Takuan Sōhō

Takuan Sōhō
School	Rinzai
Personal
Born	1573 Izushi, Tajima Province, Japan
Died	1645
Senior posting
Title	Rōshi

Takuan Sōhō (沢庵 宗彭^?, December 24, 1573 – January 27, 1645) was a major figure in the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism.

Takuan Sōhō was born into a family of farmers in the town of Izushi, in what was called Tajima Province (present-day Hyōgo Prefecture). At the age of 8 in 1581, Takuan began his religious studies; two years later he entered a Buddhist monastery of the Pure Land Sect. By the age of 14 in 1587, Takuan started studying the system of the Rinzai school of Zen Buddhism under the tutelage of his sensei Shun'oku Soen (春屋宗園:1529–1611).

By age 36 in 1608, Takuan was made abbot of the Daitoku-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. Takuan's appointment was shortened as he left for a prolonged period of traveling. Throughout his journeys, Takuan raised and collected funds for the renovation of Daitoku-ji Temple and other Zen temples.

In 1629, Takuan was banished to northern Japan by the Shogunate of Tokugawa Hidetada due to his protest of political interference in Buddhist temple matters pertaining to ecclesiastical appointments. By 1632, there was a general amnesty after the death of Tokugawa Hidetada, and Takuan’s period of banishment came to an end. Later, after a meeting between the two arranged by Yagyū Munenori in Kyoto, Takuan was ordered by Tokugawa Iemitsu (1604–51), who was deeply struck by the encounter, to become the first abbot of Tōkaiji Temple (東海寺) in Edo, which he had constructed especially for Takuan in order to ensure he could draw on Takuan's counsel at any time.

...
Wikipedia