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

See also: Linji school

Linji is perhaps best known for his iconoclasm, such as 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, teachers, stages of practice and levels of attainment. For example, he says:

"The way I see it, we should cut off the heads of the Bliss-body and Transformation-body buddhas. Those who have fulfilled the ten stages of bodhisattva practice are no better than hired field hands; those who have attained the enlightenment of the fifty-first and fifty-second stages are prisoners shackled and bound; arhats and pratyekabuddhas are so much filth in the latrine, bodhi and nirvana are hitching posts for donkeys. Why do I speak of them like this? Because you followers of the Way fail to realize that this journey to enlightenment that takes three asamkhya kalpas to accomplish is meaningless. So these things become obstacles in your way. If you were truly proper men of the Way, you would never let that happen."

Linji often takes a mocking tone with his audience: "Followers of the Way, you take the words that come out of the mouths of a bunch of old teachers to be a description of the true Way. You think, 'This is a most wonderful teacher and friend. I have only the mind of a common mortal, I would never dare try to fathom such venerableness.' Blind idiots! You go through life with this kind of understanding, betraying your own two eyes, cringing and faltering like a donkey on an icy road, saying, 'I would never dare speak ill of such a good friend, I'd be afraid of making mouth karma!'" According to Linji, because Zen students lack faith in themselves, they are "twisted and turned" by externals and dependencies. It is this very lack of faith in oneself that prevents one from making spiritual progress. He says:

"When students today fail to make progress, where's the fault? The fault lies in the fact that they don't have faith in themselves! If you don't have faith in yourself, then you'll be forever in a hurry trying to keep up with everything around you, you'll be twisted and turned by whatever environment you're in and you can never move freely. But if you can just stop this mind that goes rushing around moment by moment looking for something, then you'll be no different from the patriarchs and buddhas. Do you want to get to know the patriarchs and buddhas? They're none other than you, the people standing in front of me listening to this lecture on the Dharma!"

Rather than rely on externals like buddhas, bodhisattvas, and patriarchs, Linji taught his listeners to become 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, our true nature remains a "solitary brightness" that is not swayed by various situations or conditions. Linji 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." And also: "It has no shape or form, yet its lone brightness gleams forth. But students don't have faith enough, and instead base their understanding on words and phrases." For Linji, because this true nature has no fixed form, it is always liberated:

"Followers of the Way, this thing called mind has no fixed form; it penetrates all the ten directions. In the eye we call it sight, in the ear we call it hearing; in the nose it detects odors, in the mouth it speaks discourse; in the hand it grasps, in the feet it runs along. Basically it is a single bright essence, but it divides itself into these six functions. And because this single mind has no fixed form, it is everywhere in a state of emancipation. Why do I tell you this? Because you followers of the Way seem to be incapable of stopping this mind that goes rushing around everywhere looking for something. So you get caught up in those idle devices of the men of old."

Linji criticized relying on methods and practices in order to realize this true nature. For example: "You go all over the place, saying, 'There's religious practice, there's enlightenment.' Make no mistake! If there were such a thing as religious practice, it would all be just karma keeping you in the realm of birth and death. You say, 'I observe all the six rules and the ten thousand practices.' In my view all that sort of thing is just creating karma. [...] You, this person who is right now listening to the Dharma here how would you have him practice, how enlighten him, how adorn him? He's not the sort of fellow who can be expected to carry out practices, not the sort who can be adorned." 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." He 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."

Linji, connects non-seeking with "turning one's light around" (Ch. Fanzhao 返照), a term that occurs throughout various Chan texts. He says: "It is because you cannot stop your mind which runs on seeking everywhere that a patriarch said, ‘Bah, superior men! Searching for your heads with your heads!’ When at these words you turn your own light in upon yourselves and never seek elsewhere, then you’ll know that your body and mind are not different from those of the patriarch-buddhas and on the instant have nothing to do—this is called ‘obtaining the dharma.’" However, "turning one's light around" does not necessarily imply anything like staring at the mind or concentrating within. For example, Linji quotes Shenhui, who criticized such things: "The Patriarch Shen-hui said: 'If you try to arrest the mind and stare at silence, summon the mind and focus it on externals, control the mind and make it clear within, concentrate the mind and enter into meditation, all practices of this sort create karma." 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