Historical Dictionary of Chan Buddhism

by Youru Wang

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  DAGUAN ZHENKE (1543–1603)

  Also called Zibo Zhenke. A Chan master and one of the most eminent monks in the Ming dynasty, Zhenke was a native of Wujiang (in present-day Jiangsu). His family name was Shen. He became a monk at the age of 17 in Huqiu, Suzhou, and was ordained at the age of 20. He then traveled to many places, including Mount Wutai and the capital, to visit good teachers. One day he had great doubts about his practice, when he heard a poem by Zhangzhuo (d.u.), the lay disciple of the Tang master Shishuang Qingzhu (807–888), saying that “cutting off deluded thoughts extends sicknesses, and striving for true suchness is also heresy.” After working out his doubts, he attained awakening, and he was later verified by the Chan master Bianrong (d.u.) in the capital. Zhenke resolved to revitalize Chan and involved himself in fund-raising for the printing of a new Buddhist canon, which was started in 1589 and was called Jiaxing Zang or Jingshan Zang. His extensive connection with literati and officials in the capital, as well as his involvement in politics, did not come without trouble, however, and he died in prison in 1603. Nevertheless, his followers, monastic or lay, upper class or lower, were numerous, even though he never took abbacy or gave sermons.

  Like his contemporaries Hanshan Deqing and Yunqi Zhuhong, Zhenke was syncretistic toward Chan and Pure Land, Chan and Buddhist doctrines, and all three Chinese traditions. He pointed out that, although the doors and walls of the three traditions are different (menqiang suiyi), their grounds—namely, the learning of the mind (xinxue)—are the same (ben xiangtong). However, he was most emphatic about the importance of letters and words and attempts to justify the wenzi Chan in terms of the non-dualistic relation of Chan and words. To some extent, Zhenke promoted social activism in Chan and Chinese Buddhism through his interpretations and his actions. He refuted the misunderstanding of Buddhism as the way of emptiness by reemphasizing that the teaching of emptiness is only a medicine for curing attachment, and that the Chan notion of original no-thingness (benlai wuyiwu) should not be understood as non-existence of the world. In addition, Zhenke clarified that his Buddhism could aid the Confucian way of the sagely king. Based on this awareness, he was determined to let himself face the ups and downs of the world (yushi chenfu) rather than escaping and would even die for his political involvement. He left us with the 30-fascicle Zibo Zunzhe Quanji (Complete Works of Worthy Zibo).

  DAHONG BAO’EN (1058–1111)

  A Chan master of the Caogong school in the Song dynasty, Bao’en was born into a traditional Confucian family in Liyang (in present-day Henan). His family name was Liu. At the age of 18, he was appointed as an official, but his desire to study Buddhism grew stronger, leading him to quit his job and become a monk after the court approved his resignation. Having traveled to various places, he heard of the fame of Touzi Yiqin and went to Shuzhou to study with Yiqing. Under Yiqing’s instruction, he attained awakening. After his teacher’s death, he visited two Yumen Chan masters, Fayun Faxiu (1027–1090) and Yuanzhao Zongben (1020–1099). In 1086, former prime minister Hanzhen (1019–1097) invited Bao’en to be abbot at Shaolin Temple. In 1095, Bao’en was appointed abbot of Lingfeng Temple in Mount Dahong in Suizhou. Within nine years, Bao’en had converted this Vinaya temple into a famous Chan temple. He invited the statesman Zhang Shangying (1043–1121) to document this accomplishment. In 1103, Bao’en was appointed by Emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1126) to be abbot at Fayun Chan Monastery in the capital, Kaifeng. His request for release from this post was approved the next year. In 1106, he was appointed again as the abbot of Lingfeng Temple at Mount Dahong. He died there in 1111. It was reported that he ordained 131 people, and 13 of his dharma heirs served as abbots at public monasteries. In addition to his yulu, Bao’en compiled Caodong Zongpai Lu (Record of the Caodong Lineages), as well as two other texts regarding precepts and ceremonies, but none of them are extant.

  DAHUI ZONGGAO (1089–1163)

  One of the famous Chan masters in the Song dynasty, Zonggao became a novice at the age of 16 and was ordained the next year. After consulting several Chan masters, he became a disciple of the Linji master Zhantang Wenzhun (1061–1115) in the lineage of Huanglong Huinan. Dahui compiled Wenzhun’s recorded sayings when he passed away and asked one of the famous literati, Zhang Shangying (1043–1121, who gave Dahui the sobriquet “Miaoxi”), to write an epitaph for his teacher. His next teacher was Yuanwu Keqin, with whom he experienced his own enlightenment. As Keqin’s senior assistant, he continued to develop his connection with many elites. Even before taking any abbacy, he was given a purple robe and the honor of Fori Dashi (“Great Master of Buddha-sun”) by the imperial court in 1126.

  His connection with statesmen and literati such as Zhang Jun (1097–1164) and Zhang Jiucheng (1092–1159) brought him the abbacy at Jingshan Temple, one of the most prestigious monasteries in the Southern Song, as well as political troubles. He was defrocked and exiled for 14 years when his associates’ pro-war activities against the Jin policy fell out of imperial grace. In 1156, he was appointed to the abbacy at Ayuwang Temple in Zhejiang. A few years later, he returned to his old seat at Jingshan Temple, eventually retiring in 1161. At the peak of his abbacy, the members of his monastic community numbered more than 1,000, and estimated visitors numbered over 10,000. The new emperor, Xiaozong (r. 1162–1189), granted him the honorific name “Dahui” in 1162. When Zonggao died at the age of 74, Xiaozong conferred the posthumous name “Pujue” on him.

  Dahui is best known for his advocacy of kanhua chan, a new meditation technique simplifying the gong’an practice into observing and inspecting the key phrase (huatou) of a chosen gong’an. This kanhua method has been adopted by the later generations of Chan masters down to modern times and throughout East Asia. In addition, his teaching enriches many subject areas of Chan soteriology. His strong emphasis on integrating Chan practice with secular activity attracted many laypeople in his time and continued to be influential. Unlike many other Chan masters, who tended to be elusive, Dahui often gave clear, sharp, and on-the-mark advice to Chan practitioners. He was unusually outspoken and critical of what he saw as heretical approaches, most notably the silent illumination Chan (mazhao chan) of the Caodong school. He was also a prolific writer, penning numerous letters to his lay followers, including many literati and elites. His success and the prosperity of his lineage (Dahui pai) have been acclaimed as the renaissance of the Linji school in the Song. His extant recorded sayings, sermons, commentaries on gong’an, and personal letters are extensive. They are included in the Dahui Pujue Chanshi Yulu, the Dahui Pujue Chanshi Zongmen Wuku, the Dahui Chanshi Chanzong Zaduhai, and the Zhengfayan Zang.

  See also .

  DAHUI YULU

  This is an abbreviation of the original Chinese title Dahui Pujue Chanshi Yulu for the 30-fascicle collection of the recorded sayings of the Chan master Dahui Zonggao. The collection was compiled eight years after Dahui’s death and was included in one of the Song dynasty Buddhist canons in 1172. The collection includes Dahui’s recorded sayings through extensive periods of his life, at various temples in Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang, and even the time he spent assisting his teacher Yuanwu Keqin in instruction. Many of his commentaries on various gong’an stories and his poems (gāthā or ji) are also included. The collection also contains the Dahui Pushuo (General Sermons of Dahui) and the Dahui Shu (Letters of Dahui); the latter has been circulated separately from time to time.

  In contrast to many recorded sayings of Tang Chan masters that were compiled or published during the Song dynasty, Dahui’s yulu was directly completed by his students, and some of his yulu circulated even before his death. A year-by-year chronological biography (nianpu) of Dahui was attached to this collection in the Ming edition, which was compiled 20 years after Dahui’s death; much of its detailed information is confirmed by the stories that Dahui himself told through his recorded sayings. The collection is thus a reliable source for the study of Dahui as an exemplary Song Chan master who demonstrated a kind of refined manner and sophistication
to which his literati contemporaries aspired and whose teaching style made a path forward crystal clear, who championed the importance of enlightenment experience, and who defined an orthopraxy of Chan. His recorded sayings can also be found in three other collections compiled by his students: the Dahui Pujue Chanshi Zongmen Wuku, the Dahui Chanshi Chanzong Zaduhai, and the Zhengfayan Zang. They can be found in several “lamp transmission” histories of the Song dynasty as well.

  See also .

  DAMEI FACHAHG (?–839)

  A Chan master of the Tang dynasty and a disciple of Mazu Daoyi, he was born into a Zhen family in Xiangyang in present-day Hubei. He became a novice monk at Yuquan Temple in his youth and was ordained at the age of 20 in Longxing Temple. In 796, he moved to Mount Damei in Yuyao of Mingzhou (in present-day Zhejiang), and he spent the rest of his life there. In 836, he was able to build a large temple on the mountain and enjoyed a community of several hundred followers. His best-known disciple was Hangzhou Tianlong (d.u.). He also taught a few monks from Korea. He died in 839. The story of his enlightenment after hearing Mazu’s teaching “mind is Buddha” is popular in Chan literature, and so is the story about his refusal to blindly follow Mazu’s later teaching “there is neither mind nor Buddha.” However, the traditional sources never told when and how long Damei studied with Mazu. The earliest source Song Gaoseng Zhuan (The Song Edition of Biographies of Eminent Monks) did not even mention that Damei was Mazu’s disciple. Moreover, the versions of the story about Damei’s refusal of Mazu’s later teaching vary regarding whether the praise of “the plum (damei) is now ripe” was spoken by Mazu or by another person. The story’s historicity is thus open to doubt. There is a more comprehensive text, entitled Mingzhou Dameishan Chang Chanshi Yulu, which was discovered in Japan, but some scholars have shown that it includes traces of a later creation.

  DAMODUOLUO CHAN JING

  The Meditation (Dhyana) Sutra of Dharmatrāta, a scripture on meditation accredited to Dharmatrāta (ca. 4th century CE), the Kashmirian patriarch of the Sarvāstivāda school of Indian Buddhism. The Indian monk Buddhabhadra (Ch. Fotuobatuoluo) (359–429), by request of Lushan Huiyuan (334–416), translated this scripture into Chinese around 413 CE while staying at Mount Lu. The scripture has two fascicles and 17 chapters. It teaches a gradual process and various methods of meditation, including the mindfulness of inhaling and exhaling (ānāpānasmṛti) and the contemplation on the impure (aśubhabhāvanā), on the elements of existence (skandha, āyatana and dhātu), and on the twelvefold chain of dependent origination (pratītya-samutpāda). This teaching demonstrates the Hinayana style approach to meditation and was influential in early Chinese practices of dhyāna. The scripture also includes a genealogical list of Indian dhyāna masters from Mahākāśyapa, Ānanda, Madhyāntika, Śaṇavāsa, Upagupta, Vasumitra, Saṅgharakṣa, and Dharmatrāta to Puṇyamitra. It lent the idea of Indian patriarchal transmission to the early Chinese invention of Chan genealogical history in an attempt to establish the identity of Chan Buddhism and enhance its legitimacy.

  DANXIA TIANRAN (739–824)

  A Chan master of the Tang dynasty, he is famous for his iconoclastic behavior, reiterated by many Chan texts. No information is available on his family name and his place of birth. The Song Gaoseng Zhuan (The Song Edition of Biographies of Eminent Monks) reports that Tianran entered monastic life when he was just a child. He first studied for three years with Shitou Xiqian, who named him Tianran. After receiving full ordination from the Vinaya master Xi in Mount Heng, Tianran visited Mazu Daoyi and then stayed at Mount Tiantai for three years. He later visited Jingshan Faqin of the Ox-Head school. From 806 to 820, Tianran stayed at Xiangshan Temple in Luoyang and became a close friend of Funiu Zizai (741–821), another disciple of Mazu. It is during this period that Tianran burned a wooden Buddha statue to fight the cold weather in Huilin Temple and lay on a bridge while saying, “I am a monk who has nothing to do,” refusing to stay away from Regent Zheng (746–820) while Zheng was passing. In 820, he went to Mount Danxia in Nanyang (in present-day Henan). He died at the age of 86. He was conferred the posthumous title Zhitong Chanshi (“Chan Master of Penetrating Wisdom”).” The Song Gaoseng Zhuan biography of Tianran was based on his epitaph, written by Liu Ke (d.u.), which is believed by modern scholars to be a reliable source. However, later Chan texts such as the Zutang Ji and Jingde Chuandeng Lu added more stories to Tianran’s biography, identified him as the disciple of Shitou Xiqian exclusively, and attributed six poems to him. These materials are considered inauthentic by contemporary scholars.

  DANXIA ZICHUN (1054–1117)

  A Chan master of the Caodong school in the Song dynasty, Zichun was a native of Jianzhou (in present-day Sichuan). His family name was Jia. He entered monastic life in his youth and was ordained at the age of 27. On his pilgrimage, he visited two Linji Chan masters—Zhenru Muji (?–1095) and Zhenjing Kewen—and the Caodong master Dahong Bao’en. Finally, he became the disciple of Furong Daokai and was enlightened under Daokai’s instruction. In 1104, Zichun was invited to be abbot at Tianran Temple on Mount Danxia (in present-day Henan). Later he retired to West Hermitage (Xi An) on Mount Dasheng in Tangzhou. In 1115, he was invited to take residence at Baoshou Chan Temple on Mount Dahong. He died at the age of 54. His teachings inherited Furong Daokai’s emphasis on resting (xiuxie) in sitting meditation, which pioneered the later development of the silent illumination Chan (mozhao Chan). Among his disciples, Hongzhi Zhengjue and Zhenxie Qingliao were the most famous for their teaching of the silent illumination Chan. In addition to his recorded sayings, Zichun compiled his own Songgu Baize (Poetic Commentaries on One Hundred Gongan Cases), which was further commented on by the Yuan Caodong Master Linquan Conglun and became the Xutang Ji (Anthology from Empty Hall) of six fascicles.

  DAO

  It literally means “way” or “path.” Although several Chinese, or even East Asian, religions use this term, different religious traditions use it in different contexts. For example, Confucianism and Daoism have different concepts of dao. In the Chan Buddhist context, dao designates both the path or practice of Buddhism and the goal of Buddhism: enlightenment, the realization of Buddha-nature.

  See also .

  DAOISM AND CHAN

  The name “Daoism” can refer to two different kinds of Daoism. One is philosophical Daoism, and the other is religious Daoism. Religious Daoism (Daojiao) is a formally organized religion that existed as early as the second century CE, and gradually developed its pantheon, rituals, symbols, priests, practices of meditation, fasting and alchemy, and a huge body of sacred scriptures. It is a rival religion to Chinese Buddhism, including Chan. Philosophical Daoism (Daojia) emerged much earlier than religious Daoism. It provided much of the foundation for religious Daoism, but itself involved no formal religious organization. Philosophical Daoism is especially affiliated with two famous texts—the Dao De Jing and the Zhuangzi—and the ensuing commentaries on them, such as those of the neo-Daoism (Xin Daojia) of the Wei Jin period (220–420). Compared to religious Daoism, philosophical Daoism had a deeper, broader, and more enduring impact on Chinese culture and Chinese people’s intellectual and spiritual lives. Although Chan Buddhism historically received influence from some texts of religious Daoism, such as the notion of “shouyi (maintaining the one)” in the Taiping Jing (Scripture on Peace), it was philosophical Daoism that offered the main inspiration to the formation of the ideology of Chan Buddhism.

  The Daoist influence on Chan ideology involved at least the following aspects. First, the philosophical category of the ti (the whole) and the yong (function), and the affirmation of their unification, developed by the neo-Daoist Wang Bi’s (226–249) study of Laozi, became a favorite theme and expression in numerous Chan recorded sayings to explain the non-dualistic relationship between Buddha-nature, or true suchness, and everyday activities and events. The non-dualistic ti-yong relationship was a useful tool, or a skillful means, for mainstream Chan masters to teach their viewpoint that Buddha-nature or the ti
cannot be realized or experienced outside of the function or yong of Buddha-nature. Second, the notion of the dao penetrating into, or moving along with, the infinite interchange (tong) of all opposite things and distinctions, in the Zhuangzi, fostered the Chan understanding of enlightenment as unimpeded flowing together with thoughts and things in all everyday circumstances. This kind of understanding is best demonstrated in the notions of free-flowing-dao (dao xu tongliu) and non-abiding in the Platform Sūtra, and in the notion of renyun (following along with the movement of all things or circumstances), used by masters of the Hongzhou school.

  Third, the classical Chan notion of no-mind (wuxin) as the absence of any kind of discriminating mind or the absence of attachment to any conceptual thought obviously benefited from the earliest mention of no-mind and the criticism of privileging mind (chengxin) and calculative mind (jixin) in the Zhuangzi. Both the Chan Buddhist and Zhuangzian views of no-mind cannot be confused with the stopping of the function of the ordinary mind, but are ways of transforming the ordinary mind to the enlightened mind. A person who accomplishes this kind of existential-practical transformation of the mind and personhood is called “authentic person” (zhenren) in the Zhuangzi. Linji Yixuan’s wuwei zhenren (authentic person without rank) is the best example in Chan, reminiscent of Zhuangzi’s impact. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Zhuangzian emphasis on the existential-practical transformation of the mind and personhood prefigured the Chan approach to the issue of enlightenment as the transformation of the human mind and the attainment of Buddhahood, despite their contextual differences.