Historical Dictionary of Chan Buddhism
Page 31
Yunmen’s teachings shared some themes with those of the other great masters in the classical period of Chan Buddhism, such as the realization of self-nature, the deconstruction of all dualities, insight into true suchness, and the Buddha-dharma being inseparable from everyday activities. However, Yunmen did have his own “house style” and pedagogical device. He constantly posed questions to his audiences, sensitively made use of all types of topics and situations in daily activities, and turned them into great challenges for his students. In addition to the various physical actions of chasing, beating, and hitting objects with a stick, he was particularly skillful in using irony, sarcasm, tautology, and even vulgar vocabulary to produce shock effects and help students reach a breakthrough. The traditional formula “three kinds of sentence of Yunmen (yunmen sanju)” reflected the characteristics of his teaching style and methods. He is also celebrated for his “one-word barrier (yiziguan),” a one-word answer to questions posed by his students or even by himself. He is considered to have been among the earliest to use gong’an as a teaching device by quoting from and commenting on numerous stories and remarks from Chan history. Yunmen’s teachings are preserved in the text of Yunmen Guanglu (Extended Records of Yunmen).
YUNMEN ZONG
See
YUNQI ZHUHONG (1535–1615)
Also called Fohui and Lianchi. An influential monk in the Ming dynasty, Zhuhong was a native of Renhe in Hangzhou (in present-day Zhejiang). His family name was Chen. At the age of 17, he passed the examination and became a top student in a government school. At the age of 20, he married, but he lost his son, wife, and both parents by the age of 31. In 1566, he left his second wife, became a monk at West Mountain, and was ordained at Zhaoqing Temple in Hangzhou. He spent the next six years traveling to seek instructions from eminent teachers, including visiting the Chan masters Bianrong (1506–1584) and Xiaoyan Debao in the capital. On his way to Dongchang, it was reported that he had achieved his initial awakening. In 1571, with the help of others, Zhuhong built a hut on Mount Yunqi in Hangzhou to live and practice in. His unusual feats of bringing rain to relieve drought and driving out tigers bolstered his leadership in restoring the old Yunqi Monastery, in which he served as abbot until his death in 1615.
Zhuhong was a prolific writer; his more than 30 works included the Changuan Cejin (Progress in the Path of Chan), the Amituo Jing Shuchao (Commentaries on the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra), and many others, which were all collected by his disciples into the Yuqi Fahui (Collected Dharma of Yunqi). Zhuhong’s major contribution was his promotion and practice of the synthesis of Chan and Pure Land and of Chan and doctrinal teaching. Despite his early training in Chan, he became more emphatic about the Pure Land approach to salvation, using the Huayan doctrine of the harmonization of principle/events (li/shi) to justify the harmonization of Chan and Pure Land, and he worked hard to save Chan from its decline by advancing the Chan of reciting the Buddha’s name (nianfo Chan). He was also preoccupied with the revitalization of the study of Buddhist precepts, a response to the increasing corruption of Chan Buddhism during the Ming dynasty. His syncreticism toward all three Chinese religions was expressed in such slogans as “three teachings of one family (sanjiao yijia)” and “the [underlying] principles are identical (liwu erzhi).”
YUQUAN TEMPLE (Ch. Yuquan Si)
YUQUAN TEMPLE (Ch. Yuquan Si)
Temple of “Jade Spring.” Located at the foothills of Mount Yuquan in Dangyang in Hubei Province in China, it was originally a hermitage built by the monk Pujing around 218. In 592, the Tiantai master Zhiyi (538–597) came to this place, and the emperor of Jin rebuilt this temple for him. Zhiyi lectured here on his Fahua Xuanyi and Mohe Zhiguan for about three years, turning it into a center for Tiantai Buddhism. That situation soon changed, however. During the Yifeng era (676–679) of the Tang dynasty, the eminent monk Shenxiu of the Northern school came to this temple to preach Chan for more than 20 years, making it a famous Chan center. Many other Chan masters were also associated with this temple, including Heze Shenhui and Nanyue Huairang. During the Song dynasty, it had its most prosperous period, and it was renamed Jingde Chan Temple. In 1061, a rare iron pagoda was built in front of the temple; it is one of the oldest to have survived to the present day.
Z
ZHANGJING HUAIHUI (756–816)
A successful disciple of Mazu Daoyi, Huaihui was a native of Quanzhou (in present-day Fujian province). His family name was Xie. He joined Mazu in 785; while there, he realized the essence of the mind (xinyao). After Mazu’s death, he traveled and stayed in several areas, including Jiangsu, Shangdong, and Hebei. In Hebei, he took up residence at Baiyan Temple, where his teaching attracted a great number of followers. Even when he was secluded at Mount Zhongtiao (in Shanxi), many students still sought him out. In 808, Emperor Xianzong (r. 805–820) invited Huaihui to preach at Zhangjing Temple in the capital, Chang’an. Numerous imperial officials and famous literati came to visit him for his instruction. He also participated in public debates at the imperial court. After his death in 816, the emperor granted him the posthumous title “Chan Master of Great Propagation of the Teaching” (Daxuanjiao Chanshi). Two memorial inscriptions were dedicated to him by the famous literatus Quan Deyu (759–818) and the poet Jia Dao (779–843). Quan Deyu’s inscription outlined Huaihui’s teaching of the original pure mind as non-cutting from the environment (jing) and dust (gou), which inherited Mazu’s teaching on dealing with various things as the way and freeing the mind (chulei shidao er renxin). Among Huaihui’s best-known disciples, Hongbian (781–865) succeeded his teacher to preach at the capital, Chang’an, took up residence at Jianfu Temple, and offered religious instruction to Emperor Xuanzong (r. 846–859). Huaihui’s Korean disciple, Hyŏnuk (787–868), became the founder of one of the nine schools of Korean Sŏn Buddhism. Together with the other members of the Hongzhou school, Huaihui and his disciples further secured the prominence of the Hongzhou lineage and the transmission of its teaching.
ZHANRAN YUANCHENG (1561–1626)
A Chan master of the Caodong school in the Ming dynasty, Yuancheng was a native of Kuaiji (in present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang province). His family name was Xia. He became a monk at the age of 24 and received official ordination under the master Yunqi Zhuhong. Later, he became the disciple and dharma heir of the Caodong master Cizhou Fangnian (d. 1594). He began his teaching career at Shouxing Temple and subsequently became abbot at many other temples in Zhejiang, including Wanshou Temple at Mount Jing and Xiansheng Temple in Kuaiji. He was well known for using “words of true color (benseyu)” in impromptu conversations and discussions of gong’an stories with his students. His teachings were preserved in the Zhanran Yuancheng Chanshi Yulu. He also authored several books, including the influential Zongmen Huowen (Questions about the [Chan] School). Yuancheng left behind eight dharma heirs, the most active among them being Shiyu Mingfang (1593–1648), Sanyi Mingyu (1599–1665), and Ruibai Mingxue (1584–1641). All three of them were involved in the controversy of 1654, writing essays critical of Feiyin Tongrong’s position on Chan lineal transmission in his Wedeng Yantong, and they even brought the case to the local government.
ZHAOZHOU CONGSHEN (778–897)
One of the most famous Chan masters of the Tang dynasty and a disciple of Nanquan Puyuan. His recorded sayings are among the most widely circulated, but information about his life from the traditional sources is hardly consistent. According to the Song Gaoseng Zhuan, he was a native of Linzi in Qingzhou (in present-day Shandong). His family name was He. As a boy, he left his parents and became a novice monk at Longxing Temple near his home. Later, he was ordained at Liuli Platform at Mount Song. He studied with Nanquan Puyuan and became his dharma heir, but he continued his long pilgrimage after that, meeting and exchanging with many other Chan masters, before reaching 80 years of age, according to some other sources. He was then invited to live at Guanyin Monastery in Zhaozhou. During the next 40 years, his fame continued to grow, and he instructed many disciples, winning
support from local officers, such as Wang Rong (874–921) and Li Kuangwei (d. 893).
He died in 897 at the age of 120, according to some sources, but a text entitled Records of Actions (xingzhuang), dated 953 and attached to the Song edition of his recorded sayings (Zhaozhou Lu), indicates he died in 868. His posthumous title was “Chan Master Zhenji,” bestowed upon him by imperial decree. In comparison to his enormous popularity, his dharma heirs only numbered 13, according to the Jingde Chuandeng Lu. His words and actions were collected in his recorded sayings, and many of them later became famous gong’an. His teaching style showed skillful use of marvelous, insightful, provocative, but sometimes seemingly irrelevant or illogical words, no less shocking than the use of shouting or beating. These words were sensitively played at the limits of ordinary language to achieve a therapeutic effect in dealing with different situations of Chan practice.
ZHENGDAO GE
Song of the Realization of the Way, a collection of 63 rhymed Chan poems, attributed to the Chan master Yongjia Xuanjue of the Tang dynasty, the alleged disciple of the sixth patriarch, Huineng. It was first included in the Jingde Chuandeng Lu in 1004; Xuanjue’s own anthology Yongjia Ji did not even mention it. The Zhengdao Ge was one of the most popular, most extensively quoted Chan poetic works in Chan history. The poetic expressions in this work—such as “walking is Chan, sitting is Chan; [no matter] speech, silence, move or rest, the mind (ti) is undisturbed”; “the idle man of the Way who learns and does nothing, neither discarding delusion nor seeking truth”; and “the real nature of ignorance is the Buddha nature, the illusory empty body is the dharma body”—vividly convey the Hongzhou teaching that this very mind doing ordinary things is the Buddha, and that enlightenment cannot be sought or cultivated outside ordinary activities. The Zhengdao Ge also made reference to 28 Indian patriarchs of Chan, which was a clear adoption from the genealogical theory of the Baoli Zhuan (Biographies from the [Temple of] Treasure Groves), a product of the Hongzhou school, and which could not have happened during the lifetime of Xuanjue. In the 20th century, the earliest extant manuscript of the Zhengdao Ge (dated in 980) was discovered among the Dunhuang documents under the title Chanmen Miyaojue (Secret Essential Methods of Chan School), authored by a Chan master of a different name, Zhaojue. All these facts have been used by modern scholars to question the authenticity of Xuanjue’s authorship of the Zhengdao Ge, echoing similar doubts raised by some monks from Tiantai Buddhism in the Song dynasty.
ZHENGFAYAN ZANG
Song Linji Chan master Dahui Zonggao’s Treasure of the Eye of the True Dharma of three fascicles, compiled by him and his assistant, Chongmi Huiran (d.u.), in 1147. It is a collection of more than 660 cases of recorded sayings or gong’an from other Chan texts, which he cited in his teaching during the period of his exile to Hengyang, and also included his brief commentaries on them, beginning with the words “Miaoxi (his nickname) says.” He used the common Chan term zhengfayan zang as the title to indicate the direct awakening of the mind or the “eye” of seeing one’s own nature, special to the tradition of Chan patriarchs and transcending scriptural teachings. In a letter to Zhang Jiucheng (1092–1159), and in his first commentary on this collection, Dahui emphasized that his collection of recorded sayings was not based on the division of the Chan schools and the order of the lineages, but only on the correct understanding and correct insight, which could help trigger enlightenment.
ZHENGJING KEWEN (1025–1102)
A Chan master of the Huanglong lineage of the Linji school in the Song dynasty, Kewen was a native of Shanfu (in present-day Henan province). His family name was Zheng. He entered North Pagoda Temple to study Buddhist dharma in his youth and became a monk at the age of 25. He then made his pilgrimage in the North and studied Buddhist scriptures and commentaries. Unsatisfied with these practices, he started to seek Chan teachers in the South. Upon hearing Yunmen Wenyan’s inspiring words recited by a monk, he attained his first realization. Eventually, he went to Jicui Hermitage at Huangboshan Temple to study with Huanglong Huinan and became one of his dharma heirs. In 1072, he took up residence at Dayu Temple in Junzhou, and he was later invited to Shengshou Temple and Dongshan Monastery. In 1085, Wang Anshi (1021–1086) invited Kewen to be the founding abbot at Baoning Temple. Emperor Shenzong (r. 1067–1085) granted Kewen the title “Great Master of Zhengjing.” In 1094, Kewen took up residence at Guizong Temple on Mount Lu. Three years later, the governor, Zhang Shangying (1043–1122), appointed him abbot of Baofeng Temple in Letan. Kewen retired from there to Cloud Hermitage, where he stayed until his death. He had 38 disciples and numerous followers. His teaching was preserved in the Baofeng Yun’an Zhengjing Chanshi Yulu. Among Huanglong Huinan’s disciples, Kewen had the most enduring influence through his criticism of the wushi Chan, which was inherited by later generations of the Lingji school, including Yuanwu Keqin and Dahui Zonggao, according to recent studies in Song Chan Buddhism.
ZHENXIE QINGLIAO (1090–1151)
Also called Changlu Qingliao. A Chan master of the Caodong school in the Song dynasty, Qingliao was born in Zuomian (in present-day Sichuan). His family name was Yong. At the age of 11, he entered his monastic life, and he was officially ordained after passing the examination of the Lotus Sūtra at the age of 18. He studied Mahayana scriptures and treatises at Daci Temple in Chengdu. Having traveled to a number of places, he then went to Mount Danxia (in present-day Henan) to study with Danxia Zichun. Once Zichun asked Qingliao a typical Caodong question: “What is your self before the empty eon?” As Qingliao was about to answer, Zichun slapped him, triggering Qingliao’s enlightenment. Qingliao continued to visit famous Chan masters, then joined the congregation at Mount Changlu, becoming assistant to the abbot, the Yunmen master Zuzhao Daohe (1057–1124), and eventually succeeding him. In 1130, he was invited to be abbot at Xuefeng Temple in Fuzhou. In 1136, he was appointed abbot at Guangli Temple on Mount Ayuwnag in Zhejiang by imperial decree. Later, he was also appointed abbot at Longxiang Temple in Wenzhou and at Neng’ren Chan Monastery in Lin’an. In 1151, Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162) appointed Qingliao abbot at Congxian Xianxiao Chan Monastery, which was newly constructed for Gaozong’s mother, Empress Wei.
Qingliao died at the age of 62 while sitting in the lotus position. His posthumous title was “Chan Master of Realizing Emptiness” (Wukong Chanshi). Qingliao ordained more than 400 people, and more than 30 of his disciples became abbots in public monasteries. Although Qingliao did not actually use the phrase “silent illumination” (mozhao), he was regarded as an advocate of silent illumination Chan (mozhao Chan), which was most strongly emphasized by his dharma brother, Hongzhi Zhengjue; therefore, he was attacked by the Song Lingji Chan master, Dahui Zonggao. Qingliao’s teachings were preserved in the Zhenzhou Changlu Liao Heshang Jiewai Lu (Record of Being beyond the Empty Eon by Monk Liao from Zhenzhou Changlu) and in the Xuefeng Zhenxie Liao Chanshi Yizhang Lu (Record of One Slap by the Chan Master Zhenxie Liao from Xuefeng [Temple]).
ZHIJIAN
This Chinese word means “cognitive knowledge” or “cognitive knowing or seeing.” A similar word used in Chan texts is zhijie, which means “cognitive understanding.” Many Chan masters use zhijian or zhijie to characterize the approach that mistakenly regards the practice of Buddhism or realization of Buddha-nature as a kind of cognitive maneuver, to grasp something objective or external through knowing or learning. The Chan masters do not tend to eliminate knowing or learning from ordinary activities that can be related to the practice of Buddhism, but they definitely oppose pursuing any further cognitive maneuver from this knowing or learning element, focusing on conceptual thought and isolating it from all other ordinary activities. In addition, many Chan masters use the word zhijian negatively to oppose equating enlightenment with any intuitive knowledge or awareness claimed to be isolatable from ordinary seeing, knowing, and other activities. For example, although Heze Shenhui’s teachings were influential on his contemporaries and the later Chan schools, he was criticized for “establis
hing the zhijian,” which refers to his establishment of a conceptual hierarchy that privileges the intuitive cognitive knowledge over ordinary knowing and other activities.
ZHIYUE LU
Record of Pointing to the Moon. Its original full title is Shuiyuezhai Zhiyue Lu (Record of Pointing to the Moon from the Studio of Water-Moon). The book was compiled by Qu Ruji (1548–1610), a literatus in the Ming dynasty in 1595, and printed by Yan Cheng in 1601. This book of 32 fascicles belongs to the genre of the transmission of the lamp literature. It collected the records of sayings and biographies for 650 Chan masters. In fascicles 1 to 3, it collected materials from the seven Buddhas to the 28 Indian patriarchs. Fascicle 4 collected materials of the Chinese patriarchs. Fascicles 5 to 30 included Huineng’s first generation of disciples to his 16th. The last two fascicles were for Dahui Zonggao. When compared to the earlier literature of the transmission of the lamp in the Song and Ming, Zhiyue Lu’s coverage of new lineal descendants did not expand much. However, it did include some famous masters’ commentaries and poems that the earlier literature did not have, in addition to the compiler’s own analysis. Moreover, it was considered a book that had studied Chan from a Confucian literatus’s point of view and so was relatively less biased from any Chan sectarian view. Therefore, as an outsider’s collection, it soon became very popular, was reprinted many times, and was included in the Ming Buddhist canon. A Supplemental Record of Pointing to the Moon (Xu Zhiyue Lu) was compiled by Nie Xian (d.u.) during the Qing dynasty.