Linji Yixuan

Linji Yixuan
Japanese painting of Linji Yixuan (Jap. Rinzai Gigen).
School	Ch'an
Personal
Born	unknown China
Died	866 CE
Senior posting
Title	Ch'an Master
Religious career
Teacher	Huangbo Xiyun

Linji Yixuan (simplified Chinese: 临济义玄; traditional Chinese: 臨濟義玄; pinyin: Línjì Yìxuán; Wade–Giles: Lin-chi I-hsüan; Japanese: 臨済義玄 Rinzai Gigen; died 866 CE) was the founder of the Linji school of Chán Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China.

Línjì yǔlù

Information on Linji is based on the Línjì yǔlù (臨濟語錄; Japanese: Rinzai-goroku), the Record of Linji. The standard form of these sayings was not completed until 250 years after Linji's death and likely reflect the teaching of Chán in the Linji school at the beginning of the Song Dynasty rather than those of Linji's in particular.^[1]

This contains stories of his interactions with teachers, contemporaries, and students. The recorded lectures are a mixture of the conventional and the iconoclastic. Despite the iconoclasm, the Línjì yǔlù reflects a thorough knowledge of the sutras. Linji's teaching-style, as recorded in the Línjì yǔlù, was exemplary of the development Chán took in the Hongzhou school (洪州宗) of Mazu and his successors, such as Huangbo, Linji's master.

Biography

According to the Línjì yǔlù, Linji was born into a family named Xing (邢) in Caozhou (modern Heze in Shandong), which he left at a young age to study Buddhism in many places.

Also according to the Línjì yǔlù, Linji was trained by the Chan master Huángbò Xīyùn (黃蘗希運), but attained kensho while discussing Huángbò's teaching during a conversation with the reclusive monk Dàyú (大愚). Linji then returned to Huángbò to continue his training after awakening. In 851 CE, Linji moved to the Linji temple in Hebei, where he took his name, which also became the name for the lineage of his form of Chán Buddhism.

Linji's teaching style

A statue of Linji Yixuan under the southern gate of Zhengding Hebei, China

Iconoclasm

Linji is reputed for being iconoclastic, leading students to awakening by hitting and shouting.^[2]

Three Mysterious Gates

Chán faced the challenge of expressing its teachings of "suchness" without getting stuck into words or concepts. The alleged use of shouting and beating was instrumental in this non-conceptual expression - after the students were well-educated in the Buddhist tradition.^[3]

Linji is described as using The Three Mysterious Gates to maintain the Chán emphasis on the nonconceptual nature of reality, while employing sutras and teachings to instruct his students:^[3]

1. The First Gate is the "mystery in the essence",^[4] the use of Buddhist philosophy, such as Yogacara to explain the interpenetration of all phenomena.
2. The Second Gate is the "mystery in the word",^[4] using the Hua Tou^{[lower-alpha 1]} for "the process of gradually disentangling the students from the conceptual workings of the mind".^[4]
3. The Third Gate is the "mystery in the mystery",^[4] "involving completely nonconceptual expressions such as striking or shouting, which are intended to remove all of the defects implicit in conceptual understanding".^[4]

References in popular culture

The titular story of Volume 2 of Kazuo Koike & Goseki Kojima's manga comic Lone Wolf and Cub revolves around Linji's saying "if you meet a buddha, kill the buddha," in which the protagonist must overcome his self to assassinate a living buddha.

In the manga Gensōmaden Saiyūki by Kazuya Minekura, Genjō Sanzō purports to live by the concept of "無一物 (muichimotsu)," as taught by his teacher Sanzō Kōmyō, who is quoted as saying:

Japanese	Romanized	English
「無一物」	"Muichimotsu"	"Have Nothing"
仏に逢えば仏を殺せ	Butsu ni aeba butsu (w)o korose	If you meet a buddha, kill him.
祖に逢えば祖を殺せ	So ni aeba so (w)o korose	If you meet your forefather, kill him.
何物にも捕われず	Nanimono ni mo torawarezu	Attached to nothing,
縛られず	Shibararezu	Bound [to nothing],
ただあるがままに己を生きる	Tada aru ga mama ni onore (w)o ikiru	Live your own life simply as it is.

Linji's lineage

	CHINESE NAME[5]	LIFE DATES	VIỆT NAME[6]	JAPANESE NAME[7]	KOREAN NAME[8]
28 / 1	達磨 / Damo	?	達磨 / Đạtma	だるま / Daruma	달마 / Dalma
29 / 2	慧可 / Shenguang Huìke	487–593	Huệ Khả	Eka	혜가 / Hyega
30 / 3	僧璨 / Jianzhi Sengcan	?–606	Tăng Xán	Sōsan	승찬 / Seungchan
31 / 4	道信 / Dongshan Daoxin	580–651	Đạo Tín	Dōshin	도신 / Doshim
32 / 5	弘忍 / Huangmei Hongren	601/2–674/5	Hoằng Nhẫn	Kōnin	홍인 / Hongihn
33 / 6	慧能 / Caoxi Huineng	638–713	Huệ Năng	Enō	혜능 / Hyeneung
34 / 7	南嶽懷讓 / Nanyue Huairang	677–744	Nam Nhạc Hoài Nhượng	Nangaku Ejō	남악회양 / Namak Hweyang
35 / 8	馬祖道一 / Mazu Daoyi[9]	709–788	Mã Tổ Đạo Nhất	Baso Dōitsu	마조도일 / Majo Toil
36 / 9	百丈懷海 / Baizhang Huaihai	720?/749?–814	Bách Trượng Hoài Hải	Hyakujō Ekai	백장회해 / Paekchang Hwehae
37 / 10	黃蘗希運 / Huangbo Xiyun	?–850	Hoàng Bá Hy Vận	Ōbaku Kiun	황벽희운 / Hwangbyeok Heuiun
38 / 11	臨濟義玄 / Linji Yixuan	?–866/7	Lâm Tế Nghĩa Huyền	Rinzai Gigen	임제의현 / Imje Euihyeon

See also

• Buddhism in China
• Dharma Drum Retreat Center Chán Buddhism retreat center founded by Ch'an master Sheng-yen
• List of Rinzai Buddhists

Notes

1. Stuart Lachs: "The Chinese term Hua-t’ou can be translated as “critical phrase.” Literally it means the “head of speech” or the “point beyond which speech exhausts itself.” In Korean, hua-t’ou are known as hwadu and in Japanese as wato [...] A hua-t’ou is a short phrase (sometimes a part of a koan) that can be taken as a subject of meditation and introspection to focus the mind in a particular way, which is conducive to enlightenment.^{[web 1]}

References

Written references

1. Welter & Year unknown.
2. McRae 1993.
3. Buswell 1993, p. 245-246.
4. Buswell 1993, p. 246.
5. characters and Wade-Giles Romanization
6. See Thiền Sư Trung Quốc for a list of Chinese Zen Masters in Vietnamese.
7. Romaji
8. Hangeul and South Korean Revised Romanization
9. extensive article in Mazu Daoyi

Web-references

1. Stuart Lachs (2012), Hua-t’ou : A Method of Zen Meditation

Sources

• Buswell, Robert E. (1991), The "Short-cut" Approach of K'an-hua Meditation: The Evolution of a Practical Subitism in Chinese Ch'an Buddhism. In: Peter N. Gregory (editor)(1991), Sudden and Gradual. Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers Private Limited
• Keown, Damien. A Dictionary of Buddhism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-860560-9
• Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima. "Lone Wolf and Cub 2: The Gateless Barrier". Dark Horse, 2000. ISBN 1-56971-503-3, ISBN 978-1-56971-503-1
• Lowenstein, Tom. The Vision of the Buddha: Buddhism – The Path to Spiritual Enlightenment. ISBN 1-903296-91-9
• McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-518327-6
• McRae, John (2003), Seeing Through Zen. Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, The University Press Group Ltd, ISBN 978-0-520-23798-8
• Schloegl, Irmgard. The Zen Teaching of Rinzai. Shambhala Publications, Inc., Berkeley, 1976. ISBN 0-87773-087-3
• Watson, Burton (1999), The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi: A Translation of the Lin-chi lu, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-11485-0
• Welter, Albert (n.d.), The Textual History of the Linji lu (Record of Linji): The Earliest Recorded Fragments

Further reading

• Ruth Fuller Sasaki, The Record of Linji
• Welter, Albert (2006), Monks, Rulers, and Literati. The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism, Wisdom Books
• Welter, Albert (2008), The Linji Lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy: The Development of Chan's Records of Sayings Literature, Oxford University Press
• Schlütter, Morten (2008), How Zen became Zen. The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China, Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press, ISBN 978-0-8248-3508-8

External links

• Taisho Tripitaka Vol. 47, No. 1985 The Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association online Chinese character text of The Record of Linji (臨濟録 Linji Lu)
• Japanese translation of Linji
• The record of Linji. Translation by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, and introduction by Yanagida Seizan
• The Zen Teaching of Rinzai (a.k.a. The Record of Rinzai) Translation by Irmgard Schloegel PDF Text
• Albert Welter, The Textual History of the Linji lu (Record of Linji): The Earliest Recorded Fragments