"If you wish to understand yourself, you must succeed in doing so in the midst of all kinds of confusions and upsets. Don't make the mistake of sitting dead in the cold ashes of a withered tree.
-Emyo
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3 comments:
I have used this quote on my own blog. Don't remember where I found it, but I can't find anything on Emyo him(her?)self.
Can you offer any guidance to info thereof?
I did some fishing around on google and it looks like Emyo is a Kamakura period figure near the time of Dogen. But I am not real sure. This could also be a Japanese reading of a Chinese name. I would have to ask people more authorative than myself to be sure, or spend more time researching this with the right resources, which I do not have access to here in Saudi.
what is also interesting is where we both got this quote. I got it off Beliefnet.com, which has stopped sending me the Buddhist wisdom quotes and nothing I do seems to get the back. Is this where you got the quote?
I did some Googling, too, came up with this: "The temple Saijo-ji was founded in 1394 in Sagami (modern Kanagawa Prefecture) by Ryoan Emyo Zenji, who was once chief priest at the head temple Soji-ji." --from a site on "Touring Venerable Temples."
And he apparently had a sister who disfigured herself in order to become a zen priest.
I did discover my source for the quote: The Pocket Zen Reader, edited by Thomas Cleary, published in 1999 by Shambala. I also came upon another blogger who found it the same place I did.
That's all I got.
What would be the "right resources" for further researching, which you mentioned not having access to?
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