The Luminous Expression of Rionen

**SUMMARY:** A woman of extraordinary talent and beauty renounced fame, beauty, and family, using a hot iron to mar her face so she could enter a monastery, becoming a great example of seeking the Way.

In the year seventeen ninety-seven, a baby girl was born into a renowned samurai lineage in Japan. As she grew, Rionen possessed captivating beauty and exceptional poetic talent. At seventeen, she entered service to the empress, living a life of luxury with fame awaiting. But then the beloved empress passed away, and all her dreams crumbled. Rionen saw the reality of impermanence (anicca) and wished to learn meditation.

Her family opposed this, pressuring her into marriage. Rionen accepted on the condition that after bearing three children, she would take religious vows. She kept her promise. At twenty-five, she shaved her head, taking the dharma name Rionen—meaning "luminous expression"—and began a pilgrimage.

She traveled to Edo, requesting to be a disciple of the Zen master Tetsugyu. He looked at her and immediately refused, stating, "Your beauty will only cause complications."

Rionen then sought out the Zen master Hakuo, who refused her for the same reason. She was pained but undeterred. In her room, she gazed at her reflection, seeing her lovely face. She took a red-hot iron and pressed it to her skin. A sizzling sound filled the air as her flesh burned, and her beauty was forever taken away. She then wrote a poem on the back of the mirror: "While serving the beloved empress, I burned incense to perfume my exquisite robes. Now a homeless beggar, I burn my face to enter the monastery."

Hakuo accepted her as a disciple. She practiced with diligent effort and attained enlightenment. Near death, she wrote: "Sixty-six times these eyes have watched autumn change. I have spoken of the moonlight enough; ask no more. Just listen to the melody of the mountain pines and the scent of cypress when there is no wind."

**Meaning of the story:** This is a great example of seeking the path: having the courage to abandon everything—fame, beauty, and family—to find the truth. One can feel the supreme value of meditative practice, which transcends all temporary worldly values.

*Compiled from a dharma talk by Venerable Thích Chân Quang.*