Nampo Jomyo [Daio Kokushi]

 

At his investiture ceremony as abbot of Kenchoji in Kamakura, Nampo Jomyo proclaimed, “My coming today is coming from no where. One year hence, my departing will be departing to no where.”

Just as he predicted, one year later to the day he died. The death poem he left behind reads:

I rebuke the wind and revile the rain,

I do not know the Buddha and patriarchs;

My single activity turns in the twinkling of an eye,

Swifter even than a lightning flash.

Zen Masters of Japan: 85-87, 92

The Story of Zen: 181