Spatio-Temporal Process of the Linji School of Chan Buddhism in the 10th and 11th Centuries

Abstract

From the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127), the Linji School became the main branch of the Southern Chan Buddhism. Understanding the historical significance of the Linji School is crucial for comprehending the origins and development of Chan Buddhism in China and East Asia. This article adheres to the academic approach of studying Chan in its historical context, using GIS (Geographic Information System) tools to include in the research all seven generations of Linji monks, from the fourth to the tenth Linji generation, and reconstructing the spatial and temporal process of Linji’s transmission in the 10th and 11th centuries. The study found that the Linji monastic group maintained a tenuous relationship with secular power in their ideology during the Northern Song Dynasty, with their preaching distribution center far from the power center (the capital), located to the south of the Yangtze River. This situation allowed the Linji monastic group to avoid extinction during the transition between the Song and Jin Dynasties, and the monastic group later became a unique and thriving force.

1. Introduction

After the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127), the Linji School (臨濟宗) became the dominant school of Southern Chan Buddhism (禪宗). To this day, it occupies a major part of the Buddhist Chan in China (Huang and Ju 2011). How the Linji School’s status was formed historically is a key issue in understanding the origins of the origins of Chinese Chan Buddhism.

The traditional study of the history of Chan Buddhism takes Chan thought as its root. This research approach necessitates the selection of representative Chan masters for study (Yan 2006, p. 8; Tsuchiya 2008, pp. 141–48). However, the identification of representative Chan masters is a rather subjective matter. Generally speaking, certain Chan masters who are well documented and have many descendants in the Lamp History (燈錄) are the main examples of such studies. While it is generally true that the more records of a Chan master that existed, the greater the influence he had, it is important not to overlook the lag in the formation of the Lamp History, which is often mixed with deliberate exaggerations of the images of masters by later disciples. Like the Yunmen (雲門) monastic order of the Northern Song dynasty, the mainstream Linji (臨濟) monastic order was constantly changing. This change was accompanied by a reshaping of the image after “the master was manifested by his disciples”. The history of the Linji monastic order, as recounted in the Lamp History, deviates from historical reality (Ge 2023). Selecting only a few “important” Chan masters in each generation, while omitting the numerous monks who actually carried out the generation transmission, cannot accurately reflect the entire picture of the monastic community’s transmission of the sermons.1

This paper adheres to the approach of “studying Chan in its historical context” (Hu 1991) and includes all seven generations of Linji Chan masters, from the fourth to the tenth Linji generation, in order to recover the spatial and temporal process of the transmission of the Linji monastic order in the 10th and 11th centuries after the Linji Buddhist school revived during the Five Dynasties (907–979). Yanagida Seizan questions whether Chan dialogue materials had really conveyed Chan thoughts in the Lamp History (Yanagida 1978). Influenced by this query, John R. McRae believed that scholars should distinguish four types of Chan materials: history, legendary, Chan law, and propagandists’ rationalizations (McRae 1986, pp. 10–11). Mixing up the types will lead to serious distortions in understanding Chan history, mistaking legends for history and promotional slogans for the true expression of Chan thoughts. Albert Welter have reversed the priority normally ceded to Yulu style materials in Lamp History compilations in favor of the historical details provided regarding associations between Chan monks and secular rulers and literati officials, appointments of Chan monks to different monasteries, the honors bestowed on them, and so on (Albert 2006, p. 5).

This paper compares the number of Chan masters from the fourth to the tenth generations of Linji in the Lamp History and other relevant documents, and processes spatial information on the transmission by these Chan masters to create a thematic map for spatial analysis. Jason Protass has already attempted this method and achieved important results, but there are still some methodological issues (Protass 2016).

1. He did not conduct a comprehensive examination of the Lamp History over the Middle Ages. The most systematic genealogical source for recording the generation and number of Chan masters is the Lamp History. During the Northern Song period, the government compiled three versions of the Lamp History: the Jingde Chuandenglu (景德傳燈錄, hereinafter referred to as the Chuandenglu), the Tiansheng Guangdenglu (天聖廣燈錄, hereinafter referred to as the Guangdenglu), and the Jianzhong Jingguo Xudenglu (建中靖國續燈錄, hereinafter referred to as the Xudenglu), which provided a general picture of the size of the Chan group from the Five Dynasties to the Northern Song period. However, these three versions of the Lamp History did not cover all the Chan masters of the same period as the book was being compiled, due to the time limit on the collection of materials. Thus, simply adding up the number of Linji Chan masters listed in these three versions does not yield the full number of Linji Chan masters. Additionally, there are errors in the generation and the number of successors recorded in the existing Lamp History (Ge 2016, pp. 19–20).

2. The cross-section is displaced according to different periods. In the Lamp History, a considerable number of Chan Masters have only scattered records, or only records of their sayings, but their generation and the information about their abode are complete. If only selecting Chan Masters with verifiable biographical information as the data sample, the same problem of choosing “representative” Chan Masters exists as in previous studies. If Chan Masters with incomplete personal information are randomly located in the map layer, this can easily cause displacement of the sites.

3. The circle overlaps in the map. On Protass’s maps, each master is represented by a single circle, with the size of each circle (its radius) indicating the number of disciples listed in the Lamp History. Due to the map limitation and some Chan masters’ abodes being at the same temple locations, it is even more likely that the points overlap, making it difficult to clearly display their distribution on the map.

4. In Song Dynasty, Chan temples were promoted as the official template for the Shifang (十方, or “ten directions” monasteries, means public monasteries) reform, and the mobility of the abbot greatly increased (Morten 2008, pp. 34–49). However, Protass’s approach is to locate the temple associated with a Chan Master in the entry header of the Lamp History, without considering that Chan Masters may have lived in multiple temples (especially those far apart) and that geographical diffusion of their disciples may have occurred. This means that each temple where the Chan Master served as abbot will show circles representing multiple centers that may be far apart, and the number of disciples in each circle may also undergo significant changes.

This article makes significant adjustments compared to the above research:

1. We select the Xu Chuandenglu (續傳燈錄, also translated as “The Sequel to the Lamp History”) as the basic source for examining the fourth to the tenth generations of Linji Chan masters, which is the most comprehensive collection of Chan masters and the nearest to the Northern Song Dynasty in terms of compilation time. It was edited by the Ming Dynasty monk Yuanji Juding (圓極居頂, ?–1404). In addition to compiling a comprehensive record of the Northern Song period’s Chan masters, it also includes important information that was missing from previous editions (Ge 2017).

The related studies show that only a Chan master who becomes an abbot can complete the qualification of a monastic member. Moreover, only an abbot can bestow the qualification on his inheritance disciple (also dharma heir 法嗣, a monk who inherits the mantle of his master and then becomes an abbot of Chan monastery). This indicates that the abbot is the crucial link in the Chan lineage.2 Therefore, except for a small number of laypeople, the vast majority are renounced Chan masters who spread the dharma.3 Therefore, we compile only the records of Chan monks who have a clear lineage relationship with Chan masters outside the Lamp History, and we supplement these records into the Chan monk database.

2. This paper takes each generation of Chan masters in the same generation as the map layer. According to the extant historical data, the year when the last of the Chan masters of the same generation came into existence (when he became an abbot of a monastery) and the year when the first abbot retired (when he ceased to be an abbot of a monastery) is taken as the time interval for the Dharma missions of the Chan masters of that generation, aiming to obtain a synchronous transmission cross-section layer for the Chan masters of that generation.

3. When illustrating the geographical distribution of a Chan master’s Dharma transmissions on a map, if a Chan master lived in more than one monastery, the monastery is generally taken as the one indicated in the Lamp History catalog. In this paper, the thematic map demonstrates a kernel density plot to depict the trend of transmission of dharma by various generations of Linji monks. Due to the large sample size, the random flow of individual monks can be ignored in determining the transmission centers. The geographical location of the monastery is determined primarily by Suzuki Tetsuo’s (2006) A Dictionary of the Names of Chinese Chan Temples and Mountains (中國禪宗寺名山名辭典, 2006) and georeferenced according to the coordinates. If the location of the monastery is unclear, the prefectural seat of the monastery is used for the location on the map. The coordinates of the seats for the temple were taken from the CHGIS (http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~chgis/, accessed on 1 January 2021) layer.

4. In the Song Dynasty, the selection of abbots was largely controlled by the official authorities. For monks to obtain the qualification of preaching and expand their influence, they had to establish good relationships with scholars (Albert 2006, p. 5). To better understand the relationship between the Linji Monastery’s transmission of Buddhism and the political powers, this article chooses the administrative map as the base map, which is sourced from CHGIS (“Hartwell China HGIS”, CHGIS V5 (2010), Harvard Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Fudan University Center for Historical Geography).

2. Resurgence of the Linji Monastic Order

2.1. The Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Generations of Linji

The only three remaining Linji monks of the fourth generation who are recorded in the Lamp History are Fengxue Yanzhao (風穴延沼, 896–973), Ying Qiaoan (穎橋安), the inheritance disciple of Huixiang (慧顒) of the Southern Academy, and Xinyang Shanjing (興陽山靜), the inheritance disciple of Siming (思明) of the Western Academy. The number of Linji monks fell to its lowest level after the Patriarch Yixuan (義玄) in the fourth Linji generation. There were four monks in the fifth generation of Linji, who were all disciples of Fengxue Yanzhao, as seen in the Lamp History. The original Linji monastic order had nearly died out by the time it was passed on to Fengxue Yanzhao, and the Linji monastic order that was later revived was entirely the result of the re-establishment of the Fengxue Yanzhao generation.

The most important of the Fengxue Yanzhao disciples was Shoushan Shengnian (首山省念, 927–993).4 It is recorded in the Lamp History that all fifteen of the six generations of Linji disciples were descended from Shoushan. When he first ascended to the role of abbot and began to transmit Dharma at Shoushan Mountain (首山) in Ruzhou (汝州), he said, “The Dharma has been entrusted to kings, ministers, and capable sponsors, so that the Dharma generation will not stop and will continue from generation to generation until today (佛法付與國王、大臣、有力檀那，令法不絕，燈燈相續，至於今日)” (Li 1975b). It is evident that the Linji monks, after a long period of political turmoil, learned how to keep the Dharma alive. The high status of Shoushan in the Linji monastic order meant that his words greatly influenced the style of Linji monks in later generations. The inheritance disciples of Shoushan, through their efforts, made it possible that the “Chan of Shoushan swept over the world (道被天下)” (Huihong 1975h). The distribution of the Dharma is shown in Figure 1.5

Official support was essential to the rapid rise of Shoushan’s disciples. Li Zunxu (李遵勖, 988–1038), the Emperor Taizong’s son-in-law, and Yang Yi (楊億, 974–1020), a Minister of Works, were all lay disciples of Shoushan.6 These officials and noblemen were close to Shoushan’s disciples and helped to promote this school (Refer to (Abe 1991)).7 Important evidence of this can be seen in the fact that as many as five of Shoushan’s disciples were given the purple kasaya (a patchwork outer vestment worn by a Buddhist monk, which designates a special honor).8

Apart from the consolidation of the original Zhongyuan (中原) area (for example, Shoushan Huaizhi (首山懷志), Guanghui Yuanlian (廣慧元璉), and Yexian Guisheng (葉縣歸省), all transmitted their doctrines from master to disciple in Ruzhou (汝州). An important movement of the Shoushan disciples was southward. This southern advance was toward Xiangyang (襄陽) and Dengzhou (鄧州). When Fenyang Shanzhao (汾陽善昭) traveled between Xiang River (湘水) and Heng Mountain (衡山), Zhang Maozong (張茂宗), the prefect of Tanzhou (潭州), invited Shanzhao to choose one of the four famous temples in which to serve as abbot. Shanzhao traveled north to Mianzhou (沔州), Xiangzhou (襄州), where he stayed at the Baima Temple. Liu Changyan (劉昌言), the prefect of Xiangzhou, heard of his arrival and went to visit him. At the time, the abbotships of Dongshan (洞山) Temple and Guyin (谷隱) Temple were vacant, and it was discussed that the abbotship of both should be given to Shanzhao. Liu Changyan asked Shanzhao to choose one; “Although he was asked eight times, Shanzhao eventually refused” (Huihong 1975d).

Although Shanzhao did not accede to the requests of the local officials, he was based at Baima Mountain (白馬山) for a considerable period until he left for the Princely Dazhong Temple Cloister (大中寺太子禪院) in Fenzhou (汾州) in 994 (Chuyuan 2014). Another disciple of Shoushan, Guyin Yuncong (谷隱蘊聰), managed to establish himself in Xiangzhou and Dengzhou later on. In 1006, the prefect Zha Dao (955–1018) asked Guyin Yuncong to stay at Shimen Mountain (石門山). In 1020, the prefect Xia Song (985–1051) invited Guyin Yuncong again to stay at the Taiping Xingguo Cloister (大平興國禪院) on Guyin Mountain (谷隱山) in this area (Li 1975d).

According to the “Inscription on the Pagoda of Commemorated Chan Master Cizhaocong (先慈照聰禪師塔銘)” written by Li Zunxu, “The Huxi and Fenghuang temples of Xiangyang gathered thousands of monks and disciples. After 24 years, the people of the world looked up to him with reverence (襄陽虎溪、鳳凰兩山聚千徒。歷二紀，天下仰之) (Li 1975c)”. The Shoushan Shengnian inheritance disciple, represented by Guyin Yuncong, expanded the influence of the Linji monastic order to Xiangzhou and Dengzhou. In the sixth Linji generation, Jionghan (迥罕) lived in Zhimen Temple (智門寺) in Suizhou (隋州), and Huizhao (惠昭) lived in Lumen Temple (鹿門寺) in Xiangzhou.

Another group of Shoushan inheritance disciples reached out to Jinghu Nanlu (荊湖南路, Jinghu South Circuit), represented by Shending Hongyin (神鼎洪諲). However, Hongyin was “not yet in his prime when he attained enlightenment, and lived in seclusion in Heng Mountain for twenty years before he took up the duties of abbot, and it was another twenty years before he started to give sermons” (Huihong 1975i). Therefore, at the time when the Tiansheng Guangdenglu was written, the influence of Shending Hongyin was limited, and he was not even qualified to enter the Lamp History.

2.2. The Seventh Generation of Linji

The records in the Xu Chuandenglu, the Guangdenglu, and the Xu Denglu have been combined to arrive at a total of 81 persons in the seventh generation of Linji. Excluding four lay disciples, namely, Yang Yi, a lay disciple of Guanghui Yuanlian, and Li Zunxu, Xia Song, and Wang Shu, disciples of Guyin Yuncong, as well as six duplicates and mistaken entries, the total number of Linji’s seventh generation Chan masters recorded is 71. The distribution of the Dharma transmission is shown in Figure 2.9

According to Figure 2, in addition to the further consolidation of the Central Plains (中原) (five people) and the Xiangzhou and Dengzhou in Middle Yangzi (襄鄧) (eight people), two new directions of Dharma transmission emerged. The first was the intensive movement south-eastwards, with Liangzhelu (兩浙路, Liangzhe Circuit, modern Zhejiang or Lower Yangzi) becoming the main area of Linji monastic orders (19 people); the second was a further movement southwards from the Xiang-deng area into the Lianghu (兩湖, Hunan and Hubei) (11 people).

The movement of Guyin Yuncong’s inheritance disciples to the Wu-Yue region is most evident (Figure 3). The best known of these disciples is Jinshan Tanying (金山曇穎). After attaining enlightenment in the Shimen Mountain (石門山), Tanying, who was originally from Hangzhou (杭州), went to the capital Kaifeng to live in the garden of Li Zunxu’s son. At one time, many nobles visited and heard his lectures. It is clear that Tanying’s success could not have been achieved without his teacher Yuncong’s contacts in the upper echelons of the court and aristocracy. Afterward, Tanying traveled east and stayed at the Shuzhou Xianglu Peak (舒州香爐峰), Runzhou Insheng Temple (潤州因聖寺), Taipingzhou Yinjing Temple (太平州隱靜寺), Mingzhou Xuedou Temple (明州雪竇寺), and Runzhou Jinshan Longyou Temple (潤州金山龍遊寺) (Huihong 1975g). The temples he stayed at were all located in southeast China.

The two branches that developed the fastest around Hu’nan and Hubei were Fenyang Shanzhao and Shending Hongyin. Shending Hongyin originally started in Hunan, so this generation spread around Tanzhou (潭州). The inheritance disciples of Fenyang traveled a long way south, and the process was more complex, as in the case of Shishang Chuyuan (石霜楚圓). After becoming a monk, Chuyuan traveled between Xianzhou (襄州) and Mianzhou (沔州) and then went to Luoyang (洛陽) with Shouzhi (守芝) and Guquan (谷泉). When he heard of the high reputation of Fenyang Shanzhao, he decided to join him. Later, he joined Sanjiao Zhisong (三交智嵩), who recommended Chuyuan to Yang Yi (楊億) in Kaifeng (開封, namely the capital). Yang Yi praised him highly and recommended him to Li Zunxu. Chuyuan’s association with Yang Yi and Li Zunxu, two high-ranking officials, laid the foundation for transmitting the Dharma. Chuyuan left his post as abbot of Nanyuan Temple (南原寺) in Yuanzhou (袁州) and went to Hu’nan to join the disciples of Shending Hongyin. Hongyin was the abbot for 30 years, and his disciples were distributed everywhere and were very influential, making him an important promoter of Chuyuan in the passing on of the doctrines from master to disciple. Chuyuan also held successive abbey positions at Shishuang Temple (石霜寺) and Xinghua Temple (興化寺) and eventually became a great master of high prestige. When Li Zunxu was on his deathbed, he sent an envoy to invite Chuyuan to the capital to meet with him. This was an opportunity for Chuyuan to have a direct dialogue with Emperor Renzong (r. 1022–1063) (Huihong 1975b). However, the fact that Renzong did not retain Chuyuan despite his interest in Chan Buddhism, considering that the royal selection of the abbot of the Jinyin Chan Monastery at the time fell to the Yunmen monastic order, seems to suggest that the Linji Chan masters represented by Chuyuan had not yet won the heart of the supreme ruler.

3. The Southward Movement of the Eighth Linji Generation and Ideological Divergence

In the Xu Chuandenglu, it is recorded that there were 176 monks of the eighth generation of Linji, but there is no mention of the inheritance disciples of Shishang Chuyuan, that is, Guquan Dadao (谷泉大道) and Jian’an Chongyan (建安崇儼). They are now supplemented by the Xudenglu and Taiping Xingguo Chanyuan Shifang Zhuichiji (大平興國禪院十方住持記, also translated as the Record of the Abbots in Taiping Xingguo Cloister) by Li Gou (Li 2011). It can also be noted that Gutian Shan (古田善), inheritance disciple of Shishang Chuyuan, is the same person as Gutianxian Zifu Haishan (古田縣資福海善), and that Ganlu Fayan (甘露法眼), inheritance disciple of Fushan Fayuan (浮山法遠), is the same person as Ganlu Qingyu (甘露慶餘) in the Xu Chuandenglu. The eighth generation of the Linji Chan masters totals 173 persons, with the exclusion of the lay disciples. The distribution of their Buddhist area is shown in Figure 4.10

As can be seen in Figure 4, the center of the eighth-generation Linji preachment was pushed southwards to the Yangtze River, with a dense distribution along the middle and lower reaches of the river. As many as 101 people transmitted the Dharma in Liangzhe Lu (兩浙路), Jiangnan Donglu (江南東路, Jiangnan East Circuit), Huainan Xilu (淮南西路, Huainan West Circuit), and Huainan Donglu (淮南東路 Huainan East Circuit), so it is clear that the areas downstream of the Yangtze River were the most important areas of propagation during the eighth generation of Linji. For example, Xinghua Renyue (興化仁嶽), inheritance disciple of Fushan Fayuan, transmitted the Dharma in Shuzhou (舒州) and Luzhou (廬州) and was once described as “the most prominent Chan in the Jianghuai (江淮) area” (Weibai 1975i). In addition to the consolidation and expansion of the southeastern region, Chan development was particularly rapid in the Jiangnan Xilu (江南西路, Jiangnan West Circuit), Jinghu Nanlu (荊湖南路, Jinghu South Circuit), and Jinghu Beilu (荊湖北路, Jinghu North Circuit) areas. In the seventh generation of Linji, only 14 people appeared in the aforementioned regions, but by the eighth generation, the number of people here had risen to 47. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the above-mentioned three regions were the main bases of the Yunmen monastic order. Among the fourth generation of Chan masters in Yunmen, 57 had been converted to Chan Buddhism in these regions. Since the eighth Chan master of Linji started to spread the influence of Chan on a large scale, they inevitably came into conflict with the Yunmen monks. In the Northern Song Dynasty, Hui Hong (惠洪), a scholarly monk, described the development of Chan Buddhism at that time and stated that “the two schools of Yunmen and Linji were especially flourishing in the world, particularly in Hunan. The descendants of Yunmen were all self-appointed by their tenets and denigrated each other ” (Huihong 1975j). The conflict focused on the question of who represented the orthodoxy of Chan Buddhism. By the time of the fifth Chan master Yunmen’s preachment, 68 out of 205 people had opened the Dharma in these three areas, and although the number had increased compared to the fourth generation (Protass 2016, map 3), the momentum of development had fallen back compared with the Linji monastic order, indirectly confirming the growth of the Linji monastic order here. For instance, the number of Yunmen disciples grew from 57 (fourth generation) to 68 (fifth generation), while in Linji’s case, the number rose dramatically from 14 (seventh generation) to 47 (eighth generation) in Jiangnan Xilu, Jinhu Nanlu, and Jinghu Beilu.

The disciples of Shishuang Chuyuan, Jinshan Tanying, and Langya Huijue (瑯邪慧覺), of the seventh generation of Linji spread more widely in the southeast of the dynastic territory (Figure 5). Their inheritance disciples were often supported by officials. One example was Jiangshan Zanyuan (蔣山贊元), the inheritance disciple of Chuyuan. Zanyuan became the abbot in Sutai Temple, Tianfeng Temple, Longhua Temple, and Baiyun Temple. Wang Anshi, the chancellor, invited him to abide in Zhigong Daochang, and he was highly esteemed by all (Weibai 1975g). According to the Biographies of the Chan Monks (禪林僧寶傳), Zanyuan succeeded as the abbot of Jiangshan Temple, and at the time, Wang Anshi read the scriptures on the mountain and traveled with Zanyuan as if he were a brother. At the beginning of the Xining period (1068), Wang Anshi entered the capital and was promoted by the emperor to become a powerful and famous person. Zanyuan’s friendship with Wang Anshi thus led to his rise in status. Furthermore, it was recorded that there was a case of a madman killing a monk in Zanyuan Temple. According to Song dynasty law, murders had to be reported to the authorities. Zanyuan’s silence, in this case, was a sign of his influence, as he was able to eliminate the impact of the murder case (Huihong 1975f). In addition, Linji’s influence also expanded in Fujian Lu (福建路, Fujian Circuit). After Bailu Xianduan’s (白鹿顯端) enlightenment, the inheritance disciple of Huijue “returned to Fujian and was ordered to live in Dizang, and his preachments spread widely (歸止甌閩，命住地藏，道行大播)”. Cai Xiang (蔡襄), the prefect of Fuzhou, heard of him and invited him to abide in Bailu Temple (Weibai 1975c).

The rapid expansion of Linji’s eighth generation into the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was largely the result of the expansion of the disciples under Chuyuan (Huihong 2012a). This first contributed to the influence of Chuyuan in the Hu’nan area. To illustrate Chuyuan’s influence, there was even the case in which Guquan Dadao (谷泉大道) changed his affiliation from that of a disciple of Fenyang Shanzhao’s (汾陽善昭) to that of a disciple of Chuyuan (Ge 2017). The large number of inheritance disciples created an abundance of talent among Chuyuan’s disciples. The Lamp History states that Huanglong Huinan (黃龍慧南) and Yangqi Fanghui (楊岐方會), inheritance disciples of Chuyuan, made the branches of Linji flourish and “the impact of the Linji increased greatly” (Weibai 1975e, 1975k).

It is worth noting the tendency that some Linji Chan masters began to show from the eighth generation of Linji to dissociate themselves from secular power. Jinshan Huaixian (金山懷賢), an inheritance disciple of Jinshan Tanying, is one example. When he was a student of Tuanying, Huaixian asked, “As the master of all sentient beings, why should I be involved in worldly affairs when I should only care about the Dharma transmission?” At the beginning of Huangyou (c. 1049), Wang Qi (王淇), the prefect of Runzhou (潤州), heard of Huaixian’s great reputation and asked him to preach at Ganlu Monastery (甘露寺) in Runzhou. At the same time, Fanchang County (繁昌) in the Taiping prefecture (太平州) also invited Huaixian to preach at the Yinjing Monastery (隱靜寺). He responded positively to opening a monastery in Fanchang in the Taiping prefecture, because “Ganlu Monastery is close to the city while the Yinjing Monastery is secluded in the mountains”. Seven years later, when Wang Qi became the prefect of the Jiangning prefecture (江寧府), he asked Huaixian again to become the abbot of Qingliang Temple. This time, he excused himself and did not take up the post. When Tanying died at Jinshan Temple, the monks and laymen of Runzhou wrote to the prefect of Runzhou asking for Huaixian to succeed him as abbot of Jinshan Temple. Although Huaixian agreed to take up this post, his intention to leave soon became apparent. In 1068, Huaixian retired to Jinniu Mountain (dozens of miles from Danyang County, off the beaten track). Afterward, the affairs of the temple were entrusted to his disciple Juecheng (覺澄), who did not participate in them. Throughout his life, Huaixian was torn between entering and leaving the world. For example, “Huaixian was invited ten times to become abbot, and four times he complied with the arrangement, going to the most famous mountains and temples in the world. He had just resigned when he began to preach the Dharma, and although the prefects tried to retain him, they were unable to do so” (Qin 1994b).

Although there is no record that Xiyu Jingduan (西余淨端), the disciple of Longhua Qiyue (龍華齊嶽), had interacted with Huaixian, he had a very similar demeanor. Jingduan discussed the Dharma with famous ministers, such as Wang Anshi, Lü Yijian (呂夷簡), and Zhang Dun (章惇), without humility or condescension, and he moved freely and easily, refusing to appear meek and subservient for the sake of fame and status. Zhang Dun was in power at the time and wanted to take him to the capital. When Jingduan heard of this, he left without notice (Shijiao 1975). He then became abbot of the monasteries at Shousheng Temple, Xiyu Temple, Xiaogan Temple, Zhangfa Temple, etc. and left each when he was no longer comfortable. Many people tried to keep him, but he did not turn back. Because Jingduan was free from worldly constraints, he was ridiculed by Yuanzhao Zongben (圓照宗本), who came from the sixth generation of the Yunmen School and had a strong official background. The Biographies of the Chan Monks records a conversation between Jingduan and the Yunmen patriarch Yuanzhao Zongben, who had retired from Huilin Temple in the capital and returned to Suzhou to meet Jingduan in the early years of the Yuanyou period (1086–1094) (Huihong 1975k). The terms “village” (村里) and “imperial palace” (帝王宮) in the dialogue refer to two orientations: the former one refers to stay away from the court, and the latter one means to remain in the court. Jingduan, in turn, boldly ridiculed Zongben, who was saluted by Emperor Shenzong and honored by Emperor Zhezong, because, in Jingduan’s view, it was better to remain true to oneself than to lose oneself to the government.

4. The Flourishing of the Linji Monastic Order and Founding of Huanglong School

4.1. The Ninth Generation of Linji

The Xu Chuandenglu records that there were 176 people in the ninth generation of Linji. Among them, the so-called Shangfang Xiyuan (上方希元), the inheritance disciple of Xinghua Renyue, was actually the inheritance disciple of Jinshan Tanying, of the seventh generation of Linji, and Shigu Dongzhu (石鼓洞珠), the inheritance disciple of Cuiyan Kezhen (翠岩可真), was actually the inheritance disciple of Huanglong Huinan. Xuedu Faya (雪竇法雅), the inheritance disciple of Jiangshan Zanyuan, shares the same character ya with the name Shimen Ya (石門雅), so it is likely that they are the same person.11

The total number of members of Linji’s ninth generation has been calculated to be 172. Excluding the Pan Qingyi, the inheritance disciples of the lay Buddhists, the total number of the ninth-generation Chan masters was 169, and the distribution of their preachments is shown in Figure 6.12

Comparing the distribution pattern of the ninth Linji generation with that of the eighth Linji generation, there are two noteworthy differences. First, the center of the monastic order moved further south, toward both the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Not only did the distribution density of the Jinghu Nanlu and Jiangnan Xilu of the monastic order increase, but it also reached as far south as the Nanling Mountains. Second, the increase in the number of monks who began to transmit the Dharma north of the Huai River and the frequent access of Linji monks to the national capital greatly enhanced the monastic community.

As some of the eighth Linji generation began to transmit the Dharma in the capital, their inheritance disciples gained access to the world (Weibai 1975a). Xiangyan Dongfu (香嚴洞敷), the inheritance disciple of Jingin Daozhen (淨因道臻), is the most obvious example. Once the eighth generation of Linji monks had retired to the Capital Cloister (京師禪院), the ninth generation of Linji monks was quickly replenished. Muzhe, the inheritance disciple of Cuiyan Kezhen, was ordered by imperial decree to come to the Capital Zhiihai Cloister (東京智海禪院) in the first year of Shaosheng (1094), making it almost impossible for the Linji monks to stop spreading the Dharma in the capital (Huihong 1975c; Weibai 1975b).

Fujianlu became a new key area for the transmission of the preachments during the ninth generation of Linji. Xiangyan Dongfu had “returned to his hometown and was invited to the three temples in the upper reaches of Fujian, there [was] no way of knowing how many more would follow” (Weibai 1975a). Shaodeng (紹登), disciple of Yuquan Weifang (玉泉謂芳), received the Dharma, and when “the honorable prefect Ding admired his morals and invited him to abbot in the Talingta Cloister (陀嶺塔院), he came dressed in frugal clothes to show his respect … His Excellency Sun admired Shaodeng, who was then abbot in Wenshu Temple … then he moved to become the abbot of Shengquan Temple (聖泉寺). The master (Shaodeng) once was the abbot of three monasteries, so he always intended to reform” (Weibai 1975d).

Huanglong Huinan (黃龍慧南), the eighth generation of Linji, was once involved in the case of the prince pretence, and was imprisoned. After he was released, he began to transmit the Dharma again, and his style of preaching soon gained nationwide recognition (Huihong 1975e). For more than 10 years, he was an abbot of Huangbo Temple (黃蘗寺) and Huanglong Temple (黃龍寺), and “capable disciples gathered like ants in admiration of him” (Huihong 1975a). The Jiatai Pudenglu records 23 of Huinan’s important inheritance disciples, while the Xu Chuandenglu lists as many as 83 of Huinan’s inheritance disciples.

The emergence of Huinan’s successor caused a short-term disruption to the power balance within Chan Buddhism. They were centralized around Jiangnan Xilu, mainly in the two monasteries of Huanglong Temple and Huangbo Temple (Figure 7). These strongholds stirred up the hinterland of the Yunmen monastic order (which is not shown in Figure 7) and won space for the spread of the Linji generation.

The ninth Linji Chan master’s oscillation between the attitudes of “out of the world” and “in the world” was more apparent than that of the eighth Linji Chan master. According to the Chanlin Senbaozhuan, Dawei Muzhe (大溈慕喆) “hated disturbances (畏煩鬧)”. In 1094, Emperor Zhezong (1085–1100) ordered him to be abbot of Zhihai Cloister (智海禪院), but the Chan monks thought that Muzhe would not comply with the order. However, Muzhe unexpectedly accepted the order to establish the temple in the capital. When the temple was overcrowded during his ceremony, Muzhe surprisingly set no limit on the number of people who could attend, contrary to his own desire for tranquility (Huihong 1975c). These contradictory attitudes of avoiding secular affairs and yet obeying the nobility, of living in seclusion and yet vigorously promoting the Dharma, broke out among Huanglong Huinan’s disciples. Many Chan masters had different attitudes about whether to begin to transmit the Dharma or not, and it is not difficult to perceive the anxiety that plagued them. The fact that Donglin Changzong and Yungai Shouzhi were forced to submit to official pressure against their wills shows that Buddhism was already involved in the secular political system.

4.2. The 10th Generation of Linji

The Xu Chuandenglu records 375 people in the 10th generation of Linji. In this case, Taiping Chuqing (太平處清), the inheritance disciple of Baiyun Shouduan (白雲守端), was exactly the same person as the inheritance disciple of Fayan (法演), who belonged to Linji’s 10th generation. Tiesuo Zongshanzhu (鐵索忠山主), the inheritance disciple of Baoning Rengyong (保寧仁勇), is listed among the unspecified inheritance disciples in Jiatai Pudenglu (嘉泰普燈錄). Tianchang Chongjiao (天場崇教) and Huili Chongjiao (慧力崇教). The inheritance disciples of Yunju Yuanyou (雲居元祐) are reprinted (Zhengshou 1975a). According to the “Preface to the Discourses of the Great Patriarch of Linji Huizhao Xuangong (臨濟慧照玄公大宗師語錄序, hereinafter referred to as the Preface)”, “Letan Yue was the inheritance disciple of Langya Jue, Piling Zhen was the inheritance disciple of Yue, Baishui Bai was the inheritance disciple of Zhen, and Tianning Dang was the inheritance disciple of Bai (琅瑘覺傳泐潭月，月傳毗陵真，真傳白水白，白傳天寧黨)”. The so-called Baishui Zhongbai (白水中白) in the Xu Chuandenglu is actually Baishui Bai (白水白), and he is redefined as part of the 10th generation of Linji, according to the Preface. The Xu Chuandenglu records two inheritance disciples of Baishui Zhongbai, Tianning Yan (天寧演), and Dacheng Dang (大乘黨), who, according to the Preface, must have been the same person as Tianning Dang (天寧黨).

In addition, excluding 16 lay disciples, there were a total of 355 Chan masters in the 10th generation of Linji, of which as many as 294 people are the inheritance disciples of Huanglong Huinan, accounting for more than four-fifths of the number of monks. The distribution of their locations is shown in Figure 8.13

According to Figure 8, the 10th generation of Linji maintained the distribution pattern of the transmission of the ninth Linji and was considerably denser in distribution than the ninth Linji. The disciples of Huanglong Huinan covered almost all the areas of the 10th generation of Linji Chan masters. It is true that, as Zhang Shangying said, “The Huanglong School was seen everywhere in the country”.14

It is worth noting that there were two subtle changes in Linji’s area of Buddhist transmission during this period. One was that the distribution of preachments in the north of the Yangtze River changed from that which had prevailed previously. This area was formerly the sphere of influence of the Yunmen monastic order. According to the “Inscription on the Pagoda of Chan Master Qing (慶禪師塔銘)”, Jianlong Zhaoqing (建隆昭慶) was the only one to break into the area north of the Yangtze River during the ninth generation of Linji, where he was surrounded by the Yunmen monks (Qin 1994a). This shows that the Yunmen monastic order was strong in this area. Certainly, Jianlong Zhaoqing’s mission to the north of the Yangtze River was already beginning to bear fruit. “Narrative of the Discourses of Chan Master Qing (慶禪師語錄敘)” recorded: “What a great number of high officials from the whole country came to participate in the discussion of Buddhism and to be edified by it” (Zou 2004). During the 10th generation of Linji, Tangquan Chan (湯泉禪), Jianlong Weiqing (建隆惟慶), and Gushan Xiaojin (龜山曉津) came to transmit the Dharma here.

Second, the 10th generation of Linji showed a trend of intensive distribution of the preachment in the Chengdu Plain (in modern Sichuan) in the southwest. After Huanglong gave Chan’s sermon, many monks from Sichuan came to visit. Jiuxian Qifu (九仙齊輔), the inheritance disciple of Baizhang Yuansu (百丈元肅), who was a native in Sichuan, “become a monk at the age of 24 and studied at Chengdu. The Chan master, Huizhen Juesheng (會真覺勝), discussed with him and instructed him to travel south”. He then left the Yangtze River Gorges during the Yuanfeng period and traveled to the places where his ancestor had started his preachments. “Later, he became the disciple of the Huanglong School” (Zhengshou 1975d). The fact that some of these monks returned to Sichuan to begin transmitting the Dharma after studying in Sichuan is related to the fact that Huanbo Weisheng (黃蘗惟勝), the ninth generation of Linji, entered Sichuan to transmit the Dharma. Weisheng was a native of Zhongjiang County, Zizhou, Sichuan, and moved to Sichuan from Huangbiao County in Junzhou. He died on Yunding Mountain (雲頂山) (Weibai 1975h). The presence of Waisheng in Sichuan greatly supported the development of his inheritance disciples in the region (Juding 1924). Observe the specific state of transmission of the generation of the ninth Linji Chan master (Figure 9).

In addition to the Huanglong Huinan generation, the generations succeeding Cuiyan Kezhen and Yangqi Fanghui of the eighth generation of Linji remained vigorous. The most influential people succeeding Cuiyan Kezhen and Yangqi Fanghui were the ninth generation masters Linji Dawei Muzhe, Baiyun Shouduan, and Baoning Renyong.

The influence of Linji increased greatly during the 10th generation, with, for example, Letan Yingqian, the inheritance disciple in Shimen. At that time, people said, “the Dharma of the Donglin flourished in Shimen, Hongzhou (洪州). During the Yuanyou period, many people were converting to Buddhism” (Huihong 2012d). During this period, many Linji Chan masters maintained close relations with government officials and were commended by them.

Despite their growing cooperation with officials, the 10th Linji Chan masters remained as self-reflective as their predecessors (Weibai 1975j). In an era of increasing corruption in the Chan school, both Letan Wenzhun (泐潭文准) and Huayao Xingying (花藥行英) adhered to the path of puritanical practice. Influenced by purification (Huihong 2012b, 2012c), the contradiction between the aloofness and worldliness practices of the 10th Linji Chan masters continued.

In contrast to the Linji Chan masters, the Yunmen Chan masters were highly active in their enthusiasm for secular affairs. Fuchang Zhixin (福昌知信), who was of the sixth generation of Yunmen and who was an abbot in Fuchang Temple for 21 years, reconstructed the dilapidated houses into a large temple and worked tirelessly for decades (Huang 2001).

In contrast to Zhixin, Yuelu Zhihai (岳麓智海), of Linji’s 10th generation, remained calm and collected even when the temple was set on fire, and it was said that “people only saw him rebuilding the temple day by day, without knowing that he was doing it with leisure” (Huihong 2012e).

5. Conclusions

The history of the early Linji monastic order preserved in numerous Chan texts was altered by the disciples of Fengxue Yanzhao, Linji’s fourth generation, and deviates significantly from historical reality. What is certain is that the Linji monastic order was in decline when the Song dynasty was newly established. Through the production and transformation of the “Weiyang father and son” (溈仰父子) prophecy, the Linji monks gained legitimacy within the school to enter the Wuyue region and spread the Dharma. Shoushan Shengnian, an inheritance disciple of Yanzhao and a key figure in the rise of the Linji, espoused the literal meaning of the statement “The Dharma has been entrusted to kings, ministers, and capable sponsors so that the Dharma generation will not be cut off and will continue from generation to generation until today”. His inheritance disciples put his ideas into practice by befriending several officials and gaining support in order to spread the Dharma in multiple regions (Li 1975b). While the branches of Linji flourished, the mainstream of Linji Buddhism began to vacillate between “out of the world” and “into the world”.

After the secular powers seized the right to appoint the abbots of the Chan Buddhist temples, Chan Buddhism had no independence. The relationship between two supposedly parallel worlds—inside the temple and outside the temple—become unequal. For the Chan masters, to be appointed to transmit the Dharma meant acknowledging the existence of this unequal relationship. This was something they did not want. However, faced with the official selection of the abbots, they realized that not going out into the world to transmit the Dharma would lead to a break in their generation, which was unacceptable to them. A sentence from Wudeng Huiyuan (五燈會元) records that Muan Daoqiong (木庵道瓊), the 11th generation of Linji generation, held the motivation for his monastic preaching to be “for the sake of the school”. (Puji 1984b). In the midst of this dilemma between staying inside and going outside the temple, the Linji monastic order carefully maintained its generation of the school, including its relationship with the secular regime, and remained independent and stable south of the Huai River from the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. This enabled the Linji monastic order to avoid being too controlled by the Jin regime. They succeeded in avoiding the fate of the Yunmen sect, which suffered a major loss from the Jurchen invasion and the fall of the Northern Song.

In the Yuan Dynasty, the Linji monastic order gained momentum (Noguchi 2005). Linji’s 16th Haiyunjian (海雲簡), who preached north of the Huai River, “was able to rectify the Dharma, and Buddhism flourished again from then on”. The Emperor Kublai Khan came to visit many times out of respect and asked for advice on the Dharma. Liu Bingzhong (劉秉忠), the disciple of Haiyunjian’s disciple, followed Kublai Khan and was an important official who gave the emperor advice on occupying the whole of China. In 1295, Emperor Chengzong (1294–1307) issued an edict to invite another disciple of Haiyunjian, Xiyun’an (西雲安), to be abbot in the Daqingshou Temple (大慶壽寺) in Dadu (Beijing), and therefore, the way of Linji was expanded (Zhao and Qian 2012, pp. 202–3). In 1309, Zhao Mengfu was commissioned to write the Stele to the Linji School (臨濟正宗之碑): “Since Huineng (慧能), Chan Buddhism has been divided into five schools, but only Linji Yixuan has been the authentic school” (Zhao and Qian 2012, p. 202). This orthodox status of Linji was confirmed by the imperial court.

Linji’s momentum declined slightly thereafter (Chen 2014). However, with the succession of Emperor Yuan Wenzong (r. 1328–1329, 1329–1332), the influence of the Linji monastic order in the south spread to the north. In 1328, the emperor’s former residence before his enthronement in Jinling (金陵潜邸) was reconstructed to become the Dalongxiang Jiqing Temple (大龍翔集慶寺), and Linji’s 16th Xiaoyin Daxi (笑隱大訢, 1284–1344) was ordered to abide there as the first generation of the temple. After this, Xiaoyin’s status in the Chan school was even greater, and he was “given the title of Patriarch of Sakyamuni” (Yu 2007).

By this time, the trend toward the dominance of Linji was irreversible.