The Change Of Perception On ‘enlightenment’ In Chinese Chan During The Tang And Song Dynasties
January 1, 2012
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Volume/Issue: 63
Year Published: 2012
The Mazu Chan, representing Chan of the Tang dynasty in the early 9thcentury, started from ‘One's own mind is Buddha’ or ‘This mind is in itself Buddha’, and its main teachings are summarized as the phrases; ‘The mind is Buddha, just as it is’ or ‘One's original mind is, as it is, the Way’. The substantial formation of the Chinese Chan School originated from these ideas under the Mazu School. The Chan School was divided into ‘Five Houses’ over the period from the late Tang to the Five Dynasties. Later on, in the North Song dynasty, the Linji School branched off into the Yangqi branch and the Huanglong branch . In these two branches, critical minds were heightened about the Chan in the Tang dynasty. Especially, the Yangqi branch blamed the Chan traditions in the Tang dynasty on the point that the tradition, though ideologically believed to be extensions of the Mazu Chan , remained steadfast in peace in the thought of ‘The mind, just as it is, is Buddha’, and further claimed that there should be an enlightenment which sees into the truth breaking through the present state.Mazu and his disciple practitioner, as the mainstream of the Chan in the Tang dynasty, said that original nature and everyday life are not the two but one and the same, and the ordinary as it is, is the deed of Buddha, so was called “the ordinary is No hindrance.” However, “the ordinary is No hindrance” meant no ‘remaining steadfast in peace.’ Mazu, through connecting him with his disciples and leading them to the Way by means of question and answer, let the practitioners themselves realize that ‘the mind is Buddha, just as it is.’ This method of ‘connecting by means of question and answer’ was also performed in Shitou lineage. They regarded mastering of original nature as important and did not recognize ‘No hindrance without enlightenment’. Linji, Zhaozhou, Deshan, etc. altogether made Chan practitioners, who seek for Buddhahood and the mind without knowing that the ordinary is originally no hindrance, acquire enlightenment by using a fist-punching, a stick-striking or a sudden shouting.Chan practitioner in the North Song dynasty criticized the Chan in the Tang dynasty for its being ‘No Hindrance Chan’ without enlightenment. Although Zhaojue of the Huanglong branch alone had succeeded to ‘No hindrance Chan’ tradition, his fellow disciplines such as Huitang and Zhenjing criticized severely his succession. Further, Baiyun and the Five Patriarchs etc. of the Yangqi branch insisted upon acquisition of enlightenment. Yuanwu, who had inherited the dharma from the Five Patriarchs, being influenced by them, emphasized in his writings and recorded sayings that ‘No hindrance’, though it being the ultimate culmination of Chan, is necessarily to be thoroughly penetrated into and proposed as methods thereof ‘breaking the gong-an’ and ‘repose yourselves with mindfulness’ etc.In my inquiries, however, I could find out that Yuanwu's criticism on the doctrine of ‘No hindrance’ of the Chan in the Tang dynasty has the inclination to treat a Chan as a mere methodology of enlightenment, while thinking light of its internal stability in the historical context of Chan thoughts. This criticism is believed to have originated from the way of thinking of Yuanwu and the like, which intends to evaluate thoughts by the difference in methodology rather than in content. Viewing that the Chan in the Tang dynasty was one which made practitioners themselves realize the doctrine of “the ordinary is No hindrance” and that the Chan in the Song dynasty was also one which emphasized the knowledge of true “No hindrance” only after enlightenment, it is considered that Chans in the Tang and Song dynasties altogether highly regarded the enlightenment and that its perception alone varied according to the viewpoint of each practitioner. It can be said that such variations inversely became the very causes which determined the Chan tradition by era.
Type of Publication: research-article