Shidō Munan

Shidō Bu'nan (Munan) (1603–1676) was a Japanese Rinzai Zen monk, and the teacher of Shoju Rojin (1642–1721), who was the principal teacher of Hakuin Ekaku (1686–1769).

Biography Born in Sekigahara as the son of an inn-keeper (just like Hakuin), at age 14 Munan started Zen-Studies with Gudō Toshoku (1577–1661) in Kyoto as a lay-practitioner. He was assigned the koan "from the beginning not a thing exists," a quote attributed to Huineng, the sixth Zen-patriarch. Returning to Sekigahara to work at the inn, he kept practicing, tutelaged by Gudō when he was around. Munan took over the inn, married, but eventually became addicted to drinking and gambling. In 1656, after a reprimand form Gudo, Munan broke with his addictions and became his attendant, following him to Edo and becoming a monk. He evaded the Rinzai-hierarchy, criticising it's failings such as a compromised koan-system and an over-emphasis on developing literary and artistic skills. In his teachings, he asserted that awakening is not an end in itself, but the beginning of the true practice of the Buddha-way:

Writings Ryūtakuji Shozō Hōgo (1666) Sokushinki (On the mind, 1670), tr. Kobori Sōhaku, Norman A. Waddell Jishōki (On self-nature, 1672), tr. Kusumita Priscella Pedersen Bunan zenji dōka shū (1844)