Jippō Ryōshū
Jippō Ryōshū
1318 – 1405
Jippō Ryōshū (実峰良秀, 1318–1405) was one of Gasan Jōseki's five great heirs (*Gasan-go-tetsu*) and the founder of Nyoi-an (如意庵), one of the five sub-temples (Goin) of Sōji-ji whose abbots rotated as the head-temple priest, and a member of the *Gasan ni-jū-go-tetsu* (twenty-five major Gasan heirs)[1]. Along with Tsūgen Jakurei, Daitetsu Sōrei, Mutan Sokan, and Mugai Enshō, he constituted the founding cohort responsible for maintaining Sōji-ji as the institutional centre of the growing Sōtō school in the early Muromachi period — a period when the school needed strong institutional anchoring to resist the cultural dominance of Rinzai's Gozan system.
Jippō's contribution lay in the founding of Nyoi-an and the sub-lineage (*Jippō-ha*) associated with it, one of several branches that collectively populated Sōji-ji's rotating abbacy for the following centuries. The Gasan ni-jū-go-tetsu — the twenty-five major heirs — spread Gasan Jōseki's teaching across the provincial network that became the backbone of medieval Sōtō, and Jippō's long life of eighty-seven years gave him an extended period to confirm students and extend his branch of the lineage[1].
Names
Teachers and lineage of Jippō Ryōshū
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
- sayingOn What a Temple Is For
When asked what he hoped Nyoi-an would become, Jippō said: 'A place where monks forget what century it is. The Muromachi, the Kamakura — these are names we give to our confusions. The dharma does not observe our calendar. If Nyoi-an can produce one person who sits as Dōgen sat, it will have done enough. If it produces none, no number of roofbeams will compensate.'
- dialogueWhat Gasan Gave
A student of Jippō asked: 'Of the five great heirs of Gasan, what did each receive that the others did not?' Jippō was silent for a moment, then said: 'We all received the same bowl. What we put in it — that is different. Tsūgen filled his with thousands of temple affiliates. I filled mine with this small hut and ten sincere students. When Gasan looks down, I do not know which bowl pleases him more. Perhaps both. Perhaps neither. Perhaps the bowl itself was the teaching.'
Other masters in Sōtō
Master Record Sources
- biographyWikipedia - Zen Lineage Charts