When used as a verb by Chan texts, this Chinese word means “to get along with each other” and “to accord or to harmonize with each other.” It also means “to attain” and “to experience and to understand.” These meanings are applicable when it is used in compounds such as qihe, qihui, and qiwu. They form a group of words that express the unique experiential-existential dimension of the mutual realization and verification of Chan enlightenment—the special mind-to-mind transmission in Chan.
A classical Chan term referring to the experience and realization of enlightenment. The crucial and unique element of this word is qi, which is also often used independently. Qi, when used as a verb, involves a strong sense of “to accord or to harmonize with each other” and “to get along with each other.” It contains, as well, the meanings of “to attain” and “to experience and to understand.” By using the word qihui, Chan masters, such as Huangbo Xiyun in the Chuanxin Fayao, emphasized the existential-practical dimension of enlightenment. Everyone must experience and realize one’s own enlightenment. This experience and realization of one’s own enlightenment is like a person’s drinking of water (ruren yinshui). Whether the water is cold or warm, one must experience it by himself or herself (lengnuan zizhi). Nobody can do it for another, or hand it to him or her (e.g., through words). It involves one’s existential choice, the conversion of one’s life outlook and attitude, goodwill, and decision making; in short, transformation of the entire personhood. The Chan transmission of mind is thus understood as the mutual realization or verification of enlightenment in everyday activities. The mind of the master and the mind of the disciple are brought into harmony or accord by each one’s enlightenment.
Located on Mount Qingliang in Nanjing in Jiangsu Province, China, this temple was built by Xu Wen during the Five Dynasties and called Xingjiao Temple. Around 937, it was renamed Shicheng Qingliang Dadaochang. It's other name was Qingliang Bao’en Chan Monastery. The king of Nantang invited Fayan Wenyi, the founder of the Fayan school, to preach dharma there. Wenyi therefore earned the nickname Qingliang Wenyi. In 980, Qingliang Guanghui Temple moved to this location from Mount Mufu. In the early Ming dynasty, the imperial court renamed it Qingliang Temple. It was eventually destroyed by war, but in the late Qing dynasty it was rebuilt, although smaller. It was destroyed again, this time during the Japanese invasion in World War II, and was rebuilt later.
Record of Requesting Additional Instruction, a collection of the Chan gong’an, compiled by the early Yuan Chan master Wansong Xingxiu of the Caodong school in 1230. It is Xingxiu’s commentary on the Song Caodong Chan master Hongzhi Zhengjue’s Niangu Baize (Commentaries on One Hundred Old Cases). The full title is Wansong Laoren Pingchang Tiantong Jue Heshang Niangu Qingyi Lu (Record of Requesting Additional Instruction through Old Man Wansong’s Promoting Commentaries on Monk Tiantong Jue’s Commentaries on One Hundred Old Cases). To each original gong’an case (benze) and Zhengjue’s commentary (niangu), Xingxiu added his zhuyu (“brief explanatory notes”) and pingchang (“promoting commentaries”).
A very obscure Chan master of the Tang dynasty and a link between Huineng and Shitou Xiqian in the lineage of the Southern school, Xingsi was a native of Luling in Jizhou (in present-day Ji’an, Jiangxi province). His family name was Liu. At a very young age, he became a monk and was enlightened under Huineng’s instruction. The Platform Sūtra did not list him as Huineng’s disciple. The Song Gaoseng Zhuan and Zutang Ji confirm Huineng’s role in Xingsi’s enlightenment, but offer very little information about it. It is only mentioned that, after receiving Huineng’s “secret” teaching, Xingsi returned to his hometown and taught a large congregation there. His only famous disciple was Shitou Xiqian, from whose lineage three schools out of “five houses” are derived. Probably for this reason, he became increasingly important. Emperor Xizong (r. 873–888) granted him the posthumous title Hongji nearly 150 years after his death.
Also called Fori Qisong or Mingjiao Qisong. A scholar-monk of the Yunment school in the Song dynasty, Qisong was a native of Tanjin in Tengzhou (in present-day Guangxi province). His family name was Li. He entered his monastic life at the age of 13 and was ordained at the age of 14. From the age of 19, he traveled to various places seeking great teachers. He studied with the Yunmen Chan master Xiaocong (?–1030) at Dongshan in Gao’an (in present-day Jiangxi) and achieved realization under Xiaocong’s verification. Later, he went to Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou to preach. During that time, he wrote the Fujiao Bian (Essays on Assisting the Teaching [of Buddhism]) to refute criticisms of Buddhism from Confucian scholars and elaborate on his belief that both Buddhism and Confucianism came from the minds of sages, and that Buddhism could help, in its unique way, to achieve the goal of Confucianism. He sent this book to some ministers; they were impressed and petitioned Emperor Renzong (r. 1022–1063), who granted the purple robe to Qisong. During this time, Qisong also composed the Chuanfa Zhengzong Ji (Record of the True Lineage of Dharma Transmission), the Chuanfa Zhengzong Lun (Treatise on the True Lineage of Dharma Transmission), and the Chuanfa Zhengzong Dingzu Tu (Portraits of the Established Patriarchs of the True Lineage of Dharma Transmission) to clarify the traditional theory of Chan lineage, and successfully petitioned Emperor Renzong to include these books in the Song Buddhist canon (Dazang Jing). Renzong honored him as Mingjiao Dashi (“Great Master of Illuminating Teaching”). He was then invited to take up residence at Fori Chan Monastery in Hangzhou. He died at the age of 66, leaving written works of more than 100 fascicles. Some were lost. During the Southern Song dynasty, Monk Huaiwu edited his works as Tanjin Wenji (Collection of the Works of Tanjin).
An abbess in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Xinggang was a rare female Chan master, whose record of sayings (yulu), including sermons, letters, poems, biographical accounts, inscriptions, and prefaces, was compiled by her female disciples, published in 1655, and preserved in the Jiaxing Edition of the Ming Buddhist Canon (Jiaxing Dazang Jing). Xinggang was born into a literatus family of Hu in Jiaxing (in present-day Zhejiang province). She received an education during her youth and showed a gift for poetry. Fond of reciting the Buddha’s name, she practiced religious worship at home. She wanted to remain unmarried but was forced to be engaged to a young man. Widowed even before she was a bride, she still had to fulfill her duties as a filial daughter-in-law. At the age of 26, she went on a hunger strike to oppose her parents’ wishes, and succeeded in becoming a student of the master Tiantong Cixing (d.u.). Five years later, she paid a visit to Cixing’s teacher, the Linji Chan master Miyun Yuanwu. The latter recognized her spiritual potential, but it was not until after her mother’s death that she formally became a nun. She started to study with Yuanwu’s senior disciple Shiche Tongsheng (1593–1638). Under Tongsheng’s instruction, Xinggang attained enlightenment, received symbols of the transmission, and became his dharma heir at the age of 42. She then went into retreat for nine years, but eventually was invited to be abbess of Fushi Chan Temple in 1647. During her abbacy, she attracted a great number of both lay and monastic followers through her charisma, compassion, and generosity, as well as her emphasis on the kanhua Chan practice. She especially advised her female disciples to overcome obstacles by single-minded concentration on one’s huatou, even in the midst of leisure or business, such as holding a baby boy or playing with a baby girl, supervising maids, or socializing. Xinggang had seven dharma heirs; several of them were women, who became masters themselves, including Yigong Chaoke (1620–1667) and Yikui Chaochen (1625–1679).