The Daruma sect 達磨宗 belongs to the the Zen tradition, was founded by Dainichibō Nōnin 大日房能忍, and is known to have propagated Zen in Japan earlier than did Eisai 栄西.
The Daruma sect has long drawn attention since it later joined Dōgen’s Sōtō school to establish the foundation for the early period of Dōgen’s religious organization.
The Shinkon ketsugishō 心根決疑章, newly introduced here, was written in the 3rd year of Jōkyū (承久, 1211) in the beginning of the Kamakura period, by Butchibō Kakuan 仏地房覚晏, the self proclaimed second patriarch of the Daruma sect.
Consequently, the Shinkon ketsugishō may be the only extant writing by a monk of the Daruma sect with its year of composition and author evident. So far this is the most suitable historical material to gain knowledge of the ideology and the circumstances of the Daruma sect in the early Kamakura period.
This source is also valuable since it is the second oldest classical book of the Zen sect. The study on the Daruma sect should be reconsidered, due to the existence of the Shinkon ketsugishō, and taking its contents into account.
