Ryokan-sama: Zen Monk, Gentle Soul, Poet, Children's Favorite Children's

Ryokan-sama (1758-1834) is beloved in Niigata (He was born in Izumozaki). I recently met an elderly woman (at the neighborhood park where the first photo was taken) who explained that she often viaits to commune with Ryokan. The monk was an accomplished poet, some of my favorite lines being: One morning death comes before They can use even half their money. Others happily receive the estate, And the deceased's name is soon lost in darkness. For such people there can only be great pity. href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS7gM7wXqwoRH6mKoq5RO655wuWzoOugrIVmEAMZQZWCbmDpjGxrdjHZUN7Ymw1J3EA1WfqzBh4SuvLKMqseFbjYAiyNXXmHT3ybbRWGzd5lqobzaVmyqYdjRmYtRPP30RF88IvKFK80glVCC6KeOlwNuhYk1P2snmPLU39dulzpyeFHwqM3Su/s4032/1000010155.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; ">

Ryokan on Greed

Ryokan, the great monk of the Soto Zen sect of Buddhism, on greed.

One morning death comes before

They can use even half their money.

Others happily receive the estate,

And the deceased's name is soon lost in darkness.

For such people there can only be great pity.

18th Century Japanese Zen Poet Ryokan on Greed

Once again, many greedy people appear

No different from silkworms wrapped in cocoons.

Wealth and riches are all they love,

Never giving their minds or bodies a moment's rest.

Every year their natures deteriorate

While their vanity increases.

Ryokan-sama's Hermitage and Poetry

Recently I've been reading John Stevens's Zen Poetry of Ryokan. Ryokan was born 251 years ago in Echigo Province, as Niigata was then known. A couple of years ago I visited his birthplace, Izumozaki, as well as the nearby hermitage Gogo-an, where he spent the latter part of his life. The late novelist Yasunari Kawabata as well as the renowned author of books on Zen Buddhism, Daisetz Suzuki, have said that one who wishes to understand the Japanese psyche can do no better than read Ryokan-sama. The following poem is one of my many favorites:

My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest;

Every year the green ivy grows longer.

No news of the affairs of men,

Only the occasional song of a woodcutter.

The sun shines and I mend my robe;

When the moon comes out I read Buddhist poems.

I've nothing to report, my friends.

If you want to find the meaning, stop chasing after

so many things.

Zen Master Ryokan- The "Great Fool"

Taigu Ryokan (1758-1831) is one of Japan's best-loved mendicant Zen monks and poet-calligraphers. The topmost photo shows a memorial erected at his birthplace in Izumozaki, Niigata.

Most of his life was spent far from the madding crowd in Echigo Province, as Niigata Prefecture was known in his day, an area of fertile rice fields and rich fisheries some 350km from the capital, Edo, as Tokyo was then called.

According to Minakami Tsutomu, writing in 1984, "Wordly people call him different things: fool, wise man, idiot, man of the Way. He never flatters the rich and important, nor disdains the poor and humble. He isn't happy when he gets things or sad when he loses them. He just goes along, natural, relaxed, a man who has transcended the dust of the world." Maxims to live by, I think.

The daily Niigata Nippo newspaper publishes on its front page a poem by Ryokan every day. There are "In the Footsteps of Ryokan" tours offered by towns and villages through which he was wont to pass, begging for alms. The hut in which he spent the latter part of his life is preserved and annually receives thousands of visitors from all over Japan.

That the Japanese lavish so much attention on poets and writers is one of the things I love about the country.