Background
Ingen was born on December 7, 1592, in Fuqing, Fujian province, during China"s Ming Dynasty.
隱元隆琦, 隠元隆琦
Ingen was born on December 7, 1592, in Fuqing, Fujian province, during China"s Ming Dynasty.
Ingen"s name in Chinese was Yinyuan Longqi. Ingen"s father disappeared when he was five. At age 20, while searching for him, Ingen arrived at Mount Putuo off Zhejiang province, where he served tea to monks.
At 28, after the death of his mother, he was ordained as a monk at his family temple - Wanfu Temple, Mount Huangbo, Fujian.
In 1633 he received dharma transmission from the latter, and in 1637 served his first term as abbot. In 1654, after repeated requests of Itsunen Shoyu, he went to Nagasaki, Japan with around 30 monks and artisans, including his disciple Muyan.
He founded the Ōbaku section He established the Ōbaku head temple Manpuku-ji at Uji in 1661.
Ingen was a skilled calligrapher, introducing the Ming style of calligraphy to Japan.
Along with his disciples Mokuan Shōtō and Sokuhi Nyoitsu, he was one of the Ōbaku no Sanpitsu ("Three Brushes of Ōbaku"). He is known to have carried paintings by Chen Xian with him to Japan.
