Author Description

The Japanese poet Ryōkan (1758–1831) is known throughout the world for his deep and delightful lyric verses, evoking the beauty of nature and the precious and transitory nature of everyday life. In his new book, the internationally-known Zen Buddhist commentator and author Shōhaku Okumura newly translates poems by Ryōkan and provides commentary on Ryōkan’s life and works, for the enjoyment of lovers of poetry and for Buddhist practitioners alike. Ryōkan spent many of his adult years living alone on a mountain in his childhood home province. But, as we discover in this book, Ryōkan’s life was much more complex than the simple picture of a kind, and perhaps bumbling, hermit-poet. Ryōkan was also a deeply committed Buddhist practitioner, an accomplished calligrapher, and sophisticated in his understanding of Buddhist and Daoist thought. He interacted with all segments of the Japanese society of his time, from poor farmers to the wealthy merchants and literati. To all, he displayed his deep faith in Buddhism, holding in his heart a particularly deep respect for Dōgen Zenji, the founder of the Sōtō school of Japanese Buddhism. Now, in this volume, we may read of the many facets of Ryōkan’s life through the eyes of Shōhaku Okumura, a contemporary Zen Buddhist teacher and internationally known translator and commentator on the works of Dōgen. A disciple of Kōshō Uchiyama Rōshi, a grand-disciple of Kōdō Sawaki Rōshi (“Homeless Kodo”), Okumura Rōshi brings fifty-plus years of dedicated practice and study to these essays, introducing the varied aspects of Ryōkan’s life and practice for us to consider as a reflection on our own contemporary issues. Okumura Rōshi has also provided his own translations of verse by Ryōkan, and reflects on his own journey of life and practice.