Poem (Four Lines of Seven Characters Each)

Yinyuan Longqi (1592-1673) was the founder of the Ōbaku sect of Zen. He was born in Fuzhou (Fujian province), China. Avoiding the turmoil at the end of the Ming dynasty and the beginning of the Qing dynasty, he came to Japan in Jouō 3 (1654) with his disciples at the suggestion of Yiran Xingrong of Kōfukuji Temple in Nagasaki, who had arrived earlier. After arriving in Japan, Yinyuan lived at Kōfukuji Temple in Nagasaki and Fumonji Temple in Settsu. In Manji 1 (1658), he had an audience with shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna in Edo. He was granted land of Uji in Kanbun 1 (1661) and founded Ōbakusan Manpukuji Temple.

Yinyuan brought with him the new Ōbaku Zen and introduced the rituals and Zen style of the Ming dynasty, which greatly influenced the Japanese Zen community of the time. He also left behind many excellent calligraphic works, and together with his disciples Muan Xingtao and Jifei Ruyi, he is known as one of the ‘Three Brushes of Ōbaku (Ōbaku no sanpitsu).’

On November 4, Kanbun 11 (1671), in celebration of Yinyuan’s 80th birthday, he received many congratulatory poems from his students and grand-disciples. This is one of the verses in response. This verse is the 32nd of 54 seven-character quatrains in the “Kireitoukyou” compiled by Yinyuan.