Tuesday, October 8, 2024

A00069 - Chao-Chou, Ninth Century Chinese Zen Buddhist Master

  Chao-Chou - A00042

"In this life, if I meet an old person of eighty or ninety years, experienced in the Dharma, who needs to learn something from me, I will teach.  And if I meet a young girl of seven years who has something to teach me, I will sit at her feet and learn."  (10/24/2023)

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Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn
Woodcut from Fozu zhengzong daoying (1880)
TitleCh'an-shih
Personal
Born778
China
Died897 (aged 118–119)
ReligionBuddhism
NationalityChinese
SchoolCh'an
Zhaozhou Congshen
Chinese name
Chinese趙州從諗
Transcriptions
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetTriệu Châu Tùng Thẩm
Hán-Nôm趙州從諗
Korean name
Hangul조주종심
Hanja趙州從諗
Japanese name
Kanji趙州従諗
Transcriptions

Zhaozhou Congshen (Chinese: 趙州從諗; pinyin: Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn; Wade–Giles:



































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Zhaozhou Congshen (Chinese: 趙州從諗; pinyin: Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn; Wade–Giles: Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen'; Japanese: 趙州従諗, romanized: Jōshū Jūshin) (778–897) was a Chán (Zen) Buddhist master who appears frequently in the koans of the Mumonkan and the Blue Cliff Record.

Zhaozhou became ordained as a monk at an early age. At the age of 18, he met Nánquán Pǔyuàn (南泉普願 748–835; J: Nansen Fugan), a successor of Mǎzǔ Dàoyī (709–788; J. Baso Do-itsu), and eventually received the Dharma from him.[1] Zhaozhou continued to practice under Nanquan until the latter's death.

Subsequently, Zhaozhou began to travel throughout China, visiting the prominent Chan masters of the time before finally, at the age of eighty, settling in Guānyīnyuàn (觀音院), a ruined temple in northern China.[1] There, for the next forty years, he taught a small group of monks. This temple, now called Bailin Temple, was rebuilt after the Cultural Revolution and is nowadays again a prominent center of Chinese Buddhism.[2]

Influence

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Zhaozhou is sometimes touted as the greatest Chan master of Tang dynasty China during a time when its hegemony was disintegrating as more and more regional military governors (jiédùshǐ) began to assert their power. Zhaozhou's lineage died out quickly due to the many wars and frequent purges of Buddhism in China at the time, and cannot be documented beyond the year 1000.

Zhaozhou is remembered for his verbal inventiveness and sense of humor.[3] One of his recorded sayings is:

A monk asked the Master, "What is a true statement?" Zhaozhou replied, "Your mother is ugly."[3]

Many koans in both the Blue Cliff Record and The Gateless Gate concern Zhaozhou, with twelve cases in the former and five in the latter being attributed to him. Mumonkan case (koan) 19 records a dialogue between Nanquan and Zhaozhou, with Jōshū asking Nansen "What is the Way [Tao]?", to which Nansen responds ordinary mind is the way,[note 1] a famous dictum of Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and the Hongzhou school. He is probably best known for the first koan in The Gateless Gate:

A monk asked Chao-chou, "Has the dog Buddha-nature or not?" Chao-chou said, "Wu."[4]

Japanese Zen monk Shunryū Suzuki refers to Zhaozhou (as Jōshū) in his book Zen Mind, Beginner's mind. He uses the following saying from Zhaozhou to illustrate the point that Zen practice should not have a particular purpose or goal: "A clay Buddha cannot cross water; a bronze Buddha cannot get through a furnace; a wooden Buddha cannot get through fire".[5]

Notes

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  1. ^ See Ed Shozen Haber, Mumonkan Case 19, and Barry Magid, Ordinary Mind is the Way.

References

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  1. ^ Jump up to:a b Green (1988), p. xx.
  2. ^ Zhu (2003).
  3. ^ Jump up to:a b Sullivan (2021), p. xxiii.
  4. ^ Dumoulin (2005), p. 167.
  5. ^ Suzuki (1973), p. 75.

Sources

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