Zhenzhou Puhua (Chinese: traditional: 鎮州普化, simplified: 普化, pinyin: Zhenzhou Pǔhuà; Japanese: Jinshu Fuke, honorifically Fuke Zenji (lit. "Zen master Fuke")—allegedly ca. 770–840 or 860), also called P'u-k'o, and best known by his Japanese name, Fuke, was a Chinese Chán (Zen) master, monk-priest, wanderer and eccentric, mentioned in the Record of Linji (J. Rinzai-roku 臨剤録). Fuke was used to create a legend for the komusō samurai-monks that appeared in Edo-period Japan. They used their self-named Fuke Zen to establish a constructed connection to Japanese Rinzai Zen Buddhism in the 17th or 18th century. The legend is written in the Kyotaku Denki (虚鐸伝記), first published in 1795 together with a "Japanese Translation" of the "original" in literary Chinese (kanbun). The original text may have been written in the middle of the 17th century, but there are no historic texts to support this. For the komusō (虚無僧) samurai-monks, he was considered the traditional antecedent—at least in spiritual, mythological, or philosophical terms—of their order, which was formally established in Edo Japan. It is possible that the ideological roots of the sect derived from the Rinzai poet and iconoclast Ikkyū and the monk Shinchi Kakushin (心地覺心) who traveled to and from China and Japan in the 13th century. Still, according to some accounts, the sect is simply a more direct derivative of the Rinzai school and its teachings.
The few records of Puhua's life and affairs are those accounted, if only briefly, in several East Asian religious or historical references. One of the only credible sources on his life is to be found in the Tang Dynasty Record of Linji (Records of Rinzai), wherein he is portrayed as an obscure student and eventual dharma heir of Panshan Baoji, as well as a friend, colleague, student and/or contemporary of Linji Yixuan, who founded the Linji (臨済宗 Rinzai) sect in China. This implies that he may have been a real individual.
The legends surrounding Puhua were more recently mentioned in the Monumenta Nipponica, R.H. Blyth's A History of Haiku (published in 1963) as well as some of the writings of Osho, along with later publications concerning the Fuke-shū, the shakuhachi and related topics. In 1988 a shakuhachi learning and playing manual co-authored by the shakuhachi performer Christopher Yohmei Blasdel and the scholar Kamisango Yūkō was published; the work is entitled The Shakuhachi: A Manual for Learning (), and thoroughly details the historicity of Fuke/Puhua and the precursors to Fuke Zen in China.
Life and legends
Sources for the life of Puhua
There are two main sources for the life of Puhua: one is the aforementioned Linji lu or Record of Linji from China. The Linji lu is considered to contain a variety of historically accurate documents regarding Chinese Chán, and is an important work on Zen Buddhism. Thus, if Puhua actually existed, his life may best be known by way of the Record of Linji. There is also Kyotaku Denki Kokuji Kai from Japan, which connects the legend of Fuke (Japanese version of the name Puhua) and the transmission and transformation of the Fuke sect in Japan, in particular with regard to the legendary origin of the Komuso tradition and suizen ("blowing Zen"). The notion of suizen is however a concept from the 20th century, and was not used in the Edo period.
While there is much disparity between the two texts, they do agree on at least one issue: In both the Record and Kyotaku Denki the notion of Puhua being an eccentric imbued with a sort of crazy wisdom, and perhaps even an iconoclast, is supported. Yet the texts again diverge on the issue of Fuke's influence on the Fuke sect of Japan: While the Kyotaku Denki directly attributes the founding of the school to him, the Fuke sect did not exist in China and as such he is never mentioned to be the leader of a separate religious tradition in the Linji lu. Although this is the case, the Record does provide certain subtleties regarding Puhua as being a person of his own, self-directed character who often did things ubiquitously and ignored social norms and doctrinal establishments.
The following account of Puhua's life is an amalgamation of the accounts featured in both the Record and Kyotaku Denki, although it includes some outside references as well.