Muso Soseki

Musō Soseki, 1275 - 1351, Japanese Zen master, calligraphist, poem writer, and garden designer

Musō Soseki 夢窓 疎石 (1275 – October 20, 1351) was a Rinzai Zen Buddhist monk and teacher, and a calligraphist, poet and garden designer. The most famous monk of his time, he is also known as Musō Kokushi 夢窓国師 ("national Zen teacher"), a honorific conferred to him by Emperor Go-Daigo.

Quotes

• Thus have I rolled my life throughout
  Inside and out, reclined, upright.
  What is all this?
  A beating drum
  A trumpet's blare
  No more.
  • Japanese Death Poems. Compiled by Yoel Hoffmann. ISBN 978-0-8048-3179-6

Quotes about Muso Soseki

• As far as is known, the oldest work Muso signed with his pseudonym Bokutotsuso is dated 1334... Muso used this signature until the end of his life, and subtler characteristics or combinations of various factors can serve as clues.
  • Ildegarda Scheidegger, Bokutotsuso. Studies on the Calligraphy of the Zen Master Muso Soseki (1275-1351), 2005. p. 56