Jakuen

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Jakuen, born Jìyuán (1207–8 October 1299), was a Chinese Zen monk and a disciple of Rujing. He befriended Dōgen on Tiāntóng Mountain, where both studied under Rujing. After Rujing’s death in 1228, Jakuen moved to Japan to join Dōgen’s emerging Sōtō school, but the dharma transmission went to his student Kōun Ejō, not directly to Jakuen. Jakuen outlived Dōgen and became involved in the sandai sōron—the three-way dispute over orthodoxy and succession.

In 1261 he left Eihei-ji, reportedly taking many treasures entrusted to him by Dōgen, and settled on a remote mountain in Fukui, where he was famous for ascetic meditation apart from a monastic community. Medieval legend says a cow and a dog became his friends and accompanied him on alms rounds, and the rock where he sat became a local landmark. He eventually built a monastery called Hōkyō-ji in the Tiāntóng style. Hōkyō-ji today houses the only surviving early treasures of Eihei-ji and serves as a training center for Sōtō Zen Buddhists.

Jakuen’s monastic community split into two lineages: one at Hōkyō-ji and one at Eihei-ji, with some corruption at Eihei-ji. Today there are communities in both China and Japan who trace their lineage to Jakuen. His disciple Giun became abbot of Eihei-ji. Tokyo has a temple named Jakuen-ji. Hōkyō-ji remains in communion with the official Sōtō lineage through Keizan, but unofficially regards Jakuen as its patriarch.