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寒巌義尹 Kangan Giin (1217-1300)

Kangan Giin (寒巌義尹, 1217–1300) was a disciple of Dōgen and the founder of the Higo school of Sōtō Zen Buddhism. It has been claimed that his father was Emperor Go-Toba or Emperor Juntoku. He did much evangelization work in Kyūshū, where he founded Daiji-ji (大慈寺) in Kumamoto. Before practicing with Dōgen, Giin started his Buddhist path as a Tendai monk. He later abandoned that school and became a member of Daruma School under Kakuzen Ekan. Along with his fellow students Tettsū Gikai and Gien, Giin became a student of Dōgen when Giin's teacher Ekan himself became a student of Dōgen. Dōgen died without giving dharma transmission to Giin, but he received it later from Dōgen's primary disciple, Koun Ejō. Giin traveled to China after Dōgen's death in order to present Dōgen's recorded sayings, the Eihei Kōroku, to Chinese monks in the Caodong lineage of Tiantong Rujing, Dōgen's teacher. Giin asked Wuwai Yiyuan, a primary student of Rujing, to write a foreword for the collection as well as to edit it. The text became the Eihei Dōgen Zenji Goroku, an edited selection from Eihei Kōroku. After returning from China, Giin practiced at a temple called Shōfuku-ji in Kyushu connected to Myōan Eisai. Shortly thereafter, records tell us that Giin formed a relationship with a powerful samurai named Kawajiri Yasuaki who in 1269 sponsored the construction of Giin's first temple, Nyorai-ji. In 1282 Yasuaki paid for the construction of a second temple, Daiji-ji, with which Giin is now usually associated with.

Giin: The Beginnings of Higo Sōtō
In: DOC: Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan > PDF
by William M. Bodiford
Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism 8. Honolulu: University of Hawai‘i Press, 1993, 368 p.

Giin (1217-1300) is remembered as the founder of the Higo (or Kyushu) branch of Japanese Sōtō. 1 This branch, centered at Giin's major monastery, Daijiji, eventually became a powerful Sōtō faction active not only in Kyushu but also beginning in the fifteenth century in central Japan. Previous studies of Giin's activities have been intimately connected to these later developments because the more powerful the monasteries of Higo Sōtō became, likewise the more important the memory of Giin became. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries monks in the Higo faction attempted to argue that the personal prestige of Giin and his precedents justified a status for Daijiji equal to that afforded to Eiheiji, the monastery founded by Dōgen. The Tokugawa government and the rival Sōtō institutions flatly refused. 2 None of the extant biographies of Giin antedate this conflict. Therefore, one account, the Ryakuden,3 wildly exaggerates Giin's early career, his lineage affiliation, his study in China, and his relations to the imperial court, while biographers that rejected Daijiji's claims to special status attempted to prove contradictory accounts. 4 Although these contradictory accounts provide an exemplary illustration of the chronic Zen tendency to emphasize the superiority of one's own lineage over all others, they do not aid any understanding of the religious role played by Giin's monastic community. For that purpose, contemporaneous documents (such as those written by Giin and his associates) suffice. 5
Little is certain regarding Giin's background. We can only assume that there is no truth to the pious tradition that Giin was of imperial birth. 6 Although abbots of Daijiji later asserted that Giin had enjoyed a special relationship with the imperial court, there is no evidence of this. Giin is assumed to have been among the Darumashū members who later switched to Dōgen, since the first syllable of his name, "gi," is the same as that of other Darumashū members. Giin, however, is not mentioned in
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any of Dōgen's writings. Details of his duties and training at Kōshōji and Eiheiji, therefore, are completely unknown. Within his own line, Giin always has been regarded as one of Dōgen's direct dharma heirs, but the main collected biographies of Sōtō monks produced in the Tokugawa period lowered his prestige by listing his teacher as Gikai. 7
There is even less agreement regarding Giin's training in China. According to the Ryakuden, Giin traveled to Sung China in 1253 (the year of Dōgen's death) and spent four years studying under Dōgen's former teacher, Ju-ching, before returning to Japan. There are, however, several difficulties with this account. We know that Giin was still at Eiheiji as of 1254, when Ejō taught him the special ordination procedures used in Japanese Sōtō to ordain new monks. 8 Ju-ching had already passed away in 1228 even before Giin had begun studying under Dōgen. Furthermore, from the eulogies for Dōgen's goroku that Giin obtained from Chinese monks, it is clear that Giin was in China between 1264 and 1265. 9 Later biographers of Giin have made ingenious attempts to reconcile these discrepancies. Ranzen Shun'yū (1613-1672), aware that Ju‐ ching had died earlier than Dōgen, but not knowing the exact year, proposed that Giin had begun his study with Ju-ching ten years earlier than stated by the Ryakuden, in 1243. Then according to Shun'yū, Giin later made a second trip to China during which he collected the eulogies to be attached to Dōgen's recorded sayings. 10 This version is repeated in the biography by Tangen Jichō (d. 1699). 11 The next major biographer, Teinan Shūjo (1675-1752), rejected the supposed encounter with Ju‐ ching altogether, while accepting the idea of two trips to China. According to Shūjo, Giin first went to China in 1253 but suddenly returned to Japan in time to study ordination ceremonies under Ejō in 1254 and then went to China again in 1264 for four years of study. 12 Although Shūjo's version is widely repeated in secondary sources, there is little reason to believe that Giin went to China in either 1243 or 1253 or that he made more than one trip. 13 Passage between Japan and China was expensive, time consuming, and difficult to arrange. Moreover, if Giin had already returned from China by 1254, there would have been little reason for Gikai to have made his trip five years later, in 1259.
Details of Giin's training in China are unavailable. The main purpose of his trip probably was to obtain Chinese recognition for Dōgen's goroku, the text of which he carried to China. To write a preface Giin sought out Wu-wai I-yüan. I-yüan had been one of Ju-ching's major disciples, the monk who had compiled the recorded sayings of Ju-ching. I‐ yüan probably had not been easily located since, typical of Ts'ao-tung monks who lacked the political connections necessary for appointment to major Chinese Ch'an monasteries, he had become abbot only of a relatively minor temple. 14 Giin also obtained eulogies written by two presti
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gious abbots, Hsu-t'ang Chih-yü and T'ui-keng Te-ning, both of whom held office at major state-sponsored Wu-shan monasteries. 15 After returning to Japan, Giin soon took up residence at the Shōfukuji, a temple in Kyushu associated with Eisai.
In Kyushu, Giin formed a close relationship with Kawajiri Yasuaki, a local warrior. Yasuaki, in addition to managing his family's own land holdings, also served as the chief recordkeeper (sō kumon) at the Shinzō estate (shōen) in central Kyushu, the guarantor (honke) of which was the Saishōkōin. 16 Although the Saishōkōin has been variously identified as a subtemple of several different Tendai or Shingon monasteries, its true affiliation remains unclear. 17 What is significant, however, is that the Saishōkōin also was the guarantor of the Shihi estate at which Eiheiji had been built. Likewise, the military steward (jitō) at the Shinzō estate in Kyushu was a blood relative of the same Hatano family that served as the principal patrons of Eiheiji. Therefore, Giin's relationship with Kawajiri Yasuaki probably developed out of introductions arranged through these personal connections. This is the first example of what proves to be a persistent theme; the other early Sōtō communities discussed below also attracted patrons through personal relationships. Evidence from later temples indicates that in many cases patronage of branch temples helped reinforce alliances between warrior groups.
The relationship with Kawajiri was very fruitful for Giin. In 1269 Yasuaki sponsored the building of Giin's first temple, Nyoraiji, although nominally the founding sponsor was listed as Yasuaki's daughter, known by her Buddhist name of Somyō. 18 And in 1282 Yasuaki sponsored the building of Daijiji, the monastery that soon became the center of Higo Sōtō faction. 19 In return, Yasuaki benefited from Giin's religious stature in the area. The broad support Giin enjoyed among many classes of people is demonstrated by his successful campaign to raise funds to build a bridge across the Midori River.
In 1276, when Giin began his fund-raising efforts, he addressed an open appeal for support to the nobility and the warrior classes, other monks, and common laymen. Giin's bridge-building project fulfilled a popular need. Every year numerous travelers, both rich and poor, had lost their lives attempting to cross the river. Moreover, Giin expressed his appeal in simple terms, identifying it with the Buddhist metaphor of helping the suffering to reach the "other shore [of salvation]." 20 There is no record of all the local contributors to Giin's bridge project. From the size of the bridge that was completed in 1278 (said to have been about sixteen shaku wide and nearly 600 shaku long), the construction must have required numerous supporters in addition to Yasuaki. 21 A much smaller project, the casting of a bronze bell for Daijiji in 1287, elicited financial support from more than one hundred "patrons at large" (jippō
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danna), and material contributions from nearly three hundred laymen, as well as the efforts of thirty monks and thirty nuns. 22 Giin's ability to attract contributions from the general populace for these and other minor construction projects contrasts significantly with the general dependency of other early Zen monasteries on the support of a single, powerful patron.
Yet this broad popularity, of course, helped attract powerful patrons. Giin did not hesitate to lend the authority of Buddhist symbols to the state or to secular political powers. In soliciting support for the bridge construction, Giin argued that the successful completion of the project would cause "the Buddha-sun and the king-sun to shine together forever, the winds of compassion [i.e., Buddhism] and the winds of virtue [i.e., government] to sweep the world together for thousands of generations." He further asserted that the bridge-building would demonstrate the virtue of the government and cause it to be admired for its fearless power that could just as easily pacify unruly barbarians. 23 Giin likewise commemorated the completion of the bridge in 1278 with a three-day religious service dedicated to the peaceful governing of the realm. 24 Giin's support of the state is best summed up by his inscription for Daijiji's bell cast in 1287: "Ten-thousand years [of long life] for the emperor, one-thousand years [of long life] for the shōgun; may they hear the ringing [of this bell] in peace and happiness and see their rule pervade [the realm]." 25
Giin's public appeals contained no special Zen flavor. On the one hand, Giin firmly identified with Zen. Both Nyoraiji and Daijiji were built in the Zen style with central images of Śākyamuni (instead of one of the more popular devotional divinities). At age seventy-five, Giin, in an eloquent vow to save all sentient beings, referred to himself as a sincere student of Zen, guided only by the "Complete Essentials of the Correct Teaching" (shōbō genzō). 26 And Giin's disciples were thoroughly trained in the vocabulary of Zen discourse and in the Chinese monastic ceremonies regarded by Japanese as standards for the Zen school. 27 Yet on the other hand, Giin's Zen did not reject practices commonly associated with more traditional Japanese Buddhism. For the many nuns who studied under him, Giin encouraged devotional piety. To the novice nun Senshin, he gave shari (relics representing the essence of the Buddha's physical body). 28 Another nun, Jōa, was instructed to copy the Lotus Sūtra, a task for which she also erected a commemorative pillar at Daijiji. 29 Giin himself commemorated the completion of the bridge by organizing an elaborate religious ceremony in which one thousand monks and nuns reportedly participated. 30 For three days the monks performed an elaborate confession and penance ritual, Hokke senbō, a key ceremony of the Tendai school. Penance rituals traditionally were widely practiced in state-sponsored temples in order to eliminate possible ill effects of the
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ruler's misdeeds and to attract good fortune for the state. Moreover, during this same three-day period, the monks continually recited sections from six different sūtras, common to all forms of Japanese Buddhism. In all appearances this ritual was the same as one performed within the older established schools of Japanese Buddhism. Giin's activities in no way suggest that early Sōtō monks rejected mainstream Buddhist practices.
Therefore, it is doubtful that Kawajiri Yasuaki, Giin's principal sponsor, based his patronage on any perceived differences that distinguished Zen from other schools of Japanese Buddhism. Rather than any strong interest in Zen practice, and apart from any personal charisma that Giin might have possessed, we can identify three main reasons for Yasuaki's financial support of Giin's new religious establishment. The most basic one would be simple Buddhist piety, founded on a desire to obtain the spiritual and material benefits associated with general Buddhist worship. For example, in 1284 Yasuaki donated additional land to Daijiji partially in reward for its monks' daily recitations of the Lotus and the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sūtras as prayers (kitō) for his benefit. 31 Likewise, Giin's inscription for the Daijiji's bell cast in 1287 included a prayer for Yasuaki's wealth, good fortune, and long life. 32 For Yasuaki, having prestigious monks at a large monastery pay public obeisance to him would have been a powerful symbol of his own stature and authority.
In these respects Daijiji provided religious functions common to the many other family temples (ujidera) being erected by regionally based warrior groups at that time. 33 By supporting Giin in particular, Yasuaki gained prestige through association with the fame generated by Giin's successful completion of the bridge across the Midori River. That construction was considered important enough to attract the attention of the shogunate in Kamakura. 34 Therefore, it is no mere coincidence that Yasuaki began building Daijiji for Giin shortly after the bridge was completed. In donating land to Daijiji, Yasuaki repeatedly referred to Giin as the organizer of the bridge project. 35 In addition to his own piety and Giin's fame as a bridge builder, in a larger political context another reason for Yasuaki to sponsor the building of a Zen temple would have been to express unity with the Hōjō regents in Kamakura, who were actively promoting Zen among their own followers. 36 This supposition is supported by the fact that on news of the death of Hōjō Tokimune (1251‐ 1284), who had sponsored the building of the Kamakura Zen temple Engakuji in 1282, Yasuaki again donated additional land to Daijiji as a pious expression of Yasuaki's hope that Tokimune would attain enlightenment in his next life. 37
In the period immediately following Giin's death the precedent was set for a practice that played a major role in subsequent Japanese Sōtō. In
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Figure 4. Dharma Lineages and the Abbotship of Daijiji
As shown in this chart, Daijiji's twenty-third abbot was only three "dharma-generations" removed from Giin. For a list of Daijiji's first sixty-six abbots, see Kuriyama, Gakusan shiron, 82-83.
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1298 Giin had appointed his disciple Shidō Shōyū to succeed him as the second abbot of Daijiji. 38 When Shōyū died in 1301, however, only one year after Giin, the future of Daijiji was in doubt. To decide who would become the next abbot, a poetry contest was held among the Daijiji community. Tetsuzan Shian won acceptance by the Daijiji monks with a poem proclaiming that only Giin's dharma descendants should be allowed to occupy the abbotship. 39 By this proclamation, Shian established the exclusivity of Daijiji, closing its monastic offices to anyone outside of Giin's lineage. Moreover, beginning with Shian, the abbots of Daijiji served relatively short terms, so that the abbotship was available to a steady succession of new candidates. After Shian the next two abbots also were Giin's direct heirs. Subsequent abbots were drawn first from the ranks of Shian's disciples and then from among the disciples of Giin's other heirs. In this way, all of Giin's direct heirs were able to ensure that their own disciples would also have an opportunity to rise to the Daijiji abbotship. Within three or four teacher-disciple generations, Daijiji had already seen twenty-six new abbots (see figure 4).
This practice of rotating the abbotship (rinjū) among divergent lines of descendants had many advantages over any process of straight-line succession (in which each subsequent abbot is the direct disciple of his predecessor). It ensured that Daijiji received support from all of the dharma lines descendent from Giin, thereby preventing factionalism. These different lines vied for offices at Daijiji, thereby providing a ready supply of able candidates. Moreover, because of the relatively rapid turnover, monks had many opportunities to advance through monastic offices. In this way, young monks quickly acquired personal prestige and expertise in a wide variety of monastic affairs. Neophyte monastic officers and new abbots could benefit from the advise and oversight of a number of former abbots, who constituted a valuable peer group. No doubt this process of accelerated promotion to monastic office helped fuel the regional expansion of Higo Sōtō by rapidly producing monks trained in the skills necessary for founding their own temples. Early documents do not reveal if Shian purposefully initiated the practice of rotating abbotships among each lineage. No early regulations survive at Daijiji. Later such regulations were promulgated, but not at Daijiji. It was the isolated Sōtō monasteries of northeastern Japan that eventually perfected this method of abbot selection and came to occupy the dominant position within Japanese Sōtō.
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