禅Daichi Sokei

dialogue

On Refusing the Abbacy

Daichi Sokei's Collected Records

Nanbokuchō Period Japan

Traditionally attributed

Text

When the Kikuchi clan invited Daichi to accept the permanent abbacy of Shōgo-ji with generous patronage, Daichi replied: 'An abbot's seat is an excellent thing — for the one who can sit still in it. I have never been still for long. The mountains call. If I accept your kind seat, in six months you will find it empty and I will be halfway up some ridge in the rain. Better to let a steadier man have it. Give me a hut and a bowl, and let me go where the practice needs me.'

license: public_domain

Attribution

Lineage: Sōtō

By Daichi Sokei

Sources

  • contentSōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

    William M. Bodiford

    Cf. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 91–93; Dumoulin, Vol. 2, p. 96

    Daichi Sokei's Collected Records: On Refusing the Abbacy

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Attribution status: traditional — see editorial policy for what this means.

1 supporting citation on record (see Sources above).

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