It is easy to enter the world of the Buddha, it is hard to enter the world of evil.

Ikkyu Sojun was a Zen priest who lived during the Muromachi period. He was a fierce critic of the corrupt political and Buddhist worlds of his time, but he never hid his own transgressions either. His bold character left a powerful impression on numerous people down the ages. 

According to a commentary in the Zenrin bokuseki shui, Ikkyu probably wrote this audacious work in his later years, when he was nearly eighty. The phrase written here can seem somewhat diametric if we juxtapose the world of the enlightened Buddha with the bewildering corrupt world of evil. This paradox is typical of Ikkyu, yet the more we consider the phrase, the more we are captivated by the depth of the meaning within. It is difficult to ascertain its true significance, but the words ‘Buddha’ and ‘evil’ appear in several other Zen verses penned by Ikkyu. Illustrative examples are provided by poems in the Kyounshu (Crazy Cloud Anthology), a collection of Zen verses representing Ikkyu’s philosophy. One verse states how “Buddha and the evil are separated by the width of a single sheet of paper,” a passage taken to mean there is a fine line between the two deities, while another reads “When the world of the Buddha rests, the world of evil rests too.” For Ikkyu, the two worlds were connected rather than opposed. Evil is always beside us when we think about enlightenment, with the opposite also true. Perhaps Ikkyu even used this phrase to point to a realm that transcends the boundaries between the two worlds.

The saying probably inspires different feelings and understandings in each different reader. Kawabata Yasunari, a giant of modern Japanese literature, was obsessed with the phrase and it inspired his own creative work. At a lecture given after winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, he quoted the phrase and said the following: “The fact that for an artist, seeking truth, good, and beauty, the fear and petition even as a prayer in those words about the world of the devil—the fact that it should be there apparent on the surface, hidden behind, perhaps speaks with the inevitability of fate. And the devil’s world is the world difficult of entry. It is not for the weak of heart”(trans. E. G. Seidensticker). It is said Kawabata also owned a hanging scroll with this phrase. In his novel Maihime (dancing girl), a character named Shinako also comes face to face with a hanging scroll featuring this phrase written in Ikkyu’s own hand. “The first ‘Buddha’ was written in careful regular script, but the word ‘devil’ then appeared in disorderly running script. Shinako could almost feel how it  sent shivers down her spine.” This impression seems to fit with our experience when we stand before this work. In this way, when confronted by this phrase written in Ikkyu’s own hand, the reader is presented with a duality. The words can be read and understood purely on an abstract level, but Ikkyu’s own thoughts and feelings can also be keenly felt in the brushwork itself. 


Ikkyu Sojun (Zen priest, poet; 1394–1481)
Rinzai school Zen priest of the early Muromachi period; 47th abbot of the temple Daitokuji in Kyoto. Thought the son of Emperor Go-Komatsu, Sojun entered priesthood at an early age and later studied under Kaso Sodon at Daitokuji. With a reputation for eccentricity and iconoclasm, Ikkyu counts among the most influential Zen monks of his time. He excelled at calligraphy, painting and geju (Zen Buddhist verse), and is known for his poetry collection Kyounshu (Crazy Clouds Anthology).