Zen Sanctuary of Purple Robes

Zen Sanctuary of Purple Robes examines the affairs of Rinzai Zen's Tkeiji Convent, founded in 1285 by nun Kakusan Shid after the death of her husband, Hj Tokimune. It traces the convent's history through seven centuries, including the early nuns' Zen practice; Abbess Yd's imperial lineage with nuns in purple robes; Hideyori's seven-year-old daughterlater to become the convent's twentieth abbess, Tenshuspared by Tokugawa Ieyasu at the Battle for Osaka Castle; Tkeiji as "divorce temple" during the mid-Edo period and a favorite topic of senryu satirical verse; the convent's gradual decline as a functioning nunnery but its continued survival during the early Meiji persecution of Buddhism; and its current prosperity. The work includes translations, charts, illustrations, bibliographies, and indices. Beyond such historical details, the authors emphasize the convent's "inclusivist" Rinzai Zen practice in tandem with the nearby Engakuji Temple. The rationale for this "inclusivism" is the continuing acceptance of the doctrine of "Skillful Means" (hben) as expressed in the Lotus Sutraa notion repudiated or radically reinterpreted by most of the Kamakura reformers. In support of this contention, the authors include a complete translation of the Mirror for Women by Kakusan's contemporary, Muj Ichien.