On 'Wind-Madness'

fuu kyou — Wind-Madness.

On the origin

A term of the Zen tradition rather than a line from a single sutra. It names conduct that departs from precept and worldly convention, received not as transgression but as the showing of an awakened ground. Its lineage runs through Puhua of the Tang (who appears in the Record of Linji), the hermits Hanshan and Shide, and later Ikkyū in Japan.

On the reading

A word for conduct that steps outside precept and the world’s measure — taken not as disorder but as a showing. Within the strangeness, a ground free of grasping comes through. The madness is a name given from outside; inside, nothing is disturbed.

On the garment

The seal for this phrase was hand-carved in Tokyo by the artist Satake Hōsen. The front carries this phrase’s seal; the back and inside label carry the Hōsen seal (寳千), printed in vermilion.

The garment is Bella + Canvas 3001 (short sleeve) or Gildan 2400 (long sleeve). A vessel for the word, not the subject itself.

― hosen, tokyo