Dayi Daoxin
Dayi Daoxin | |
|---|---|
Jianzhi Sengcan | |
| Successor | Daman Hongren |
| Part of a series on |
| Mahāyāna Buddhism |
|---|
 |
Dayi Daoxin (
The earliest mention of Daoxin is in the "Further Biographies of Eminent Monks" (
Biography
Daoxin, whose surname was Si-ma, was born in Yongning County, Qizhou (Chinese: 蕲州府永宁县), which is the former Guangji County (Chinese: 湖北省广济县; 742–1987), renamed in 1987 as Wuxue City, Hubei Province (Chinese: 湖北省武穴市).[3] He began studying Buddhism at the age of seven and although his teacher was a man of impure moral conduct, Daoxin maintained the Buddhist morality on his own without his teacher's knowledge for five or six years.
According to Jianzhi Sengcan's chronicle in the Compendium of Five Lamps, Daoxin met Sengcan when he was only fourteen years old. The following exchange took place:
- Daoxin: I ask for the Master’s compassion. Please instruct me on how to achieve release.
- Sengcan: Is there someone who constrains [binds] you?
- Daoxin: There is no such person.
- Sengcan: Why then seek release when you are constrained by no one?[4]
Upon hearing these words, Daoxin was enlightened. He attended to Sengcan for the next nine years. When Sengcan went to
In 617, Daoxin and some of his disciples traveled to Ji Province (modern
Daoxin eventually settled at East Mountain Temple on Shuangfeng ("Twin Peaks") where he taught Chan Buddhism for thirty years and attracted large numbers of practitioners, some records say five hundred laypeople and monks.[7] In 643 the emperor Tai Zong invited Daoxin to the capital city but Daoxin refused to appear. Three times the emperor sent emissaries and three times Daoxin refused the invitation. The third time the emperor instructed to either bring back Daoxin or his head. When the emissary related this instruction to Daoxin, Daoxin exposed and stretched out his neck to allow the emissary to chop off his head. The envoy was so shocked he reported this event to the emperor, who then honored Daoxin as an exemplary Buddhist monk.[8]
In August, 651, Daoxin ordered his students to build his stupa as he was soon to die. According to the Hsü kao-seng chuan, when asked by his disciples to name a successor, Daoxin replied, “I have made many deputations during my life.”[7] He then died.[9] The emperor Dai Zong honored Daoxin with the posthumous name “Dayi” (Great Healer).
Teachings
The teachings of Daoxin (and his successor,
As the record of Daoxin's teachings (The Five Gates of Daoxin) did not appear until the second decade of the eighth century, after Hongren's record, its historical accuracy is in some doubt.
References
- ^ McRae, 1986:31-33
- ^ “Given the tenuous nature of our sources, the sequence of the first five Chán patriarchs cannot be determined with full certainty.” Dumoulin (1994, 1998) p 98
- ^ McRae, 1986:33
- ^ Zong (see also :Ferguson, 2000:24)
- ^ McRae, 1986:261
- ^ Ferguson, 2000:26 (note: McRae disputes that Daoxin met Zhikai; see p 283, n. 60)
- ^ a b McRae, 1986:32
- ^ Ferguson, 2000:28)
- ^ The Ch’üan fa-pao chi (Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma-treasure) gives a different story regarding who would receive transmission upon Daoxin’s death. When asked, Daoxin paused and replied with a sigh, “Hung-jen is a bit better [than any of the others]” (McRae, 1986:263)
- ^ McRae, 1986:30
- ^ p 99
- ^ McRae disputes this, asserting that the community received outside financial support and that it was “unlikely that the monks …maintained an agricultural operation of any significant size” p 286 n. 86
- ^ see McRae, 2003:37-38
- ^ Dumoulin (1994, 1988) p 99
- ^ McRae, (1986:33) calls the anecdote in the Chronicle “entertaining, but it cannot be taken seriously”.
- ^ cited in Dumoulin (1994, 1988) p 99
- ^ Dumoulin (1994, 1988) p. 100
- ^ Ferguson, 2000:28
Sources
- ISBN 0-02-897109-4
- Ferguson, Andy (2000) Zen's Chinese heritage: the masters and their teachings, ISBN 0-86171-163-7
- McRae, John R (1986) The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch'an Buddhism, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 0-8248-1056-2
- Zong, Desheng (2005) Three Language-Related Methods in Early Chinese Chan Buddhism, Philosophy East and West 55.4 (Oct 2005) p 584 (19)
Further reading
- Chappell, David W. (1983) "The Teachings of the Fourth Ch'an Patriarch Tao Hs'in," Early Ch'an in China and Tibet, U C Regents ISBN 978-0895811523
- Cleary, J. C. (1986) "Records of the Teachers and Students of the Lanka," Zen Dawn, Shambhala ISBN 978-0877733591
- Cleary, Thomas (1990) Transmission of Light: Zen in the Art of Enlightenment by Zen Master Keizan, North Point Press ISBN 0-86547-433-8
- McRae, John R (2003) Seeing through Zen: encounter, transformation, and genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-23798-6