Buddhism, Chan Chánzōng Fójiào 禅宗佛教

◀ Buddhism Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667.

Although its emphasis on seated meditation is saying nothing, but simply holding up a flower. The line rooted in Indian Buddhism, Chan Buddhism of transmission was carried on through twenty-seven is a genuinely Chinese product. The goal of Indian patriarchs and eventually to Bodhidharma, who Chan practice is to attain a sudden awakening allegedly traveled to China around 520 ce and founded the Chan School. It is said that Bodhidharma meditated of one’s inherent Buddha-nature. Chan texts by facing the wall for nine years and that even his legs are well known for their iconoclastic, non- became withered. conceptual style, characterized by a unique Bodhidharma is acknowledged as the first patriarch form of intuitive, spontaneous “encounter of Chinese Chan Buddhism. From him the patriarchal dialogues” between Chan Buddhists. lineage was transmitted to Huike (c. 485–574 ce), Sen- gzan (d. 606 ce), Daoxin (580–651 ce), and Hungren (601–674 ce). (These are not family names but “dharma names,” Buddhist names given to monks and nuns.) After han is a Mahayana Buddhist school that de- Hungren the Chan lineage was split into two branches: veloped in the Tang dynasty (618–907 ce) and the Northern School led by Shenxiu (605?–706 ce), who flourished in the Song dynasty (960–1279). It is said to have taught gradual enlightenment (jianwu), and emerged as a reaction against the intellectual tendency to the Southern School led by Huineng (638–713 ce), who conceptualize Buddhism. The wordchan is from an abbre- taught sudden enlightenment (dunwu 頓悟). Shenxiu’s viation of channa, which is in turn a Chinese translitera- school eventually declined while the Southern School tion of the Sanskrit word dhyâna, meaning “meditation.” continued to grow. Huineng was later recognized as the Aside from the Indian Buddhist emphasis on meditation, legitimate sixth patriarch. His autobiography, sermons, Chan also appropriates indigenous Daoist concepts such and verbal exchanges with his disciples were included in as naturalism, nondualism, and nonaction (wuwei). the Platform Sûtra of the Sixth Patriarch (Liuzu Tanjing), dated around 780. From Huineng the Chan lineage was expanded into History the Five Houses and Seven Sects (wujia qizong). Among them the Linji School founded by Linji Yixuan (d. 866 ce) Chan traces itself back to the historical Buddha and the Caodong School by Caoshan Benji (840–901 ce) (c. 566–486 bce). According to the classical accounts of and Donshan Liangjia (807–869 ce) gained prominence Chan lineage, during one of his sermons ´Sâkyamuni (the in the Song dynasty. Both Linji and Caodong were intro- historical Buddha) made a wordless mind-to-mind trans- duced to Japan and Korea around the twelfth century and mission (ixin chuanxin) to his disciple Mahâkâ´syapa by have continued to flourish there. 227

Doctrine and Practice A monk asked Zhaozhou: “Does a dog have Buddha-nature or not?” As a school of Mahayana Buddhism, Chan’s rationale for The master said: “No wu( )!” universal salvation is based on the doctrine of Tathâgata- garbha (rulai zang), embryo of the Buddha “Thus-come.” “No” is the huatou, “head of speech,” of this entire According to this doctrine, Buddha-nature as the abso- exchange. Dahui instructed students to simply meditate lute reality is the basis for human perfectibility. Every huatou and emphasized the peculiar role of doubt (yi) in person is endowed with a Buddha-mind and can achieve kanhua Chan. He thus claimed, “A great doubt will defi- enlightenment here and now. Enlightenment, as Chan nitely be followed by a great awakening.” claims, is to realize one’s innate Buddha-nature with suf- The Linji School was famous for its advocacy of ficient faith. gong’an meditation, while the Caodong School empha- The vision of Chan as a mind-to-mind transmission sized sitting in meditation, known as“Silent- illumination of the Buddha’s teaching is summarized in the following Chan” (mozhao chan). In practice, however, Chan masters four-part slogan: would usually adopt both forms of meditation in teaching students in the monasteries. A special transmission outside the scriptural teachings (jiaowai biechuan); Not setting up the written wordsbuli ( wenzi). Directly pointing to the human mind (zhizhi Chan Buddhist Literature renxin); A great number of Chan texts were written and compiled Seeing one’s self-nature and achieving during the Song dynasty. The main characteristic of Chan Buddhahood (jianxing chengfo). literature is the unique form of “encounter dialogues.” Although individual phrases appeared already in the There are altogether three distinctive Chan genres: (1) Tang period, this conception of Chan’s self-identity did the “discourse records” (yulu) that focus on the words not emerge as a set formula until the early twelfth century and deeds of a single Chan master; (2) the “lamp histo- and was attributed retrospectively to Bodhidharma. ries” (denglu) that chronologically list the biographical The most common Chan practice is “sitting in medi- accounts of a series of Chan masters in various lineages tation” (zuochan 坐禪). In addition, Chan adopts the of transmission; and (3) the gong’an anthologies, among gong’an as an object of mental absorption. Gong’an, in ori- which the Record of the Blue Cliff (Biyen lu) by Yuanwu gin a secular term for “public or legal case,” is a brief record Keqin and the Gateless Gate (Wumen guan) by Wumen that contains the unique form of intuitive, spontaneous Huikai (1183–1260) are perhaps the most well-known “encounter dialogues” (jiyuan wenda 機緣問答) between works. Chan Buddhists. Mazu Daoyi (709–788 ce), for example, is well known in Chan history for his use of shouting, beating, and paradoxical statements to lead his students Chan and Chinese toward the experience of sudden enlightenment. Literati Culture Under the Linji master Yuanwu Keqin (1063–1135) and his disciple Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163), Chan gong’an was Chan Buddhism had a close connection with Chinese no longer a literary piece intended for reading but rather literati culture. The sudden/gradual polarity that char- an object used for meditation. Dahui, in particular, played acterized the development of Chan became a dominant a significant role in systematizing Chan gong’an medita- theme in Chinese poetic criticism, painting theories, tion into the so-called kanhua Chan (Chan of investigat- and intellectual discourse. Literary critics and poets fre- ing the [critical] phrase). The gong’an that Dahui often quently discussed poetry in terms of Chan’s notion of taught was the one attributed to Zhaozhou Congshen the relationship between practice and enlightenment. (778–897 ce): Theorists of painting liked to analyze artistic expression

© 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC Buddhism, Chan n Chánzōng Fójiào n 禅宗佛教 229 by analogy to the Northern and Southern schools. The Further Reading Chan concept of lineage transmission was influential Shi Daoyuan. (1969). Original teachings of Ch’an Bud- in Song neo-Confucians’ formation of the “Orthodox dhism: Selected from The Transmission of the Lamp (C. Succession of the Dao” (daotong), and the Chan doc- Chang, Trans.). New York: Grove Press. trine of Buddha-nature also played a crucial role in the Dumoulin, H. (1992). Zen Buddhism in the 20th century (J. neo-Confucian advocacy of “Learning of the Mind” O’Leary, Trans.). New York: Weatherhill. (xinxue). Dumoulin, H. (1994). Zen Buddhism: A history, India & China with a new supplement on the Northern School of Chinese Zen. New York: Macmillan. Faure, B. (1991). The rhetoric of immediacy: A cultural cri- Chan Today tique of Chan/Zen Buddhism. Princeton, NJ: Princ- In modern China notable monks such as Taixu (1890– eton University Press. 1947) and Yinshun (1906–2005) studied Chan. Xuyun Gregory, P. N. (Ed.). (1987). Sudden and gradual: Ap- proaches to enlightenment in Chinese thought. Hono- (1840–1959) was a renowned Linji master, and Shengyan lulu: University of Hawaii Press. (b. 1930) received the dharma (basic principles of cosmic Heine, S. (2000). The koan: Texts and contexts in Zen Bud- or individual existence) transmission in both the Linji and dhism. New York: Oxford University Press. Caodong lineages. Chan meditation is a common practice McRae, J. R. (1987). The Northern School and the forma- among Chinese Buddhists today. Since the 1960s Chan tion of early Ch’an Buddhism. Honolulu: University of has also attracted a large number of people in the West. Hawaii Press. Known commonly in the West as “zen” for its Japanese Miura, I., & Sasaki, R. F. (1966). The Zen koan: Its history pronunciation, Chan becomes a fashion of spiritual pur- and use in Rinzai Zen. New York: Harvest Books. suit and a source of inspiration for artistic expression. Pittman, D. A. (2001). Toward a modern Chinese Bud- dhism: Taixu’s reforms. Honolulu: University of Ha- Ding-hwa HSIEH waii Press. Poceski, M. (2007). Ordinary mind as the way: The Hong- zhou School and the growth of Chan Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press.

Share the Encyclopedia of China: Teachers are welcome to make up to 10 copies of no more than 3 articles for distri- bution in a single course or program. For further permissions, please visit www.copyright.com. PDFs available from www.berkshirepublishing.com. © Get Permissions

Buddhism, Four Sacred Sites of ▶