| Dainichibō Nōnin | |
| Death Date: | ca. 1196 |
| Religion: | Buddhism |
| School: | Zen |
| Lineage: | Daruma School |
| Zen Master | |
| Predecessor: | Zhuóān Déguāng |
| Successor: | Kakuan |
| Students: | Kakuan |
(fl. 1190s) was a Japanese Buddhist monk who started the first Zen school in Japan called the Darumashū, or "Bodhidharma school."
While a monk with the Tendai school, he came across texts about Zen which had been brought from China. In 1189, he dispatched two of his disciples to China to meet with Zhuóān Déguāng (拙庵德光, 1121–1203), himself a student of the Rinzai master Dahui Zonggao. The disciples presented a letter Nonin had written describing his realization from practicing Zen on his own. Deguang apparently approved and sent a letter certifying Nonin’s enlightenment.[1]
The Daruma-school depended on two sources for their teachings: early Chán as "transmitted on Hiei-zan within the Tendai tradition", with clear elements of teachings from the Northern School, and the Chinese Rinzai-school. The Chán-teaching of 'inherent awakening', or hongaku, influenced the Tendai-teachings. It explains:
Eisai gives the following report of the Daruma-shū in the Seijin ketsugiron, the third book of his Kōzen gokokuron:
Someone asked: "Some people recklessly call the Daruma-shū the Zen sect. But they [the Daruma-shū adepts] themselves say that there are no precepts to follow, no practices to engage in. From the outset there are no passions; from the beginning we are enlightened. Therefore do not practice, do not follow the precepts, eat when hungry, rest when tired. Why practice nembutsu, why give maigre feasts, why curtail eating? How can this be?" Eisai replied that the adherents of the Daruma-shū are those who are described in the sūtras as having a false view of emptiness. One must not speak with them or associate with them, and must keep as far away as possible.[2]Because of his nonstandard Dharma transmission and extensive blending of various teachings, his school was heavily criticized. Heinrich Dumoulin wrote of Nōnin:
On the other hand, in opposition to this supposed diversity of teachings, Hee-Jin Kim states:
The Bodhidharma School apparently drew a number of followers, but in 1194 the Tendai establishment requested that the government have it shut down. They accepted the proposal for the school "being 'incomprehensible' and circulating nonsense." His students continued the school for a brief time, but eventually they dispersed to study with Dōgen or Eisai. In fact, Koun Ejō and Tettsū Gikai, both prominent students of Dōgen to whom nearly all modern Soto Zen teachers trace their lineages, were originally students of Nonin's successors. The transfer of Dogen to Echizen in 1243 may in part have been due "to the fact that the Daruma-shu had a strong following in that province".
There may have been members of the Daruma-school until the Ōnin War 1467–1477, which destroyed much of Zen monasticism.