Ikkyu

1 5 t h c e n t u r y Z e n m a s t e r

a r t - m u s i c - i d e a s

Ikkyu is one of the most significant, and eccentric, figures in Zen history. To Japanese children, he is a folk hero, mischievous and always out-smarting his teachers. To Zen tradition, however, he is both heretic and saint, frequenting brothels and wine houses as well as warning Zen against its own bureaucratic politicizing. He was eventually named abbot of the seminal, Daitofuji temple, placing him in one of the most important Zen linneages. Ikkyu's dichotomies lie also at the heart of Zen.
In 1471, at the age of 77, Ikkyu feel in love with Mori, a blind woman over fifty years his junior. His verse is immediate and poignant, insightful and at times moving. He died eleven years later.

*Poems taken from Crow with No Mouth, translated by Stephen Berg.

even before trees rocks I was nothing
when I'm dead nowhere I'll be nothing
this ink painting of wind blowing through pines
who hears it?
sin like a madman until you can't do anything else
no room for any more
fuck flattery success money
all I do is lie back and suck my thumb
one long pure beautiful road of pain
and the beauty of death and no pain
mirror facing mirror
nowhere else
passion's red thread is infinite
like the earth always under me
a woman is enlightenment when you're with her and the red thread
of both your passions flare inside you and you see
your name Mori means forest like the infinite fresh
green distances of your blindness
my monk friend has a wierd endearing habit
he weaves sandals and leaves them secretly by the roadside
no words sitting alone night in my hut eyes closed hands open
wisps of an unknown face
we're lost where the mind can't find us
utterly lost

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