Tōyō Eichō

Tōyō Eichō (Japanese: 東陽英朝, 1428 - August 24, 1504) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk of Rinzai school. He was the 53rd abbot of Daitoku-ji and 13th abbot of Myōshin-ji. See also the Japanese Wikipedia article 東陽英朝 (in Japanese).

Quotes

• All four pillars of enlightenment
  Crumble at once -
  See! See!
  Moonlight wreathing coral branches -
  What does it mean?
  Now all grows as dark
  As the palace of hell in
  The grasp of Satan / Katsu!
  • Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6
    

Remarks

• Toyo Eicho ... drew his material from sutras, recorded sayings of Chinese Zen masters, Taoist texts, Confucian texts, and Chinese poetry.
  • Helen Josephine Baroni. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Zen Buddhism. 2002.

• Zen Buddhist monk (Toyo Eicho, 1428-1504) of the Rinzai sect... was appointed juji of the Daitoku-ji in 1481 and founded the Shorin-ji temple at Mino, where , where he died.
  • ‎Louis Frédéric, Japan Encyclopedia. 2005.

• If this manuscript was indeed compiled by Daito Kokushi, it would rank as the first capping phrase collection in Japan, predating Toyo Eicho's Kuzoshi by approximately 150 years.
  • Steven Heine, ‎Dale S. Wright. Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism. 2006. p. 185

• Toyo Eicho's Kuzoshi... exists only as a single unidentified and fragmented text; it does not appear to be a handbook used by monks appending phrases to koans as a regular assignment in koan practice.
  • Steven Heine, ‎Dale S. Wright. Zen Classics: Formative Texts in the History of Zen Buddhism. 2006. p. 185