How Zen Became Zen

HOW ZEN BECAME ZEN 4(%$)3054%/6%2%.,)'(4%.-%.4!.$4(% &/2-!4)/./&#(!."5$$()3-).3/.' $9.!349#().! -ORTEN3CHL~TTER +URODA)NSTITUTE3TUDIESIN%AST!SIAN"UDDHISM How Zen Became Zen STUDIES IN EAST AsIAN BUDDHISM 22 How Zen Became Zen The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China Morten Schlütter A Kuroda Institute Book University of Hawai‘i Press Honolulu © 2008 Kuroda Institute All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 13 12 11 10 09 08 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Schlütter, Morten. How Zen became Zen: the dispute over enlightenment and the formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-dynasty China / Morten Schlütter. p. cm.—(Studies in East Asian Buddhism ; 22) “A Kuroda Institute Book.” Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8248-3255-1 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Zen Buddhism—China—History. I. Title. BQ9262.9.C5S35 2008 294.3ʹ9270951—dc22 2008000386 The Kuroda Institute for the Study of Buddhism and Human Values is a nonprofit, educational corporation founded in 1976. One of its primary objectives is to promote scholarship on the historical, philosophical, and cultural ramifications of Buddhism. In association with the University of Hawai‘i Press, the Institute also publishes Classics in East Asian Buddhism, a series devoted to the translation of significant texts in the East Asian Buddhist tradition. University of Hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Council on Library Resources. Designed by University of Hawai‘i Press Production Staff Printed by The Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing Group Contents Acknowledgments vii Conventions ix Introduction 1 1 Chan Buddhism in the Song: Some Background 13 2 The Chan School and the Song State 31 3 Procreation and Patronage in the Song Chan School 55 4 A New Chan Tradition: The Reinvention of the Caodong Lineage in the Song 78 5 A Dog Has No Buddha-Nature: Kanhua Chan and Dahui Zonggao’s Attacks on Silent Illumination 104 6 The Caodong Tradition as the Target of Attacks by the Linji Tradition 122 7 Silent Illumination and the Caodong Tradition 144 Conclusion 175 Notes 183 Caodong Lineage 236 Linji Lineage 237 Glossary 239 Bibliography 251 Index 277 v Acknowledgments This book is the product of a process that started very many years ago, and in researching and writing it I have benefited from the advice, help, and support of numerous people. Needless to say, I alone am responsible for its contents. I first wish to express my gratitude to my dissertation advisor, Stanley Weinstein, now professor emeritus at Yale University, who patiently (at least most of the time) imparted to me crucial research skills in Chi- nese Buddhism and without whose instruction and friendship this study would never have been written. I also want to thank Lucie Weinstein for her great kindness during my time at Yale. My gratitude further goes to Birthe Arendrup, who first taught me classical Chinese at the University of Copenhagen, and whose infectious enthusiasm instilled in me a great love of the language from the very beginning. I am also grateful for the generous help afforded me by Henrik H. Sørensen of Copenhagen, who, when I first became interested in Chinese Buddhism, opened up his private library to me and helped me in numerous other ways. I am further indebted to a number of scholars in Buddhist and Chi- nese studies for the advice and support they have offered in various ways over the years. My fellow students and senpai at Yale University, Richard Jaffe, William Bodiford, Yifa, Dan Getz, John McRae, Paul Groner, Anne Dutton, James Dobbins, Timothy Barrett, and Yamabe Nobuyoshi, have all sustained me with friendship, help, and support over the years. Griff Foulk was a reader both of my dissertation and of the manuscript of this book and has offered much helpful advice and encouragement. I have also in numerous ways benefited from discussions with, and helpful suggestions from, Peter Gregory, Steve Heine, Miriam Levering, Dan Stevenson, Albert Wel- ter, Robert Buswell, Mark Halperin, Robert Sharf, Koichi Shinohara, Linda Penkower, Valerie Hansen, Ellen Neskar (who was a manuscript reader for this book), and many others who cannot be listed here. My former colleagues in the Department of Religious Studies at Victo- ria University of Wellington, Paul Morris, Jim Veitch, and Kate Blackstone, offered much support and encouragement at a time whenI was both teach- ing my first courses and finishing up my dissertation.M y current colleagues at the University of Iowa have also been highly supportive; I especially wish vii viii Acknowledgments to thank Janine Sawada, Fred Smith, and Ray Mentzer. I am also grateful for the assistance in getting needed materials that I have received from the East Asia librarians at the University of Iowa, Min Tian and Chiaki Sakai (who also checked the Japanese bibliography items for me). I further want to acknowledge the generous support I have received in various ways from the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Iowa. A major part of the research for this study was done over two years at Komazawa University, where I was supported by a fellowship from the Bukkyō Dendō Kyōkai. I am grateful to both institutions. At Komazawa Uni- versity, I benefited immeasurably from the instruction and guidance gen- erously offered by Ishii Shūdō, whose work on Song Chan Buddhism will remain a point of departure for research in the area for years to come. Ishii- sensei and his late wife, Emi-san, also showed me great kindness and did much to make my stay in Japan a very pleasant experience. Ogawa Takeshi, David and Diane Riggs, my fellow kenkyūin, the venerable Zhanru, as well as Yoshizu Yoshihide and Satō Shūkō, among others, also offered help and friendship during this period. Further research for this book was done during 2001–2002, when I held a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and I gratefully acknowledge the support of this insti- tution. Finally, I want to thank Ruth Homrighaus, whose skillful editing at various stages has done much to improve this book. The publication of this book was supported by subvention grants from the Office of the Vice President for Research, the Department of Religious Studies, and the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies of the University of Iowa. I want to express my gratitude to each of these institutions. My parents, Grete and Vagn Schlütter, and my siblings, Annette Bering and Carsten Schlütter, have never wavered in their loving support of me, no matter what my chosen path; I feel deeply grateful to them and a tinge of regret that my father did not live to see this work in print. Last, I owe a great debt to my wife, Katina Lillios, for her enduring love, patience, and intellectual companionship, and to our son, Rasmus, who never lets me for- get that life can be full of unexpected joys. Conventions Names of Chinese Monastics Song-dynasty Chinese monks and nuns were given two-character dharma (or tonsure) names when they took tonsure, which essentially replaced their given and family names (for more on this, see chapter 3). Most monastics were known throughout their lives by their dharma names; however, sources commonly identify monks or nuns with only the last of the two characters in these names, and sometimes it is the only one known to posterity. When a monastic became the abbot of a monastery, the name of the monastery or its location was added in front of his dharma name in referring to him. Frequently, a Chan master, especially if he was famous, would be referred to just by the name of his location. Dongshan Liangjie, for example, is often referred to as Dongshan, the mountain where his monastery was, although “Liangjie,” his dharma name, would be a more precise reference. Since most Chan masters were abbots at a number of different monasteries in succession, how they were referred to would also change. However, once a monk had passed away, his name would be more or less fixed to the name of the monastery with which he was most strongly associated, whether that was where he had resided the longest or the most prestigious of the monasteries where he served. Masters who were bestowed an honorific name by the court, often posthumously, would normally be known under those names rather than by the names of monasteries with which they were associated. Dahui Zonggao, who is best known by his honorific “Dahui,” is such an example. (“Zonggao” is his dharma name.) Furthermore, elite monks would often be given sobriquets by members of the educated elite that they sometimes became known by; thus, Dahui was given the name “Miaoxi” by the famous statesman Zhang Shangying, a name that was often used by both Dahui and others. The sources are not consistent, and one master may be found referred to with a number of different names. In this book, I try to more or less consistently use dharma names, except in cases where a monastic is well known under another name. Names of Secular Persons Chinese names consist of a family name and a given name, in that order. The family name is usually only one character. Literati are often known by ix x Conventions various sobriquets, but in this book I use their given names. In the case of the famous poet and statesman commonly known as Su Dongpo (Mr. Su of the Eastern Slope), for example, I use Su Shi.

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