Ikkyu Sojun
Poet
Fifteenth-century Japanese Zen Buddhist monk, poet, and calligrapher who became as famous for his iconoclasm and eroticism as for his spiritual depth. Born allegedly the illegitimate son of Emperor Go-Komatsu, he rejected the formalism of institutional Zen and spent years as a wanderer. His poetry collection Crazy Cloud challenges the distinction between sacred and profane life with radical directness.