禅Keigan Eisho

saying

On Maintaining the Thread

Jippō-ha Temple Records

Muromachi Period Japan

Traditionally attributed

Text

Keigan told his assembly: 'In the Muromachi era a temple's survival requires negotiation with warriors and merchants. Do not be ashamed of this. What is shameful is to negotiate away the practice itself. Trim the ceremony if you must. Reduce the staff if circumstances demand. But do not reduce the sitting. The sitting is the thread. If it is cut, we have a beautiful empty hall and nothing inside it. Maintain the thread, and the thread will maintain everything else.'

license: public_domain

Attribution

Lineage: Sōtō

By Keigan Eisho

From Jippō-ha Temple Records

Sources

  • contentSōtō Zen in Medieval Japan

    William M. Bodiford

    Cf. Bodiford, Sōtō Zen in Medieval Japan, pp. 113–116, on Sōtō temple administration in the Muromachi period

    Jippō-ha Temple Records: On Maintaining the Thread

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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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