He is believed to have received the Buddhist name Sōeki (宗易) from the Rinzai Zen priest Dairin Sōtō (1480–1568) of Nanshū-ji in Sakai.

Though not the inventor of the philosophy of wabi-sabi, which finds beauty in the very simple, Rikyū is among those most responsible for popularizing it, developing it, and incorporating it into tea ceremony.

"[11] Two of his primary disciples were Nanbō Sōkei (南坊宗啓; dates unknown), a somewhat legendary Zen priest; and Yamanoue Sōji (1544–90), a townsman of Sakai.

There is, however, some debate as to whether Nanbō even existed, and some scholars theorize that his writings were actually by samurai litterateur Tachibana Jitsuzan (1655-1708), who claimed to have found and transcribed these texts.

Due to many complex circumstances, Sen Shōan, rather than Rikyū's legitimate heir, Dōan, became the person counted as the 2nd generation in the Sen-family's tradition of chanoyu (see san-Senke at schools of Japanese tea ceremony).

[15] One year earlier, after the Siege of Odawara (1590), his famous disciple Yamanoue Sōji was tortured and decapitated on Hideyoshi's orders.

After serving all his guests, he presented each piece of the tea-equipage for their inspection, along with an exquisite kakemono, which Okakura described as "a wonderful writing by an ancient monk dealing with the evanescence of all things".

Rikyū presented each of his guests with a piece of the equipment as a souvenir, with the exception of the bowl, which he shattered, as he uttered the words: "Never again shall this cup, polluted by the lips of misfortune, be used by man."

Rikyū's last words, which he wrote down as a death poem, were in verse, addressed to the dagger with which he took his own life: Welcome to thee, O sword of eternity!

[17] When Hideyoshi was building his lavish residence at Fushimi the following year, he remarked that he wished its construction and decoration to be pleasing to Rikyū.

The Rikyū Shichitetsu (利休七哲) ('Seven Foremost Disciples', 'Seven Luminaries') is a set of seven high-ranking daimyō or generals who were also direct disciples of Sen no Rikyū: Maeda Toshinaga, Gamō Ujisato, Hosokawa Tadaoki, Furuta Oribe, Makimura Toshisada, Dom Justo Takayama, and Shimayama Munetsuna.

In a 1663 list given by Sōtan's son (and fourth-generation head of the Sen Sōsa lineage of tea masters), Maeda Toshinaga is replaced by Seta Masatada.

The film focuses on the late stages of life of Rikyū, during the highly turbulent Sengoku period of feudal Japan.

Hyōge Mono is a fictional retelling of the era in which Sen no Rikyū lived, and how close tea culture was to the world of politics.

A period drama about Rikyū's life and work titled Ask This of Rikyu (利休にたずねよ, Rikyū ni tazuneyo) by film director Mitsutoshi Tanaka was released in 2013, starring kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizō XI, Rei Dan, Akira Emoto, and Seiji Fukushi.