Who is Yinyuan?

Who is Yinyuan? This is a question I always asked myself during the long period of research for this book. If you look up in a standard encyclopedia such as Wikipedia, it will give us a standard introduction to him.

"Ingen Ryūki (traditional Chinese: 隱元隆琦; pinyin: Yǐnyuán Lóngqí; Japanese: 隠元隆琦) (1592—1673) was a Chinese Linji Chán Buddhist monk, poet, and calligrapher.[1] He is most known for founding the Ōbaku school of Zen Buddhism in Japan. Ingen's name in Chinese was Yinyuan Longqi."

See a full entry of Yinyuan in Wikipedia

This introduction is rather lifeless. In fact, there are much more to be said about him. His chronological biography details his yearly activities and his complete collection in twelve volumes tell us much about who he was. Personally I feel he is an extraordinary man with many talents. One purpose of this book is to reveal his personality and answer the question who he is. The following picture, copied from Wikipedia, will be used for designing the cover for my book, Leaving for the Sun.