Muin Soin
Muin Soin
1326 – 1410
Muin Soin (1326–1410) was a Rinzai master in the Myōshin-ji line of the Ōtōkan stream who received Dharma transmission from Juō Sohitsu, the Dharma heir of Myōshin-ji's founder Kanzan Egen, and transmitted to Nippō Soshun (1367–1448). He practiced through a period of intense political turbulence in Japan — the Nanbokuchō civil wars between the Northern and Southern imperial courts (1336–1392) and the consolidation of Ashikaga authority in Kyoto — during which Buddhist institutions had to navigate competing demands from rival imperial and military patrons[1].
Within the Myōshin-ji line, Muin's generation faced the challenge of maintaining Kanzan's legacy of rigorous, practice-centred Rinzai in an era when the officially favoured Gozan temples were absorbing the administrative and cultural roles of state Buddhism. The *Rinka* independence that Kanzan had established required, in subsequent generations, a deliberate refusal of the institutional prestige that the Gozan path offered — a cultural commitment that Muin embodied by continuing the personal-transmission model in relative obscurity. The chain from Kanzan through Juō Sohitsu and Muin Soin to Nippō Soshun and eventually Gudō Tōshoku preserved the distinctive character of the Myōshin-ji line through these critical medieval decades[1].
Names
Disciples of Muin Soin
Teachers and lineage of Muin Soin
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
- sayingThe One Matter
Muin addressed his students: 'All the questions that Rinzai masters have ever asked — the mu, the sound of one hand, who was your face before your parents were born — these are not many questions. They are one question wearing many costumes. Learn to recognize the costume and you will never answer the question. Stop recognizing it and the question may answer you.'
- dialogueOn the Kanzan Tradition
A student asked Muin: 'The Kanzan line at Myōshin-ji is said to be purer than the Daitō line at Daitoku-ji. What do you say?' Muin said: 'Kanzan Egen was a great monk. So was Daitō Kokushi. They drank from the same spring in China and came back and poured it into different jars. The water is the same. Whether the jar is purer — go ask the jar.' Student: 'Then what is the teaching of this line?' Muin: 'The teaching of this line is to stop asking lines to teach you.'
Other masters in Rinzai
Master Record Sources
- datesZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
1326-1410
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Muin Soin
- schoolZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Rinzai
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Juo Sohitsu