Rinzai sect

Japanese: 臨済宗 - りんざいしゅう

A sect of Buddhism in China and Japan. Together with the two sects Soto and Obaku, it is collectively referred to as Zen Buddhism. Its founder was Rinzai Gigen, who lived in the late Tang Dynasty, and its principle is self-examination through Zen dialogue. In Japan, after the Kamakura period, the Rinzai sect of the Song Dynasty was introduced, and there are 14 head temples, including Kennin-ji Temple in Eisai, Kencho-ji Temple in Rankei Doryu, Engaku-ji Temple in Mugaku Sogen, and Tofuku-ji Temple in Enni Ben'en, with approximately 7,000 branch temples and an estimated 30,000 believers. With the reorganization of sects and branches that began in the early Edo period and the establishment of the parishioner system, each sect lost its distinctive character as a religious organization. However, thanks to the activities of Hakuin Ekaku, who received the true teachings of Kanzan Egen of Myoshinji, and the masters under his disciples, they strictly protected the specialized training halls of each sect and worked hard to train one and a half successors each, and they came to be highly regarded as modern Japanese Buddhism that became known overseas early on.

[Yanagida Seizan]

history

China

The activities of Linji Yixuan and his disciples became unknown for a time during the wars at the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties period, but the seventh master, Jimyo Soen (986-1039), established a training center in Hunan, and two of his disciples, Huanglong Huinan (1002-69) and Yangqi Fanghui (992-1049), gained widespread support from the scholar-officials and reorganized the sect in Jiangxi. Huinan's work was to historicize Linji Zen as the true lineage of the Hongzhou sect that had begun with Daoyi of Mazu in the mid-Tang Dynasty, edit the Records of the Four Family Masters, and spread his teachings to northern Jiangxi, where Mazu's training halls were located. In particular, he worked to promote written Zen by inviting famous monks to practice Zen. Yangqi Fanghui and his disciples restored ancient training halls that existed before Mazu, such as Mount Sizu and Mount Wuzu on the north bank of the Yangtze River, and worked to synthesize the ancient koan practices that had been around since Bodhidharma, eventually succeeding in systematizing the experience of enlightenment through the koan practices of Zhaozhou Wuzi. The fourth Yangqi emperor, Yuanwu Kokugong, is known for his work on the Blue Rock Record, and was somewhat inclined towards written Zen, but his disciple, Dahui Soko, is said to have burned the woodblocks of the Blue Rock Record. He strongly rejected written Zen, criticized the Soto sect's Zen, which leaned towards zazen and silent illumination, and thoroughly advocated the attainment of enlightenment. This was just the time when the capital was moved from the end of the Northern Song Dynasty to the Southern Song Dynasty, and the movement of radical nationalism was growing stronger. The establishment of the Five Mountains and Ten Temples system, centered on the capital Lin'an, is thought to be related to the preaching of Dahui's disciples at the Imperial Court, and a self-imposed restriction by Zen monks praying for the longevity of their reign as emperors. After the Huanglong sect lost its lineage early on, the Yangqi sect, which became the representative of Linzai Zen of the Song Dynasty, brought with it the system of Koan Zen and the Five Mountains and Ten Temples system, which were eventually introduced to Japan, a kind of overseas exile.

[Yanagida Seizan]

Japan

Zen temples were established one after another in Kamakura and Kyoto, with the support of samurai and the imperial family. Later, with the establishment of the Muromachi Shogunate, they were reorganized around Tenryu-ji and Shokoku-ji, founded by Muso Soseki, and placed under the new Five Mountains and Ten Temples system. The mainstream of the Rinzai sect in Japan is the lineage of Kokyu Shaoryu (1077-1136), who, along with Daie, was second only to Engo and was a minority of the Song Dynasty Rinzai sect. At the beginning of the Edo period, with the arrival of Ingen Ryūki in Japan, new movements at Daitoku-ji and Myoshin-ji, which had previously been outside the Five Mountains, led to the theory that there were 24 schools of Zen in China and Japan. Excluding Eisai's Koryū sect, Dogen's Sotō sect, and others, about 20 schools belong to the Kokyu sect. Huqiu's teachings were adapted to Japanese tastes, and Hakuin's Koan Zen can be said to be its culmination.

[Yanagida Seizan]

Doctrine

The development of the Rinzai sect in Japan is said to be the Japanization of Song Dynasty civilization, based on Koan Zen. For example, there are two versions of the "Ode to the Ten Oxen," which liken the process of training and enlightenment to a cowboy training a cow, and explain it through ten pictures and songs. Both are from the mid-Northern Song, but one was mainly popular in China, and the other was only accepted in Japan. The former idealizes the cowboy, who has finished taming the cow, rising to heaven with the cow and disappearing, and shows it in a single circle. The latter lowers this to the eighth place, and depicts nature with flowers and flowing water in the ninth place, and a person standing on a street corner carrying Hotei in the tenth place, which represents the way of life of the enlightened. In particular, the fact that the final circle in the former is placed behind the ten pictures in the latter shows the sudden enlightenment experience and the thought of making it part of everyday life, which is popular among the Japanese people. It is not without reason that Zen culture, which is deeply rooted in everyday life in Japan, emerged around the Zen temples of Kyoto, and includes Gozan literature, calligraphy, ink painting, tea ceremony, Noh theater, architecture, gardens, and more.

[Yanagida Seizan]

"The Zen Style of Rinzai" by Zenkei Shibayama (1970, Shunjusha)

[Reference items] | Zen | Zen sect | Soto sect

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

Japanese:

中国と日本の、仏教の一派。曹洞(そうとう)、黄檗(おうばく)の2宗にあわせて、禅宗と総称される。唐(とう)末の人、臨済義玄(ぎげん)を祖とし、参禅問答による自己究明を宗旨とする。日本では鎌倉時代以後、宋(そう)朝の臨済宗が伝えられ、栄西(えいさい)の建仁寺(けんにんじ)、蘭渓道隆(らんけいどうりゅう)の建長寺、無学祖元(むがくそげん)の円覚寺(えんがくじ)、円爾弁円(えんにべんえん)の東福寺など、14本山を数え、末寺数は約7000、信徒3万といわれる。江戸初期に始まる本末再編、檀家(だんか)制度の定着で、各派ともに教団としては特色を失うが、妙心寺の関山慧玄(かんざんえげん)の正法を受ける白隠慧鶴(はくいんえかく)の活動と、その門下の師家たちが、厳しく各派の専門道場を守り、一個半個の後継者育成に努め、早くより海外に知られる近代日本仏教として、高く評価されるようになった。

［柳田聖山］

歴史

中国

臨済義玄と弟子たちの動きは、唐末五代の戦火でいったん不明となるが、7代目の慈明楚円(じみょうそえん)（986―1039）が湖南に道場をおこし、その弟子黄竜慧南(おうりょうえなん)（1002―69）と楊岐方会(ようぎほうえ)（992―1049）の2人が、広く士大夫の帰依(きえ)を得て、江西の地に宗旨を再編する。慧南の仕事は、唐中期の馬祖道一(ばそどういつ)に始まる洪州(こうしゅう)宗の正系として、臨済の禅を歴史化し、『四家録』を編集して、馬祖の道場のあった江西北部に教線を張ったこと、とくに名公の参禅を得て、文字禅の宣揚に努めたことだが、楊岐方会とその弟子たちは、長江北岸の四祖山や五祖山など、馬祖以前の古道場を再興し、達磨(だるま)以来の古則公案(こうあん)の総合に努め、やがて趙州無字(じょうしゅうむじ)の公案による見性(けんしょう)体験の体系化に成功するに至る。楊岐4代の圜悟克勤(えんごこくごん)は、『碧巌録(へきがんろく)』の提唱で知られ、やや文字禅の傾向があるが、その弟子大慧宗杲(だいえそうこう)は『碧巌録』の版木を焼いたといわれ、文字禅を厳しく退けるとともに、坐禅(ざぜん)と黙照(もくしょう)に傾く曹洞宗の禅を批判し、徹底して見性大悟を主張した。ちょうど北宋(ほくそう)末より南宋遷都のときで、急進的国粋主義の動きが強まって、首都臨安(りんあん)を中心とする五山十刹(ござんじっせつ)制の確立は、大慧の弟子たちの入内(にゅうだい)説法と関係し国祚長久(こくそちょうきゅう)を祈る禅僧の自主規制とみられる。黄竜派が早く法系を失ったのち、宋朝臨済禅の代表となる楊岐派は、そうした公案禅の体系と、五山十刹制度をもたらして、やがて日本に伝来するのであり、一種の海外亡命であった。

［柳田聖山］

日本

鎌倉と京都を中心に、武家や皇室の帰依で、次々に創せられた禅刹(ぜんさつ)は、のちに室町幕府の成立とともに、夢窓疎石(むそうそせき)を開山とする、天竜寺と相国寺(しょうこくじ)を軸に再編され、新しい五山十刹制下に置かれた。日本臨済宗の主流は、大慧とともに圜悟に次ぐ、宋朝臨済宗の少数派であった虎丘紹隆(こきゅうじょうりゅう)（1077―1136）の系統である。江戸時代の初め、隠元隆琦(いんげんりゅうき)の来朝を期として、従来は五山の外に置かれた大徳寺と妙心寺の新しい動きから、中国・日本の禅の流れを総括し、24流とする説が現れる。栄西の黄竜宗、道元の曹洞宗、その他を除くと、約20流が虎丘下に属する。虎丘の宗旨が日本の好みに応じたのであり、白隠の公案禅はその集大成といえる。

［柳田聖山］

教義

日本における臨済宗の発展は、公案禅を踏まえる、宋朝文明の日本化とされる。たとえば、修行と悟りの過程を、牧童が牛を訓練するのに例え、10枚の絵と歌によって説く、2種類の「十牛図頌(じゅうぎゅうずじゅ)」がある。ともに北宋中期のものだが、一はおもに中国で流行し、一は日本だけに受容された。前者は牛を飼いならし終わって、牧童が牛とともに天に昇り、その姿を消し去るところを理想とし、一個の円相で示す。後者はこれを第八位に引き下げ、第九位に花咲き水流れる自然を、第十位に布袋を担いで町角に立つ人物を描いて、これを悟りの生きざまとする。とりわけ、前者の最後の円相を、後者が10枚の絵の背後に置くのは、頓悟(とんご)的な見性体験と、その日常化の思考を示すもので、これが日本民族の好みとなる。京都の禅寺を中心に五山文学や書跡、水墨美術をはじめ、茶の湯、能楽、建築、庭園など、日本で日常生活に即した禅文化の発生をみるのも、理由のないことではない。

［柳田聖山］

『柴山全慶著『臨済の禅風』（1970・春秋社）』

[参照項目] | 禅 | 禅宗 | 曹洞宗

出典　小学館　日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)日本大百科全書(ニッポニカ)について　情報 | 凡例

<<: Records of Linji

>>: Rotational farming method - Rinsai Shikinouho