Linji Yixuan

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

Linji Yixuan (traditional Chinese: 臨濟義玄; simplified Chinese: 临济义玄; 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.

Biography

Information on Linji is based on the Línjì yǔlù, the recorded sayings of Linji. 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. He was trained by the Chán 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 from which he took his name, and which also became the name for the lineage of his form of Chán.

Línjì yǔlù

The Línjì yǔlù (臨濟語錄; Japanese: Rinzai-goroku), the Record of Linji, is a collection of sayings and anecdotes attributed to Linji. The standard form of these sayings was not completed until two hundred fifty years after Linji's death, and likely reflects the teaching of Chán in the Linji school at the beginning of the Song dynasty rather than that of Linji in particular.

The Línjì yǔlù contains stories of Linji's interactions with teachers, contemporaries, and students. The recorded lectures are a mixture of the conventional and the iconoclastic; those who resented the iconoclasm saw Linji as “one of the most infamous Chinese Chan masters who censored traditional Buddhist practices and doctrines.” Despite the iconoclasm, however, the Línjì yǔlù reflects a thorough knowledge of the sūtras; Linji's style of teaching, as recorded in that text, exemplifies Chán development in the Hongzhou school (洪州宗) of Mazu and his successors, such as Huangbo, Linji's master.

Teaching style

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

Linji is perhaps best known for his iconoclasm, hitting and shouting, and the use of shocking language in his sermons to disrupt the tendency of his listeners to grasp at things like bodhi, buddhas, patriarchs, bodhisattvas, stages of practice and levels of attainment. He famously said, "If you meet a buddha, kill the buddha." While the language may be extreme, this reflects a pervasive Chan tendency which considers grasping at buddhas, nirvana, Dharma, and other such related Buddhist concepts, as a kind of delusion. For example, Shenhui points out that while lust for wealth and sex are "gross falsity," activating one's intention to grasp bodhi, nirvana, emptiness, purity, and concentration, is "subtle falsity." Likewise, Huangbo said that to conceive of a buddha is to be obstructed by that buddha, while the Bloodstream Sermon criticized the worshipping of buddhas as holding onto appearances.

According to Linji, Zen students fail to make spiritual progress because they lack faith in themselves and are thereby "twisted and turned" by whatever environment they encounter. They cling to phrases and are obstructed by words like "common mortal" and "sage," and for Linji, this is to still be dependent on something. Rather than rely on buddhas, bodhisattvas, and patriarchs, Linji taught his listeners that they should be non-dependent persons of the Way:

"You listening to the Dharma, if you are men of the Way who depend on nothing, then you are the mother of the buddhas. Therefore the buddhas are born from the realm that leans on nothing. If you can waken to this leaning on nothing, then there will be no Buddha to get hold of. If you can see things in this way, this is a true and proper understanding."

Although we may be "twisted and turned" by dependencies and externals, Linji taught that our true nature remains a "solitary brightness" that is not swayed by various situations or environments. He says: "Followers of the Way, this lone brightness before my eyes now, this person plainly listening to me—this person is unimpeded at any point but penetrates the ten directions, free to do as he pleases in the threefold world. No matter what environment he may encounter, with its peculiarities and differences, he cannot be swayed or pulled awry."

Linji criticized relying on methods and practices in order to realize this true nature. He said that to engage in religious practice was to generate karma keeping one bound to the realm of birth and death, while our true nature, "this person who is right now listening to the Dharma," was without any adornments or practices. Instead of reliance on practices to see our true nature, Linji taught that we should simply have faith in it: "Just have faith in this thing that is operating in you right now. Outside of it, nothing else exists." According to Buswell, faith for Linji was not blind acceptance, but an inherent faculty emanating constantly from the enlightened nature, and was thus equivalent to the "innate functioning" of the mind-essence. Buswell also notes the striking difference between Linji's teachings, in which faith plays a prominent role, and the teachings of the later Linji School master, Dahui, who valued doubt over faith.

In addition to faith, Linji also emphasized non-seeking and "wu-shih" (無事), a term often translated as "nothing-to-do," but which also has the meaning of no affairs, no concerns, no matters, and no business. He says:

"Followers of the Way, as I look at it, we're no different from Shakyamuni. In all our various activities each day, is there anything we lack? The wonderful light of the six faculties has never for a moment ceased to shine. If you could just look at it this way, then you'd be the kind of person who has nothing to do for the rest of his life."

Accordingly, Linji taught that there was no need to make any special effort. Instead, we have simply to be ordinary: "Followers of the Way, as to buddhadharma, no effort is necessary. You have only to be ordinary, with nothing to do—defecating, urinating, wearing clothes, eating food, and lying down when tired." As Jinhua Jia points out, this recognition of the fundamental value of the human being echoes the teachings of Mazu Daoyi, for whom everyday ordinary activities were the function of buddha-nature.

Linji further connects non-doing with "turning one's light around" (Ch. Fanzhao 返照), a term that occurs throughout various Chan texts. When we stop our seeking and turn our own light in upon ourselves, Linji tells us, we will on that very instant have nothing to do. However, "turning one's light around" does not necessarily imply anything like staring at the mind or concentrating within. Linji quotes Shenhui's well-known criticism of such things as arresting the mind, staring at silence, summoning the mind to focus it on externals, controlling the mind to make it clear within, and concentrating the mind to enter into meditation. Moreover, Linji says that looking for something within is just as wrong as seeking externally, since there's nothing within that can be grasped. He says: "Outside the mind there is no Dharma, and even inside the mind it can't be grasped. So what is there to seek for?"

Lineage

	CHINESE NAME	LIFE DATES	VIỆT NAME	JAPANESE NAME	KOREAN NAME
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	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
• List of Rinzai Buddhists

References

Works cited

• Buswell, Robert E. Jr. (1992). "Ch'an Hermeneutics: A Korean View". In Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (ed.). Buddhist Hermeneutics. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press (Kuroda Institute Studies in East Asian Buddhism 6). pp. 231–256.
• 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
• Welter, Albert (n.d.), The Textual History of the Linji lu (Record of Linji): The Earliest Recorded Fragments

Further reading

• Lowenstein, Tom (2002), The Vision of the Buddha: Buddhism: The Path to Spiritual Enlightenment, Duncan Baird, ISBN 1-903296-91-9
• McMahan, David L. (2008), The Making of Buddhist Modernism, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-518327-6
• Schloegl, Irmgard (1976), The Zen Teaching of Rinzai, Berkeley: Shambhala Publications, ISBN 0-87773-087-3
• 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
• 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 (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
• Welter, Albert (n.d.), "The Textual History of the Linji lu (Record of Linji): The Earliest Recorded Fragments", thezensite
• Yixuan, Linji (1976), The Zen Teaching of Rinzai: The Record of Rinzai, The Clear Light Series, translated by Irmgard Schloegel, Berkeley: Shambhala, ISBN 978-0394731766
• Yixuan, Linji (2009), Kirchner, Thomas Yuho (ed.), The Record of Linji, translated by Ruth Fuller Sasaki, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824833190

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

Converts to Buddhism from atheism or agnosticism