<論説>鎌倉禅の形成過程とその背景

Abstract

一二五〇年代以降、「鎌倉禅」が鎌倉幕府の庇護下で形成されるが、その契機は二つの政変(宮騒動・宝治合戦) に求められる。政変後、幕府は、鎌倉顕密仏教界の再編とともに禅宗保護を開始する。一方、幕府に先行して禅憎を庇護した九条道家は、政変で失脚。円爾ら道家外護下の禅僧は幕府に接近し、円爾が南宋との人脈を生かして渡来僧の蘭渓道隆が率いる鎌倉禅の成長を促した。そして一三世紀後半の中国熱の高まりという社会情勢を背景に、渡来僧は中国仏教の体現者とみなされ、渡来僧を擁する鎌倉と渡来僧の招請者たる幕府を結集核とする鎌倉禅が確立する。かかる歴史過程は、宗教勢力の内部で完結した動向や武家における渡来僧の教義の受容としてのみでは捉えられず、鎌倉・京都の政治情勢や中国熱を共有した僧俗の動向に規定されていた。また、このような多様な主体の動向に一定の方向性を与え、鎌倉禅の形成をもたらした原動力こそ、政変後の幕府政策なのである。

Throughout the third quarter of the thirteenth century, the Zen sect in Kamakura led by Lanxi Daolong (Jp. Rankei Doryu, a Chinese Zen master who had moved from Southern Song to Japan in 1246, was being established under the patronage of the Kamakura shogunate. The turning point in its establishment was the Kangen-Hoji coup, which was the struggle for leadership between shikken, the regent for the shogun, Hojo Tokiyori, and ex-shogun Kujo Yoritsune, in 1246-1247. After that point, the Kamakura shogunate headed by Tokiyori, the victor in the coup, changed its religious policies. Tokiyori removed pro-Yoritsune monks, who were the majority in the Kamakura kenmitsu (exoteric and esoteric) sects, and also began to reorganize kenmitsu sects. Tokiyori's policy was not entirely out of the ordinary, because the kenmitsu sects composed of the eight traditional sects, which were the six Nara schools and Tendai and Shingon sects, provided the general ideological framework in the Kamakura era. However, his reorganization was not completely successful, and Tokiyori started to support the Zen sect as an alternative to the kenmitsu sects. Tokiyori in fact constructed the Kencho-ji temple, which was the first full-brown Zen temple in Kamakura, and appointed Rankei as the chief priest of that temple. The Kangen-Hoji coup was also a turning point for the Zen sect in Kyoto. The most influential patron of Zen monks in Japan had previously been Kujo Michiie, who was the father of Yoritsune and who gained hegemony in the imperial court. Michiie founded the Tofuku-ji temple in Kyoto and in 1243 appointed Enni, who had returned to Japan after studying Zen in Southern Song, as the founding priest. However, Enni was fell into obscurity when Michiie was overthrown during the Kangen-Hoji coup. In order to overcome this difficult situation, Enni approached Rankei and Tokiyori. The change in Enni's position turned out to be favorable for Rankei and the Kamakura Zen sect. Because Enni had stronger connections with the Zen sect in Southern Song than did Rankei, Rankei needed Enni to use his personal connections there to help with the development of the Kamakura Zen sect. Thus, after the 1250s, the Kamakura Zen sect grew due to the cooperative relations between Rankei and Enni, who were both under the protection of the Kamakura shogunate. Although some scholars discuss the formation of the Kamakura Zen sect as a movement that confined to Kamakura, we have to note the significance of Enni and the political situation of Kyoto during that period. In the 1260-70s, more and more monks feeling dissatisfaction and a sense of wrongness with the kenmitsu sects set out for Kamakura, causing the Kamakura shogunate to invite Chinese monks who had held higher positions in Southern Song than Rankei had held to be leaders of the Kamakura Zen sect. On this point, we should not regard the appearance of these Chinese monks as being due to the preeminence of their doctrine. It is important to note that many Japanese monks at that time regarded--or misunderstood, in hindsight--Kamakura Zen monks from Southern Song to be the embodiment of universal Buddhism (considered more excellent than Japanese kenmitsu Buddhism), leading the Japanese Zen monks to not only develop a strong desire for Southern Song Buddhism but to actually act like Chinese monks and imitate Chinese manners. I call this movement "China fever." With this in mind, we must also pay close attention to how the religious policy of the Kamakura shogunate gave a fixed direction to the various movements impelled by "China fever." The Kamakura shogunate created institutions to which they could appoint Zen monks, who had never been given official positions because they practiced different rituals and had a different training system than the kenmitsu monks. Thus, many monks with dissatisfaction and a sense of wrongness with the kenmitsu sects, and compelled by "China fever, " raise the identity as Zen monks in response to the policy of the Kamakura shogunate.