Background
Daolong Lanxi was born in 1213 in Shu in the area of present-day Sichuan.
兰溪道隆
Daolong Lanxi was born in 1213 in Shu in the area of present-day Sichuan.
He studied Zen under Wu-ming Hui-hsing (Mumyo Esho) and became his Dharma heir.
In 1246, at the invitation of the statesman Hojo Tokiyori, he came to Japan with his disciples I-weng Shao-jen (Gio Shonin) and Lung- chiang Ying-hsuan (Ryuko Oscn). The following year, he journeyed from Hakata to Kyoto and then on to Kamakura. In 1253, when Tokiyori founded the temple named Kencho-ji in Kamakura, Tao-lung became head of it.
In 1265 he relinquished the position to Wu-an P’u-ning, another Chinese monk who had just come to Japan, and went to Kyoto, where he took up l esidence in Kennin-ji. While in Kyoto, he preached before Emperor Gosaga. Three years later, he returned to Kamakura at the bidding of Hojo Tokimune. As a result of slanders, he was for a time sentenced to banishment. In his latei years, however, he was pardoned and returned to Kamakura, residing at Jufuku-ji.
Before his arrival in Japan, Japanese Zen had consisted of a mixture of Zen and the teachings of Esoteric Buddhism and the Tendai sect. Tao- lung, however, introduced the pure form of Zen current at the time in Sung China and subjected his followers to a rigorous course of religious training, thus helping to initiate a new era in the history of Japanese Zen. He was particularly respected among the samurai of Kamakura, many of whom were his followers. His teaching line is known as the Daikaku-ha. His principal disciples were Ddnen, Tokei Tokugo, Mukyu T okusen, and akuo Tokuken.