Linji Yixuan

Japanese painting of Linji

Pavilion in memory of the shared origin of Chinese Linji and Japanese Rinzai in Jingshan Temple

The Chengling pagoda at Linji Temple is believed to contain the remains of Linji.

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 a Tang dynasty Chinese monk and teacher of the Hongzhou school of Chinese Chan (Zen). He is known as a leading figure of Tang dynasty (618-907) Chan Buddhism and the Recorded Sayings of Linji (Línjì yǔlù), which contains his teachings, is seen as a major Zen text which exemplifies the iconoclastic and antinomian spirit of Zen.

Linji was a student of Huangbo Xiyun and is also considered to be the founder of the influential Linji school of Chan. This school actually developed in the Song dynasty (960-1279) among descendants of Linji, who created various mythic stories about Linji in the process of founding their new school of Zen.

Biography

Information on Linji is based on the Línjì yǔlù and other sources like the Zutang ji, Jingde chuan-denglu, Song gaoseng zhuan (Song-dynasty Biographies of eminent monks), and the Tiansheng guang-denglu (Tiansheng-era Extensive record of the transmission). However, the composition of these sources, like the Línjì yǔlù, occurred over various stages of historical development, culminating in the Song dynasty version published by the Linji school. The text thus includes stories and passages attributed to Linji by later authors. As such, according to Albert Welter. "the life of the historical person Linji is shrouded in legend." Yanagida Seizan also writes "If we construct a chronology of the master’s life it must be a tentative one only, based for the most part upon traditional material rather than upon facts that can be substantiated with historical accuracy.

According to the sources, Linji was born during the Yuanhe era (806–820) into a family named Xing (邢) living in Nanhua (南華), Cao (曹) Prefecture (modern Yanzhou 兖州 in Shandong Province). Little is known of his early life. According to the Guzunsu yulu (Recorded sayings of the ancient worthies), "After shaving his head and receiving the full precepts, he frequented the lecture halls; he mastered the vinaya and made a thorough study of the sutras and śāstras." Yanagida Seizan writes that his teachings indicate that Linji was knowledgeable in the Mahayana sutras and also "show the influence of works of the Huayan 華嚴 (Avataṃsaka) and Weishi 唯識 (“Consciousness-only”; Yogācāra) schools." Seizan also mentions that he seems to have been expert in the teachings of Yogācāra, since the Zutang ji depicts Linji's first meeting with Dayu as being a discussion on the Treatise on the stages of Yogācāra practice (Yuqie lun 瑜伽論).

After this period of study however, Linji turned to meditative practice, as sermon 18 of the Record of Linji states "But later, when I realized that they were only remedies to help the world and displays of opinion, I threw them all away, and, searching for the Way, I practiced meditation." Linji then traveled to Jiangnan where he met Chán master Huángbò Xīyùn (黃蘗希運), at some point between 836 and 841. He likely stayed with Huangbo at Mount Huangbo for about three years until he had a great enlightenment. According to sources like the Record of Linji, Linji questioned Huangbo three times about the central meaning of Buddhism and Huangbo struck him three times. Then Huangbo sent Linji to meet the reclusive monk Dàyú (大愚). After exchanging some words with this monk, Linji attained an awakening or jianxing. He then returned to Huangbo and told him what had occurred. Huangbo slapped Linji, saying “You lunatic, coming back here and pulling the tiger’s whiskers!” Then Linji responded with a loud shout. After this event, Linji stayed with Huangbo for some time, or he may have traveled to practice with Dayu for a time as well. The various sources differ on this issue.

In around 849 or 850 Linji, an older forty year old, left on a pilgrimage. Little is known of this pilgrimage, though the Chuandeng lu mentions that he visited Bodhidharma’s memorial tower in Henan. In about 851, Linji settled in Zhenzhou, Hebei where he led a small temple located southeast of the city of Zhenzhou. It was known as the Linji yuan (臨濟院, “Temple Overlooking the Ford”) since it was on the banks of the Hutuo River. It is the name of this temple which gave Linji his name. Linjni's temple may have been supported by the Wang family patriarch Wang Yuankui 王元逵 (d. 855) or one of his sons.

Recorded Sayings of Linji

A statue of Linji Yixuan under the southern gate of Zhengding Hebei, China

The Línjì yǔlù (臨濟語錄; Japanese: Rinzai-goroku, Recorded Sayings of Linji), is a collection of sayings and anecdotes attributed to Linji. The full title is Zhenzhou linji huizhao chanshi yulu (鎭州臨濟慧照禪師語錄, Recorded Sayings of Chan Master Huizhao of Linji in Zhenzhou). The standard form of these sayings was not completed until two hundred fifty years after Linji's death. The text thus 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 iconoclastic nature of Linji discourse saw him 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.

Teachings

Linji is perhaps best known for his iconoclasm, hitting and shouting, and the use of shocking language in his sermons to disrupt the tendency of his listeners to grasp at things like buddhas, patriarchs, bodhisattvas, stages of practice and levels of attainment. He famously said, "If you meet a buddha, kill the buddha."

While the language may sound extreme, this reflects a pervasive Chan tendency which considers grasping at buddhas, bodhi, nirvana, Dharma, and other such related Buddhist concepts, as a kind of delusion. This is similar to how Shenhui points out that while lust for wealth and sex is "gross falsity," activating one's intention to grasp bodhi, nirvana, emptiness, purity, and concentration is "subtle falsity." Likewise, Huangbo said that to conceive of a buddha is to be obstructed by that buddha, while the Bloodstream Sermon criticized the worshipping of buddhas as holding onto appearances.

According to Linji, Zen students fail to make spiritual progress because they lack faith in themselves and are thereby "twisted and turned" by whatever environment they encounter. They cling to phrases and are obstructed by words like "common mortal" and "sage," and for Linji, this is to still be dependent on something. Rather than rely on buddhas, bodhisattvas, and the Chan patriarchs, Linji taught his listeners that they should be 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, Linji taught that our true nature remains a "solitary brightness" (Ch: gū míng, 孤明) that is not swayed by various situations or environments. He 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."

Linji criticized relying on methods and practices in order to realize this true nature. He said that to engage in religious practice was to generate karma keeping one bound to the realm of birth and death, while our true nature, "this person who is right now listening to the Dharma," was without any adornments or practices. Instead of reliance on practices to see our true nature, Linji taught that we should simply have faith (信) in it: "Just have faith in this thing that is operating in you right now. Outside of it, nothing else exists." According to Buswell, faith for Linji was not blind acceptance, but an inherent faculty emanating constantly from the enlightened nature, and was thus equivalent to the "innate functioning" of the mind-essence. Buswell also notes the striking difference between Linji's teachings, in which faith plays a prominent role, and the teachings of the later Linji School master, Dahui, who valued doubt over faith.

In addition to faith, Linji also emphasized non-seeking and "wú shì" (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." As Jinhua Jia points out, this recognition of the fundamental value of the human being echoes the teachings of Mazu Daoyi, for whom everyday ordinary activities were the function of buddha-nature.

Linji further connects non-doing with "turning one's light around" (Ch. fǎn zhào 返照), a term that occurs throughout various Chan texts, such as Zongmi's Sub-commentary to the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment (where it refers to recognizing one's original enlightenment). According to Linji, when we stop our seeking and turn our own light in upon ourselves, we will on that very instant have nothing to do. However, "turning one's light around" does not necessarily imply anything like staring at the mind or concentrating within. Linji quotes Shenhui's well-known criticism of such things as arresting the mind, staring at silence, summoning the mind to focus it on externals, controlling the mind to make it clear within, and concentrating the mind to enter into meditation. Moreover, Linji says that looking for something within is just as wrong as seeking externally, since there's nothing within that can be grasped: "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

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

• 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, ISBN 9780195329575
• 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
• Ruth Fuller, Sasaki (2009), Kirchner, Thomas Yuho (ed.), The Record of Linji, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 978-0824833190

Nanzan library of Asian religion and culture) Sasaki, Ruth Fuller_Kirchner, Thomas Yūhō_Yixuan_Linji - The record of Linji-University of Hawaiʻi Press (2009)

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