Life
Mazu Daoyi was a master of the School of Buddhism. Mazu, whose family name was Ma ,
lived during the flowering of Ch'an under the Tang dynasty of China. A native of Sichuan province , during his years as master Mazu lived in province .
As a young man he studied with the sixth Ch'an , Huineng , near Guangzhou in Guangdong province. Later Mazu became a disciple of Huineng's student and successor, Nanyue Huairang , in Hunan province by . Mazu then became Nanyue's dharma-. Eventually Mazu settled at Kung-kung Mountain by Nankang, southern Kiangsi province, where he founded a monastery and gathered scores of disciples. After the sixth and last Patriarch Huineng, Mazu is perhaps the most influential teaching master in the formation of Ch'an Buddhism in China, from which sprang Zen in Japan.
Predecessors
Mazu Daoyi followed that may be said to commence with the Buddha or . In addition to his discourses recorded in the Sutras, the Buddha in person wordlessly gave Chan knowledge in embryo to , from whom it was passed on through a lineage, making transmissions across many generations. After perhaps a thousand years, these teachings were received by Bodhidharma who then brought them to China where he became known as the First Patriarch of Chan Buddhism. Bodhidharma's Chinese disciples, of course, understood his Buddhism in a Chinese context.
Huineng , the Sixth Patriarch, inspired new approaches, according to some interpretations, a Sinification of Buddhism. Chan Buddhism instructs practicioners to further their spiritual development, not by study of scripture nor by participation in ritual, per se, but chiefly through on-going encounter and the direct experience of his or her own human . It is through direct spiritual experience that might suddenly transform the consciousness of the practicioner. The primary method of putting this teaching into use had been meditation . After Huineng, the Sixth and last Chan Patriarch, a period of fresh experiment with different approaches ensued.
Teachings
Mazu Daoyi, in order to shake his students out of routine consciousness, employed novel and unconventional . He is credited with the innovations of using , surprise , and unexpectedly calling to a person by name as that person is leaving. This last is said to summon ''yeh-shih'' , from which enlightenment. He also employed silent gestures, non-responsive answers to questions, and was know to grab and twist the nose of a disciple. In the ''Transmission of the Lamp'' compiled in 1004, Mazu is described: "His appearance was remarkable. He strode along like a bull and glared about him like a tiger. If he stretched out his tongue, it reached up over his nose; on the soles of his feet were imprinted two circular marks." Utilizing a variety of unexpected shocks, his teaching methods challenged both habit and vanity, a push that might inspire suddenly the ''seeing of one's true nature'' .
Mazu was famous for the subtlety with which he expressed the Ch'an teachings; he was particularly fond of using the "What the mind is, what the Buddha is." In the particular case of Damei Fachang , hearing this brought about a spiritual awakening. Later this was contradicted by Mazu when he taught the kung'an "No mind, No Buddha." These two kung-ans may be seen as crafted paradoxes, meant to dislodge preconceptions, their cutting perplexity causing knots and hinderances to fall away from the mind, making way for spontaneous .
When sick Mazu was asked how he felt; he replied, "Sun Face Buddha. Moon Face Buddha." P'ang asked Mazu, "Who is it who is not dependent upon the ten thousand things?" Matsu answered, "This I'll tell you when you drink up the waters of the West River in one gulp." A monk asked Mazu, "Please indicate the meaning of Ch'an directly, apart from all permutations of assertion and denial." Mazu told him to ask Zhiang. Zhiang said for him to ask Baizhang. Baizhang said he didn't understand. The monk returned to Mazu and related what happened. Mazu replied dryly that Zhiang had white hair, and that Baizhang's was black.
Mazu: "et each of you see into his own mind. ... However eloquently I may talk about all kinds of things as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges, the Mind shows no increase... . You may talk ever so much about , and is still your Mind; you may not at all talk about it, and it is just the same your own Mind." A monk asked why the Master maintained, "The Mind is the Buddha." The Master answered, "Because I want to stop the crying of a baby." The monk persisted, "When the crying has stopped, what is it then?" "Not Mind, not Buddha," was the answer. Mazu listed "falsehood, flattery, self-conceit, arrogance" as impediments.
Successors
Among Mazu's immediate students were Baizhang Huaihai , Nan-ch'üan P'u-yüan , and Damei Fachang . A generation later his came to include Huangbo Xiyun , and his celebrated successor Linji Yixuan , as well as Kuei-shan Ling-yu , first of the Igyo school, and therein Yang-shan Hui-chi . The Igyo school's use of symbols influenced the well-known showing a water buffalo and a herder, which demonstrates various stages of growth in Ch'an awareness. From Linji Yixuan derived the school. These two schools merged in the 10th century. Later, Japanese Buddhists came to China to study at the Linji school. Taken to Japan in the 12th and 13th centuries, thrives today; use of the koan is a characteristic practice, fitting for distant spiritual descedents of Mazu. The long history of Buddhism in China has included forfeiture, and periods of syncretism; nonetheless, the Ch'an Buddhist tradition has been continued, e.g., by T'ai Hsü .
Chinese Sources
Mazu Daoyi's teachings and dialogues were collected and published in his ''Kiangsi Tao-i-ch'an-shih yu-lu'' . Mazu appears in early Chan anthologies, e.g., ''Transmission of the Lamp'' compiled in 1004 by Tao-yüan ; the renowned collection ''The Blue Cliff Record'' '''' compiled with commentary by Yuanwu circa 1125; and ''The Gateless Gate'' '''' compiled circa 1228 by . Other anthologies where Mazu appears include: ''Records of Pointing at the Moon'' , ''Recorded Saying of the Ancient Worthies'' , ''Records of the Regular Transmission of the Dharma'' .
No comments:
Post a Comment