Kaso Sodon
Kaso Sodon
1352 – 1428
Kasō Sōdon (華叟宗曇, 1352–1428) was a Daitoku-ji-line Rinzai master in the Daitō Kokushi tradition who served briefly as the twenty-second abbot of Daitoku-ji but is best remembered for the austere hermitage he maintained at Katada on the shore of Lake Biwa, where he taught a small circle of students in deliberate avoidance of the increasingly politicised atmosphere of Kyoto's Gozan monasteries[1].
Kasō's enduring place in Japanese Zen history rests almost entirely on his role as the teacher who confirmed Ikkyū Sōjun's awakening: tradition records that the young Ikkyū, meditating alone in a small boat on the lake one night, was thrown into great awakening by the sudden cry of a crow; when he reported the experience Kasō withheld approval until satisfied, then formally confirmed his attainment — though Ikkyū famously refused to accept the certificate Kasō offered as recognition[2].
Names
Disciples of Kaso Sodon
Teachers and lineage of Kaso Sodon
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
- dialogueThe Crow and the Confirmation
Ikkyū had been meditating alone in a small boat on Lake Biwa when a crow suddenly cried in the dark. In that instant the whole question broke open. He hurried back to Kasō's hermitage before dawn and reported the experience. Kasō listened, then said: 'This is the awakening of a beginner, not a master.' Ikkyū, without flinching, said: 'I did not say I was a master. I said: the crow cried and the thing broke open.' Kasō paused, then struck his knee. 'A true man of the Way stands unshaken even when the master dismisses him.' He looked at Ikkyū steadily. 'What you have found is genuine. But a genuine fool is still a fool. Return and sit some more.' Ikkyū withdrew. Later, Kasō formally acknowledged his attainment, saying: 'Among all who have come to me, only this one has gone all the way down to the bottom.'
After formally acknowledging Ikkyū's attainment, Kasō prepared a certificate of awakening and offered it to him. Ikkyū refused to accept it, saying he wanted no document. Kasō said: 'You refuse my certificate. Do you also refuse the dharma?' Ikkyū said: 'I refuse the paper. The dharma I cannot refuse — it already has me.' Kasō looked at him for a long moment. 'Then you understand the certificate better than those who accept it,' he said. He set the document aside. It was never given to anyone else.
Someone asked Kasō why he had withdrawn from Daitoku-ji to the small hermitage at Katada by Lake Biwa rather than taking a prominent abbacy. Kasō said: 'At Daitoku-ji I could hear Kyoto. Kyoto is a beautiful city. But you cannot hear the dharma over Kyoto. At Katada I can hear the lake. The lake has better manners than Kyoto. It does not tell you what to think. It just keeps being water.'
Other masters in Rinzai
Master Record Sources
- datesZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
1352-1428
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Kaso Sodon
- schoolZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Rinzai
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Gongai Sochu