Among the outstanding leaders in this period, often called the Golden Age of Chinese Ch'an, was Ma-tsu Tao-i (709-788), a disciple of a disciple of the Sixth Patriarch, who also seems to have had connections with the Northern School. Zen Master Linji and the Southern School: “The Southern School of Ch'an, however, with its centers all located in outlying regions, escaped the worst effects of the rebellion and was able to continue the development and propagation of its teachings. It also inflicted a severe blow on the schools of Buddhism that were centered in the capitals and had depended on the support of the ruler and the aristocracy,!which included the Northern School of Ch'an mentioned earlier.” The rebellion permanently weakened the power of the central government, particularly its ability to control oudying areas, and thereafter many such areas functioned as virtually independent political units. The capitals were seized by the rebel forces and the ruler and his court fled into exile, and though the insurgents were in time driven back, the nation continued to be racked by internal warfare until 763. The An Lushan Rebellion: “In 755 an ambitious military leader initiated a revolt known as the An Lu-shan Rebellion that plunged the nation into armed strife and came near overthrowing the dynasty. When we hear of him next, he is a member of the group of monks gathered about a master referred to in the Lin-chi lu as Huang-po.” This is evidently what Lin-chi did, leaving his native region and journeying to the area south of the Yangtze. Later, he tells us, he grew dissatisfied with these studies and turned his attention to Ch'an.”ĭharma Heir of Huangbo: ”At this time it was customary for monks who were seri- ously interested in Ch'an to travel about the coumry visiting various monasteries and listening to the preaching of differ- ent Ch'an masters until they found a teacher and locale that seemed to fit their particular needs. He thus had a sound knowledge of the scriptures of traditional Mahayana Buddhism, as in-deed is demonstrated by his frequent allusions to such writings. He himself states, in the sermon recorded in section 19 of the Lin-chi lu, that he first devoted himself to a study of the vinaya, or rules for monastic discipline, and the various sutras and treatises. “We do not know when or under what circumstances became a Buddhist monk, though it was presumably at a fairly early age.
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Who is the Chaos Python? ( What is history?)įrom The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi, translated by Burton Watson: