by Youru Wang
See also .
MAZU YULU
The full title is Jiangxi Mazu Daoyi Chanshi Yulu (Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Mazu Daoyi of Jiangxi). It is one of the most influential Chan texts of the yulu (recorded sayings) genre and records the life and teachings of Mazu Daoyi, the founder of the Hongzhou school and one of the most important figures from the classical age and probably the entire history of Chan. Contemporary scholars have studied the origin and history of its literary formation. Although this text is regarded as an authoritative source of authentic Chan teachings, its literary provenance was relatively late. The text was first published during the Northern Song dynasty in the 11th century as part of an anthology called Sijia Yulu (Recorded Sayings of Four Masters) by a member of the Linji school. The extant version of this text is an edition from the late Ming dynasty.
Typical of the Chan “recorded sayings” genre, this text includes three parts: biographical information, sermons, and dialogues. In terms of studies on the early textual sources of Tang dynasty, scholars believe that the biographical information on Mazu’s life presented in this Yulu is basically accurate, serving both as a historical record of the life of a renowned Chan teacher and as an idealized depiction of a unique religious personality. The sermon part is also reliable, based on early versions of edited transcripts of various talks given during Mazu’s teaching career, including his notions “this mind is Buddha” and “the ordinary mind is the Way.” However, there is a lack of homogeneity between the sermons and the dialogues regarding their rhetorical styles. The former used relatively conservative rhetoric, quoted scriptures, and directly instructed students, while the latter used unconventional rhetoric and pedagogical means, spontaneously interacting with the students. The latter part was also considered the beginning of the classical tradition of Chan encounter dialogues. Scholars have recently revealed that among these recorded cases of dialogue, only a few appeared in the late Tang and Five Dynasties Chan texts. Most of them, scholars believe, were Song additions to the records of Mazu, although it is difficult to prove their complete non-existence in history. The historical authenticity and accuracy of these dialogues are therefore questionable, and any use should be done with caution and critical analysis.
MEDITATION
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MIAODAO (d.u.)
A Buddhist nun of the Southern Song dynasty and one of the earliest female Chan masters, whose biographical information and recorded sayings were included in the two Song texts of the transmission of the lamp literature: the Liandeng Huiyao (compiled in 1183) and the Jiatai Pudeng Lu (compiled in 1204). Miaodao was a native of Yanping (in present-day Fujian province) and the daughter of a literatus-officer, Huang Shang (1044–1130), who once served as the head of the Ministry of Rites. Even from her youth, Miaodao showed no interest in worldly pleasures, but instead took great delight in sitting meditation. At the age of 20 she became a nun, and she soon visited various Chan masters. Before meeting with the Linji Chan master Dahui Zonggao, she studied with the Caodong master Zhenxie Qingliao at Mount Xuefeng. In the summer of 1134, she attended a retreat with the then guest instructor Zonggao, and after that, she became Zonggao’s disciple. Zonggao emphasized the necessity of a full awakening to non-duality through meditation on a series of key phrases (huatou). Following Zonggao’s instruction, Miaodao attained her sudden awakening and became Zonggao’s first dharma heir. It was also with Miaodao that Zonggao first successfully tested his unique kanhua Chan approach. After her awakening and certification by Zonggao, Miaodao took abbacy in several nunneries. She died at Jingju Nunnery in Wenzhou.
MIND-AS-BUDDHA
This is one of the main teachings of Mazu Daoyi, the founder of the Hongzhou school of Chan Buddhism. The original Chinese expression of this teaching—jixin shi fo or jixin jifo—can be rendered more completely as “this very mind is Buddha.” The mind in the context refers to the everyday mind of any human being, that is, the ordinary mind of seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing (jian wen jue zhi), including the aspect of ignorance and delusion. By emphasizing “this mind is Buddha,” Mazu taught his students that they should not seek enlightenment outside the human mind and its everyday activities. The everyday activities or functions of the human mind, including its ignorance and delusion, are the necessary conditions and presuppositions for enlightenment. Without ignorance or delusion, there would be no enlightenment. This is a strictly relational perspective on enlightenment and challenges any escapism or any attempt to isolate enlightenment from its existential-practical contexts and conditions.
Scholars have examined the scriptural roots of Mazu’s identification of the ordinary human mind and the mind of the Buddha in the Indian tradition of the tathāgatagarbha (rulaizang/Buddha-nature) thought, especially in the theory of one mind and two aspects offered by the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Dasheng Qixin Lun). Although some scholars have pointed out that ideas similar to “this mind is Buddha” are found abundantly in the teachings of the early Chan masters, which antedated Mazu’s, others have argued that among reliable examples, only Shenhui used the similar expression once, but it was not a major theme in Shenhui’s theoretical framework.
Historically, the non-duality of the deluded mind and the true mind in Mazu’s teaching was a target of criticism even within Chan Buddhism. Nanyang Huizhong and Zongmi, among others, attacked this teaching for its failure to distinguish between ignorance and enlightenment, defilement and purity, and expressed their concerns about its antinomian consequences. This criticism was echoed by some contemporary scholars in their critique of Chan thought and its tathāgatagarbha (rulaizang/Buddha-nature) roots. However, others argued that Mazu did not advocate any antinomianism or deluded mind. To counter the misunderstanding of, and attachment to, his teaching on “this mind is Buddha,” Mazu later on used a more apophatic proposition, “there is neither mind nor Buddha.” Mazu and his close disciples made clear that “this mind is Buddha” and other teachings are nothing but expedient means for therapeutic purposes, pragmatically useful only to specific people in specific situations. As pragmatic contexts or situations changed, Mazu and his disciples provided different teachings. No essentialist standpoint was ever adopted.
See also .
MIND-TO-MIND TRANSMISSION
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MIYUN YUANWU (1566–1642)
A Chan master of the Linji school in the Ming dynasty, Yuanwu was born into the Jiang family in Yixing in Changzhou Prefecture (in present-day Jiangsu). He attended a village school at the age of 6 but had to take up farming and fishing to support himself at 15, then got married the next year. At the age of 21, after reading the Platform Sūtra, he was attracted to Chan, and at the age of 29, he left his family to become a monk under the master Huanyou Zhengchuan (1549–1614) at Mount Longchi. In 1602, he became the manager of the monastery after Zhengchuan traveled to Beijing. During that time, Yuanwu attained sudden enlightenment when he passed Mount Tongguan. Zhengchuan granted Yuanwu the dharma robe and recognized him as his dharma heir after returning from Beijing. In 1617, Yuanwu succeeded his teacher to become abbot at Mount Longchi. Later, he also took abbacy at five famous Chan temples. When he died in 1642, he had ordained more than 200 people and had 12 certified dharma heirs. His dharma lineage was considered the renaissance of the Linji school in the Ming. He was famous for resuming the use of beating and shouting as training methods. His teachings were preserved in the Tiantong Miyun Wu Chanshi Yulu of 12 fascicles. He was also involved in a public debate with his disciple, Hanyue Fazang, over the understanding of whether there were different principles of the “five houses” derived from the origin of the perfect circle (yuanxiang), or no principles at all but just “directly pointing to the human mind (zhizhi renxin).” He published his Pi Wangjiu Lueshuo (Outlined Refutation of the Vain Rescue) in 1638 to criticize Hanyue Fazang.
MOSHAN LIAORAN (d.u.)
A Buddhist nun of the late Tang dynasty, she was the only female Chan master who had a record of
her own biographical information and short conversations in the Jingde Chuandeng Lu (Jingde Era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp), compiled in 1104. A contemporary of Linji Yixuan, Moshan was the dharma heir of Gao’an Dayu (d.u.), who inherited Mazu Daoyi’s disciple, Guizong Zhichang (d.u.). Moshan was once visited by Guanxi Zhixian (d. 895), a disciple of Linji Yixuan. In their encounter dialogues, Moshan refuted Zhixian’s challenge asking her to transform herself into a male by revealing that the enlightened mind was devoid of form, male or female. Zhixian decided to study with her for three months, serving as a gardener in her nunnery, and later acknowledged Moshan’s contribution to his enlightenment in addition to his teacher’s. The story was used and commented on repeatedly by the later masters such as Dahui Zonggao, Yuanwu Keqin, Hongzhi Zhengjue, and Dōgen.
MOZHAO CHAN
This is the original Chinese expression for “silent illumination Chan,” the characterization of an approach or style in Chan practice that was developed during the Song dynasty by the Caodong school and became one of the two dominant trainings of Chinese Chan, as opposed to the kanhua Chan. Although this silent illumination approach first took shape with the Caodong master Furong Daokai and his disciples of two generations, it was Hongzhi Zhengjue, one of Furong’s second-generation disciples, who achieved culmination in formulating and promoting the silent illumination approach. Hongzhi’s Mozhao Ming (“Guidepost of Silent Illumination”) is considered the manifesto of this silent illumination approach, in which the term “silent illumination” (mozhao) is most noticeably used.
The words “silent” (mo) and “illumination” (zhao) represent two essential requirements in this approach. Mo refers to quiet sitting meditation, the practice of calming, and the cultivation of stillness, in which all words and thoughts, including those of striving for enlightenment, must be forgotten. Zhao refers to the clarity of the mind, the rise of wisdom, or the realization of one’s inherent Buddha-nature. Different from the kanhua Chan, which focuses on observing the key phrase of a gong’an, the silent illumination Chan places great emphasis on just sitting meditation and teaches that, by simply sitting and meditating, one’s inherent Buddha-nature or enlightenment will manifest itself naturally in the state of stillness. Through sitting meditation, one’s whole being, including both body and mind, could become one with the full universe and immerse into the realm of enlightenment.
Recent study of the silent illumination Chan has indicated that many aspects of this approach were quite orthodox, such as the notion of inherent enlightenment, the notion of Buddha-nature functioning through all things, and even the doctrine of the interacting (huihu) of the ultimate and phenomenal. However, its simplified style and emphasis on just sitting in stillness were quite distinctive and subverted the traditional distinction of non-enlightenment and enlightenment, practice and realization, in its own way. Dahui Zonggao, the famous advocate of kanhua Chan, criticized this approach for its passivity of sitting in stillness and for its canceling of the importance of enlightenment. Although Dahui’s criticisms were eloquent and influential, they were not all accurate. Hongzhi’s silent illumination approach did not equate itself with one-sided stillness or complete passivity. Rather, he acknowledged that a certain degree of effort to eliminate delusion, wipe out dust, and let the original mind of enlightenment shine forth in sitting meditation is still needed.
MUMMIFICATION OF CHAN MASTERS
It seems a direct violation of the Buddhist teaching of impermanence and the iconoclastic spirit of the Chan tradition for Chan disciples to preserve a master’s body after his death. However, this is exactly what some faithful and devoted disciples did to their deceased masters. From the early period of Chan down to modern times, a significant number of Chan masters have been mummified after death and enshrined at monasteries for worship. The earliest example of mummification in Chan is Daoxin, who later became the fourth patriarch of Chan Buddhism. According to an early 8th-century text, Chuan Fabao Ji, Daoxin meditated until his death. After his body survived for some time, his disciples further wrapped his body in lacquered cloth to mummify it and also erected a stela to inscribe a eulogy for him. This case and others indicate that artificial mummification was used to extend the original incorruptibility and purity of the body of an enlightened master, believed to be the result of the purity of his mind, his accumulated merits, and spiritual power.
The most famous case of a lacquered mummy is that of the sixth patriarch, Huineng, which is believed to still be kept at Nanhua Temple in modern-day Guangdong province. The mummy, and its mystic power, soon became the subject of numerous legends about the attempted theft or destruction, as it was obviously a target of possession in the power struggle within and outside Chan Buddhism. Because of this mummy, the temple itself became a thriving pilgrimage center. More than 800 years later, another mummy was enshrined along with Huineng’s at this temple, that of the Chan master Hanshan Deqing, in the late Ming dynasty. Recent scholarship on the mummification of Chan masters has called attention to the underlying factors of this phenomenon, including traditional Chinese attempts to prevent the decomposition of the corpse, the pan-Chinese belief in an appropriate resting place for the soul after death, the Indian Buddhist worship of relics, the ritualization of the spiritual power of Chan masters, the economics of Chinese Buddhist monasteries, and so forth.
N
NANHUA TEMPLE (Ch. Nanhua Si)
Temple of “Southern Flower.” Located at the foothill of Mount Nanhua and facing the Caoxi River, it is in the southern Qujiang County of Guangdong Province in China. The temple was built in 504, during the Southern dynasties (420–589), and originally named Baolin Temple. During the Tang dynasty, it was named Zhongxing Temple and Faquan Temple. During the Song dynasty, its name was changed to Nanhua Chan Temple, which it has retained to the present time. It was said that in 677, Huineng came to this temple to preach the dharma of the Southern school of Chan. It was thus regarded as the temple of the patriarch (zuting) for the Southern school. During the Ming dynasty, Hanshan Deqing took up residence here and revived the temple. In addition to the many Buddhist archives and artworks that it houses, it also enshrines a sacred sculpture of Huineng, which was said to directly work on, and contain, Huineng’s remaining body—a lacquered mummy. A pagoda and the sixth patriarch hall (liuzu dian) were later built to protect the sculpture. It has become a national treasure since the Tang and has survived many wars and fires.
NANQUAN PUYUAN (748–834)
A famous Chan master of the Tang dynasty and a disciple of Mazu Daoyi, he was born into a Wang family in Xinzheng in Zhengzhou, Henan. At the age of 10, he started his monastic life, and at the age of 30, he was officially ordained. He was well learned in Buddhist precepts, scriptures, and treatises before he became Mazu’s disciple and reached enlightenment. In 795, he went to Mount Nanquan in Chizhou (in present-day Anhui), built a temple, and stayed there for 30 years. As his fame spread, he was invited to teach outside the mountain temple and had several hundred followers. He had 17 dharma heirs, including the famous Zhaozhou Congshen. Traditional Chan literature has placed Puyuan in Mazu’s elite disciples, surpassing Xitang Zhizang and just next to Baizhang Huaihai.
Scholars recently have paid attention to the fact that during his lifetime, Puyuan was only one of Mazu’s many locally prominent disciples, but by the early Song, he had became a widely recognized leading disciple of Mazu. This refashioning of his image and status through the invention of new versions of his story has been seen as a result of the whole transforming process that took place in the post-Tang era of Chinese Chan. Although this kind of change is determined by multiple factors, not all of them clear, scholars have pointed to two contributing causes: the high reputation of his disciple, Zhaozhou, and more important, the popularity of many iconoclastic anecdotes starring Puyuan, such as killing a cat in his encounter with students and therefore challenging the Buddhist precepts, which first appeared more than a century after Puyuan’s death. The Jingde Chuandeng Lu at
tached a number of “extended records of sayings” at the end of the book, one of which is for Puyuan and includes his sermons and short addresses in a style much more conservative than the encounter dialogues included in his entry in the same book. Scholars have considered it to be relatively authentic, and hence it is useful for the study of Puyuan and the Hongzhou teaching.
NANYANG HUIZHONG (?–775)
A Chan master of the Tang dynasty, and a native of Zhuji (near present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang), Huizhong was born into a family of Ran. No information is provided about the date of his birth. At the age of 16 he left his family to be a monk. Most early sources identify him as a disciple of Huineng, although the Song Gaoseng Zhuan only ambiguously mentions that he received the dharma from Daoxin and Hongren. He spent more than 40 years at Mount Baiya in Nanyang (in present-day Henan). As his influence reached many officials, he was invited to teach at the capital, Chang’an, for more than 10 years by two emperors, Suzong (r. 756–762) and Daizong (r. 762–779). He was honored as National Teacher (guoshi). He was also known for his controversial teaching that all insentient beings or things have Buddha-nature and can preach the dharma, based on the assumption that the dao is ubiquitous and that all things are produced by the mind only. He openly criticized the Hongzhou teaching that the Buddha-mind cannot be separate from the ordinary seeing, hearing, feeling, and knowing, and pointed out the danger of confusing the deluded mind with the true mind, a voice that echoes Zongmi. His accusation against someone from the south who unwarrantedly altered the text of the Platform Sūtra was a rare and noticeable protest preserved in Chan records, although the accused person’s identity was never indicated.
