Bankei Yōtaku (盤珪永琢, 1622-1693) was a Japanese Rinzai Zen master, and the abbot of the Ryōmon-ji and Nyohō-ji.
[1] Bankei Yōtaku was born in 1622, in Harima Province to a samurai turned medicine man named Suga Dosetsu.
At this time, Bankei was young and full of questions and the Confucian classics he was being taught confused him greatly.
A family friend, Yūkan Nakahori, allowed Bankei to stay in a hut nearby.
Being a bit eccentric, Bankei etched into a slat of wood "Practice hermitage" and placed it outside of his little hut.
It is known that when Bankei was 15 he trained at a Shingon temple, where he apparently gained some footing in sutra study.
At 16 he walked from Hamada to Ako to see a Rinzai Zen priest named Umpo Zenjo at Zuiō-ji.
When Bankei turned 19 he left Zuiō-ji shortly after and travelled through Kyoto, Osaka and Kyūshū in search for an answer to his question.
Bankei left shortly after his return and built a hut nearby and lived as a hermit.
A mass of black phlegm large as a soapberry rolled down the side...Suddenly, just at that moment...I realized what it was that had escaped me until now: All things are perfectly resolved in the unborn.
In 1651, Bankei heard that a Ch'an master had arrived in Nagasaki by the name of Dosha Chogen.
Umpo advised he go see the Ch'an master, and Bankei set off for Kōfuku-ji, where the monk was currently staying, hoping to finally have his enlightenment confirmed.
Dosha confirmed this the next day, stating Bankei had finally settled the Great Matter.
[4] Bankei also refused a senior position at Kōfuku-ji, preferring his unassuming existence instead working in the kitchen.
The following year Bankei returned to Harima for a short while, and then left for Yoshino in the Nara Prefecture to live again as a hermit.
In the mountains of Yoshino, Bankei authored some Buddhist chants pertaining to the Unborn while living there in silent retreat.
[5] From his late fifties until the end of his life, Bankei held large retreats in which vast throngs of people came from all over to hear his lectures on the Unborn.
According to an eyewitness account of the great retreat at Ryūmon-ji of 1690, the streets of Aboshi overflowed with pilgrims who had to be sheltered in storerooms, sheds, and barns.
[16] This Buddha Mind is described by Bankei throughout his sermons as "unborn and marvelously illuminating" (reimei 霊明) as it is before thought, and it is by means of it that we are able to see, hear, recognize and distinguish all things without giving "birth" to any intention to do so.
As his listeners were facing him, intent on hearing only his words, he would point out the way in which they could naturally hear and distinguish all kinds of unanticipated things, such as the cawing of birds, the cry of tradesmen selling their wares, or the sudden coughing of someone in the audience—all without any forethought or intention.
[20] For Bankei, as this hearing was without any deliberate effort, this was proof that the Unborn was already at work in one's life, smoothly managing everything.
That is, as we are able to hear and distinguish things without giving rise to any intention, the Unborn isn't dependent on one's own self-power.
"[23]Since the Unborn is the innate natural state which is always present, there is no need to use any specific techniques, words or methods; one merely needs to let go of illusion born of selfish desire, dualistic thought and fixations (nen).
"[27][note 2] This was also to "just have faith that thoughts don't originally exist, but only arise and cease temporarily in response to what you see and hear, without any actual substance of their own.
Similarly, Bankei taught:"You have to realize that your thoughts are ephemeral and unreal and, without either clutching at them or rejecting them, just let them come and go of themselves.