One of the most amazing aspects of this newly found text is to find the mention of the name of Nōnin 能忍, the founder of the Daruma school 達磨宗. The text consists in an address to Nōnin, publishing Zen texts for propagation, 5 sheets of blank paper, and a catechism written in Chinese characters and katakana, which is called Kana hōgo. In this study, I edit the Kana hōgo text into kanji and hiragana in accordance with modern conventions. The preliminary findings of my study on the Kana hōgo include the following points: (1) Content-wise, the Kana hōgo consists in five parts. (2) Defects in the practice of seated meditation (zazen 坐禪) are expounded in detail. The defects are very similar to the same teachings of Dahui 大慧. (3) The practice of kōan公案is not mentioned. Zazen without kōan 公案as a practice for beginners might have been used in the Hōtō school法燈派. (4) The concept of ʻno mind, no thoughtʼ (mushin munen 無心無念) is very similar to ʻno thought, no mindʼ (munen mushin無念無心) in the Hōtō school. (5) The answerer in the Kana hōgo criticizes seven kinds of the person (or groups) who expouse wrong views on Buddhism. The description of one of them appears to refer to the (or some of the) followers of the Daruma school. My preliminary conclusion is that the basic doctrines of the Kana hōgo are similar to those taught by Dahui and the Hōtō school. There are, however, some differences, such as the absence of kōan in the Kana hōgo. The reference to Nōninʼ s name seems to indicate some relation to the Daruma school, but it is still premature to draw definitive conclusions as to its nature as well as to the author (s) of the Kana hōgo. For this, we need to further deepen our understanding of the history and philosophy of the Daruma school.
