Fuke-shū

Fuke-shū (Japanese: 普化宗, Fuke sect) or Fuke Zen was a distinct and ephemeral derivative school of Japanese Zen Buddhism which originated as an offshoot of the Rinzai school during the nation's feudal era, lasting from the 13th century until the late 19th century. The sect, or sub-sect, traced its philosophical roots to the eccentric Zen master Puhua, as well as similarities and correspondences with the early Linji House and previous Chán traditions—particularly Huineng's "Sudden Enlightenment" (Southern Chán)—in Tang Dynasty China.

Fuke monks or priests (komusō) were noted for playing the shakuhachi bamboo flute as a form of meditation known as suizen ("blowing meditation"), an innovation from the earlier zazen ("sitting meditation") of other Zen sects. Fuke Zen was characterized in the public imagination of Japan by its monks' playing of the shakuhachi flute while wearing a large woven basket hat that covered their entire head as they went on pilgrimage.

The theoretical basis of Fuke-shū was to emphasise the concept of the incommunicable aspect of enlightenment, an ideal traced to various Buddhist sects and relayed in paradoxical Zen writings such as the Lankavatara Sutra, the Diamond Sutra and Bodhidharma's "Bloodstream sermon". Thus Fuke monks rarely chanted sutras or other Buddhist texts, but rather relied upon scores of sacred shakuhachi music called honkyoku to express and transmit awakening.

Sect

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system, usually an offshoot of a larger religious group. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and principles. The term is occasionally used in a malicious way to suggest the broken-off group follows a more negative path than the original. The historical usage of the term sect in Christendom has had pejorative connotations, referring to a group or movement with heretical beliefs or practices that deviate from those of groups considered orthodox.

A sect as used in an Indian context refers to an organized tradition.

Etymology

The word sect comes from the Latin noun secta (a feminine form of a variant past participle of the verb sequi, to follow), meaning "a way, road", and figuratively a (prescribed) way, mode, or manner, and hence metonymously, a discipline or school of thought as defined by a set of methods and doctrines. The present gamut of meanings of sect has been influenced by confusion with the homonymous (but etymologically unrelated) Latin word secta (the feminine form of the past participle of the verb secare, to cut), as though sects were scissions cast aside from the mainstream religion.

Sect (disambiguation)

A sect is a subgroup of a religious, political or philosophical belief system. It may also refer to:

In entertainment

Planescape

Planescape is a campaign setting for the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, originally designed by Zeb Cook. The Planescape setting was published in 1994. As its name suggests, the setting crosses and comprises the numerous planes of existence, encompassing an entire cosmology called the Great Wheel, as originally developed in the Manual of the Planes by Jeff Grubb. This includes many of the other Dungeons & Dragons worlds, linking them via inter-dimensional magical portals.

Development

Planescape is an expansion of ideas presented in the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (First Edition) and the original Manual of the Planes. When Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition was published, a decision was made not to include angelic or demonic creatures, and so the cosmology was largely ignored, being replaced (to a certain degree) by the Spelljammer setting. However, fan demand for a 2nd Edition Manual of the Planes was strong enough to justify its expansion into a full-fledged campaign setting, and so in 1994 Planescape was released.