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Wonhyo › Who Was
Definition and Origins
Wonhyo (617-686 CE) was one of the most important Buddhist philosophers of his time and a highly influential scholar whose works impacted a wide array of philosophers and writers who came after him. He is highly regarded as the greatest thinker of his time and a prolific writer, producing almost 90 works of philosophy in his lifetime, many of which still exist in whole or in part. Although little known in the west, Wonhyo continues to be highly regarded in the east and in his native Koreain particular. His writing remains as influential in the modern day as it was during his lifetime centuries ago.
EARLY LIFE & ENLIGHTENMENT
Little is known of Wonhyo's early life. He was born in Amnyang (in modern-day South Korea) into a Buddhist family, but nothing is known of them. When he was fairly young, he decided to go to China to study Buddhism with the great masters, and it was on this trip that he attained his early enlightenment.
WONHYO EMPHASIZED THE ACTUAL EMPTINESS OF THE UNIVERSE WHICH HAS NO 'DARK' AND NO 'LIGHT' BUT ONLY HAS ITSELF, WHAT IT IS, WITHOUT LABELS.
According to Wonhyo's famous story, he had traveled a long way and was very tired and thirsty as night fell. He found what he thought was a cave and crawled in. As he groped across the ground, his hand touched a bowl that was full of rain water, and he drank before going to sleep. When he woke up the next morning he discovered that the 'bowl' was a decomposing skull full of old water, decaying leaves, and maggots and that he had slept in a tomb. He was so disgusted that he vomited and began to run from the tomb -- that was when enlightenment came. Wonhyo realized that the horrid skull cup was the same 'bowl' he had been so happy to find filled with water the night before, and the tomb was the same place of refuge he had been so grateful to find. There was no difference in these things themselves; the only difference was in his perception of these things.His interpretation of the skull and the tomb made them 'good' in the dark and 'bad' in the light, but nothing had changed about those objects themselves. This led him to his great revelation that 'Thinking makes good and bad," which just means that individual perception creates values that people call 'good' or 'bad' but the objects themselves might be neither.
Realizing the importance of his new understanding, Wonhyo abandoned his trip to China and returned home. He became a teacher and devoted himself to the enlightenment of his students, while always remaining aware that he was a student himself and was always learning. The historian John M. Koller comments:
Not only did he create a unique Korean Buddhist philosophy, but also some of his writing came to influence the greatest Buddhist thinkers in China and Japan. His remark upon his enlightenment that "all is one and this one is empty" reflects what was to become the foundation of his metaphysics, namely the principle of total interpenetration of everything. His remark that "thinking makes good and bad"... reflects his view that originally there is one mind, and delusion and enlightenment only arise within the mind as the result of thoughts and feelings (300).
WONHYO'S PHILOSOPHY
Wonhyo's experience with the skull and the tomb convinced him that the world of sense perception is an illusion. All that we think we see is colored by our perceptions, which we have learned from others. When we learn to look truly at the world around us, without these learned perceptions, we recognize that everything is One and there are no distinctions and no differences between people or objects. Everything proceeds from the One Mind, and everything a person experiences is a part of that One Mind. The trick is to recognize this and awaken to the existence of the One Mind and all that it means, but to do this, one must first want to awaken.
People are so comfortable with their dream delusions that they are unwilling to let them go and cling to them when they are threatened. Wonhyo tried to alleviate people's fears by writing a treatise on the philosopher Ashvaghosa's work Awakening of Aspiration. Ashvaghosa felt sorry for people because they were so blind and deluded, and he tried to encourage them to seek something higher than pursuit of food and drink and physical pleasure. Wonhyo's commentary on Ashvaghosa's work simplified the teaching. It emphasized the actual emptiness of the universe which has no 'dark' and no 'light' and no 'life' and no 'death' but only has itself, what it is, without labels.
People tend to label things, and as soon as they do, they claim to know what those things are and what they mean, but those things one labels are never what one thinks they are. One thinks one is right in one's labels and then finds other people who agree with one's labels and subsequent world view, but that does not mean that those labels are right. Once a person has awakened from delusion and self-satisfaction, then they can recognize the One Mind and the fact that all things are one.Humans are here in this world to accomplish this one goal because it is only here that one is faced with so many temptations to be led astray, and so the brilliance of illumination shines more clearly once recognized.
LEGACY
Wonhyo's vision greatly affected Korean Buddhism, and his influence was felt throughout China and Japan and reverberated even further. By emphasizing Buddha 's ideal of One and explaining it so clearly, Wonhyo was able to make the concept of enlightenment easier to grasp. Enlightenment was no longer the lofty goal of an ascetic or even an ideal but was simply a way to live a better and more peaceful life. By recognizing that all is One, a person would be set free from the delusion of the senses and could stop acting and reacting to circumstances wrongly.
In this aspect of his philosophy, Wonhyo's vision is very close to Plato 's as presented in the allegory of the cave in Book VII of his Republic : one must free one's self of the belief in the reality of the shadows on the cave's walls before one can see the true objects that are casting those shadows. Wonhyo's teachings touched many people but, interestingly, the many religious institutions that maintained different views on Buddhism refused to cooperate with each other or compromise their practices.Wonhyo himself said that if they had understood the reality of the One, they would have recognized that religious differences are only one more misguided label that causes strife and prevents understanding. It is Wonhyo's universal vision of a family of humankind that often resonates with readers in the present day.
Izumi Shikibu › Who Was
Definition and Origins
Izumi Shikibu was a writer, poet, and member of the Japanese court during the Heian Period (794-1185 CE). Her birth date is variously given as sometime in the 970's CE, and she died in the 1030's CE. In her celebrated memoirs, known as the Izumi Shikibu Diary, she recounts episodes from court life and her affairs with two princes. The diary includes many of Izumi Shikibu's poems, which are regarded as amongst the finest ever written in Japan.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Izumi Shikibu was the daughter of a minor court official, Oeo no Masamune, and herself became a low-ranking member of the Japanese imperial court, specifically the entourage of Shoshi (aka Empress Akiko), the wife of Emperor Ichijo (r. 986-1011 CE). The group of court ladies included another famous writer: Murasaki Shikibu, who wrote the Tale of Genji, considered by many the world's first novel. The purpose of assembling such a talented group of ladies to tutor and amuse Shoshi was to ensure she, a representative of the powerful Fujiwara clan, maintained favour with the emperor and so safeguarded the clan's influence.
Izumi Shikibu's name derives from the job of her father and husband. Shikibu means 'secretariat', which was the role of her father as in ancient Japan it was common to call a daughter by her father's position. Izumi Shikibu married a man of similar rank to her own, Tachibana no Michisada, the governor of Izumi, with whom we know she had a daughter, Koshikibu (herself a noted poet), and hence she adopted the name Izumi.
IZUMI SHIKIBU'S POEMS EMPHASISE THE TEMPORARY NATURE OF PEOPLE'S LIVES & LOVES.
Her poetry is of the waka style, that is, each poem has precisely 31 syllables in five lines (5+7+5+7+7). Like those of her contemporaries, the poems emphasise sadness and the temporary nature of people's lives and loves. This approach was based on experience for when her lover Prince Atsumichi died, the poetess considered retiring to a monastery as she stated in the following preface to one of her poems: "Composed about the same time, when I was thinking of becoming a nun." The poem runs:
I feel so wretchedI am ready even toAbandon the world -When I think that I was onceIntimate with such a man!(Keene, 297)
Following a year of mourning, the writer met and married the military official Fujiwara no Yasumasa (958-1036 CE). When Yasumasa relocated to the provinces, Izumi followed him. It seems that towards the end of her life, in the 1030's CE, Izumi Shikibu turned to Buddhism, as the following poem illustrates:
Coming from darknessI shall enter on a pathOf greater darkness,Shine on me from the distance,Moon at the edge of the mount.(Keene, 288)
Here, the 'path' is a spiritual journey and the Moon a common metaphor for Buddhist enlightenment. Indeed, there is to this day a minor cult and shrine dedicated to Izumi Shikibu at the Joshin'in, a Shingon Buddhist temple in Kyoto, which is also the site of her (alleged) tomb. Every year there, on the 21st March, the traditional date of the poet's death, services are held and her texts recited.
IZUMI SHIKIBU DIARY
The diary of Izumi Shikibu, known in Japanese as the Izumi Shikibu Nikki and perhaps written in 1004 CE, is really not a diary at all but rather a series of memories and episodes. Written in the third person, the author refers to herself throughout as onnaor 'the woman'. Although covering one year starting from the summer of 1003 CE, there are no dates for the entries and, like a work of fiction, the author imagines the thoughts of those people involved in her memories. For this reason, a minority of scholars hold that the work was not written by Izumi at all. In another departure from the pure diary form, 140 waka poems appear in amongst the prose. The poems cause the reader to pause in the narrative and enhance the presentation of love as a dreamlike experience, a common notion in Japanese literature of the period.
The diary concerns the year when Izumi Shikibu and Prince Atsumichi (981-1007 CE) had their scandalous affair, which caused the prince's wife to leave him. We also know that the year before Izumi had had an affair with Atsumichi's older brother Prince Tametaka (977-1002 CE), a relationship which seems to have ended her own first marriage. The affair ended with Tametaka's death, aged only 26, and Izumi was not to have much luck with his brother either for he died in 1007 CE. Here is a sample extract from the diary, illustrating the typical insertion of poems which often appear in pairs, one as a reply to the other:
The Prince had come in his usual secret way. Onna, thinking it unlikely that he would come and, wearied from the recent religious ceremonies, was dozing, so when there was a knock at the gate there was no one who might notice the sound. His Highness had heard various rumors and, surmising that another man might be inside, noiselessly retired and the next day there was:While standingbefore the wooden doorthat was not openedI experienceda cruel heart.So this is what it is like to be wretched, I now know. Look at my pitiful state. "It appears that His Highness did announce himself last night! How heartless it was for me to be sleeping!" she thought. She replied,How can you 'experience'whether or notthat 'heart is cruel'?You just left untouchedmy 'wooden door'.(Wallace, 19)
Izumi's loss of her first lover, her search for consolation with the second, and the couple's fear of court gossip are the dominating themes of the diary:
…he was now living in a highly secluded place, he said. She went with him, deciding that this time she would simply do whatever he asked of her. They talked together to their heart's content from morning till night, rising or sleeping as they pleased. She felt relieved of the bitter tedium of her days and wished to go and live with him.(Keene, 376)
EXAMPLE POEMS
As I lie prostrateIndifferent that my black hairIs all dishevelled,I recall with yearning howHe always combed and stroked it.(Keene, 296)
Because I plantedA cherry tree at a houseThat nobody visits,I now use the cherry flowersTo beautify myself.(Keene, 296)
The cherry treeIn my garden has blossomed,But it does no good:The woman, and not a tree,Is what draws the visitors.(Keene, 296)
I'm still alive, yes,But can I depend on it?The thing that revealsThe true nature of the worldAre morning-glory blossoms.(Keene, 296)
If only the worldInto spring and fallWe could forever makeAnd summer and winterWere never more.(Whitney Hall, 99)
For love I am readyTo change even my human shape;All that distinguishesme from the summer insectsIs that my flame is hidden.(Keene, 297)
I have heard there isA night when the dead return;But he is no more,And the house I live in isA soulless habitation.(Keene, 297)
Now I can only think -Yes, that happened, and that, too,Recalling the past.I wish I had some memoriesSo sad I'd want to forget them.(Keene, 297)
Soon I shall be dead.As a final remembranceTo take from this world,Come to now once again -That is what I long for most.(Keene, 298)
LEGACY
The poems of Izumi Shikibu were greatly appreciated in her own lifetime. One of Izumi's poems appeared in the imperially commissioned poem anthology the Shuishu, which was completed in 1005 CE. She fared rather better in the Goshuishu, another imperial anthology, published in 1087 CE, this time having 68 of her poems included. Izumi had 16 poems in the 1152 CE imperial collection, the Shikashu, and 21 in the Senzaishu collection of 1188 CE. Izumi Shikibu's fame lasted much longer, however. In the Muromachi period (1333-1568 CE) her celebrity as a court lady and writer from Japan's Golden Age made her the subject of one of the popular short fiction works known as otogi - zoshi. Izumi Shikibu is now widely regarded as one of the foremost poets of the Heian Period (794-1185 CE). The following extract from a 20th-century CE Japanese dictionary of biographies summarises the poet's style and continuing reputation:
Her poems are passionate and free, exploding with brilliance; the wealth of her imagination is like heavenly chargers coursing the void; and her freedom of expression is rare. She must be accounted the first poetess of our land. (Cranston, 1)
This article was made possible with generous support from the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation.
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