by Youru Wang
See also ; ; .
YIXIN YINXIN
A classical Chan expression referring to the transmission of mind, or more accurately, the transmission from mind to mind (yixin chuanxin). When interpreting “the transmission from mind to mind” in his Chuanxin Fayao, Huangbo Xiyun emphasized that mind and mind verify and accord with each other (yixin yinxin) so that they become the same (xinxin buyi). The crucial element in this expression is the word yin. As a verb, yin involves the meanings “to accord or to harmonize with each other,” “to verify each other,” and so forth. For Huangbo Xiyun, the transmission from mind to mind must be understood as the mutual realization or verification of enlightenment. The mind of the master and the mind of the disciple are brought into harmony or accord by each one’s enlightenment. This is the true meaning of transmission. The verification (yin) of enlightenment cannot be understood as merely interior. It must be characterized as neither interior nor exterior, since it can never be cut off from, or confined to, one side or the other. It is the existential-practical transformation of the entire personhood through everyday activities.
See also .
YIXING SANMEI
See .
YIZIGUAN
This Chinese expression means “one-word barrier.” It refers to Yunmen Wenyan’s celebrated use of only one-word answers to the various questions posed by his audiences. Being elusive, sometimes seemingly irrelevant, and beyond either negative or positive answers, “one-word barrier” attempts to use the smallest number of words to break the barrier of words, to overcome the limitation of words and the conventional way of dualistic thinking. It is a strategy to serve the purpose of indirect communication and to produce effects of shocking therapy, helping students to achieve a breakthrough.
YONG
Paired with another Chinese word, ti, it is one of the most frequently used categories in Chinese philosophy and in Chinese Buddhist, especially Chan, teachings. Yong means “function” or “use,” but all functions or uses are the function or use of the whole—the ti itself. In Chan Buddhism, ti refers to the dharma body (fashen), true suchness (zhenru), Buddha-mind, original mind, one mind, Buddha-nature, self-nature, and so forth. All ordinary activities, or events, are the functions and uses of Buddha-nature—the ti. Ordinary activities (yong) and Buddha-nature (ti) are non-dualistic.
YONGJIA JI
Collected Works of Yongjia, also called Chanzong Yongjia Ji (Collected Works of Yongjia of the Chan School), is a compilation of 10 papers, most of which are poetic writings, on the process, principles, and methods of meditation, authored by the Chan master Yongjia Xuanjue of the Tang dynasty and collected and prefaced by Xuanjue’s friend, Weijing (d.u.), after Xuanjue’s death. This book not only excluded Xuanjue’s most famous Zhengdao Ge (Song of the Realization of the Way), but also differed significantly from the latter in content, rhetoric, and style. The first three papers belonged to the preparation section (xufeng) and referred to setting up good will and formalities, practicing moral precepts, and cultivating pure karma. The next five papers belonged to the section of right principle (zhengzong feng), the central part of the book. In these papers, Xuanjue discussed meditation progressively from overcoming delusion through concentration, attaining wisdom through contemplation, practicing both calmness and contemplation in detaching oneself from all phenomena, to achieving the stages of three vehicles. His ten methods of contemplating the mind (guanxin shimen) involved the notions of “three truths (sandi)” and “three kinds of wisdom (sanzhi),” showing the major influence of Tiantai Buddhism on his thought of Chan. The last two papers belonged to the section of communication (liutong feng), including his letter to the Tiantai master Xuanlang (673–754), in which he rejected Xuanlang’s invitation to live in the mountains and expressed his view that whatever one sees is nothing but the occasion to practice the dao; therefore, one should get along with any place and follow conditions (suichu renyuan). The Yongjia Ji triggered several commentaries.
YONGJIA XUANJUE (675–713)
Xuanjue was a Chan master in the Tang dynasty and an obscure but influential figure in the Chan textual history. According to the texts that appeared in the Five Dynasties and the early Song dynasty (240 years or more after his death), such as the Zutang Ji, the Song Gaoseng Zhuang, and the Jingde Chuandeng Lu, Xuanjue was a native of Yongjia in Wenzhou (in present-day Fujian). His family name was Dai, and he became a monk in his youth. Having studied extensively in the Buddhist Tripitaka and specialized in the Tiantai training, he practiced meditation at Longxing Temple in Wenzhou and made friends with Xuanlang (673–754), a disciple of Tiangong Huiwei (634–713), the seventh patriarch of Tiantai Buddhism. In Xuanjue’s search for good teachers, he visited Shenxiu’s followers and eventually met the late Huineng. Xuanjue stayed one night in Huineng’s temple before returning to his own. This meeting became the famous story of “a one night awakening” and the basis of Xuanjue’s claim to being a disciple of Huineng, which was endorsed by the later Chan tradition.
Xuanjue composed 10 papers on meditation, which were collected and prefaced by his friend Weijing (d.u.), the governor of Qingzhou, as Yongjia Ji (Collected Works of Yongjia), after Xuanjue’s death. Weijing’s preface is the earliest extant source for biographical information on Xuanjue. However, Weijing’s preface did not mention that Xuanjue was Huineng’s disciple, nor did the Yongjia Ji include Xuanjue’s rhymed Chan poem, known as Song of the Realization of the Way (Zhengdao Ge), first presented by the Jingde Chuandeng Lu, which became one of the most cited Chan poems in the Chan textual history. The rhetoric, style, and content of the papers in the Yongjia Ji are very different from those of the Zhengdao Ge. The Yongjia Ji reflects the Tiantai approach of contemplation, while the Zhengdao Ge resembles the teaching of the Hongzhou school. The earliest extant manuscript of the Zhengdao Ge (dated in 980) was discovered among the Dunhuang documents in the 20th century under the title Chanmen Miyaojue (Secret Essential Methods of Chan School), authored by a Chan master of a different name, Zhaojue. The authenticity of Xuanjue’s authorship of the Zhengdao Ge and his identity as a dharma heir in the lineage of Huineng were questioned as early as in the Song dynasty, by the monks from Tiantai Buddhism, and modern scholars have similar doubts.
YONGJUE YUANXIAN (1578–1657)
A Chan master of the Caodong school in the Ming dynasty, Yuanxian was a native of Jianyang in Fujian. His family name was Cai. During his youth, he immersed himself in the study of Confucian classics and neo-Confucian works. At the age of 25, he started to learn Buddhism. A year later, he decided to study Chan. At the age of 40, he became a disciple of Wuming Huijing, and his enlightenment was soon verified by Huijing. When Huijing died, he followed Huijing’s senior disciple, Wuyi Yuanlai, and was officially ordained by Yuanlai. Later, Yuanxian became abbot at several Chan temples, including Yongquan Temple at Mount Drum in Fuzhou and Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou. His teaching of Chan was successful, and was called Gushan Chan (“Chan at Mount Drum”).
The most conspicuous aspect of his teaching is his syncretistic attitude toward the relationship among Chan, scriptural teachings and precepts, and among Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism. His justification for the syncretism toward different schools of Buddhism is that Chan, scriptural teachings, and precepts are all from one source, and none can be absent from the unity of Buddhism. For the three greater Chinese traditions of Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism, his syncretistic theory is that all three traditions share the same single underlying principle (liyi). Although in responding to myriad different opportunities (jishu), three different teachings are given, they are in fact one (sanjiao shiyi). The rhetoric of the liyi jishu sounds very similar to the neo-Confucian notion of liyi fengshu (all separate different things embody one underlying principle). Yuanxian’s teachings were preserved in the 30-fascicle Extensive Records of Chan Master Yongjue Yuanxian (Yongjue Yuanxian Chanshi Guanglu). Yuanxian was also a prolific writer who published about 20 works, including scriptural exegesis and Chan transmission
history. Yuanxian’s dharma heir Weilin Daopei further promoted “Gushan Chan” and made the Yongquan Temple a great Chan center in southeast China.
YONGMING YANSHOU (904–975)
A Chan master of the Fayan school in the early Song dynasty, Yanshou was a native of Qiantang (in present-day Zhejiang). His family name was Wang. He read the Lotus Sūtra frequently, but he was a government official before he became a monk and studied with the Chan master Cuiyan (d.u.). Later, he met with the Fayan master Tiantai Deshao, who confirmed Yanshou’s realization. Yanshou preached at Mount Xuedou for some years, his fame growing all the while. In 960, the Wuyue monarch Qian Hongshu (r. 948–978) appointed Yanshou as the first abbot of the newly built temple on Mount Lingyin, and the next year, appointed him the abbot of Yongming Temple in Hangzhou. Yanshou had more than 2,000 followers there and ordained 36 monks from Korea. He died at the age of 72. His posthumous title was Zhijue Chanshi (“Chan Master of Wisdom and Enlightenment”).
Yanshou was one of those rare Chan masters who was also a prolific writer. There are 61 books attributed to him, but many are not extant, and it is difficult to determine if he even wrote these works. The 100-fascicle Zongjing Lu (Records of the Source-Mirror) and the 3-fascicle Wanshan Tonggui Ji (Anthology on the Common End of Myriad Good Deeds) are considered his most important and reliable works. His magnum opus, Zongjing Lu, included some materials about Tang Chan masters that the transmission of the lamp literature did not, which became an important source for the study of Tang Chan Buddhism. The Zongjing Lu’s approach was distinctive from many other collections of Chan sayings aiming to promote the lineage identity and hierarchy. It set up a framework of the one mind as the source and underlying principle (zong) to unify the scriptural teachings (jiao) of Buddhism and Chan practice and to do justice to all Chan lineages. In his Wanshan Tonggui Ji, he used doctrinal teachings from Mahayana scriptures and treatises to justify his point that the realization of one’s own nature and the cultivation of virtuous behavior do not oppose each other.
This syncretistic and non-dualistic approach saw the practice of nianfo (recitation of Buddha’s name) as compatible with the aims of meditation and included it within various good deeds to be cultivated. The later development of Chinese Pure Land Buddhism started to see Yanshou as a Pure Land master, while the evolving Chan tradition with the Linji school’s increasing dominance marginalized Yanshou’s approach to Chan, despite its enduring influence. Recent study of Yanshou tends to reevaluate Yanshou’s legacy for Chan and sees him as a great Chan master and advocate of Mahayana Bodhisattva practice.
YONGQUAN TEMPLE (Ch. Yongquan Si)
Temple of “Abundant Spring.” Located on Mount Drum (Gushan) in Fuzhou in Fujian Province in China, it was built in 908 during the Houliang of the Five Dynasties. In 992, the Song emperor Zhenzong (r. 997–1022) named it Yongquan Chan Temple. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Caodong abbots Yongjue Yuanxian and Weilin Daopei were very successful leaders. Besides the many magnificent buildings, the temple’s Hall of Storing Scriptures (Cangjing Lou) became one of the greatest libraries among the Chinese Buddhist temples, possessing the Ming editions of the Southern canon (Nanzang) and Northern canon (Beizang), the Qing edition of the Qianlong canon (Longzang), and works outside the canon, such as 120 fascicles of Weilin Daopai’s works.
YOU
The literal meanings of this Chinese word include “having,” “carrying,” and “possessing.” In the common usage of Chinese philosophy and religious thought, it designates being or existence, as opposed to “wu,” non-being or non-existence. It is one of the expressions of affirmation. In the Chan Buddhist context, you and wu, existence and non-existence, as all other dualistic concepts, must be transcended in order to free the human mind and move along with the changing circumstances. The purpose and effects of Chan Buddhist non-duality are not just negative, or nihilistic, but rather positive and affirmative of life and existence as the way it is, which is best demonstrated in the popular compound miaoyu (“wondrous being”).
YUANJUE JING AND CHAN
The Perfect Awakening Sūtra, a widely used short form of the complete title, Dafangguang Yuanjue Xiuduoluo Liaoyi Jing (Great Corrective Extensive Perfect Awakening Sūtra of the Complete Doctrine). This scripture appeared around the late 7th to the early 8th centuries as a Chinese translation by a very obscure Indian monk, Buddhatrāta (d.u.). No Sanskrit original or translation in another language has ever been discovered. It has been commonly held that this scripture is a Chinese forgery or apocryphon. However, it was and continues to be a very influential text in Chinese Buddhism, especially for Chan, and is used extensively by Chan Buddhist practitioners. Unlike in other famous Buddhist scriptures, the Buddha, in this sūtra, does not give sermons in any ordinary place, but appears in the highest state of meditation (samādhi), called “great illuminating storehouse of spiritual penetration (shentong daguangming zong),” and answers questions raised, respectively, by 12 bodhisattvas, including Manjuśrī, Samantabhadra, and Maitreya, about the perfect awakening and the ways to cultivate it.
Like the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Dasheng Qixin Lun), this scripture claims the original perfect awakening, the pure mind, or Buddha-nature as a unifying source of all things, encompassing all dualistic distinctions of existence/non-existence, liberation/affliction, enlightenment/ignorance, and so forth. It advocates the supremacy of sudden enlightenment, which goes beyond gradual procedures. The scripture acknowledges different levels of human capacity and for that reason accommodates various ways of cultivation, including practices of meditation and precepts, to let this original illumination shine forth, like polishing a mirror and cleaning away the dust. It is quite clear that this text played a significant role in shaping expressions of Chan ideology. Throughout the history of Chan Buddhism, numerous Chan masters quoted this scripture in their sermons and conversations with students and wrote commentaries on it. Among them, Zongmi’s several commentaries and subcommentaries stand out as the most influential, particularly his Notes to the Great Commentary on the Perfect Awakening Sūtra (Yuanjue Jing Dashu Chao).
YUANJUE JING DASHU CHAO
Notes to the Great Commentary on the Perfect Awakening Sūtra. Written around 823–824, this was Zongmi’s further explanation of his prior work, The Great Commentary on the Perfect Awakening Sūtra (Yuanjue Jing Dashu). The Yuanjue Jing Dashu Chao has 13 fascicles. In the second part of the third fascicle, Zongmi provided data, comparison, and comments on the genealogies, teachings, and practices of seven Chan schools, including the Northern school, the Jingzhong school, the Baodang school, the Hongzhou school, the Ox-Head school, the Heze school, and the South Mountain Buddha-Recitation Gate school (which is not exactly a Chan school). His characterizations of these schools were basically fair and accurate. The information he provided in this work became one of the most reliable sources for the study of Tang Chan Buddhism.
YUANMING LUN
Treatise on Perfect Illumination, a Chan text of nine chapters discovered among the Dunhuang documents and once attributed to Aśvaghoṣa (Maming Pusa, in Chinese), is now considered a transcription of a lecture made by an eminent figure in the Northern school. The author’s teaching was based on his reading of Mahayana scriptures and his experience in mediation. Like other Northern school texts, it focused on the problems of initiating and continuing practice that would lead to the final realization. It shared with Shenxiu’s Guanxin Lun the elaboration on differentiating the pure and defiled aspects of the mind and placed emphasis on the importance of constancy in meditation practice. Interestingly, the so-called sudden teaching was interpreted by the text as the realization of the essence of the mind (xinti) combining with the comprehension of nonsubstantiality, while the gradual teaching was limited to the early Buddhist teaching of no-self. The text clarified its position that, although the practice required a progression from external to internal objects of contemplation, in the moment of enlightenment the meditator transformed himself by the eradica
tion of all his illusions, including the subject-object dualism.
YUANWU KEQIN (1063–1135)
A Chan master in the Yangqi lineage of the Linji school in the Song dynasty, he was a native of Pengzhou (in present-day Sichuan). His family name was Luo. After becoming a monk, he studied precepts and scriptures, but he was not satisfied and so turned to the study of Chan. He traveled to several places to see different Chan masters. Everywhere he went, he was praised for his high ability and potential. Finally, he visited Wuzu Fayan in Anhui, but grew angry with Fayan for criticizing him and decided to leave. He returned to Fayan after he fell ill in Suzhou and realized that his teacher had been right. Under Fayan’s training, he became his dharma heir. In 1102, Keqin went back to Sichuan to see his sick mother. He was soon invited by the prefect of Chengdu to be abbot at Zhaojue Temple.
Eight years later, he was invited to the abbacy of Lingquan Monastery at Mount Jia in Hunan. During that time, he started to deliver his famous lectures on the Yunmen master Xuedou Chongxian’s Verses on One Hundred Old Cases (Songgu Baize). These lectures and commentaries were later published as the Biyan Lu (Blue Cliff Record), which became one of the most important texts for the study of gong’an in the Linji tradition. Keqin was also invited to teach at several other temples, including three years at Tianning Temple in the capital, Kaifeng. His preaching was very successful and popular, not only among ordinary people but also among literati, high-ranking officials, and emperors. It was said that he had about 500 disciples. Among them, the most well-known are Dahui Zonggao and Huqiu Shaolong. Keqin returned to Zhaojue Temple in 1130 and died in 1135, at the age of 73. He was granted the titles Fuguo Chanshi (“Chan Master of Buddha Fruit”) by Emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1126) and Yuanwu Chanshi (“Chan Master of Perfect Enlightenment”) by Emperor Gaozong (r. 1127–1162).