Mumon Gensen

Mumon Gensen (Japanese: 無文元選, March 22, 1323 - May 7, 1390) was a Japanese Zen priest, believed as an illegitimate son of Emperor Go-Daigo. In 1340, the next year of Go-Daigo death, Gensen became a priest at Kennin-ji, Kyoto, a major Rinzai-zen affiliated temple. He went to China ruled by Yuan dynasty to study Zen much further, and after his return to Japan, founded Hōkō-ji in Tōtōmi Province, now Shizuoka Prefecture. Quotes Life is an ever-rolling wheelAnd every day is the right one.He who recites poems at his deathAdds frost to snow. Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6 Life is like a cloud of mistEmerging from a mountain cave,And deathA floating moonIn its celestial course.If you think too muchAbout the meaning they may have,You'll be bound foreverLike an ass to a stake. Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6 References Mumon Gensen (1323 - 1390) [was] a Japanese Rinzai monk of the Ashikaga period, Mumon Gensen was born in Kyoto, the son of Emperor Go-daigo. He entered Buddhist orders at age seven, and at eighteen entered the Zen monastery Kennin-ji. In 1384, Gensen founded a Rinzai Zen monastery in Totomi. Mumon Gensen, Lapham's Quarterly, Accessed June 24, 2018. Hökö-ji was founded in 1383, the first year of Genchū era under the reign of Gokameyama Tennö, by Mumon Gensen (1323–1390). Mumon Gensen was a prince and became a monk at the age of eighteen. He served under Ka'o Sonen (d. 1345) and Sesson Yubai (1290–1346) at Kennin-ji. He went to China and received the Inka from Kobai Shöyü (1285–1352). Yu-hsiu Ku. History of Zen. 2016. p. 103 Category:Poets from Japan Category:1390 deaths Category:People from Kyoto Category:Zen Buddhist monks Category:Buddhists from Japan