| Obakusan Mampukuji is the head temple in Japan of the Obaku sect
of Zen Buddhism and the teaching monastery for the sectfs student
monks. Obaku is one of three Zen sects found in Japan, the other
two being Rinzai and Soto. Obaku has some 460 branch temples throughout
Japan.
The founder of Mampukuji was a Chinese Zen Master, Ingen (Yin-yuan),
who at the age of 29 entered the temple Mampukuji on Mt. Obaku
in the Chinese province of Fujian, eventually becoming its superior.
Having been invited to Japan, he arrived in Nagasaki in 1654.
At that time, Nagasaki was the only seaport in Japan where trading
with China and Holland was allowed.
Master Ingen spread the Dharma, the true teaching of Rinzai,
in Japan, attracting many Japanese monks who came and studied
under him. The Japanese were particularly impressed by the new
Chinese type of monastic life he introduced, characterized by,
among other things, a rigid and literal interpretation of the
Buddhist precepts, and sandankaie ordination ceremony, a superior
ordination method new to Japan. Those whose respect he gained
included the abbot of Myoshinji, Ryokei, who was to become a disciple,
the Retired Emperor Gomizuno and the fourth Shogun, Ietsuna.
In 1661, Master Ingen built a temple, Mampukuji, on the hill
he called Obakusan, at Uji. The names was chosen to commemorate
the Chinese temple of the same designation, and because of the
number of Obaku trees found there. The Obaku was a useful tree
to have in the environs of a monastery, for it has medicinal properties,
being effective against abdominal disease, and is used to dye
paper and textiles yellow. The temple name, Mampukuzenji, literally
gten thousand fold happiness Zen temple,h had been giving under
imperial ordinance in 1614 by Emperor Shen-tsung of the Ming dynasty.
Ingen died at the age of 82, later emperors of Japan honored him
with a total of six posthumous titles granted in his memory on
every fiftieth anniversary of his death. The Obaku sect achieved
rapid progress at that time, and many branch temples were erected
all over Japan by both Chinese and Japanese disciples.
From a handout at Mampukuji
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