John Whitney Hall, ‎Kozo Yamamura, ‎Delmer M. Brown. The Cambridge History of Japan. Volume 3. 1988. p. 613
“

[E]ven while the Daitokuji was in ashes, the basis for its recovery and expansion was being laid by the monks Yoso Soi (1376- 1458) and Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481). Both Yoso and Ikkyu began their Zen training in gozan monasteries. But like growing numbers of monks in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, they quickly became dissatisfied with what they perceived as the formalism, and aestheticism of the official monasteries and so turned to masters of the Daio school like Kaso Sodon (1352-1428) for training in a more rugged Zen.

— John Whitney Hall

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[E]ven while the Daitokuji was in ashes, the basis for its recovery and expansion was being laid by the monks Yoso Soi (1376- 1458) and Ikkyu Sojun (1394-1481). Both Yoso and Ikkyu began their Zen training in gozan monasteries. But like growing numbers of monks in the late fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, they quickly became dissatisfied with what they perceived as the formalism, and aestheticism of the official monasteries and so turned to masters of the Daio school like Kaso Sodon (1352-1428) for training in a more rugged Zen." in the context of "John Whitney Hall, ‎Kozo Yamamura, ‎Delmer M. Brown. The Cambridge History of Japan. Volume 3. 1988. p. 613" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Kaso Sodon" (Quotes about Kaso Sodon) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

About Kaso Sodon

Kaso Sodon (1352 - June 27, 1428) was a Japanese Zen master and poet.