The Image of the Monk Zōga in Medieval Sources

In the Heian era, a literary tradition of stories about the holy ascetic Zōga, a very popular hero of setsuwa tales, was being formed. The biographies of this monk are presented in several setsuwa collections of the 11th – 12th centuries, such as “Records of the miracles performed by the Lotus Sutra in the great country of Japan” (Hokke genki), “Records and Reflections” (Gōdanshō) and “Continua­tion of the legends of our country about the revival” (Zoku honchō ōjōden) by Ōe no Masafusa, “Collection of ancient stories” (Konjaku monogatari-shū), “The present mirror” (Imakagami). Each of these works presents its own, origi­nal image of Zōga; the details of the biography and rationale for the hero’s ac­tions differ quite significantly. It can be said that in the formation of the tradition of legends about Zōga, essentially three different concepts compete: the image of a holy hermit, whose main feature is the accumulation of merit through asceti­cism in solitude; the image of a madman and a man “not of this world”; the im­age of an eccentric and stern, but wise and knowledgeable teacher

Physics · Theology · Chinese history and philosophy · Japanese History and Culture · Philosophy