Brief Introduction

Bodhidharma(菩提達摩), the first Chinese Chan Ances-tor and 28th Chan master in a lineage starting with the his-torical Buddha, transmitted Chan from India to China. He is generally thought to have died around 536 C.E. Bodhidharma was the third son of a king of southern India who took Chan (Chinese Zen) Buddhism to China in the sixth century. Bod-hidaharma’s father was very devoted to Buddhism and offered a priceless jewel to the 27th Patriarch Prajnatara(般若多羅). Prajnatara showed the jewel to Bodhidharma and his two brothers and asked, “Is there anything comparable to this jewel your father has given me?” The first and second princes said, “This jewel is the finest of precious stones: there is certainly none better. Who but someone of your sanctity deserves such a jewel?” But the third prince, Bodhidharma, said, “This is a worldly jewel, and cannot be considered the most precious. Among all jewels, the jewel of truth is supreme. This is a worldly lus-ter, and cannot be considered the finest. Among all lusters, the luster of wisdom is supreme. This is a worldly clarity, and cannot be considered the best. Among all clarities, clarity of mind is supreme. This jewel cannot sparkle by itself; it needs the light of wisdom to discern its sparkle. When you discern its sparkle, you know it’s a precious jewel. Therefore, it is not precious in itself, and the jewel is not a jewel in itself. It is not a jewel in itself because it takes the jewel of discernment to rec-ognize this worldly jewel. It is not precious in itself because it takes the treasure of wisdom to understand the preciousness of the Dharma. Because you, Venerable Master, understand the Way, so the treasures appear. When people attain the Way, the treasures of their mind will appear.” After his father’s death, Bodhidharma went to Patriarch Prajnatara and requested ordination as a monk. After Bod-hidharma’s eventual awakening, his teacher told him that he should go to China to find successors. Bodhidharma followed Prajnatara’s suggestion, crossing the Yangtze River into north-ern China. Arriving at the Shaolin monastery, he meditated for nine years and later developed four main disciples, one of whom became enlightened. That was HuiKe.

Koan

On his arrival in China, Bodhidharma was welcomed into the court of Emperor Wu (梁武帝), who ruled southern Chi-na. The Emperor Wu was a great devotee and benefactor of Buddhism. Emperor Wu eagerly asked Bodhidharma, “Since I became emperor, I have established many monasteries, copied and dis-tributed sutras, and decreed the ordination of countless monks. What merits have I attained from all these deeds?” Bodhidharma answered, “There isn’t any merit.” Emperor Wu asked, “Why not?” Bodhidharma said, “The merit from what you’ve done is min-iscule and will only give rise to illusion and lust. Chasing it is like chasing a shadow.” Emperor Wu asked, “What is true merit?” Bodhidharma said, “True wisdom is marvelous and perfect in realization. It is emptiness, and peace itself. Nothing you can do will gain this merit.” Emperor Wu asked, “Then, what is the highest truth in Bud-dhism?” Bodhidharma said, “Emptiness. Nothing holy. A pristine sky where you can’t find illusion and you can’t find truth.” Emperor Wu asked, “So, who is it that faces me?” Bodhidharma answered, “Don’t know.” Bodhidharma felt that the emperor was not ready for his message. He sailed across the Yangtze River, retired to Shaolin Temple on Mount Song and sat facing a wall meditating in a cave for nine years.

Bodhidharma 菩提達摩 (d. 536 CE)

Brief Introduction

DaZu HuiKe (大祖慧可, 487-593 CE), the Second Ances-tor of Chan in China, was born in Henan Province. He grew up to be an imposing looking individual, with five bumps (five “peaks”) upon his head. HuiKe entered monastic life at the Dragon Gate Temple on Fragrant Mountain in Luoyang. There he studied Buddhism under a Chan master named BaoJing (Precious Peace).

HuiKe met Bodhidharma and learned from him at Shaolin Temple on Mt. Song for six years. HuiKe is remembered and extolled in Chan tradition for his determination to realize the great truth of the Chan school. According to legend, HuiKe stood waiting in the snow outside Bodhidharma’s cave, then cut off his left arm to show his sincerity. Recognizing Huike’s great resolve, Bodhidharma accepted him as his student.

After Bodhidharma’s death, HuiKe traveled to the capital city, Ye-du, in the kingdom of Wei. He remained there, except for a period of political turmoil, for the next forty years, upholding and expounding the practice of his teacher.

Koan

The monk Huike had come a long way, hoping to learn from Bodhidharma. But Bodhidharma sat facing a wall at the Sha-olin Monastery all day, ignoring him. It was getting dark and beginning to snow. Huike thought to himself, “Men of ancient times have sought the Way by smashing their bones to the

marrow, feeding the hungry with their blood, spreading their hair to cover the muddy road for the master ... what is my little suffering in comparison?” He stood firm and by the next day snow had buried him up to his knees. Finally, Bodhidharma took pity on him and asked, “What are you seeking?”

Huike sobbed and begged the master, “Please, have mercy. Open the gate of nectar that can liberate sentient beings!”

The master said, “The supreme, profound Way of the Buddhas is attainable only after innumerable eons of striving, achieving the impossible, bearing the unbearable. How could a man like you, of little virtue and wisdom, filled with contempt and ar-rogance, ever hope to grasp it? You’re just wasting your time.”

Hearing the master’s scolding, Huike took out a sword and cut off his left arm.

Bodhidharma saw that Huike had the capacity to carry on the Dharma and said to him, “The Buddhas of the past have also disregarded their bodies to seek the Truth. You do have the potential.”

Huike asked, “May I hear the Dharma seal of the Buddhas?”

The master said, “The Dharma seal cannot be obtained from others.”

Huike said, “My mind is not at peace.”

The master answered, “Bring me your mind, I will set it at peace for you.”

After a long silence, Huike said, “I cannot find the mind any-where.”

Bodhidharma said, “I have already set your mind at peace.”

DaZu HuiKe 大祖慧可

(487-593 CE)

Brief Introduction The Sixth Ancestor, DaJian HuiNeng (638-713 CE), is a pre-eminent figure of China’s Chan heritage. He lost his father at the age of three and was forced as a youngster to support his widowed mother by selling firewood in ancient Guang-zhou city. He is said to have gained enlightenment instantly as he overheard someone reciting the Diamond Sutra. One day, after he had delivered firewood to a shop, he over-heard a man reciting the following line from the Diamond Sutra: “Without any attachments, it is the way that the mind acts.” Instantly, HuiNeng became enlightened. The man who recited this sutra encouraged HuiNeng to meet the Fifth Patriarch, DaMan HongRen (大滿弘忍), who resid-ed at Huang-mei. Master HongRen asked the newcomer, “Where are you from? What do you seek?” HuiNeng replied, “I am from Ling-nan (South of the Peaks – today’s Canton). I’ve come from far away to pay my respects to the master. I seek nothing else but to be-come a Buddha.” HongRen said, “You come from the South; that makes you a barbarian. How can you become a Buddha?” HuiNeng replied, “People may come from north or south, but the Buddha nature has no north or south. The body of a bar-barian is different from Your Reverence’s, but what difference is there in our Buddha nature?” Master HongRen said, “This barbarian is very sharp. Don’t say any more. Go do chores in the rice mill.” Whereupon, HuiNeng stayed to chop wood and pound rice for eight months. Months later, HongRen invited the monks to each write a verse that would display his individual understanding of the Buddha way. Whoever had the true realization of his original nature (Buddha Nature) would be ordained as the Sixth Pa-triarch. The head monk, ShenXiu (神秀) who was the most learned, wrote the following verse on a wall in the Monastery: The body is a bodhi tree, The mind a standing mirror bright; At all times polish it diligently, And let no dust alight. The poem was praised, but The Fifth Patriarch knew that ShenXiu had not yet found his original nature. Even though HuiNeng was illiterate and had not yet gained ordination as a monk, he enlisted another lay Buddhist’s help to write his own verse upon the wall which read: Bodhi is no tree, Nor standing mirror bright; Since all is originally empty, Where can the dust alight? The next day, Patriarch HongRen came to the mill and asked HuiNeng, “Is the rice ready?” HuiNeng said, “It has been ready for a long time. It is only waiting for the sieve.” That night the Fifth Patriarch received HuiNeng in his abode, and expounded the Diamond Sutra to him. When he came to the passage, “without any attachments, it is the way that the mind acts.” HuiNeng came to great enlightenment – that all dharmas are inseparable from the self nature. He exclaimed: “How amazing that the self nature is originally pure! How amaz-ing that the self nature is unborn and undying! How amazing that the self nature is inherently complete! How amazing that the self nature neither moves nor stays! How amazing that all dharmas come from this self nature!” The Fifth Patriarch told HuiNeng, “If one recognizes the original mind, the original nature, he is called a great man,

teacher of gods and humans, and Buddha.” He passed the robe and begging bowl as a symbol of the Dharma Seal of Sudden Enlightenment to HuiNeng. Upon reading HuiNeng’s verse, HongRen recognized the au-thor’s profound level of spiritual realization. Afraid of the up-roar that would result from bestowing authority on someone of such low status, HongRen is said to have met secretly with HuiNeng at night to pass him the traditional robe and bowl of succession, symbols of the “mind to mind” transmission of Chan. HongRen instructed HuiNeng to leave for the South and to hide his enlightenment and understanding until the proper time arrived for him to propagate the Dharma. There-after, HuiNeng remained in obscurity for, by some accounts, sixteen years living with a group of hunters before beginning to teach publicly. HuiNeng later became The Sixth Patriarch, the founder of the Chan School of Sudden Awakening, which emphasized that sudden Enlightenment was possible given the right teacher and method. The Sixth Patriarch’s teaching emphasizes non-duality and oneness of everything. HuiNeng became the most famous Chan master in Chinese history. After his death, his works were collected and considered as “sutra,” titled The Sixth Patriarch’s Platform Sutra. His new school of Sudden Awaken-ing is the only major surviving Dhyana (Chan) School of Chi-nese Buddhism. Later, HuiNeng’s disciples spread the Dharma all over Asia. Koan1. HuiNeng was pursued by Monk HuiMing up to a mountain. The patriarch HuiNeng, seeing HuiMing coming, laid the robe and the bowl on a rock and said to him, “This robe represents the affirmation of enlightenment. Is it to be fought for by force? You may take them now.” HuiMing went to move the bowl and the robe, yet they were as heavy as mountains. He could not move them. Hesitating and trembling, HuiMing begged the patriarch, “I come for the teaching, not for the robe. Please enlighten me!” HuiNeng said, “Do not think of good or evil; at this moment, this is primor-dially HuiMing (i.e., your true self).” After hearing this, HuiMing was greatly awakened. His whole body was covered with sweat. HuiMing cried, bowed, and asked, “Is there or is there not any other (deep) signifi-cance than your secret words and teachings?” The patriarch answered, “What I have told you is no secret at all. Once you have realized your own true self, the depth rather belongs to you!” HuiMing said: “When I was at Huangmei with the other monks, I never realized what my true self was. Now you have dispersed the clouds of my ignorance to realize it. Just like a man capable of discerning warm and cold by tasting water. From now on you are my teacher!” The patriarch said, “We both have Huangmei (HongRen) as our teacher. Guard your own self!”2. The monk YinZong expounded on the Buddhist Nirvana Sutra. One day during his lecture, a storm came up. Seeing a banner waving in the wind, he asked his audience, “Is the wind moving or is the flag moving?” One person said, “The wind is moving.” Another person said, “The flag is moving.” The two people held fast to their viewpoints. HuiNeng said, “Neither the wind nor the flag is moving. Your mind is moving.”

DaJian HuiNeng 大鑒慧能

(638-713 CE)

Brief Introduction

Master MaZu DaoYi (709-788 CE) was the only one of the six disciples of Master HuaiRang (懷讓) to receive the Dharma transmission. The Sixth Patriarch had told Master HuaiRang, that he would have under him “a horse that would trample the world.” DaoYi, whose family name was Ma (horse), came to be called Patriarch Ma. The Sixth Patriarch’s prediction gave an indication of the scope and importance of this great master’s influence in Chinese Chan history. Master MaZu was a great teacher. He conveyed an awesome sense of presence, and his teaching had an air of immediacy to the truth. More than any other of the ancient Chan Masters, he developed a wide variety of teaching devices that came to shape the unique “Chan” character of teaching. These included using his staff to jolt the disciple (into awakening), shouting, debas-ing, beating, and offering contradictory teachings (to keep the disciples from clinging to the literal concepts). The master had 139 disciples, each becoming a spiritual master in a different place. His saying “this mind is the Buddha” and “the ordinary mind is the Way” have become staples in Chan teaching.

Koan

1. At Mt. NanYue under Master HuaiRang, the Chan disciple Ven. MaZu always practiced sitting meditation. Master Huai-Rang knew that he was a vessel for the Dharma, so he went to ask him, “Venerable, what are you trying to achieve with sit-ting meditation?” to which MaZu replied, “To become a Bud-dha.” Master HuaiRang took a brick in front of MaZu’s cabin and started to grind it. MaZu asked, “Why are you grinding the brick?” The Master said, “To polish it into a mirror.” “How can a brick be polished into a mirror?” The Master said, “If a brick cannot be polished into a mirror, how can sitting meditation turn you into a Buddha?” MaZu asked, “Then what should one do?” The Master said, “It is like an ox pulling the cart, if the cart is not moving, do you whip the cart, or the ox?” MaZu had no reply.

Master HuaiRang continued, “Are you sitting to practice Chan, or sitting to become a Buddha? If you sit to practice Chan, Chan is not about sitting or lying down. If you sit to become a Buddha, the Buddha has no fixed form. In the non-abiding Dharma, one should neither grasp nor abhor anything. If you are sitting to imitate the Buddha, that is to kill the Buddha. Clinging to the sitting form is to diverge from the principle.” MaZu felt that he had drunk the ambrosia of enlightenment when he heard this. He prostrated and asked, “How does one use the mind to accord with the samadhi of no-form?” The Master said, “Your learning the Dharma of the mind-ground is like planting a seed. My expounding the essence of the Dharma is like the heavenly rain. When the conditions are met, you see the Way.” MaZu asked again, “The Way has no form, how can it be seen?” Master HuaiRang said, “The mind-ground with the Dhar-ma-eye can see the Way. One can also see it with the samadhi of no-form.” MaZu asked, “Is the Way created or destroyed?” The Master said, “To see the creation and destruction, the coming and going of the Way is not having seen the Way. Lis-ten to my verse:

The mind-ground contains the myriad seeds,With rain they will all sprout.The flower of samadhi has no form,What can be destroyed or created?

Master MaZu was awakened. His heart and mind were clear. He served his teacher for ten years day by day going deeper into the Way.

2. A monk asked, “Master, why do you say that the mind is the Buddha?” MaZu said, “To stop babies from crying.” The monk said, “What do you say when they stop crying?” MaZu said, “No mind, no Buddha.” The monk asked, “Without using either of these teachings. How would you instruct someone?” MaZu said, “I would say to him that it’s not a thing.” The monk asked, “If suddenly someone who was in the midst of it came to you, then what would you do?” MaZu said, “I would teach him to experience the Great Way.”

MaZu DaoYi馬祖道一

(709-788 CE)

Brief Introduction

BaiZhang HuaiHai (720-814 CE) was a disciple of MaZu, along with HuaiHai, and is considered to be MaZu’s dharma-successor. He is the one who instituted the Chan monastic sys-tem published five hundred years later in the Chinese Tripitaka, known as “The Holy Rule of BaiZhang.” It emphasized moral discipline and regulated the daily lives and responsibilities of monks as well as the duties of the abbot and various function-aries. HuaiHai entered a monastery in his home town as a child. Later, he journeyed to the monastery of MaZu, a disciple of the sixth patriarch HuiNeng. HuaiHai recorded his initial in-terview with MaZu, which shows the humor, confrontational style and ability to go directly to the heart of the problem typi-cal of the enlightened man who is also a teacher. MaZu and BaiZhang, together more than anyone, were re-sponsible for shaping the form and structure of Chinese Chan monasteries. It is widely agreed that MaZu set up the Chan monastic system, and BaiZhang set up the Chan discipline of purity. That is, they have set up a monastery system designed ex-pressly for the Chan Buddhist practitioners. The Chan train-ing involved meditation, rules for the Chan Hall; labor work, rules for sharing the farming, cleaning, administration, and other responsibilities; Chan lectures and question sessions; Chan meditation retreats, intensive meditation sessions last-ing from several days to several months; and monastic organi-zation. In setting forth the rules, BaiZhang broke free both from some Indian Buddhist traditions (e.g. no farming for the monks) and Chinese cultural traditions (monastic order based on one’s enlightenment and seniority in the Sangha rather than family class, society status, education, and age). The rules and changes he set forth were controversial, but eventually became the standard in Chinese Buddhism and paved the road for the system and training of a great many number of Chan masters to come. He created a structural rev-olution in Chinese Buddhism to carry out the spiritual revo-lution of HuiNeng. In so doing he made a crucial step in inte-grating Buddhism into Chinese culture and at the same time transforming the Chinese culture with Chan. Eventually, the Chan monastic system became so successful that it was adopted by all other schools of Chinese Buddhism. In fact, if one tours China, he will find many monasteries called “Chan monasteries” when in reality they might have nothing to do with Chan.

Koan1. BaiZhang was Master MaZu’s attendant. Once he was ac-companying the Master when they saw a flock of wild ducks flying by. Master MaZu asked, “What are these?” BaiZhang replied, “Wild ducks.” “Where did they go?” “They flew away.”

Master MaZu grabbed and twisted BaiZhang’s nose, so that BaiZhang cried out in pain. Master MaZu said, “Do you still say they flew away?” With this BaiZhang attained an awakening. BaiZhang returned to the attendant’s quarters and started to wail. A fellow monk asked, “Do you miss your parents?” “No.” “Somebody scolded you?” “No.” “Then why are you crying?” “The Grand Master twisted my nose so hard it hurts a lot.” The fellow monk asked, “What went wrong?” “Go ask the Master yourself.” The monk went to ask MaZu, “Master, Attendant Hai (BaiZhang HuaiHai) is crying in his room. Please tell me what is wrong.” Master MaZu said, “He understands it now! Go ask him your-self.” The monk went back to the room and said to BaiZhang, “The Master said that you understood it, and told me to ask you,” to which BaiZhang started to laugh. “You were crying just then, why are you laughing now?” BaiZhang answered, “Then I cried; now I laugh.” The fellow monk was baffled.

2. Every day when Chan master BaiZhang delivered the Dhar-ma Talk in the hall, there was an old man who would attend along with the assembly. One day when the congregation had departed, the old man remained. BaiZhang asked him, “Who are you?” The old man said: ‘’I’m not a human being. Formerly, dur-ing the age of Kasyapa Buddha, I was the abbot of a monas-tery on this mountain. At that time a student asked me, ‘Does a great adept in cultivation fall into cause and effect or not?’ I answered, saying, ‘A great adept does not fall into cause and effect.’ Thereafter, for five hundred lifetimes, I’ve been reborn in the body of a fox. Now I ask that the master say a turning phrase in my behalf, so that I can shed the fox’s body.” BaiZhang said, “Ask the question.” The old man said, “Does a great adept fall into cause and ef-fect or not?” BaiZhang said, “A great adept is not blind to cause and ef-fect.” Upon hearing these words, the old man got enlightened. He then said, “Now I have shed the body of a fox. I lived be-hind the mountain. Please provide funeral service for a monk who has died.” BaiZhang then instructed the temple director to tell the monks to assemble after the next meal for funeral services. The monks were all mystified by this, because there was no one who was ill in the temple infirmary, so how could this be? After the meal, BaiZhang instructed the monks to assemble beneath a grotto behind the mountain. He then brought out the body of a dead fox on his staff, and proceeded to cremate it according to established ritual.

BaiZhang HuaiHai百丈懷海

(720-814 CE)

Brief Introduction

LinJi YiXuan (d. 867 CE) was a teacher of great originality who employed a technique of shouting to accomplish what his teacher, HuangBo (黃檗), had accomplished by blows with his staff. Of course, LinJi students tried to copy his methods indiscriminately, as students everywhere are disposed to do - leading to a very noisy ashram. While Master LinJi is most well known for his “shouting”, which is used to shock the disciples out of the useless stream of conscious thoughts and come directly into the experience of reality, he is in fact a very sophisticated elaborator of Mahayana teachings, having a thorough command of the classics. As can be witnessed in his Recorded Sayings, LinJi produced some of the most lovely expressions of Chan (as well as some of the most shocking). Culminating two hundred years of Chan ex-perience, he elaborated several Chan teaching principles and strategies which later on came to be called the “three subtle-ties and three essentials,” the “fourfold master and guest,” “four discerning conditions,” and the “art of shouting”. The School of Chan that bears his name became the most successful and influential of the Five Schools, producing the greatest number of well known masters. It spread to Korea and Japan (where it is known as LinJi Chan or Rinzai Zen), and it is alive even today. LinJi once told an assembly: “If you wish to be free and un-trammeled in the world of births and deaths... recognize right now the man who is listening to my sermon, who is above shape and form, not rooted or planted in any place, nor abiding in any abode. Yet he is very much alive and alert, responding readily to all situations with his unlimited resourcefulness, perform-ing his function according to the circumstances without being pinned down to any. He eludes your embracing, evades your seeking. Hence he may be called the Great Secret.” LinJi referred to this listener as the “independent man of Dao,” the “mother of all Buddhas.” “Right now, this man is clearly before our eyes with a brightness uniquely his own... “ The account of LinJi’s enlightenment is a classic, exempli-fying many facets of Chan. It shows the transformation of a somewhat timid and restrained disciple into an uninhibited, highly creative and effective master of the Dharma. It shows the fruitful and selfless cooperation of two masters in bring-ing a disciple to awakening. And it shows the lively, uncom-promising Chan spirit, where not social convention, not edu-cation, not traditional etiquettes, but Truth is the only thing that ultimately matters.Koans Master LinJi was a disciple under Master HuangBo. He prac-ticed diligently and followed rules to the letter. One day the head monk, MuChou, asked LinJi, “Venerable, how long have you been here?” LinJi said, “Three years.” “Have you ever asked the Master for a question session?” “Never. Don’t know what to ask.” Master MuChou suggested, “Why don’t you ask the Master, what is the essence of Buddha Dharma?” LinJi then posed the question to Master HuangBo. Before he finished his question, HuangBo gave him a beating. When LinJi returned, MuChou inquired, “How did the question go?”

“Before I had finished my question, the Master beat me up. I don’t understand.” “Go ask again.” LinJi went in again, and again Master HuangBo beat him. This happened again on the third time. Finally, LinJi told MuChou, “Thank you for encouraging me to ask the Dharma. The Master repeatedly granted me the beatings. It is my bad karma that I do not understand the profound teaching. I will take my leave now.” MuChou said, “If you’re leaving, you should bid farewell to the Master.” LinJi bowed and retreated. MuChou went ahead to Master HuangBo and said, “That venerable who came to ask ques-tions, even though a novice, is something special. If he comes to bid farewell, please use some expedience in teaching him. In time he will be a great tree, providing shade for all people in the world.” The next day LinJi came to the Master to take his leave. Huang-Bo said, “No need to go elsewhere, just go to GaoAn Shoal where Master DaYu is, he’ll explain it to you.” LinJi went to Master DaYu, who then asked him, “Where are you from?” “From Master HuangBo.” “What did HuangBo say?” “Three times I asked for the very essence of the Dharma, and three times I was beaten. I don’t know whether I am at fault or not.” Master DaYu said, “HuangBo is so zealous like a grandma, wanting you to break free! And you come here asking who’s at fault?” LinJi came to a great enlightenment. He said, “So! There is nothing much in HuangBo’s teaching!” DaYu grabbed LinJi and said, “You bed-wetting devil! You were just wondering who’s at fault, and now you said there is nothing much in HuangBo’s teaching. What is it that you see? Speak now! Immediately!” LinJi punched DaYu three times in the ribs. DaYu pushed LinJi aside and said, “Your Master is HuangBo, I have nothing to do with you.” Master LinJi bid farewell to DaYu, and returned to HuangBo. Master HuangBo saw that LinJi returned and said, “This guy keeps coming and going, when will you ever be done?” Master LinJi said, “Because of your grandmotherly zeal, so it is all done.” And he stood in attendance by HuangBo. HuangBo asked, “Where have you been?” LinJi said, “Following your kind guidance, I visited Master DaYu and now have returned.” “What did DaYu say?” LinJi retold the encounter. HuangBo said, “That old fella DaYu talks too much. If he comes, I’ll give him a good beating!” LinJi said, “Why bother to wait? The beating can be done now!” And he slapped the Master. HuangBo said, “This lunatic is pulling the tiger’s whiskers!” LinJi gave a shout. HuangBo called the attendant, “Bring the lunatic to the Chan Hall.”

LinJi YiXuan臨濟義玄 (d. 867 CE)

Brief Introduction

YangQi FangHui (992-1049 CE) was a disciple of ShiSh-uang ChuYuan (石霜楚圓). He is known as the founder of the YangQi branch of the Linji school. All Linji Chan schools in the world today are spiritual descendants of this branch. YangQi’s home was the city of Yi-chun in Yuan-zhou (now in Jiang-xi Province). As a child he was clever and well spoken; as a young man he is reported to have run afoul of authorities in his job as a tax administrator and was forced to flee into obscurity. He later became a monk at Jiu-feng in Yun-zhou. Traveling to the region of ancient Tan-zhou, he studied un-der the eminent teacher ShiShuang ChuYuan and became his Dharma heir. Later, he gained his mountain name while serv-ing as abbot at the PuTong Monastery at Mt. Yang-qi. In the year 1046, YangQi moved to HaiHui Temple in Tan-zhou. YangQi taught the principle that Chan is manifested in every-day events, and the great way of emancipation is to be sought in the common activities of people’s lives. When ShiShuang ChuYuan moved from NanYuan to Mt. DaoWu and then to ShiShuang, YangQi followed him, per-forming administrative affairs in each place. Although YangQi remained with ShiShuang for a long time, he never attained enlightenment. Each time he would have an interview, ShiSh-uang would say, “There are a lot of administrative affairs re-quiring attention. Go do them.” On one occasion when YangQi went to see ShiShuang (for instruction on practice), ShiShuang said, “Director! Someday your descendants will cover the earth. Why are you in a hur-ry?” One day, ShiShuang had just gone out when it suddenly be-gan to rain. YangQi spied his teacher walking on a small path, chased him down, and grabbed him, saying, “You’ve got to talk to me now, or else I’m going to hit you!” ShiShuang said, “Director! You already completely know how to take care of things, so that’s enough!” Before ShiShuang had finished speaking, YangQi got enlight-ened. He then kneeled and bowed to ShiShuang on the muddy path.

Koans 1. When ShiShuang passed away, YangQi left and went to live at Ping-mai on Jiu Peak. Many monks and lay persons came to Jiu Peak to request that he assume the abbacy at Mt. Yang-qi. At that time, Marquis Qin didn’t know YangQi. He exclaimed in surprise, “Does Monastery Director Hui understand Chan? Upon accepting the invitation to teach, YangQi met with the congregation to answer questions. At the end of the meeting, he said: “Are there any more questions? If so, come forth with them. Today my life is in the hands of each and every one of you and is dependent on your support. Why is this? An ab-bot’s authenticity is clearly judged by the congregation. It can’t be hidden away and obscured like a submerged water plant. It must be tested now before the congregation. Can anyone else come forward to test it? If not, then it is my own loss.” When he finished speaking, YangQi got down from the seat. Just then, Marquis Qin grabbed him and said, ‘’I’m happy that today I’ve finally gotten a fellow practitioner.” YangQi said, “What do you mean by ‘fellow practitioner’?” Marquis Qin said, “YangQi guides the ox. Marquis Qin push-es it.” YangQi said, “At this moment, is YangQi in the front, or is JiuFeng in the front?” Marquis Qin was about to think. YangQi then pushed him away and said, “Before I thought we were fellow practitioners, but actually we’re not!” Because of the incident, YangQi’s reputation spread widely through the land.2. YangQi asked ShiShuang, “How is it when the great dark bird chirps and flew down from the clouds into the chaotic mountain peaks?” ShiShuang said, “I walk in wild grasses. You rush into the village.” YangQi said, “When the senses have no room for even a nee-dle, still there is another question.” ShiShuang then shouted. YangQi said, “Good shout.” ShiShuang shouted again. YangQi also shouted. ShiShuang then shouted twice. YangQi bowed. ShiShuang said, “This affair needs one who can take up and bear.” YangQi shook his sleeves and went out.

YangQi FangHui楊岐方會

(992-1049 CE)

Brief Introduction Chan Master HsuYun was born on April 26, 1840, in Fukien Province. His father was an official of the prefecture and his mother died immediately after giving birth to him. His uncle was child-less and adopted him as his heir, so his grandmother decided that he should take two wives to continue both families. When he was 11, his grandmother died and monks were in-vited to perform Buddhist rites. This was the first time he saw monks or sacred objects and it made him very happy. After this, he read the sutras which deeply impressed him. When his uncle took him on pilgrimage to Nanyo, he became so attached to the holy place that he was reluctant to return home. When he was 14, his father discovered that he wanted to renounce the world and, in order to keep him, his father engaged a Taoist to teach him meditation. After practicing Taoism for three years, he decided that the teaching of Taoism failed to help him reach the ultimate goal. One day he fled to Nanyo but was soon found and brought home. Sometime later, his father sent for two girls and celebrated HsuYun’s marriage. Although he lived with his two wives, HsuYun had no intercourse with them but taught them the Dharma, which they understood. At 19, together with his cousin FuKuo, HsuYun fled to Kushan monastery at Fuchow where both of them were ordained by Mas-ter MiaoLien. After being ordained, his cousin left in search of enlightened masters but was never heard of again. Hearing that his father had sent servants to look for him, HsuYun hid in a grotto behind the monastery where he practiced austerities for the next three years. At 25, he learned that his father had died in Hunan Province and that his stepmother with his two wives had entered a nunnery. During these years in the grotto, he made very good progress and had a lot of inspiring experiences. At 31, he went to Wen-chow where he met a monk who urged him to call on the old mas-ter YungChing who was well-versed in both teaching and Chan transmission. This master urged him to resume eating rice and to use the Kung An (koan) “Who is dragging this corpse of mine?” and ordered him to study the Chan rules, the Lotus teaching and other important sutras. At 43, he took stock of his achievements which were not com-plete, and remembering how he had sacrificed his love for his parents in order to join the Sangha, he was ashamed that he had attained so little. In order to repay his debt of gratitude to them, he decided on a long pilgrimage from PuTo to the Five-Peaked Mountain (the bodhimandala of Manjusri) in the Northwest to pray for their rebirth in the Pure Land. From the thatched tem-ple of FaHua on PuTo Island, he set out with incense sticks in his hands, prostrating himself every three paces until he reached his destination. Twice he was in danger of death and twice he was saved by Manjusri who appeared as a beggar called WenChi to hide his identity, instead of WenShu as he was called in China. The first time he had been caught in a heavy snowstorm and was very hungry, tired and exhausted for several days after which he was given some yellow rice gruel which brought him back to life. Later, he contracted malaria and dysentery and was dying in a deserted temple on the top of a mountain when the beggar ap-peared again to give him the hot water and medicine that saved him. WenChi asked several questions which HsuYun did not un-derstand and could not answer because he was still unenlightened and did not understand the living meaning of Chan dialogue. After paying reverence to the Bodhisattva on the Five-Peaked Mountain, he fulfilled his vow taken three years before to pray for the liberation of his parents. During this long three-year journey,

he succeeded in realizing singleness of mind (the pure and un-disturbed mind) even in the midst of hardship, adversity, illness and danger. The master then went west and south, passing through many holy places, and entered Tibet where he visited the Potala and Tashi Lunpo monasteries. He then left Tibet to visit the holy sites of India, after which he crossed to sea to Ceylon, and finally to Burma. He returned to China where he first visited the Cock’s Foot Mountain in Yunnan which was the bodhimandala of Ma-hakasyapa, and then passed through the provinces of Kweichow, Hunan, Hupeh, Jiangsi and Anhwei. In his autobiography the master wrote of these two years of travel: “The scenery changed every day but my pure mind was like a bright moon hanging sol-itarily in the sky. My health grew more robust and my steps were rapid.” In his 54th and 55th years, the master HsuYun stayed on a mountain to read the Tripitaka. At 56, he was invited to the fa-mous monastery of GaoMing at Yangehow to assist its abbot in supervising the twelve weeks of Chan meditation. On his way to Yangehow, he slipped and fell into a rising river and was caught in a fisherman’s net. He was carried to a nearby temple where he was revived. He was very ill but went on to GaoMing monastery where he was asked to help at the forthcoming meditation weeks. With-out disclosing his illness, he politely declined the abbot’s request, asking only to be allowed to attend the meditation meetings. His refusal was regarded as an affront to the whole community and, according to GaoMing’s rules of discipline, he was punished by being beaten with a wooden ruler. As the master was practicing the relinquishment of attachment to ego, ksanti-paramita and virya-paramita, he willingly accepted this punishment which ag-gravated his illness. In order to cure it, he sat firmly in the medi-tation hall day and night with increasing zeal. One night when the meditation ended after six successive incense sticks had been burned, a monk came to fill Master HsuYun’s cup of tea. As the boiling water splashed over his hand, he dropped the cup, which fell to the ground and broke with a sound which was heard by his pure mind that was now able to perform its non-discriminating function of perceiving externals. Instantly Master HsuYun cut off his last link with samsara and got enlightened. He then chanted the following two gathas:

1 - A cup fell to the groundWith a sound clearly heard.As space was pulverized,The mad mind came to a stop.2 - When the hand released its hold, the cup fell and was shat-tered, ‘Tis hard to talk when the family breaks up or someone dies.Spring comes with fragrant flowers exuberating everywhere;Mountains, rivers and the great earth are only the Tathagata.

From then until his death, Master HsuYun performed his Bod-hisattva work by expounding sutras, transmitting the precepts, re-constructing many temples that had fallen in ruins, building new ones and starting seminaries for novices, and creating Buddhist associations for lay men and free Buddhist schools for children. His achievements have revived the five schools of Chan lineage in China. His field of activities also included Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Singapore and Hong Kong where the number of his dis-ciples could not be counted. In the course of this Bodhisattva work, the master survived dangers, illnesses, poisoning, beating, torture and persecution. Master HsuYun in his extreme old age had chosen hardship and suffering to protect the Buddhism in China instead of seeking safety across the water in Hong Kong. His whole life is an extremely good example for Buddhist culti-vators today.

Grand Master HsuYun虛雲老和尚

(1840-1959 CE)