Why most people know about Yinyuan but do not think he was important?

I am perhaps one of the few researchers who always think the subject matter I am studying is not that important.

Chinese style railing overseeing Soindo in Manpukuji © Jiang Wu 2014

One of the reasons is that in my research I always deal with marginal figures in obscure time and place about which a lot of "garbage sources" 垃圾史料 exist. Of course, Yinyuan has founded a new tradition in Japan. But so what? 

First of all, he is not an original thinker and all the teaching and practice he advocated had already been there since the Song time. He merely regurgitated those slogans such as the joint practice of Chan and Pure Land, or animal releasing ritual.

Second, in China, he hailed from a monastery in Fuqing, Fujian province which has no major role in Buddhist history, except the temple name was associated with Huangbo Xiyun. 

Third, even in Japan, the Obaku tradition is the smallest among all Zen sects. During its heydays, Obaku had about a thousand and seven hundreds temples in Japan and now only four hundred. This is significantly lower than a sub-tradition in some temple systems such as the Myoshinji lineage. Its influence in nowadays Japanese Buddhism is not discernible.

Some may wonder that calling it the third tradition in Japanese Zen might be a misnomer because this tradition is in fact part of Rinzai. All in all, there is nothing special about Yinyuan and his tradition.

But this is exactly what intrigues me.......