Zongmi on Chan

CHART OF THE MASTER-DISCIPLE SUCCESSION OF THE CHAN GATE THAT TRANSMITS THE MIND GROUND IN CHINA¹

ZONGMI, THE MONK [OFFICIATING AT MEMORIAL] SERVICES AT THE INNER PRACTICE SITE² [WITHIN THE IMPERIAL PALACE], ANSWERS MINISTER PEI’S INQUIRY

The layman Pei Xiu sends a letter to Zongmi asking the master for a statement on the Chan lineages. Pei requests synopses of their genealogical histories; expositions of their teachings; and a critical ranking. Zongmi answers that it is necessary, first of all, to know which Chan transmissions are collateral, that is, branch offshoots [bang], and which one is the central/orthodox line [zheng]. Each Chan house has compiled a genealogical record that illustrates only its one line of descent, without paying attention to the other lines. Once the houses are ranked, Pei will see that the direct inheritor of the mind teaching of Bodhidharma is the Heze lineage.

1. Minister Pei Xiu inquires: The Chan dharma is widely practiced. The followers of each lineage are different and slander one another. They are unwilling to merge into identity. It is urgently necessary to distinguish their origins and histories [that is, genealogies] and come to know which are profound and which shallow. Even though I have devoted attention to this, I have not yet attained clarity. I dread making a mistake when composing a record [of Chan].⁴ I respectfully hope that you will compose a brief piece on a few sheets of paper that will differentiate the various histories and in broad terms arrange in order the Northern lineage, the Southern lineage, the Heze and Hongzhou lineages within the Southern lineage, the Niutou lineage, and so forth. It would fully treat the essentials, that is, which are shallow and which profound, which all-at-once and which step-by-step, and which hit the mark and which miss it. It would serve me as a tortoise or mirror [that is, a divination guidebook] until the end of my life. Xiu bows a second time.⁵

Chan Master Zongmi answers: What Bodhidharma transmitted from the outset was a dharma of non-duality. Because of changes [introduced by later] followers, there seem to be different roads [in Chan]. If you close the locking bar on the gate to this, then all [the roads] are wrong. If you understand this, then they are all correct. Transmission records⁶ compiled by our predecessors just discuss [their own] single line of direct descent. If you wish to distinguish the succession of masters in the various lineages, then you must come to know which are collateral [that is, collateral offshoots] and which is central/orthodox. Now, I will present the collateral and orthodox master-disciple [transmissions], but when I later relate the relative depth of their oral teachings,⁷ you will spontaneously see that the mind of Bodhidharma [that is, his teaching of the intrinsically pure mind or buddha-in-embryo] has flowed down to the Heze [lineage].

The Niutou lineage is a separate lineage outside the Northern-Southern dichotomy. Its founder, Huiyong (also read Huirong), was a student of voidness (sunyata) teachings who was sanctioned by the fifth patriarch, Hongren. This house is now in its sixth generation.

2. The Niutou lineage is a collateral offshoot from the fourth patriarch [Daoxin].⁸ At its root there is Chan Master Huiyong [also read Huirong],⁹ whose nature was lofty and divine wisdom [prajna] sharp. As a result of having previously studied the various sections of the [Perfection of] Wisdom [Sutras] for many years, he had already awakened to the realization that all dharmas from the outset are void and that deluded feelings are grasping of the unreal. Later he encountered the fourth patriarch [Daoxin], who sealed his understanding of the principle of voidness [sunyata]. Because he dwelt in the locus of voidness and yet openly showed the nature of excellence of the non-void, his awakening-understanding was clear without the need of lengthy training. The fourth patriarch told him: “This dharma from ancient times has been entrusted to only one person [at each generation]. I have already handed it over to my disciple Hongren (that is, the fifth patriarch). You may set yourself up separately.” Subsequently, [Huiyong] set up a separate lineage on Mt. Niutou [in the southern outskirts of Jinling, that is, Nanjing] and served as its first patriarch. It has unfolded up to and including the sixth generation. (Later, the fifth patriarchal master, Zhiwei,¹⁰ had a disciple, Masu.¹¹ Su had a disciple, Daoqin, that is, Jingshan.¹²) This particular lineage has no connection at all with the Southern and Northern lineages. The Southern and Northern lineages derive from disciples of the fifth patriarch [Hongren]. Before the fifth patriarch, the designations Southern and Northern did not even exist.

The Northern lineage is a collateral house coming down from the fifth patriarch. In the generation after Shenxiu, one of the major disciples of the fifth patriarch, it called itself the “Bodhidharma lineage.”

3. The Northern lineage is a collateral offshoot from the fifth patriarch. It is said that there were ten people, including Shenxiu, who were equally disciples of the fifth patriarch, the Great Master [Hong]ren. Because the Great Master sanctioned each of them as worthy to be the master of one direction [that is, as a regional teacher], the people of the time said: “Ren produced ten sons.”¹³ (Preceptor [Hui]neng was the direct, legitimate successor. He is not among these ten.) Among them [Shen]xiu, Lao’an and Zhishen were the best known for their virtue, and they were all revered as masters by Emperor Gaozong [r. 649–683]. Their heirs [continue] unbroken down to the present. Among them, the transforming work of Xiu’s disciple Puji was even more flourishing [than that of his master].¹⁴ He became the “Dharma Ruler of Two Capitals” and “Master of Three Emperors.” It just called [itself] the “Bodhidharma lineage” and did not use the designations “Southern” and “Northern.”

The Southern lineage is the basic lineage deriving from the sixth patriarch, Huineng. It gained its name in opposition to the flourishing of Shenxiu’s gradualist teaching in the North. I will now give the story of Huineng’s transmission to Shenhui according to the Patriarch Lineage Transmission Record.

4. The Southern lineage is the basic lineage that has transmitted the robe and dharma [of Bodhidharma] for generation upon generation since the Great Master Caoqi [Hui]neng received Bodhidharma’s spoken purport. Later, in opposition to Shenxiu’s great dissemination of the step-by-step teaching in the North, it came to be called the “Southern lineage.” Because the history of this transmission is known throughout the world, I will not present it. Later, when [Huineng] was about to die, he handed the dharma seal over to Heze and made him his successor. I have in the past presented a version of the story of this succession.¹⁵ However, it is very incomplete, and now that I have received your inquiry, I will expand it somewhat, in conformity with the Patriarch Lineage Transmission Record inherited from the past.¹⁶ In the midst of the Preceptor Neng section presented in the Transmission it says: “There was a monk of Xiangyang, Shenhui. His family name was Gao, his age fourteen. (That is, Heze. Heze is the name of the monastery [in Luoyang] where he was dwelling when he transmitted dharma.) He came to visit Preceptor [Huineng]. The Preceptor asked: ‘Good friend, you come from afar. You have suffered greatly. Did you bring the fundamental thing or not?’ He answered: ‘I have brought it.’ [Huineng said:] ‘If you have the fundamental thing, then you should truly know the master element.’ He answered: ‘I, Shenhui, take non-abiding as the basis. Seeing is the master element.’ The Great Master [Huineng] said: ‘How dare this novice make such a grandstand play!’¹⁷ He immediately took his staff and thrashed him. Beneath the staff, Shenhui meditated: ‘Through successive eons it is hard to meet a great, good friend. Now that I have managed to encounter one, how can I begrudge my life?’ The Great Master was testing [Shenhui], having recognized that the conditions for [Shenhui’s] deep awakening had arrived (like Yao’s coming to know Shun through testing him in various difficulties¹⁸).” At the end of [the Neng section of] the Transmission, it further says: “When Preceptor [Neng] was about to enter nirvana, he silently conferred a secret oral transmission [miyu] upon Shenhui. The words were: ‘From the past within our transmission it has been fixed that one hands over only to one person. Within, I transmit the dharma seal and thereby seal your own mind. Without, I transmit the robe and thereby mark the axiom purport. However, I almost lost my life several times for the sake of this robe.’” (That the robe was stolen several times by the Northern lineage appears in the first portion of this Transmission. At present I cannot record [these incidents].) [The Transmission continues: “Huineng said:] ‘The Great Master Bodhidharma made a prediction: “After six generations, a life will be like a dangling thread.” You are the one.’” (This [Bodhidharma] saying [also] appears in the Transmission, where it presents Bodhidharma.) “‘Therefore this robe should be kept in the mountains. Your karmic nexus will be in the North, and so you must cross over the mountain range. After twenty years you will spread this dharma and widely cross over sentient beings.’¹⁹ When Preceptor [Neng] was on the verge of death, his disciples, Xingtao, Chaosu and Fahai²⁰ asked: ‘To whom will the Preceptor hand over his dharma?’ The Preceptor said: ‘The one to whom I have entrusted it will spread it in the North after twenty years.’ They asked: ‘Who is it?’ He answered: ‘If you wish to know him, catch him with a net on Mount Dayu.’” (The Transmission says: “The mountain range is ‘gao/high.’ Heze’s family name was Gao. Therefore it cryptically indicates him.”)

The central/orthodox line of descent within the Southern lineage of Huineng is known as the Heze lineage, a name that distinguishes it from the collateral offshoot from Huineng, known as the Hongzhou lineage. Emperor Dezong in 796 sent down an imperial proclamation making Heze Shenhui the seventh patriarch.

5. The Heze lineage is nothing but the dharma of Caoqi [Huineng] with the purport of no other teaching [mixed in]. It was given this additional lineage designation in opposition to the collateral offshoot Hongzhou. The history of this transmission has already been discussed above. However, after Preceptor Neng died, the step-by-step teaching of the Northern lineage was greatly practiced (also as presented above). Therefore, it constituted a hindrance to the propagation of the all-at-once gate. Because the inscription of the Caoqi tradition was effaced and [another] substituted for it, for twenty years the axiom teaching was hidden. (The myriad hardships that the Great Master encountered are all like that in the abbreviated Transmission presented above. They are given at length in the original Transmission. On another day I will present the details.) At the beginning of the Tianbao era [742–755], Heze [Shenhui] entered [the eastern capital of] Luo[yang] and greatly spread this [all-at-once] gate. He then revealed that the lineage of [Shen]xiu’s disciples was collateral and that their dharma gate was step-by-step. Since the two lineages were being practiced side by side, and the people of the time wanted to differentiate them, the labels “Southern” and “Northern” began from this time.

[Pei Xiu] asks: Since Heze became the seventh patriarch, why was an eighth, up to and including a ninth and tenth, not set up? They were not set up later. What prevented relying on the transmission robe as a standard [of proof]? It just stopped at the sixth.

[Zongmi] answers: According to the real truth, names and numbers are cut off from the outset. If even [the number] one does not exist, how can you speak of [the numbers] six and seven? Now, [if you speak] in conformity with the worldly truth, the transmission from patriarch to disciple within the context of worldly dharmas does have a table of [transmission]. It is like a state’s setting up seven temples.²¹ Burial is in the seventh month.²² Seven generations wear mourning garments. There are seven patriarchs of good luck. (They are the same for Daoism and Buddhism.) The sutras speak of the seven buddhas.²³ The number of circuits in holding to the buddha-recitation,²⁴ [the number of] people on an [ordination] platform,²⁵ [the number of] devices for [monastic] forms,²⁶ [the number of] bows to and circumambulations of a buddha,²⁷ and the limit to the [number of] monks invited [by a donor to a Buddhist feast], all stop at seven. If they go beyond this, it is twice seven, up to and including seven times seven, but it does not stop at six or go on to eight or nine. At present, the ritual forms transmitted to us accord with the world and produce faith. What is there to doubt about them? Therefore, the Emperor Dezong in Zhenyuan 12 [796] ordered the crown prince to assemble all the Chan masters, set in order the axiom purport of the Chan gate, and inquire into which transmissions are collateral and which is central/orthodox.²⁸ Subsequently, an imperial proclamation came down setting up the Great Master Heze as the seventh patriarch. The inscription [installed] within Shenlong Monastery can be seen [today]. Furthermore, an encomium to the seventh-generation patriarchal master in the imperial hand circulates in the world.²⁹

Daoyi is the fountainhead of the Hongzhou lineage. He was originally a disciple of the Korean Preceptor Kim (Musang/Wuxiang) of the Jingzhong lineage in Sichuan. Daoyi was a fervent sitter who wandered far and wide practicing sitting. Upon meeting Huairang, a collateral student of the sixth patriarch and solitary practitioner, Daoyi came to honor him. In Jiangxi Daoyi spread Huairang’s teachings.

6. Initially the Hongzhou lineage is a collateral offshoot from the sixth patriarch. There was a Chan master with the family name Ma, given name Daoyi. Previous to this, he had been a disciple of Preceptor Jin/Kim [Korean reading Kim] of Jiannan [Sichuan].³⁰ (The origin of Kim’s lineage was Zhishen. [This lineage] was neither Southern nor Northern.) He was lofty in the extremities of the path. He traveled performing austerities. Wherever he was, he practiced cross-legged Chan sitting, up to and including Nanyue [that is, Mt. Heng in Hunan], where he encountered Chan Master [Huai]rang. They had a dialogue concerning the axiom of the teaching, and [Daoyi’s] principle did not measure up to that of Rang. It was then that [Daoyi] realized that Caoqi was the legitimate successor who had received the transmission of the robe and dharma, and so he had a change of heart and came to honor [Rang.] [Daoyi] then dwelled in Chuzhou [in Zhejiang] and Hongzhou [in Jiangxi]. In both the mountains and towns he widely practiced worship and guided path followers. Later, at Kaiyuan Monastery in Hongzhou, he widely transmitted the spoken purport of Rang. Therefore, the people of the time referred to it as the “Hongzhou lineage.” Rang was a collateral offshoot from Caoqi. (Caoqi had over a thousand of such [disciples].) He was a fellow trainee of Heze. He just practiced alone and from the outset did not open a dharma [that is, did not teach]. Because Preceptor Ma greatly disseminated his teaching, Ma has come to be [considered] the founder of a particular lineage, [the Hongzhou].

The above narration of genealogies may lead to confusion, so I will provide a chart.

7. The foregoing has presented in brief the masters of the various lineages. Such is the overall picture. However, because the collateral and the central/orthodox, the horizontal and the vertical, are intertwined in confusion, and are thus difficult to record, I will now draw a chart. I hope that with one glance no doubts will linger in your mind. Be careful to connect the sequences. [Zongmi’s chart follows immediately in the original. See figure 1.1, pages 76–84, for the chart and its notes.—Trans.]

From here onward I will provide critiques of the oral teachings of the various houses of Chan. Since Chan aims at an inner illumination beyond the spoken and written word, I am ambivalent about writing this. However, I must do so.

8. Above I have presented the masters and disciples of the various lineages. Now I will next make distinctions concerning the levels of profundity inherent in the oral teachings³¹ they have transmitted. However, the purport of the Chan gate lies in inner illumination. It is not something the writing brush can relate, nor is it susceptible to verbal exposition. Although it is beyond the verbal, I am still compelled to speak of it. Being beyond the writing brush, it is difficult for me to lower my brush [to the paper]. In this instance I must not stop but [am compelled to] write. I hope you will let it illumine your mind and not stagnate on the page.

Bodhidharma brought a mind dharma from the West, and this mind is what Bodhidharma Chan has handed down. Here “mind” means “original awakening.” However, the dispositions or temperaments of some Chan adepts have not been in tune with this teaching, and, hence, they have fallen into idiosyncratic interpretations. This is the origin of the questionable theories of some Chan houses.

9. Bodhidharma came from the West and just transmitted a mind dharma. Therefore, he himself said: “My dharma is a mind-to-mind transmission; no involvement with the written word.”³² This mind is the pure original awakening³³ of all sentient beings. It is also called the buddha nature. Some call it spiritual awakening. Delusion produces all the depravities, but even these depravities are not divorced from this mind. Awakening produces limitless, excellent functions, but even these excellent functions are not divorced from this mind. Even though in terms of merits and demerits the excellent functions and the depravities are different, in awakening and in delusion, this mind remains undifferentiated. If you desire to seek the buddha path, then you must awaken to this mind. Therefore, down through the generations, the patriarchal lineage has just transmitted this. Thus, when [the master and disciple] have coincided in a mutual response, then, even though one torch [or master] has transmitted [its flame] to a hundred-thousand torches³⁴ [or disciples], there has been no difference between any two torches. When the dispositions [of the disciples] have not been geared to the [mind-dharma] teaching, then, even though the dharma has been proclaimed with one sound, each and every [disciple] has followed his own understanding of it.³⁵ This is how the questionable theories of [Chan] lineages have been passed on to later people.³⁶ Now, I will present each of the lineages and after that³⁷ judge their mistakes and correct points.

1. Two captions flank Bodhidharma: “Those written on the same level as [each of the seven] patriarchal masters [from Bodhidharma to Shenhui] are all co-students, older and younger brothers.” And: “Those written on a line below the name [of a patriarch] are recognized as the collateral and central/orthodox followers of the transmission.” Whereas in this edition of the chart there are seventy-five names, the Pei Xiu shiyi wen (Shinpuku-ji, 81–83) has only fifty-five. I provide some additional information, including alternate names and geographical references found in early Chan works. Modern geographical information mainly comes from the geographical encyclopedia Gu Zuyu, ed., Dushi fangyu jiyao, 6 vols. (Taipei: Hongshi chubanshe, 1981). The six names in bold font appear in the list of Hongren’s ten major disciples in the Lengjia renfa zhi/Lengjia shizi ji (see Yanagida I, 273). I would like to thank William S. Jacobs for his kind assistance in drawing both this genealogical chart and the chart in section 54 of the Chan Prolegomenon.

2. After Dharani Nun there is a caption: “Gets the flesh. Cut off the depravities and obtain awakening.”

3. After Huike, the second, there is a caption: “Get the marrow. From the outset there are no depravities, it is originally awakening.”

4. After Daoyu there is a caption: “Gets the bone. Delusion is the depravities, and awakening is bodhi.”

5. This is Daoxin of Dongshan (East Mountain) Monastery on Mt. Shuangfeng (west of Huangmei county, Qizhou, Hubei).

6. Huangmei is a mountain west of Huangmei county, Qizhou, Hubei. Three peaks in the area are associated with the East Mountain Dharma Gate of Daoxin and Hongren: Mt. Huangmei; Mt. Shuangfeng; and Mt. Fengmao. Originally the last was known as East Mountain.

7. Jingzhou is Jiangling county, Jingzhou superior prefecture, Hubei. This is the north bank of the Yangzi River in southern Hubei.

9. Hongren like his teacher Daoxin was of Dongshan (East Mountain) Monastery on Mt. Shuangfeng (west of Huangmei county, Qizhou, Hubei).

10. Here Zongmi is laying out the separate Niutou lineage. Huiyong is its first patriarch. Mt. Niutou is south of Jiangning county, Jiangning superior prefecture, Jiangsu.

11. Chan Notes, section 5, gives Preceptor Masu of Haolin Monastery in Runzhou (Zhenjiang county, Jiangsu) as a disciple of the fifth patriarch Zhiwei.

12. In Chan Notes, section 5, Daoqin of Mt. Jing (northwest of Yuhang county, Hangzhou superior prefecture, Zhejiang), is a disciple of Masu.

13. Luzhou is the eastern part of Changzhi county, Shanxi. Faru taught at Shaolin Monastery on Mt. Song near Luoyang.

15. Shenxiu after his stay at East Mountain dwelled at Yuquan Monastery in Jingzhou (Dangyang county, Hubei). Eventually Empress Wu invited him to the capital Luoyang.

16. Puji, after training under Shenxiu at Yuquan Monastery in Hubei, dwelled at Songyue Monastery on Mt. Song and at monasteries in Luoyang.

17. This was a monastery outside the Tonghua Gate of the east wall of the capital Chang’an.

18. Yuezhou is Shaoxing county, Zhejiang. During the Tang it was known as Kuaiji district.

19. Xuanshi is the fountainhead of the South Mountain Buddha-Recitation Chan Gate. Guozhou and Langzhou are Shunqing superior prefecture and Baoning superior prefecture, Sichuan. Chan Notes, section 6, lists Preceptor Wei of Guozhou, Yunyu of Langzhou, and Yisheng Nun of Xiangru county (Pengzhou, Sichuan) as those who spread the South Mountain Buddha-Recitation Gate Chan Lineage. South Mountain is in Nanbu county, which during the Tang belonged to Langzhou.

22. Zhishen was of Dechun Monastery in Zizhou, which is north of Zizhong county, Sichuan.

24. Kim was originally a Korean aristocrat of the family name Kim (= Chinese Jin), a blood relative of a Silla king. Yizhou is Chengdu superior prefecture, Sichuan (Jiannan). He is also known as Musang (Korean reading of Wuxiang) of Jingzhong Monastery in Chengdu.

25. This is the Jingzhong lineage. Jingzhong Monastery was in Chengdu superior prefecture of Jiannan (Sichuan). Chan Notes, section 2, also lists as successors of Kim: Ma of Mt. Changsong (Jianzhou, Sichuan); Ji of Zhuzhou (= Suizhou, Sichuan); and Ji of Tongquan county (southeast of Shehong county, Sichuan).

26. This is Jiangning superior prefecture, Jiangsu, that is, the city Jinling/Nanjing.

27. Old An is Hui’an or Dao’an of Huishan Monastery on Mt. Song in Luozhou. Luozhou is north of Dengfeng county, Henan superior prefecture, Luozhou, Henan.

29. This is the Baotang lineage. Note that Zongmi considers Lao’an its fountainhead. Wuzhu was of Dali Baotang Monastery in Chengdu superior prefecture of Jiannan (Sichuan).

31. Nanyue is Mt. Heng, which is northwest of Hengshan county, Hengzhou superior prefecture, Hunan.

32. This is the Hongzhou lineage. Hongzhou is Nanchang county, Jiangxi. The chart appears to make Huaihui the lineal successor of Hongzhou Ma and Daowu, Huaihai, Zhizang, and Weikuan collateral successors, but it is possible that the arrangement of names has been jumbled in the course of textual transmission.

33. There is a note after Daowu’s name: “Also received transmission from Jingshan [Daoqin of the Niutou lineage].” Jiangling is Jingzhou (Jiangling county, Jingzhou superior prefecture, Hubei; north bank of the Yangzi River in southern Hubei). This is Daowu of Tianhuang, that is, Tianhuang Monastery east of Jingzhou city.

34. Zhangjing Monastery was outside the Tonghua Gate of the east wall of the western capital Chang’an.

36. Zhizang was of Qianzhou (Gan county, Jiangxi). Xitang (West Hall) refers to a new hall opened by Zhizang after Mazu Daoyi’s death, presumably within the Kaiyuan Monastery in Hongzhou in Jiangxi.

38. This is Heze Shenhui. Heze Monastery was in the southwest corner of the eastern capital Luoyang.

39. After Yinzong Dharma Master there is a note: “Preceptor [Hui]neng [the sixth patriarch] heard the Nirvana Sutra beneath his seat.” Yinzong was of Miaoxi Monastery on Mt. Kuaiji (southeast of Shaoxing county, Zhejiang).

41. Jingzhou is Jiangling county, Jingzhou superior prefecture, Hubei (north bank of the Yangzi River in southern Hubei). He is also known as Xingjue of Guochang Monastery in Jingzhou and Xingjue of Jiangling.

42. Taiyuan is Yangqu county, Shanxi. He is also known as Guangyao of Baozhen Yuan in Yizhou (Linyi county, Shandong) and Guangyao of Yishui (northwest of Ju county, Shandong) and Mengshan (south of Mengyin county, Shandong).

45. It is doubtful that this is the Chan monk known to the Tibetans as the Chinese interlocutor of the “Council of Tibet.”

46. Jingzhu is presumably a monastery. Puping may be Jinping of Mt. Xiyin in the Huai’an district of Hebei.

48. Zhiru was of Faguan Monastery in Cizhou (Ci county, Hebei). He is also known as Faru of Mt. Taihang (Boai county, Henan).

49. Jingzhou is Jiangling county, Jingzhou superior prefecture, Hubei. This is the north bank of the Yangzi River in southern Hubei.

50. He is also known as Wuming of the eastern capital Luoyang and Wuming of Mt. Wutai (northeast of Wutai county, Daizhou, Taiyuan superior prefecture, Shanxi).

51. This is the Huayan commentator Qingliang Chengguan, the teacher of Guifeng Zongmi in Huayan studies.

57. Yizhou is Chengdu superior prefecture, Sichuan (Jiannan). He is also known as Weizhong of Jingnan (southern Jingzhou), Zhang of Jingnan, Preceptor Weizhong of Shengshou Monastery in Chengdu superior prefecture, and Nanyin of Yuanhe Shengshou Monastery in Chengdu superior prefecture.

58. He is known as Zhao Gong, the Chan Worthy and Great Master of Fengguo Monastery in the eastern capital.

60. This is Zongmi’s teacher. Daoyuan was at the Dayun Monastery in Suizhou on the southwest bank of the Fu River (west of Pengxi county, Sichuan). Zongmi, who sometimes refers to Daoyuan as Fushang, encountered Daoyuan in 804 and left home, receiving the master’s seal in 807. Zongmi’s abridged subcommentary Yuanjuejing lueshu chao (ZZ 1.15.2–3; CBETA Wan Xuxangjing, vol. 9, no. 248:863a22[2467]), which probably dates to around 823 or 824, explicitly identifies the Heze Shenhui tradition with the Shengshou Monastery, located in the southwestern part of Chengdu city, even though this monastery was technically within the Jingzhong tradition because Nanyin, installed as abbot in 807, was a disciple of Jingzhong Shenhui. Nanyin in his pre-Sichuan phase, however, had encountered either Heze Shenhui or (more likely) his disciple Zhiru and, as abbot of Shengshou Monastery, chose to identify with this tradition. Zongmi, writing in the early 820s in his abridged subcommmentary, states:

Moreover, there are twenty-two people who transmitted dharma in the line of the seventh patriarch. Here I will relate one branch aspect. Preceptor Zhiru of Faguan Monastery in Cizhou was of the worldly family name Wang. Preceptor Weizhong of Shengshou Monastery in Chengdu superior prefecture, who was in the Cizhou line, was of the worldly family name Zhang and was also called Nanyin. Preceptor Daoyuan of Dayun Monastery in Suizhou, who was in the Shengshou line, was of the worldly family name Cheng. In Changqing 2 [822] the monks and lay people of Chengdu welcomed his return to Sheng-shou Monastery to continue the succession of the former master [Nanyin] and to make dharma transformation greatly flourish.

Thus, Daoyuan eventually followed in Nanyin’s footsteps as abbot of Shengshou Monastery, and Zongmi, writing as Daoyuan’s successor just after Daoyuan had assumed the abbotship of Shengshou, championed what we could call “Shengshou Chan,” that is, the Sichuanese configuration of Heze Chan, in the metropolitan Chang’an region. There Zongmi held up the banner of Shengshou Chan against Hongzhou Chan, which had representatives at the capital Chang’an, such as Huaihui and Weikuan (listed above under the Hongzhou lineage).

61. Jianyuan is perhaps the name of a monastery. He is also known as Ya of Donglin Monastery on Mt. Lu (northwest of Xingzi county, Nankang superior prefecture, Jiangxi).

The idea of the Northern lineage is that the innate awakening of all beings is covered by a patina of the depravities or thought of the unreal. By eliminating that patina, the awakening once again shines forth. Critique: This idea is mired in a polarity of impurity/purity.

10. The idea of the Northern lineage is: From the outset sentient beings have intrinsic awakening that is like the intrinsic brightness of a mirror. The depravities cover it, and so it cannot be seen, just as a mirror is obscured by dust. If one relies on the oral teachings³⁸ of the masters, one will extinguish thought of the unreal. When [such] thought is exhausted, then the mind nature awakens, and there is nothing it does not know. It is like rubbing off the dark dust [that is, the discoloration of an oxidized bronze mirror]. Once the dust has been removed, the mirror substance is bright and pure and reflects anything [placed before it]. Therefore, the Great Master Shenxiu, the ruler of this lineage, presented a verse to the fifth patriarch:

The body is the tree of awakening.

Mind is like a bright mirror stand.

From time to time we must polish it.

Do not let dust collect on it.³⁹

Critique: This is just the dependently originated characteristics of impurity-purity.⁴⁰ It is a gate [that leads to] countering the [worldly] flow and turning against habit [energy inherited from past lives], but it is not aware that thought of the unreal from the outset is void and the mind nature from the outset pure. [Since this gate] has yet to penetrate to awakening, how can its practice be called true? (In Jiannan [Sichuan] there is also the Jingzhong lineage, whose purport is much the same as this. There is also the Baotang lineage. Its understanding seems the same, but its practice is completely different. I cannot do an elaborate presentation. On another day I provided a discussion of them one by one.)⁴¹

The idea of the Hongzhou lineage is that every single action is the functioning of the buddha nature. This idea finds canonical support in the Lanka Descent Sutra. According to Hongzhou, in practice you should not try to cut off the bad nor should you try to cultivate the good. “Just give free rein to mind” is practice.

11. The idea of the Hongzhou is: The raising of mind, the moving of thoughts, the snapping of the fingers, the shifting of the eyes, all doing and all acting, are the totalistic functioning of the buddha nature. There is no functioning separate [from the buddha nature]. Passion, hatred, stupidity, the creation of good and bad, the receiving of joy and suffering, these are in their totality the buddha nature. It is like preparing all sorts of foods and drinks out of flour. Every one of them [continues to be] flour. If one uses this [Hongzhou] idea to examine this physical body, [it becomes apparent that] the four elements [of earth, water, fire, and air], bones, flesh, throat, tongue, molars, teeth, eyes, ears, hands, and feet cannot by themselves speak, see, hear, move, or act. It is like the single moment of death, before any decomposition of the whole body. The mouth cannot speak, the eyes cannot see, the ears cannot hear, the feet cannot walk, and the hands cannot perform. Therefore, we know that the potentiality for speech and action must be the buddha nature. Moreover, if we examine the four elements and the bones and flesh carefully one by one, [it becomes apparent] that not one of them understands the depravities of passion and hatred. Therefore, we know that the depravities of passion and hatred are the buddha nature. The buddha nature is not in a substantialist sense all sorts of differentiations, and yet it has the potentiality to create all sorts of differentiations. “Is not in a substantialist sense all sorts of differentiations” means that this buddha nature is neither the noble one nor the common person, is neither cause nor effect, is neither good nor bad, has neither form nor characteristics, has neither sense organs nor [the vessel world wherein beings] dwell, up to and including, it has neither buddhas nor sentient beings. “Has the potentiality to create all sorts of differentiations” means that, because this [buddha] nature is functioning in a totalistic sense, it has the potentiality for both the noble one and the common person, for cause and sense organs, for good and bad, for manifesting forms and manifesting characteristics, for being buddhas and sentient beings, up to and including the potentiality for passion, hatred, etc. If you examine the [buddha] nature in its substantialist [aspect], then, in the end, it is invisible and cannot be proven [to exist]. This is like the eyes’ not being able to see themselves, etc. If you [examine the buddha nature] in terms of its responsive functions, then all raising, moving, revolving, and acting are it [that is, the buddha nature]. There are no separate dharmas serving as the one who proves [it exists] and that which is proven. This idea accords with the Lanka Descent Sutra when it says: “The buddha-in-embryo [tathagatagarbha] is the cause of good and non-good, having the potentiality to create all the beings everywhere in the rebirth paths, the receptor of suffering and joy, synonymous with cause.”⁴² Further, [the Lanka Descent Sutra has a chapter entitled] “The Mind Behind the Words of the Buddhas”⁴³ wherein the sutra says: “A buddha land, a raising of the eyebrows, a shifting of the pupils of the eyes, a laugh, a cough, a bit of agitation, etc., are all buddha events.”⁴⁴ Once one has gained understanding awakening⁴⁵ into this principle, everything [partakes of] the spontaneity of the heavenly real. Therefore, the principle of practice should be in accordance with this, and you should not stir mind to cut off the bad, nor should you stir mind to cultivate the path. The path is mind. You should not use mind to cultivate [the path in] mind. The bad is also mind. You should not use mind to cut off [the bad in] mind. When you neither cut off [bad] nor create [karma], but just give free rein to luck and exist in freedom, then you are to be called a liberated person. There are no dharmas to get caught up in, no buddhas to become. It is like space that neither increases nor decreases. What could you possibly add to it? Why is this so? Outside the mind nature there is not even one dharma to be apprehended. Therefore, “just give free rein to mind” is practice.⁴⁶

Critique: This and the previous [Northern] lineage are in diametric opposition. For the previous one, from dawn to dusk [in the midst of] discrimination and activity everything is unreal. For this one from dawn to dusk [in the midst of] discrimination and activity everything is real. I have received your question concerning their mutual slander and unwillingness to agree. With views so mutually opposed, how could they not slander one another? If [either of them were to] preserve the other, it would lose itself. How could they be willing to agree?

The idea of the Niutou lineage is that all dharmas are like a dream; mind and sense objects have always been void and calm. Awakening is the realization that “from the outset there is nothing to do,” and practice is “forgetting feelings.”

12. The idea of the Niutou lineage: All dharmas are like a dream; from the outset there is nothing to do; mind and sense objects from the outset are calmed; it is not that voidness [sunyata] has just begun. If you are deluded about this and hold [that entities] exist, then you will see such things as glory and decay, honor and meanness, etc. Because [in the sphere of] phenomenal traces there are both antagonisms and concurrences, feelings such as love and hate are engendered. When feelings are engendered, then you are bound by sufferings. Dream creation, dream perception, what is there to lose and what to be gained? The wisdom [prajna] capable of understanding this is also like a dreaming mind, up to and including, even if there were a dharma that transcended nirvana, it would still be like a dream or like illusion [maya].⁴⁷ Once you comprehend that from the outset there is nothing to do, then principle dictates that you should lose self and forget feelings. Forgetting feelings is cutting off the cause of suffering. You will then cross over all suffering and calamities [to the other shore of nirvana].⁴⁸ This [lineage] takes “forgetting feelings” as practice.⁴⁹

Critique: The previous [Hongzhou lineage] takes “from moment to moment everything is real” as awakening and “giving free rein to mind” as practice. This [lineage] takes “from the outset there is nothing to do” as awakening and “forgetting feelings” as practice.

Northern, Hongzhou, and Niutou are drastically different in both their ideas and in their practices. I have done considerable research on each of them and have encountered a pronounced reluctance on their part to discuss such things. In fact, they are positively evasive when questioned. They are fearful of being entangled in the written word and in the acquisition of something.

13. The above three houses [show great] differences in their views: for the first [Northern] everything is unreal; for the second [Hongzhou] everything is real; and for the last [Niutou] everything is non-existent [that is, void]. If we discuss them in terms of their practices, the first subdues mind to extinguish the unreal; the second has confidence in and gives free rein to innate feelings; and the last has the mind take a rest [so that it] does not arise. (I, Zongmi,) have an innate disposition toward checking and verifying,⁵⁰ and so I visited [the Chan houses] one after the other and found each of their purports to be thus. If one were to question those [Chan] trainees about these encapsulations [of their views and practices,] none of them would have any part of it. If one asks about existence, they answer with voidness. [If one asks for] proof of voidness, they acknowledge existence. Or they say that both are to be negated. Or they say that nothing can be apprehended. It is the same in the matter of what they practice or do not practice, etc. In their ideas they are always fearful of being trapped in the written word, always afraid of stagnating in something to be apprehended. This is why they dismiss verbal formulations. In the case of a committed trainee, [these Chan houses] instruct him in some detail and then order him to devote much time to [the practice of] viewing-illumination. His practice and understanding are [thereby] ripened. However, beyond this each of these lineages has a plethora of teaching devices to ward off external criticism and guide followers. I cannot write about all of those. At the present I am just sifting out the purports of their ideas, raising only the headrope [of the net].

It is very difficult to describe Heze, but I must try. Its idea centers on the void and calm Knowing transmitted by Bodhidharma. This Knowing is no mindfulness. Heze practice is: “When a pulse of thought emerges, just be aware of it; being aware of it, it will slip into nothingness.”

14. The Heze lineage is even more difficult to relate. It is the original idea behind Śākyamuni’s coming out of the mountains [emaciated after years of the practice of austerities] and Bodhidharma’s coming [to China] from afar. If you look at this [lineage] in terms of the former [lineages], this one is drastically different from the former. If you use this [lineage] to subsume the former, then the former are identical to this one. Therefore, [Heze] is difficult to talk about. I will now force myself to talk about it. It says: All dharmas are like a dream. All the noble ones have said the same thing. Therefore, thought of the unreal from the outset is calmed, and sense objects from the outset are void. The mind of voidness and calm is a spiritual Knowing that never darkens.⁵¹ This calm Knowing of voidness and calm is precisely the mind of voidness and calm that Bodhidharma formerly transmitted.⁵² Whether you are deluded or awakened, mind from the outset is spontaneously Knowing. [Knowing] is not produced by conditions, nor does it arise in dependence on sense objects. Even during delusion the depravities are Knowing, but [Knowing] is not the depravities. Even during awakening the divine transformations are Knowing, but Knowing is not the divine transformations. Thus, the one word “Knowing” is the source of all excellence.⁵³ Because of delusion about this Knowing there arises the characteristic of a self. When one calculates self and mine, love and hatred spontaneously arise. According to the mind of love or hatred, one does good or bad, and, as retribution for this good or bad, is reborn in one of the six rebirth paths, life after life, birth after birth, cyclically, without end. If you find a good friend to show you [the path], you will all-at-once awaken to the Knowing of voidness and calm. Knowing is no mindfulness and no form. Who is characterized as self, and who is characterized as other? When you are aware that all characteristics are void, it is true mind, no mindfulness. If a thought arises, be aware of it; once you are aware of it, it will disappear.⁵⁴ The excellent gate of practice lies here alone. Therefore, even though you fully cultivate all the practices, just take no mindfulness as the axiom. If you just get the mind of no mindfulness, then love and hatred will spontaneously become pale and faint, compassion and wisdom [prajna] will spontaneously increase in brightness, sinful karma will spontaneously be eliminated, and you will spontaneously be zealous in meritorious practices. With respect to understanding, it is to see that all characteristics are non-characteristics. With respect to practice, it is called the practice of non-practice. When the depravities are exhausted, the rebirth process will cease; once arising and disappearing has extinguished, calmness and illumination will become manifest, and responsive functions will be without limit. It is called becoming a buddha.⁵⁵

Knowing the two principles with respect to dharma (of the Awakening of Faith), the immutable and the conditioned, allows one to understand the thrust of the sutras and treatises. Knowing the two gates with respect to people, all-at-once awakening and step-by-step practice, allows one to understand the teaching devices of the former masters. These two provide us with a standard by which to evaluate the Chan lineages. I will now present this evaluation in terms of an extended simile.

15. Above, I have presented each of the lineages. Now I will make distinctions concerning levels of profundity. However, mind permeates the ten thousand dharmas, and the flavors of the principles [of the teachings] are limitless. The teachings open outward, but the Chan lineages scoop up an abridgment. In the case of scooping up an abridgment, with respect to the dharma there are the two principles of immutable and conditioned,⁵⁶ and with respect to people there are two gates of all-at-once awakening and step-by-step practice. When the two principles are revealed, then one comes to know the purport of the sutras and treatises of the entire canon. When the two gates are opened, then one sees the tracks of all the worthies and noble ones. Bodhidharma’s deep intention, in fact, lies here. The immutable and conditioned are principles outside of forms, and so, even if we discuss them directly, they are hard to confirm. Now I will utilize a simile as a scale or mirror [that is, a gauge] by which to ascertain the correct points and wrong points of the lineages. (Dharma [explanations] accompany the simile and serve as a commentary on it. I hope that the dharma and the simile will illumine each other one by one and be easy to see. However, upon first reading, I just request that you read through the simile as a whole, and only after you have understood it from beginning to end, [read it] again with the commentary to gain an understanding of the principle.)

The one mind is like the fabulous wishing jewel that yields its possessor all desires, and the mind’s Knowing is like the jewel’s brightness. The jewel can reflect any color (the conditioned principle), but it never changes (the immutable principle). When a black object is placed before it, it reflects black (ignorance). Fools will call it a black jewel. If you tell them it is actually a bright jewel, they will show resistance (the views of the Yogācāra and karmic cause-and-effect teachings). Even those who assent to the brightness of the jewel will say that it is hidden behind a veil of blackness, and they will try to wipe off the blackness (the view of the Northern lineage).

16. It is like the one jewel⁵⁷ (the one spiritual mind) that is just round, pure, and bright (the Knowing of voidness and calm). It has no differentiations at all [in terms of] color characteristics. (This Knowing from the outset is free of all discriminations and has neither noble one nor common person, neither good nor bad.) Because its substance is brightness, when it is placed in front of an external object, it has the potentiality to reflect the complete variety of color characteristics. (Because [the mind] substance is Knowing, when it is placed in front of objective supports, it has the potentiality to discriminate all rights and wrongs, likes and dislikes, up to and including managing and creating all mundane and supramundane events. This is the conditioned principle.) The variety is inherent in the color characteristics themselves; the bright jewel never changes. (The variety is inherent in the stupidity, wisdom, good, and bad themselves. The arising and disappearing is inherent in the sadness, joy, love, and hatred themselves. The mind with its potentiality for Knowing is never interrupted. This is the immutable principle.) Though the jewel reflects hundreds of thousands of different colors, let us now pick the color black, which is the opposite of the jewel’s brightness, and employ it to illustrate spiritually bright Knowing-seeing and the blackness of ignorance. Though they are opposites, they are one substance. (The dharma and simile have already been provided.) It is like the times when the jewel reflects the color black; it is utterly black all the way through its substance. No brightness whatsoever is visible. (When the mind of spiritual Knowing is in the common person, it is utterly delusion, stupidity, passion, and love. No Tathagata Knowing-seeing or great, perfect mirror knowledge⁵⁸ whatsoever is visible. Therefore, the sutra says: “Characteristics of body, mind, etc., are all ignorance.”⁵⁹) If an ignorant child or country bumpkin sees it, [he will say that it] is just a black jewel. (The deluded person just sees fixed [entities]. He is a common person.) Suppose someone tells [the child or country bumpkin]: “This is a bright jewel!” [The child or country bumpkin] will be obvious in his disbelief, resisting and scolding the previous [speaker], calling him a liar. Even if he were to explain the various principles [involved, the child or country bumpkin] would never listen or take a look. (I, Zongmi, repeatedly encounter this type and say to them: “Your potentiality right now for Knowing-seeing is the buddha mind!” They are obvious in their disbelief and resist, saying: “These are words for leading old women and housewives astray.” They are just unwilling to investigate [for themselves]. They just say: “I⁶⁰ am of dull faculties and cannot really absorb [such matters].” These are like the views of people who attach to characteristics in the dharma-characteristics and man-and-god teachings of the Mahayana and Hinayana.) Even those with a willingness to believe in the jewel’s brightness, taking the blackness that they see as an objective support, will assert that [the jewel] is wrapped in obscurity by the black color. They will try to wipe and wash to rid it of the blackness. Only when they have succeeded in making the brightness reemerge will they begin to say that they personally see the bright jewel. (The view of the Northern lineage is like this.)

Some people point out that the blackness is the jewel, that you will never see the inherent brightness of the jewel. Whatever color they see reflected on the jewel to them is the bright jewel. But upon seeing a jewel not facing any colors, they resist recognizing its brightness, fearing being limited to the singularity of the brightness. In other words, they are biased toward the principle of the conditioned. This is like the Hongzhou view.

17. There is also a type of person who points out: “This blackness is the bright jewel. The substance of the bright jewel is never to be seen. If you desire to come to know it, then [you must realize that] blackness is the bright jewel, up to and including, all the various [colors such as] blue and yellow are [the bright jewel].” The stupid ones are really made to believe in these words, to focus exclusively on the blackness characteristic, and to recognize the various [color] characteristics as the bright jewel [itself]. When, on a different occasion, they see a black soapberry bead [used for making rosaries] or the vermilion instrument [used for chanting at dharma assemblies]⁶¹ or a blue jewel or a green jewel, up to and including a red jewel or a bead of amber or quartz, etc., in all cases they say: “This is the jewel!” When, on another occasion, they see a jewel that is not facing any colors whatsoever and that just possesses the characteristic of brightness and purity, they resist and do not recognize it. This is because they see none of the colors by which to recognize it. This is because they [fall into] doubt through fear of being limited to the one bright-jewel characteristic. (The view of the Hongzhou is like this. “The stupid ones” refers to that lineage’s junior trainees. “When, on a different occasion, they see a black soapberry,” etc. refers to the fact that, when the mind passes through the world and discriminates sense objects, it experiences such thoughts as passion, hatred, love, and pride. “Amber or quartz” refers to thoughts such as friendliness, goodness, humility and reverence. “Not facing any colors” refers to having no [objective supports] to think on. “Just possesses brightness and purity” refers to clear, spontaneous Knowing, that is, no mindfulness. “Doubt [through fear of] being limited” refers to their bias toward recognizing only this [principle of the conditioned].)

Some people say that the bright jewel is utterly void (śūnya) and no color can be apprehended. They are unaware that the site of the void colors is none other than the non-void jewel. This is like the Niutou view.

18. There is also a type of person who, when he hears it said [in the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras] that the various colors on the jewel are all unreal and completely devoid of substance throughout, deduces that this one bright jewel is nothing but this voidness and says: “Nothing at all can be apprehended. That is truly to be a person of comprehension. If one recognizes the existence of [even] one dharma, it is [evidence of] an incomplete understanding.” [Those of this view] are not awakened to the realization that the locus wherein the color characteristics are all void is precisely the non-void⁶² jewel. (The view of the Niutou is like this. “When he hears it said that it is void,” etc., refers to the various sections of the [Perfection of] Wisdom [Sutras] that speak of voidness. “Deduces that this one jewel,” etc., refers to the deduction that original awakening is also devoid of [self-]nature and has nothing to be recognized. “If one recognizes the existence of [even one dharma],” etc., refers to the fact that, when they hear it said [in other sutras] that the locus wherein all dharmas are void and calmed is, in the end, the potentiality for Knowing and is the true mind of original awakening, they resist, saying: “We do not understand and know nothing of the non-voidness of the mind substance.” As to “non-voidness,” the Nirvana Sutra says: “Expressions such as the jug is void mean that there is nothing in the jug [that is, no contents], and we call that the voidness of the jug. They do not mean that there is no jug.”⁶³ “Inside the bright true mind”⁶⁴ means that inside mind there are no thoughts of discrimination such as passion and hatred, etc., and we call that the voidness of mind. It does not mean that there is no mind. “No mind”⁶⁵ is just discarding depravities inside mind. Therefore, we know that the Niutou just gets rid of what it is not but has yet to reveal what it is. From this point downward is all a metaphor for the idea of the Heze.)

The Heze idea is that the dazzling brightness (Knowing) is the jewel. Hongzhou and Niutou fail to reveal Knowing. As the parade of colors is reflected on the surface of the jewel, Heze sees only its brightness. In contrast, Hongzhou, Northern, and Niutou have yet to see the jewel.

19. What about saying directly: “Just the perfect brightness of jade-like purity is the jewel substance.” (Just the Knowing of voidness and calm. If one just speaks of voidness and calm without revealing Knowing, how does it differ from space? It is also like a round piece of porcelain of sparkling purity. Though perfectly pure, it lacks intrinsic brightness. How could you call that a jewel? Would it have the potentiality to give off reflections? Hongzhou and Niutou just say there is not one thing, but they do not reveal spiritual Knowing. This is like this [piece of porcelain].) The black color, up to and including all the other colors, such as blue and yellow, etc., is unreal. (Discrimination of good and bad, movement, and action are like the production of mind and movement of thoughts that Hongzhou recognizes [as the real]. They are the totality of characteristics, and these characteristics are all unreal. Therefore, the sutra says: “What ever possesses characteristics is unreal.”⁶⁶ It should be known that that lineage [Hongzhou] recognizes the unreal as the true nature.) When one truly sees the color black, the black from the outset is not black. It is just the brightness. The blue from the outset is not blue. It is just the brightness, up to and including: all the [other colors], such as red, white, yellow, etc., are like this. They are just the brightness. If, at the locus of the color characteristics, one after the other you just see the perfect brightness of jade-like sparkling purity, then you are not confused about the jewel. (Everthing is void. Just mind is immutable. Even during delusion there is Knowing. Knowing from the outset is non-delusion. Even the arising of thoughts is Knowing, [but] Knowing from the outset is no mindfulness, up to and including: [at the locus wherein] pity, joy, happiness, hatred, love, and dislike [appear] one after the other they are all Knowing. Knowing from the outset is voidness and calm. It is void and calm and yet Knowing. Then you are not confused at all about the mind nature. The above all differs drastically from [the ideas of] the other lineages. Therefore, as I encapsulated it before [in section 14]: “If you look at this [Heze lineage] in terms of the former [lineages,] this one is drastically different from the former ones.”) If you are just free of confusion about the jewel, then black is non-black; black is the bright jewel, and so on with all colors. This is freedom [from the two extremes of] existence and non-existence. The brightness and the blackness are in fusion. How could there be any further obstacle? (This is identical to [the ideas of] those two lineages. “Black is non-blackness” is identical to [the idea of] the Niutou. The Niutou just says: “Everything is non existent [that is, void].” From “black is the [bright] jewel” downward is identical to [the idea of] the Hongzhou. Hongzhou says: “Everything is the buddha nature; the common person, the noble one, the good, and the bad are all unobstructed.” Therefore, I just encapsulated it before [in section 14] as: “If you use this [lineage] to subsume the former, then the former are identical to this one.” From here downward is the idea [behind] the metaphor. I will again take the basic lineage, the Heze, to connect the three lineages.) If you do not⁶⁷ recognize that the bright jewel is the substance with the potentiality for reflecting [all the colors] and that it is eternally unchanging (the Heze), then you will just say: “Black is the jewel” (the Hongzhou lineage). Or you will try to get rid of the black and seek out the jewel (the Northern lineage). Or you will say that the brightness and the blackness are both non ex is tent [that is, void] (the Niutou lineage). None [of these three lineages] has yet seen the jewel. (They are all linked.)

Pei Xiu asks why there is a need to speak of Knowing beyond the principles of the teachings found in the sutras and in Chan usage. Zongmi replies that these principles are merely negative expressions that do not reveal the mind substance, Knowing. Heze’s teaching of the Knowing of voidness and calm subsumes all these negative expressions. By focusing exclusively on voidness and calm, etc., Niutou and Hongzhou miss the awakening aspect.

20. [Pei Xiu] asks: According to the Mahayana sutras and the Chan gates of all the lineages from the past to the present, up to and including what Heze says, the nature of principle is always the same. [They all] say: “There is neither arising nor disappearing; there is neither the conditioned nor characteristics; there is neither the noble one nor the common person; there is neither right nor wrong; [it is] not to be proven; [it is] not to be spoken of.” If in the present we just rely on this, it will be correct. What need is there to speak of spiritual Knowing?

[Zongmi] answers: These are but negative expressions, which have yet openly to show the mind substance. If it is not pointed out that right now the complete and constant Knowing that never darkens is one’s own mind, then what are we speaking of as “neither the conditioned nor characteristics,” etc.? Thus, we know that the teachings just say that this Knowing neither arises nor disappears, etc. Therefore, the Heze, at the locus of voidness and the absence of characteristics, points out Knowing-seeing. This enables people to attain recognition, that is, awaken to their own mind, passing over the rebirth process and transcending the world, eternally without interruption, up to and including becoming buddhas. Heze also takes care of various expressions such as “unconditioned,” “non-abiding,” up to and including “inexpressible,” etc., just by speaking of “the Knowing of voidness and calm.” Everything is subsumed. “Voidness” means to empty out all characteristics; it is still a negative term. Just “calm” is the immutable principle of the real nature; it is not the same as voidness and nonexistence. Knowing is the principle of revealing the thing-in-itself;⁶⁸ it is not the same as discrimination. Just this is the original substance of the true mind. Therefore, from the first time one produces the thought [of awakening] up to and including becoming a buddha [it is] just calm, just Knowing, immutable and uninterrupted. It is just that according to the stage [of practice] the terminology differs somewhat. That is to say, at the time of awakening it is called the wisdom [prajna]⁶⁹ of principle (Principle is calm; wisdom is Knowing). At the time of production of the thought [of awakening] and practice it is called stopping and viewing. (Stopping is to bring to rest objective supports and to coincide with calm; viewing is to illuminate nature and characteristics and to mysteriously [fuse] with Knowing.) As you perform and bring practice to completion, it is called concentration and wisdom. (Because of stopping objective supports, the mind [enters] concentration; concentration is a calm immutability. Because of viewing-illuminating, wisdom is produced; wisdom is Knowing that is non-discriminative.) According to the time when the depravities are all exhausted, meritorious practices are filled up, and one becomes a buddha, it is called bodhi or nirvana (“Bodhi” is a Sanskrit word. Its translation is “awakening” [jue]. It is Knowing. “Nirvana” is a Sanskrit word. Its translation is “calmed” [jimie]. It is calmness.) You should know that, from the first time you produce the thought [of awakening] up to and including the ultimate, [it is] just calm, just Knowing. If the two lineages [of Niutou and Hongzhou] just speak of voidness and calm, the unconditioned, etc., then they are lacking in the awakening aspect.

Pei Xiu counters that Hongzhou does, in fact, uses terms such as “spiritual awakening” and “mirror illumination” that seem to be indistinguishable from Knowing. Zongmi answers that these Hongzhou terms do not apply to deluded beings, neutral states of mind, etc., while Knowing pervades all sentient beings in all states of mind. Hongzhou and Niutou hold up “sweeping away traces” as the pinnacle. In so doing they have gotten the intention behind the negative teaching, true voidness, but are still missing the intention behind the teaching that reveals, excellent existence. In other words, they have gotten the substance but missed the functioning. Pei counters that the Hongzhou teaching that the potentiality for action is the buddha nature, in fact, does reveal the mind nature, and, hence, Hongzhou is not deficient with respect to the functioning aspect. Zongmi replies that the true mind has two types of functioning, intrinsic and conditioned. The Hongzhou teaching is just the responsive functioning and misses the intrinsic. Also, revealing is of two types, by inference and by direct perception. Hongzhou teaches that the potentiality for action allows us to infer the existence of the buddha nature, which cannot be directly perceived. Heze, on the other hand, reveals the mind substance by teaching that “Knowing is mind.” This is the revealing by direct perception omitted by Hongzhou.

21. [Pei Xiu] asks: Hongzhou also speaks of “spiritual awakening”⁷⁰ and “mirror illumination,” etc. How are these different from Knowing?

[Zongmi] answers: If one relies on many principles to reveal the one substance, then the ten thousand dharmas are one mind. How [can the Hongzhou lineage say that it is] just “spiritual awakening” or “mirror illumination,” etc.? Now, in terms of pointing to the substance in itself,⁷¹ in the stupid and the wise, in the good and the bad, up to and including in wild and domestic animals, the mind nature is always so. It is complete and constant Knowing that is different from trees and stones. These terms, “awakening,” “wisdom,” etc., do not have a universal application. That is to say, a deluded person is not awakened; a stupid one lacks wisdom. And when mind is neutral [that is, indifferent, neither good nor bad, and thus having no karmic effect], it is not called “mirror illumination,” etc. How could [“mirror illumination”] be the same as the mind substance in spontaneous and constant Knowing, [which includes good, bad, and neutral]? Therefore, the Huayan Commentary Master [that is, Chengguan in his Dharma Gate of the Mind Essence in] Answer to [Emperor] Shunzong says: “The non-abiding mind substance is a spiritual Knowing that never darkens.”⁷² He also says: “Give free rein to luck in the Knowing of calm.” He also says: “Dual illumination in the Knowing of calm.” The Huayan Sutra also makes a distinction between Knowing and wisdom [prajna].⁷³ Moreover, even though Hongzhou speaks of “spiritual awakening,” it just designates it as something possessed by sentient beings. Expressions such as “all have the buddha nature” are not a pointing out that hits the bull’s-eye. In its pointing out [Hongzhou] just says: “The potentiality for speech [and action is the buddha nature].” If one questions them in detail, they say: “Everything is a provisional name; there are no really existent dharmas.” Furthermore, speaking of the teachings of the buddhas in general, there are the two gates of negating and revealing. If we infer the real meanings [behind] these [two gates], there is true voidness and excellent existence. If we examine⁷⁴ original mind, [we see that it] is endowed with substance and function. At present the Hongzhou and Niutou take “sweeping away traces” as the ultimate. They have just apprehended the intention behind the negative teaching, the meaning of true voidness. This just completes the substance and misses the intention behind the teaching that reveals, the meaning of excellent existence. It omits the functioning.

[Pei Xiu] asks: Hungzhou takes [the idea that] “the potentiality for speech and action, etc., [is the buddha nature]” to reveal the mind nature. This corresponds to the teaching that reveals and is, in fact, the functioning. What is [Hongzhou] lacking?

[Zongmi] answers: The true mind’s original substance has two types of functioning. The first is the intrinsic, original functioning; the second is the conditioned, responsive functioning. It is like a bronze mirror. The bronze material is the intrinsic substance. The brightness of the bronze is the intrinsic functioning. The reflections that the brightness gives off are the conditioned functioning. The reflections appear [when the mirror] is face to face with objective supports. They appear in a thousand varieties, but the brightness is an intrinsically constant brightness. The brightness is just one flavor. In terms of the metaphor, mind’s constant calm is the intrinsic substance, and mind’s constant Knowing is the intrinsic functioning. This [Hongzhou’s] “potentiality for speech, potentiality for discrimination, action, etc.,” is the conditioned, responsive functioning. At present Hongzhou points to the potentiality for speech, etc., but this is just the conditioned functioning, and [Hongzhou] is lacking in the intrinsic functioning. Furthermore, in the teaching that reveals there is revealing by inference and revealing by direct perception.⁷⁵ Hongzhou says: “The mind substance is not to be pointed to. It is just by means of the potentiality for speech, etc., that we can verify it and come to know of the existence of the buddha nature.” This is revealing by inference. Heze directly says: “The mind substance is the potentiality for Knowing. Knowing is mind.” Revealing mind in terms of Knowing is revealing by direct perception. Hongzhou is lacking in this.

All-at-once awakening is like an eminent official who dreams he is incarcerated in a prison. Someone comes along and wakes him up, and he suddenly sees that he has always been at home. Hongzhou’s teaching that all action is the functioning of the buddha nature leads Hongzhou to refrain from any picking and choosing. Thus, they fail to distinguish between the functioning of delusion and awakening, between the functioning of perverted views and correct views. But we must distinguish the topsy-turvy from the correct. Even after all-at-once-understanding awakening, the habit energy from innumerable past lives is impossible to eliminate all at once, and so one must engage in a step-by-step practice grounded in intellectual-understanding awakening. Pei asks if engaging in such practice after awakening is not like the dreamer’s continuing to try to escape from prison after waking from the dream. Zongmi replies that the dream simile applies only to all-at-once awakening and not to step-by-step practice. A simile for the latter is water (true mind) stirred by a wind (ignorance) to produce waves (depravities). The wetness of the water (Knowing) is immutable. The waves stop step-by-step. Hongzhou sees that wetness is undifferentiated but fails to realize that supporting a boat and capsizing it are two very different things, and, consequently, though close to all-at-once awakening, it is not quite there. Hongzhou is utterly deficient in step-by-step practice. Niutou has a partial understanding of all-at-once awakening and shows no deficiency concerning step-by-step practice. Northern is just step-by-step practice with no all-at-once awakening. Heze always champions putting all-at-once awakening at the beginning, followed by step-by-step practice. Each Chan lineage is directed to one type of disposition. Everything the Chan masters have said is the teaching of the buddhas.

22. Above I have related the two principles of immutable and conditioned. Now I will next clarify the two gates of all-at-once awakening and step-by-step practice. Thus, in the principle of thusness there are no buddhas or sentient beings. How much less could there be a transmission from master to disciple! But there has been a transmission from patriarch to patriarch since the Buddha, and we know that [this patriarchal transmission] accords with the gate whereby people practice, realize, and enter [awakening.] Speaking in terms of people, there is delusion and awakening, beginning [of practice] and end [of practice], and common person and noble one. Awakening from delusion is all-at-once. Turning over the common person and making him into a noble one is all-at-once awakening. All-at-once awakening means [the following]. Deluded from without beginning, you have recognized the four elements [of earth, water, fire, and air] as a body, thought of the unreal as mind, and the two together you have recognized as a self. If you encounter a good friend who explains in the manner above [the two principles of] immutable-conditioned, nature-characteristics and substance-function, you will suddenly awaken to the realization that spiritual Knowing-seeing is your own true mind; that mind from the outset is void and calm, limitless, and without characteristics; that it is the dharma body; that body and mind are non-dual; that it is the true self;⁷⁶ and that it is not the slightest bit different from all the buddhas. Therefore, we say: “All-at-once.” (From here down I will provide a simile, and then comment following the [simile] text. I will add the dharma to it [that is, the text of the simile].) It is like a great official (the buddha nature) who dreams (delusion) that he is in prison (the three realms [of desire, form, and non-form]) and that his body (the root [storehouse] consciousness) has been put into a wooden collar (passion and love). He [undergoes] various sufferings (the totality of karmic retribution) and [devises] a hundred escape plans (asks about the dharma and is diligent in practice). He encounters someone who summons him to arise (a good friend), and suddenly he awakens (by listening to the dharma his mind opens). He then sees that his own body (the dharma body or true self) has always been in his own home. (The Vimalakīrti Sutra says: “The house of ultimate voidness and calm.”)⁷⁷ He is at ease and joyful (the calmed is joyful),⁷⁸ rich and honored (from the outset on the substance there are merits [as numberless as the grains of sand in] the Ganges). He is no different at all from the officials of the court. (He is identical to the true nature of all the buddhas. The dharma added point by point like commentary should be understood.) If we rely on this dharma simile, point by point there will be clarity. It will be sufficient [to enable one] to discern that, even though the original source of body-mind in both the dream and wakeful states is one, in terms of its characteristics and functioning, an inverted [way of looking at things] and a correct [way of looking at things] are widely separated. One should not, having awakened, again do the things one did in the dream. By means of a simile [I will show that], even though the mind source is one, delusion and awakening are widely separated. To be a prime minister when dreaming (to practice and attain the rank of the Great Brahma, king of the gods,⁷⁹ etc., when in a state of delusion) is not as good as serving as a [mere prison] functionary when awake (after awakening for the first time to enter the ten ranks of the [bodhisattva] faith).⁸⁰ To obtain the seven treasures⁸¹ in a dream (to cultivate immeasurable merits when deluded) is not as good as one hundred cash when awake (to uphold the five precepts and ten good actions⁸² when awake). In all these cases one is unreal and the other real, and, therefore, they should not be considered similar (All the teachings say: “To make a donation of three-thousand of the seven treasures is not as good as hearing one line of a verse.”⁸³ This is the idea here).⁸⁴ At the present time Hongzhou’s just saying that every type of passion, hatred, precept [holding], or concentration [samadhi] is the functioning of the buddha nature fails to distinguish between the functioning of delusion and awakening, perverted [view] and correct [view]. Their idea lies in [the assumption that] the mind nature of thusness [tathata] is free of stupidity, and, therefore, they are not selective. [They hold that], in terms of the true nature, from the outset there is no verbalization, and so who [could possibly] say “different” or “same”? At present there has been a transmission from master to disciple, and thus we must distinguish the inverted from the correct. Next I will clarify step-by-step practice. Even though you all-at-once awaken to the realization that the true mind of the dharma body is identical to the buddhas, nevertheless, for many eons you have [engaged in] unreal grasping of the four elements as a self, and the habit energy has become your nature. Because finally this is difficult to eliminate all-at-once, you must [engage in] a step-by-step practice grounded in awakening. You destroy this [habit energy] and further destroy it, up to and including there being nothing left to destroy.⁸⁵ This is called becoming a buddha. It is not that outside of this mind there is a buddha you should become. Thus, even though you [engage in] step-by-step practice, because of the earlier awakening to the realization that the depravities from the outset are void and the mind nature from the outset pure, in the cutting off of bad there is no cutting off, in the cultivation of good no cultivating. This is true cultivating and cutting off.

[Pei Xiu] asks: As for one who [engages in] further practice after having awakened, in terms of the previous dream simile, is he not comparable to one who still tries to escape from the prison and throw off his wooden collar after having awakened [from the dream]?

[Zongmi] answers: The previous simile [applies] just to the principle of all-at-once awakening, not to the principle of step-by-step practice. Truly, in the dharma there are immeasurable principles. How could there be just one principle? Therefore, though the Nirvana Sutra just speaks of the buddha nature, each of its hundreds of similes has a referent. They should not be randomly interchanged. Now I will clarify a simile for step-by-step practice. It is like water that is being stirred by a wind. It becomes numerous waves, and there is the danger of bobbing up and down. If perhaps there is cold weather, it will coagulate into ice and obstruct the functioning of pouring and washing. Thus, the wetness of the water, even though its movement has quieted down and its flow has frozen, has [undergone] no change whatsoever. “Water” is a metaphor for the true mind. “Wind” refers to ignorance. “Waves” refers to the depravities. “Bobbing up and down” refers to [being reborn in] the six rebirth paths of wheel turning. “Cold weather” refers to the habit energies of ignorance, passion, and love. “Coagulate into ice” refers to rigidly grasping the four elements [until] they obstruct each other. In the case of “obstruct pouring and washing,” “pouring” is a metaphor for the raining down of the great dharma rain, which nourishes all living things and makes the shoots of the path grow; “washing” is a metaphor for cleaning up the depravities. When one is deluded, neither of these can [be accomplished,] and, therefore, we say “obstruct.” “Thus, the wetness of the water, even though its movement has quieted down and its flow has [undergone] no change whatsoever” is a metaphor [for the fact that], even when one is passionate and angry, there is Knowing. Even when one [feels] friendliness and [strives to] save [sentient beings,] there is Knowing. [Even during] sorrow, joy, pity, happiness, and all sorts of changes and movements there is never an absence of Knowing. Therefore, we say “immutable.” If, in the present moment, you all-at-once awaken to original mind,⁸⁶ constant Knowing is like the unchanging wetness. Once the mind is without delusion and is not in ignorance, it is like the wind’s all-at-once stopping. After awakening, objective supports spontaneously cease step-by-step. This is like the waves’ coming to a halt step-by-step. By perfuming body and mind with concentration and wisdom step-by-step you come to exist in freedom, up to and including divine transformations⁸⁷ and no obstructions. You will bring benefit to all living things. This is like the spring sunshine’s melting the ice. It pours down as a wash, enriching the ten thousand things. Hongzhou constantly says: “Passion, hatred, friendliness, and good are all the buddha nature. What distinctions exist?” This is like a person who just discerns that wetness from beginning to end is undifferentiated but does not realize that the merit of supporting a boat and the fault of overturning it are widely divergent. Therefore, even though that lineage is near to the gate of all-at-once awakening, it has yet to hit the bull’s-eye. In the matter of the gate of step-by-step practice [Hongzhou] makes the mistake of completely deviating from it. Because Niutou comprehends voidness it half-understands the gate of all-at-once awakening. Because it “forgets feelings” it has no deficiency with respect to the gate of step-by-step practice. The Northern lineage is just step-by-step practice and is completely lacking in all-at-once awakening. Because it lacks all-at-once awakening even its practice is not true. For Heze, one must first all-at-once awaken and then [engage in] a practice grounded in that awakening. Therefore, the sutra says: “If all the bodhisattvas awaken to pure, perfect bodhi (awakening), take a pure, awakened mind, take quietude as their practice, and rely on settling all thoughts, they will become aware of the movement of the depravities within consciousness, etc.”⁸⁸ (practice). This idea of all-at-once awakening and step-by-by-step practice is provided for in the whole canon of the Mahayana, and the Awakening of Faith, Perfect Awakening, and Huayan are its axiom. If each [Chan lineage], for the sake of one type of [trainee] disposition, [possesses] good skill in teaching devices, opens the door widely, attracts each and every [trainee] in, perfumes his habit-energy seeds birth after birth, and serves as a superior condition life after life, then whatever the [Chan] lineages say is always the teachings of the buddhas. All the sutras and all the treatises provide the texts [of these teachings].⁸⁹