, in the brightness."
當明中有暗 勿以暗相遇
(14) "Right in the middle of light there is dark,
don't use the mutuality of darkness to meet it."
當暗中有明 勿以明相睹
(15) "Right in the middle of dark there is light,
don't use the mutuality of the light to see it."
明暗各相對 比如前後歩
(16) "The light and dark are mutual polarities,
For example, like front and back steps."
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. CHINA 2 - 500 CE ...
P'U-K'O/P'U HUA (Fuke) - 9th century, China
明頭来 明頭打
暗頭来 暗頭打
四方八面来 旋風打
虚空来 連架打
Míng tóu lái,
Míng tóu dǎ,
Àn tóu lái,
Àn tóu dǎ,
Sìfāng Bā Miàn lái,
Xuànfēng dǎ,
Xū-Kōng lái,
Lián jià dǎ.
"Bright Head comes - Bright Head strikes,
Dark Head comes - Dark Head strikes;
Four Directions Eight Sides come - Whirlwind strikes;
Empty Sky comes - Flail strikes."
A very literal, word-to-word rendition of Fuke's myōan poem
in correct accordance with Chinese subject-verb-object syntax.
Trsl. by Torsten Olafsson, 2010.
Textual source: Eido Shimano, 2005, p. 98.
Interpretive translation by T.O., July 2020:
"The Bright Aspect of Duality comes,
The Bright Aspect of Duality hits,
The Dark Aspect of Duality comes,
The Dark Aspect of Duality hits,
Coming from Anywhere & Everywhere,
A Whirlwind hits,
Non-Duality comes - a Knife cuts through ..."
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. CHINA 2 - 500 CE ...
DŌGEN - 13th century, Japan
明明ハミナ明鏡ナリ。
カルカユヱニ明頭來明頭打トイフ。
イツレノトコロニアラサレハイツレノトコロナシ。
"The Clear Mirror is everything that is bright and clear.
Therefore it is said, 'Clearness ['Myō-tō] comes, Clearness hits'.
As there is no 'where?', there is no 'what place?" [it can be]."
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. JAPAN 2 - 1233-1477
MING-CHI (Minki) - 14th century, Japan
楠木正成亦前往廣嚴寺參見問曰:
「生死交謝時如何」?
楚俊曰:
「兩頭俱截斷,
一劔倚天寒」
"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."
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. JAPAN 2 - 1233-1477
IKKYŪ - 15th century, Japan
室
明頭来 明頭打、
暗頭来 暗頭打、
四方八面来 旋風打、
虚空来 連架打。
- - -
"IN THE ABBOT'S QUARTERS -
'If a bright-head comes, strike the bright-head;
If a dark-head comes, strike the dark-head.
Whatever direction it comes from
Strike it like a whirlwind.
And if it comes from emptiness, cut it down with a scythe.'
- - -"
普化和尚
議論明頭又暗頭
老禅作略*使人愁
古往今耒風顛漢*
宗門年代一風流
"THE MONK P'U-K'O.
Arguing first at the Bright Head ['Myō-tō'], then the Dark ['An-tō'],
That Zen-fellow's tricks fooled them all.
Now, blowing up again, the same old madman,
A sensual youth, howling at the door."
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. JAPAN 2 - 1233-1477
RŌAN - late 15th century, Japan
竜頭切断兮以来
尺八寸中通古今
吹出無常心一曲
三千里外絶知音
時に文明丁酉 秋
宇治の旧蘆に於いて 朗庵叟書
"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.
The 9th year of Bunmei [1477] - Autumn -
Written among the old reeds of Uji by Rōan the Elder.""
Click here, search and read more: Chronology. JAPAN 3 - 1477-1560
RAKUAMI - late 15th-16th century, Japan
両頭を切断してより
尺八寸の内古今に通ず
吹き起こす無常の一曲
三千里外に知音を絶つ
作くられたり。
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."
Click here, search and read more: Rakuami
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