was a

Rinzai The Rinzai school (, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng), named after Linji Yixuan (Romaji: Rinzai Gigen, died 866 CE) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, along with Sōtō and Ōbaku. The Chinese Linji school of ...

roshi,

calligrapher Calligraphy () is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instruments. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "the art of giving form to signs in an exp ...

,Ford, 116 and former abbot of Shōfuku-ji in

Kobe, Japan Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

.Harada, ix Mumon was also the former head of the

Myōshin-ji is a temple complex in Kyoto, Japan, which serves as the head temple of the associated branch of Rinzai Zen Buddhism. The Myōshin-ji School is by far the largest school in Rinzai Zen, approximately as big as the other thirteen branches combined: ...

branch of the Rinzai school of Japan. His most prominent student (and

Dharma heir In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' ('' kechimyaku'') theoretically traced back to the Buddha him ...

) is Shodo Harada of Sōgen-ji, an influential master in both Japan and the United States.

Activities relating to aftermath of World War II

Mumon, together with Rinzai priest Hisamatsu Shin'ichi, was on the original planning committee for the first Zen-Christian Colloquium started by the

Quakers Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestantism, Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally ...

in 1967. The meeting was designed to open dialogue between Christians and Buddhists and establish peace in the wake of damage caused by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

.King, 17 Daizen Victoria writes, " amada Mumonhelped establish the 'Society to Repay the Heroic Spirits f Dead Soldiers (''Eirei ni Kotaeru Kai''). Yamada asserted that since Japan's fallen soldiers had clearly been involved in a 'holy war,' the government should reinstate financial support for enshrining their "heroic spirits" (''eirei'') in Yasukuni Jinga, a major

Shinto , also called Shintoism, is a religion originating in Japan. Classified as an East Asian religions, East Asian religion by Religious studies, scholars of religion, it is often regarded by its practitioners as Japan's indigenous religion and as ...

shrine located in the heart of Tokyo."Victoria, 85 In a speech he gave on the matter, Mumon said, "Japan destroyed itself in order to grandly give the countries of Asia their independence. I think this is truly an accomplishment worthy of the name 'holy war.' All of this is the result of the meritorious deeds of two million five hundred thousand spirits in our country who were loyal, brave, and without rival. I think the various peoples of Asia who achieved their independence will ceaselessly praise their accomplishments for all eternity."Selden, 102-103 During the Second World War, while with Seisetsu Roshi, he visited many places of war, and what he saw left him with deep feelings of repentance. In 1967 he went on pilgrimages to various Southeast Asian countries to apologize to and say sutras for the war dead of all religions, and he taught this posture of repentance to his students as well. He traveled to the opening of Dai Bosatsu Zendo in New York State, to the San Francisco Zen Center, to the Mount Baldy Zen Center in California, and to Mexico. He made a pilgrimage to India and at Bodhgaya built a Japanese temple. He went to Europe and opened the East West Spiritual Exchange between Catholicism and Buddhism, himself entering and living in nine contemplative monasteries in Europe, experiencing the life of the monks there. His disciples settled all over Europe, strengthening his extensive ties with the West.

Teaching style

According to G. Victor Sōgen Hori in the book ''The Faces of Buddhism in America'', "Students of Yamada Mumon Rōshi say that outside the ''

sanzen , aka , means going to a Zen master for instruction. In the Rinzai school, it has the same meaning as '' dokusan'', which is specifically a private interview between student and master,Fischer-Schreiber 1989, pg. 306 often centering on the studen ...

'' room, he looked and acted like a tiny, wispy, immaterial Taoist hermit, but that inside the ''sanzen'' room, he suddenly turned into a lion."Prebish, 68-69

Notes

References

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamada, Mumon 20th-century Japanese calligraphers Rinzai Buddhists Zen Buddhist abbots 20th-century abbots Japanese Zen Buddhists 1900 births 1988 deaths Rōshi 20th-century Buddhist monks People from Toyota, Aichi