1622–1693 · Japan · Zen
Bankei
“Not a single one of you people at this meeting is unenlightened. Right now, you're all sitting before me as Buddhas.”
Japanese Zen master, 1622–1693. Born to a samurai family near Osaka, he was tormented as a teenager by the question "What is the Unborn?" and made himself dangerously ill with austerities trying to answer it. The breakthrough came not through striving but through giving up: one morning, coughing blood, he realized everything he was looking for was already present, unborn and undying, in his own ordinary mind. He went on to teach for forty years in plain Japanese, refusing the elaborate technical vocabulary other Zen teachers used. He told farmers and merchants and servants the same thing he told monks: do not add anything to the Buddha-mind you already have. Do not even add the word "Zen." Just live from it. Core teaching: the Unborn Buddha-mind is already complete. You do not have to fix yourself, become enlightened, or attain anything. You only have to stop fighting what is already here. Key works: *The Unborn: The Life and Teachings of Zen Master Bankei*, translated by Norman Waddell.
Known for
- The Unborn
- Plain-spoken dharma
- Trust in original mind
Best for
- Faith & Spirituality
- Forgiveness
- Purpose & Direction
Their signature question
“What were you before you began trying to fix yourself?”