Unsui (Japanese: 雲水), or kōun ryūsui (行雲流水) in full, is a term specific to Zen Buddhism which denotes a postulant awaiting acceptance into a monastery or a novice monk who has undertaken Zen training. Sometimes they will travel from monastery to monastery (angya) on a pilgrimage to find the appropriate Zen master to study with.[1]
The term unsui, which literally translates as "clouds and water" comes from a Chinese poem which reads, "To drift like clouds and flow like water."[2]
Helen J. Baroni
writes, "The term can be applied more broadly for any practitioner of
Zen, since followers of Zen attempt to move freely through life, without
the constraints and limitations of attachment, like free-floating clouds or flowing water."[1]
According to author James Ishmael Ford,
"In Japan, one receives unsui ordination at the beginning of formal
ordained practice, and this is often perceived as 'novice ordination.'"[3]
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