Daruma had come to Japan

昔々、達磨大師と聖徳太子は会っていたという伝説があります。(English) Legend has it that Daruma Daishi and Prince Shotoku met once upon a time.

No. 626 - Daruma had come to Japan - 24 Sep 2022

1)

There are many legends about Daruma Daishi.

Among them is the legend that Daruma Daishi had come to Japan.

2)

There is a 30-volume book called 'Genkyo Shakusho.'

It contains the biographies of 400 monks and the history of Buddhism after the arrival of Buddhism in Japan until 1322.

There are biographies of 400 monks. The first of these is 'Daruma Daishi.'

3)

In the Genkyo Shakusho, it is written that

Daruma Daishi was the third son of the King of India.

When he came to Shina in 520, he preached a teaching for the Wu Emperor, but the Wu Emperor did not understand him.

He crossed the Yangtze River to Wei and spent nine years in the Shaolin Temple before returning to Tianzhu.

4)

This is a concise biography of Daruma.

It wrote that he came to Japan in 613, 816 years after his death.

During Emperor Suiko, Prince Shotoku was in charge of the government.

5)

When Prince Shotoku passed through Nara, Daruma Daishi was sitting on the road in the form of a starving man, wearing dirty clothes.

But it seemed that his eyes were sharp.

And his body had a divine fragrance, it is written.

6)

Prince Shotoku saw him and asked his name, but Daruma Daishi did not answer.

Prince Shotoku made up a waka poem and asked him, but Daruma Daishi also replied with a waka poem.

7)

Prince Shotoku gave him food and drink, took off his robe, said "Rest in peace," and returned to his palace.

He then asked his men to look for the traveler, but the starving traveler was already dead.

Prince Shotoku was grieved and carefully buried him.

8)

Prince Shotoku then thought that that person was not an ordinary man but a true man.

So he had his men check the tomb.

Then they found nothing in the coffin.

Only the robe given by Prince Shotoku was neatly folded and placed.

9)

Prince Shotoku put the robe on himself.

People indeed know the saints as saints.

The place where he was buried later became Darumadera.

10)

As time passed, there was a sect called the 'Daruma Sect' in the Kamakura period (1185-1333).

According to Iwanami Shoten's Buddhist Dictionary.

Daruma Sect refers to the Zen sect of the Dainichi Nounin (大日能忍).

11)

In 1189, Nounin sent two disciples to China to study Rinzai Zen.

He called it the 'Daruma Sect' and spread it in Japan.

12)

It was a new style of Zen. For this reason, it was halted in 1194, along with Eisai's Rinzai Zen.

However, it flourished alongside Honen's Nenbutsu.

13)

The Dictionary of Buddhism describes Nonin as follows.

Date of birth and death unknown. A monk from the late Heian to early Kamakura periods.

Founder of the Japanese Daruma sect. Born in Hakata, Kyushu.

14)

Nounin founded Sanpoji Temple in Osaka Prefecture, where he spread Zen.

In 1189, he sent two disciples to study in the Song dynasty.

Later, he spread it in Japan under the name <Daruma Sect>.

15)

However, as it was a new Zen, he and Eisai of the Rinzai sect were ordered to stop in 1194.

Disciples of Nohshin spread the Daruma in Nara Prefecture.

However, other disciples joined Dogen, and Nohshin's teachings disappeared.

16)

It is not clear what the teachings of the Daruma sect were.

However, Zen masters were saddened because the teachings of the Daruma Sect and the Zen they transmitted were equally forbidden to propagate.

17)

The teachings of the Daruma Sect are written as follows.

We have no vexations.

Therefore, there is no need for precepts and no need to practice.

We should lie down.

18)

The teaching of Nonin is not clear.

However, they seemed to have emphasized being a Buddha and denied the precepts.

This is very different from Eisai Zenji, who taught about being a Buddha, but strictly observed the precepts and valued ascetic practice.

19)

His teachings were treated the same way as this Daruma sect, which led to the suspension of proselytizing.

Therefore, Zen Master Eisai was unbearable.

Later, Zen Master Eisai built Kenninji Temple in Kyoto with the permission of the Kamakura Shogunate.

20)

The leading figures of the Daruma sect became students of Zen Master Dogen.

Daruma Daishi came to Japan, it is said.

Eventually, his teachings were transmitted to the Rinzai and Soto sects.

No. 626 - Daruma had come to Japan - 24 Sep 2022 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDcZC2YQCsY