Yakuo Tokuken

Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, and poet.

Yakuo Tokuken (1244 - May 29, 1320) was a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, and poet.

Quotes

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  • My six and seventy years are through.
    I was not born, I am not dead.
    Clouds floating on the high wide skies
    The moon curves through its million-mile course.
    • Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6, 2000. Cited in: Ken Jeremiah. Living Buddhas: The Self-Mummified Monks of Yamagata, Japan. 2010. p. 197

Quotes about Yakuo Tokuken

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  • Lah-chi Tao-lung (Rankei Dōryū) had many dharma heirs: among them were Nampo Jōmyō and Yaku'ō Tokuken 约翁德俭 (1245–1320), both of whom went to Sung-China. Yaku'ō's disciple, Jakushitsu Genkō 寂室元光 (1290–1367), also went to China and became later the founder of Eigen-ji.
    • Yu-hsiu Ku. 2016 History of Zen. p. 49
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