Ryokan: The Zen and Shin Buddhist poet

Here’s something I didn’t know before, but worth passing along. The famous Zen monk and poet, Ryōkan, evidentally had a soft-side for Amida Buddha and Shin Buddhist teachings, in addition to his extensive Zen background.

The Pure Land poems of Ryōkan are not well-known in Ryōkan’s otherwise illustrious career as a poet-monk. I was intending to write something else tonight, but while looking up sources, I found in River of Fire, River of Water a reference to Ryōkan’s poetry. One of his poems reads:

If not for Amida [Buddha]‘s inconceivable vow
What then would remain to me
As a keepsake of this world?

Here, Ryōkan clearly talks about the Pure Land notion of the Vow of Amida Buddha to lead all beings into the Pure Land. He describes the knowledge of this Vow as his keepsake, when all around him is empty and impermanent.

Another one, described in the book as “well-known” reads:

Return to Amida,
Return to Amida,
So even dewdrops fall.

Here, Amida is the compassionate parent (oya-sama in Japanese) we return to when times are tough, or we lose trust in Amida. Amida never forsakes us, no matter how often we leave him (having done this myself now and again), and always leads us to the Pure Land.

I always enjoy it when Zen and Jodo Shinshu blend. 🙂

Namuamidabu