Their story
Hakuin was born in 1686 in the village of Hara, at the foot of Mount Fuji. As a child he was terrified by a sermon on the hells and resolved to become a monk, ordaining at fifteen.
After years of wandering and intense practice, he had an awakening in 1708 on hearing a temple bell, only to have his pride deflated by the hermit teacher Shōju Rōjin, under whom he deepened his realisation. Exhausted by practice, he suffered what he called 'Zen sickness', which he cured, he wrote, with techniques learned from a hermit.
In 1718 he became abbot of the small, poor temple of Shōin-ji in his home village, where he taught for the rest of his life, lecturing widely, writing, and painting thousands of works. He died in 1769.
The world they lived in
In the Edo period Buddhism was state-regulated and temples functioned as registries of households. Rinzai Zen had grown formal and, many felt, spiritually stagnant.
Their contribution
He systematised kōan practice into a course of training, created new kōans such as 'the sound of one hand', and taught lay people through vernacular writings, songs and bold ink paintings.
Teachings and works
Wild Ivy (Itsumadegusa)
His spiritual autobiography.
Yasenkanna (Idle Talk on a Night Boat)
On curing 'Zen sickness'.
Song of Zazen (Zazen wasan)
Still chanted in Rinzai temples.
Related teachings
Their legacy
Modern Rinzai Zen is essentially Hakuin's Zen, and his paintings and calligraphy are treasured as masterpieces of Zen art in museums worldwide.
History and tradition
What history can establish
His life is well documented through his own writings and a biography by his disciple Tōrei.
