Zen Master Mugai Nyodai : Honorary Patroness of Shinnyo-ji

Mugai Nyodai was the first nun in Japan to reach full enlightenment and become a Zen master. Many of the details of her life are uncertain, but it is believed that she was born in about the year 1223 and died in 1298. Her father is said to have been Adachi Yasunori (1231-1285), a samurai warrior during the Kamakura period. Prior to her ordination she was known by the name of Chiyono. She was married and had a child at a young age (as was common for samurai families at the time), but there is a dispute as to who her husband was. She was highly educated, however, and desired to learn more.

Mugai began her meditation training in Seki (a town in present-day Gifu Prefecture) and in Kyoto, the ancient capital. She then traveled to the city of Kamakura in eastern Japan to practice Zen under Mugaku Sōgen (1226-1286), an émigré Chinese Zen master and the founding abbot of the great temple Engaku-ji.

After receiving Dharma transmission Mugai returned to Kyoto and founded the convent Keiai-ji, which, though no longer in existence, was once the capital’s preeminent Zen nunnery. In the final years of her life Mugai retired to Shōmyaku-an, a hermitage dedicated to the memory of her teacher Mugaku. Shōmyaku-an eventually grew into the present temple Shinnyo-ji, and thus Mugai is honored as Shinnyo-ji’s founding patroness.

It is said that she was unusually beautiful, so much so that even during her Zen training she attracted the unwanted attention of suitors. Finally, in order to discourage such attention she applied a hot iron to her face, destroying her beauty so she could devote herself to practice.

Mugai’s enlightenment occurred when a bucket she was carrying broke apart, spilling the water inside. She wrote a poem that remains well-known in Zen circles even today:

The old bucket

Skillfully repaired so many times;

Now the bottom has fallen out.

No longer does it hold any water

Nor any moon in the water!