Torei Enji was one of the most prominent disciples of the great Japanese Rinzai master Hakuin Ekaku. He was also a prolific artist, whose brush works still delight to this day, and he was the author of many important Zen texts.
Background
Tōrei Enji was born on May 8, 1721 into the Nakamura family, the proprietors of a pharmacy located in the station town of present Gokasho, on the eastern shores of Lake Biwa in present-day Shiga Prefecture. At the age of five, when the famous priest Kogetsu stayed with his family as a houseguest, Torei decided to become a monk. His parents first opposed the idea, but the determined Torei was finally able to convince them and was ordained at the age of nine.
Education
At the age of nine, Enji went to the nearby temple Daitoku-ji, where he studied under the priest Ryōzan Erin. There he received the name Etan, which was later changed to Dōka. From the age of seventeen he went to Daikō-ji, located in present-day Miyazaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, to train under the important Zen master Kogetsu Zensai and his successor Suigan Jūshin. From the age of twenty-three he trained under Hakuin at Shōin-ji in Hara, receiving inka at the age of twenty-nine.
Career
At the age of thirty-five, Enji received priestly rank at Myōshin-ji and was first referred to as Tōrei. In addition to serving as abbot of Ryūtaku-ji in Mishima (in present-day Shizuoka Prefecture), he restored the temples Muryō-ji in Shizuoka and Shidō-an in Tokyo. He later resided at Zuizen-ji, near present-day Nagoya, and Reisen-ji near his birthplace. Tōrei was instrumental in spreading the teachings and methods of his teacher not only in the Rinzai Zen world but also among lay Zen practicers. He and Suiō Genro, another great disciple of Hakuin, were together known as the “two divine legs [eminent students] of Hakuin.”
Zen insight was not the only legacy these disciples received from their master, however. Both followed Hakuin in becoming accomplished painters and calligraphers who left numerous examples of their artistic talents. Tōrei, in particular, produced strikingly original works that continue to impress people even today. Much of their appeal lies in the interesting contrast between the subtlety of Tōrei's Zen and the boldness of his artistic style, which, though influenced by that of Hakuin, surpasses it in force.
After having followed Kogetsu Zenzai, Tōrei became the disciple of Hakuin Ekaku, one of the major figures in the Rinzai revival of the eighteenth century. Enji Torei died on April 10, 1792. Many of Tōrei's works remain unpublished, even in Japan. His scholarly interests and the breadth of his knowledge, including Shinto, was unprecedented.
Religion
Throughout his life Tōrei retained an interest in Shinto and Confucianism as well as Buddhism, stressing the ultimate unity of these three teachings.