Апрельская викторина «Монастырь Квайзон»
(приз — 10 галактических кредитов)

И у него был рубль
И у меня четыре
В связи с этим мы купили три бутылки вина

    — Монастырь Квайзон, — произнес робот, — был осажден 3 апреля 1582 года солдатами Ода Нобунага. Какие мудрые слова изрек аббат?
    Бользано отреагировал легко и быстро:
    — Одиннадцать, сорок один, слон, объёмистый. — Последнее слово вырвалось у него невольно. Слоны действительно бывают объемисты. Вдруг это окажется фатальной ошибкой?

The monastery of Kwaisen was besieged by the soldiers of Oda Nobunaga on the third of April, 1582.

В 1578—1580 годах Нобутада командовал войсками в походе в провинцию Харима, боях с буддийскими сектантами монастыря Исияма Хонган-дзи в Осаке и штурме замка Ариока восставшего полководца Араки Мурасигэ.

The Hongan-ji came under siege from the forces of Oda Nobunaga in 1576, but, due in part to its position on the coast, managed to hold out for five years, making this the longest siege in Japanese history. In August 1580, the Abbot Kōsa (Kennyo) was persuaded to surrender, ending the 11-year-long siege.

В 1582 году он командовал авангардом в карательном походе против Такэды Кацуёри, правителя восточнояпонской провинции Кай.

После уничтожения Такэды, Нобутада сжёг заживо Кайсэна Дзёки, настоятеля монастыря Эрин-дзи, за укрытие врагов.

Когда армия мятежников во главе с Акэти Мицухидэ напала на ставку отца в монастыре Хонно-дзи, он отступил к замку Нидзё, где несколько часов оборонялся от атак врага. Не имея достаточно войск, чтобы продолжать оборону, Нобутада был вынужден сделать сэппуку, чтобы не попасть в плен. После его смерти главенство в роде Ода унаследовал его малолетний сын Ода Хидэнобу, который впоследствии принял христианство.

At about this time Lord Sanmi no Chūjō Nobutada condemned the Erinji* for the offence of hiding Sasaki Jiro on the present occasion.

The officers put in charge of punishment the Erinji monks were:

    Oda Kurojiro [alias Tsuda Motoyoshi], Hasegawa Yoji,
    Seki Juroemon, and Akaza Shichiroemon no Jo.

These commissioners made their way to the temple, called together all its denizens, young and old alike without exception, to the main gate, and made them go up the stairs to the upper floor. Then the officers had the stairway pavilions packed full of bales of straw all the way into the main gate and set them alight. At first the black smoke was so thick that one could not make out what was going on. Only gradually, as the smoke died down and the flames soared higher and higher, could individual figures be seen. The prelate Kaisen, not in the least disturbed, remained seated in the proper posture without flinching. [...]

Eleven men of prelate rank perished. Among those known to me were:

    The prelate Sesshin of the Hōsenji, the prelate Randen of the Tōhōji,
    the prelate of the Chōzenji in Takayama, the prelate Daikaku Oshō,
    the prelate of the Chōenji, and the prelate Kaisen.

The prelate Kaisen, in particular, was a famous and memorable monk. As a result, the imperial palace had in the previous year graciuosly designated him National Teacher Enjō, a distinction he accepted with reverence...

____
* Erinji: temple of the Rinzai Zen sect, located in what now is Enzan Oyashiki, Koshu City.

Басё не был буддийским монахом, но был приверженцем дзэна. [...]

В пору, когда Басё изучал дзэн под руководством Буттё, тот как-то навестил его.
Буттё: Как вы здесь поживаете все эти дни?
Басё: После недавнего дождя мох небывало зелёный.
Буттё: Что же прежде — сознание будды или зелень мха?
Басё: Лягушка прыгнула в воду, вслушайтесь, что за звук!
Говорят, это было началом новой эпохи в истории хайку. Хайку до Басё было простой игрой слов, а контакт с жизнью был потерян.

Basho was not a Buddhist monk but was a devotee of Zen. [...]

When Basho was still studying Zen under his master Buccho, the latter one day paid him a visit and asked,
    “How are you getting along these days?”
    Basho: “After a recent rain the moss has grown greener than ever.”
    Buccho: “What Buddhism is there prior to the greenness of moss?”
    Basho: “A frog jumps into the water, hear the sound!”
This is said to be the beginning of a new epoch in the history of Haiku. Haiku before Basho was a mere word-play, and lost its contact with life.

Q: If there is no Buddhahood to be attained, has your Reverence the Buddha-function?*
____
* As I stated elsewhere, Buddhist philosophy makes use of two conceptions, Body and Use, in explaining reality. The two are inseparable; where there is any functioning there must be a Body behind it, and where there is a Body its Use will inevitably be recognized. But when it is declared that there is no Buddhahood, how can there be any functioning of it? How then can a Zen abbot have anything to do with Buddhism?

A: When mind itself is not, whence is its functioning?**
____
** All starts from the Unconscious, all is in the Unconscious, and all sinks down into the Unconscious. There is no Buddhahood, hence no functioning of it. If a thought is awakened and any form of functioning is recognized, there is a discrimination, an attachment, a deviation from the path of the Unconscious. The master stands firmly in the Unconscious and refuses to be transferred to the plane of consciousness. This puzzles the novitiate monk.

Q: One is then lost in outer no-ness (wu); may this not be an absolutely nihilistic view?
A: From the first there is (no viewer and) no viewing; and who says this to be nihilist?
Q: To say that from the first nothing is, is this not falling into emptiness?
A: Even emptiness is not, and where is the falling?
Q: Both subject and object are negated (wu). Suppose a man were all of a sudden to make his appearance here and cut your head off with a sword. Is this to be considered real (yu) or not real (wu)?
A: This is not real.
Q: Pain or no pain?
A: Pain too is not real.
Q: Pain not being real, in what path of existence would you be reborn after death?
A: No death, no birth, and no path.

This is readily explained from the behavior of the Zen masters themselves, who sometimes even seem to make sport of death. Shingen‘s Zen teacher was Kwaisen, Abbot of Yerin-Ji, in the province of Kai. After Shingen’s death, the monastery was besieged by the soldiers of Oda Nobunga on the 3rd of April 1582, because the Abbot refused to give up Nobungas enemies, who had taken refuge in it. The soldiers forced all the monks, including Kwaisen himself, to go up to the top story of the monastery gate. The plan was to burn the recalcitrants alive by setting the whole edifice on fire.

The monks quietly gathered and sat cross-legged, taking their seats in due order in front of the Buddha image. The Abbot gave his last sermon in his usual manner saying, “We are now encircled by the flames, and how would you revolve the Wheel of the Dharma at this critical moment? Let each one of you say a word.” Thereupon, each expressed himself according to his light of understanding. When all were finished, the Abbot gave his view and all entered into the fire-samadhi.

The Abbots words were these:

    For a peaceful meditation, we need not to go to the mountains and streams;
    When thoughts are quieted down, fire itself is cool and refreshing.