Tetsugen Doko

Infobox Buddhist biography
name = Tetsugen Doko


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birth_date = 1630
birth_place = Higo Province, Japan
death_date = 1682
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denomination = Zen Buddhism
school = Obaku
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title = Zen Master
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Tetsugen Dōkō (鉄眼道光 1630 – 1682) was a Japanese Zen Master, and an important early leader of the Ōbaku school of Buddhism.

Tetsugen was born in the seventh year of the Kan'ei era (1630) in Higo Province. He became a priest of the Jodo Shu sect at the age of 13. When Ingen came to Japan, Tetsugen became his follower in the Ōbaku school.cite web
url = http://www.osaka-udce.or.jp/rekishi/uekita/p61e.htm
title = The cremation place of Tetsugen]

In 1681, Tetsugen oversaw the production of the first complete woodcutedition (consisting of around 60,000 pieces) of the Chinese Buddhist sutras in Japan. [cite book
title = Iron Eyes: The Life And Teachings of Obaku Zen Master Tetsugen Doko
last = Baroni
first = Helen
publisher = State University of New York Press
date = October 5, 2006
id = ISBN 0-7914-6892-5]

Tetsugen died at the age of 53 in the second year of the Tenna era (1682). The anniversary of Tetsugen's birth is celebrated on January 1 in the Western calendar.cite web
url = http://www.ciolek.com/WWWVLPages/ZenPages/ZenCalendar.html
title = Zen Buddhism Calendar]

Tetsugen and the Sutras

The following story is told of Tetsugen's efforts to publish the sutras.cite book
last = Reps
first = Paul
coauthors = Nyogen Senzaki
title = Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings
id = ISBN 0-8048-3186-6]

:Tetsugen decided to publish the sutras, which at that time were available only in Chinese. The books were to be printed with wood blocks in an edition of seven thousand copies, a tremendous undertaking.

:Tetsugen began by travelling and collecting donations for this purpose. A few sympathizers would give him a hundred pieces of gold, but most of the time he received only small coins. He thanked each donor with equal gratitude. After ten years Tetsugen had enough money to begin his task.

:It happened that at that time the Uji River overflowed. Famine followed. Tetsugen took the funds he had collected for the books and spent them to save others from starvation. Then he began again his work of collecting.

:Several years afterward an epidemic spread over the country. Tetsugen again gave away what he had collected.

:For a third time he started his work, and after twenty years his wish was fulfilled. The printing blocks which produced the first edition of sutras can be seen today in Ōbaku monastery in Kyoto.

:The Japanese tell their children that Tetsugen made three sets of sutras, and that the first two invisible sets surpass even the last.

Images

* [http://www.osaka-udce.or.jp/rekishi/uekita/picture/small/uk_61s.jpgTetsugen's cremation place]

References

Persondata
NAME=Tetsugen Dōkō
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Japanese Zen Master
DATE OF BIRTH=1630
PLACE OF BIRTH=Higo Province
DATE OF DEATH=1682
PLACE OF DEATH=