Xiqian

Shitou xiqian Zen master

Shitou xiqian (700-790) was a Buddhist monk in Tang Dynasty. Common surname Chen, Duanzhou Gaoyao (now Gaoyao County, Guangdong Province) people. Xiqian was resolute and confident when he was young. He opposed superstitious worship of ancestral temples and regular sacrifice of killing cattle and sprinkling wine in rural areas. He went to destroy ancestral temples and snatch cattle during the sacrificial period with a firm attitude. Xiqian's Zen is summarized in his "shentongqi".

Profile

Shitou xiqian (700-790), a Zen monk in Tang Dynasty, is also called boundless master. He went to Caoxi and joined Huineng, the Zen master of Nanzong. At the time of Huineng's death, he had not yet received enough precepts. Soon after, he went to Jingju temple in Qingyuan mountain of Jizhou, where he first got Cao Xi's mental method. Because of his quick reasoning, he was highly valued by Xingsi, and was praised as "although there are many actors, there are enough of them". Soon after, Xingsi ordered Xi Qian to take the book to Nanyue huairang, another master craftsman under the gate of shencaoxi. After some training, he returned to Jingju temple. Later, Xingsi paid him. In the first year of Tianbao (742), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty wanted to move from Qingyuan mountain to Nanyue, and was invited to live in Hengshan South Temple. There is a big stone in the east of the temple, which is as flat as a platform. I hope to live in the temple. Therefore, people often call him stone monk. In the second year of emperor Guangde's reign (764), he wanted to move down the mountain to live in Duanliang Honghua at the request of his family. He was named the second great scholar of the world with Ma zudaoyi, who was then a disciple of Nanyue Huai and lived in Nankang Honghua, Jiangxi Province. Xiqian had many disciples. In his later years, he paid the Dharma to Yaoshan. He died in 790. He was 90 years old

Main literature

In the fifth volume of the biography of lanterns in Jingde, when the sixth patriarch was about to die, Shami xiqian (the stone monk in Nanyue) asked: who should xiqian be attached to after a hundred years? Zu said: think about it. And Zu shunshi, moved to a quiet place, sitting quietly as if forgetting life. The first seat asked: your teacher has passed away. Why do you sit empty? Qian said: I have left my commandments, so I think about you. The first seat said: you have elder martial brother Xingsi monk. Now you live in Jizhou. Your reason lies there. The teacher's words are very straight, but you are lost in your ears. Moved to hear the language, then ritual speech ancestral niche, Zhiyi quiet residence. The teacher asked: where did Zi come from? Qian said: Caoxi. The teacher said, "what will you get?"? Said: not to Caoxi also lost. The teacher said: what do you do with Cao Xi? He said, "if you don't go to Caoxi, how can you fight for knowledge?"? Qian then asked: does Master Caoxi know monks? Master said: do you know me now? He said, "if you know and fight, can you know?"? The teacher said: Although there are many horns, one Lin is enough. Qian then asked: how long has the monk been out of the mountain? But I don't know. Will you leave Caoxi sooner or later? He said: xiqian does not come from Caoxi. The teacher said: I also know where you are going. He said: the monk is lucky to be an adult. In the future, Shi Fu asked Qian: where are you from? It's called Caoxi. Shi Naiju said to Fu Zi: does Cao Xi still have this? He said: not only Caoxi, but also the western sky. The teacher said: has Zi Mo ever been to the west? He said, "if you arrive, there will be.". The teacher said: not in, more road. He said: a monk should also take half of the Tao, and not rely entirely on scholars. The teacher said: if you don't say goodbye to me, I'm afraid no one will take it. Shi ordered Xi Qian to hold the book and Nanyue to let the monk say: you have reached the book, come back quickly. I have an axe to live with you. When he moved to another place and did not submit a book, he asked: how about not admiring the saints and not valuing his own spirit? Let said: Zi asked taigaosheng, why not ask him down? Qian said: it is better to plunder and sink forever than to admire the liberation of saints. Let it go. When he moved back to Jingju, the teacher asked, "it's not long since I've been there. Have you sent books yet?"? Qian said: the letter is also impassable, the book is not up to. The teacher said: do you want to be a student? Qian Ju said before, but he said: when you send it, monk Xu Zhen will take it. The teacher bowed his feet and moved to worship. I'm going to Nanyue. "

The process of meditation

Xiqian had been influenced by Caoxi gate and had already realized it. When he first came to Qingyuan mountain to meet Xingsi, Xingsi asked him what he had come for. He said that he had never lost anything before he came to Caoxi. When Xingsi asked again why he wanted to go to Caoxi, he said, "if you don't go to Caoxi, how can you know?". In this brief question and answer, we can imagine Xi Qian's commitment and confidence. Later, xiqian used this purpose to lead people to the door. For example, Huilang asked how he was a Buddha. Xiqian accepted that he had no Buddha nature. Huilang asked again, why he didn't have Buddha nature in all the spiritual things? Xiqian directly shows that you are unwilling to accept it. Lang Yin's understanding is just one example. Xiqian said that his Dharma "no matter how advanced he is in meditation, he can only reach the Buddha's knowledge" and that "if he can know what he knows, he will be ready for everything.". After xiqian's practice and thinking, he was further cultivated, and his Zen state had a new expansion, and his Zen method became more flexible and meticulous. When the disciples asked about the main idea of Buddhism, they hoped that Qian would answer "no, I don't know". He also asked whether there is a turning point in the upward direction. He answered that "the empty heart does not hinder the flying of the white clouds", which implies that after the realization, the opportunity can be expanded infinitely and used freely. It is said that Xi Qian was inspired by the sentence from zhaolun to "sages will do everything for themselves". He had a deep understanding of the purpose of "the Dharma body is not separated from others, and the round mirror reflects all things" in zhaolun, so he wrote "shentongqi". The word "Shentong" originated from Taoism, and he hoped to use it to develop his "Huihu" Zen. The so-called "reference" refers to the fact that all kinds of laws hold their own positions and do not violate each other. The so-called "sameness" means that although all the laws are different, they are unified in one unit, so as to see that the individual does not exist in isolation. The "Huihu", which he advocated, refers to the relationship between the various laws, which is not mutually offending but involving each other. The practitioners understand this purpose and prove it in daily life. It is called "contract". He introduced this kind of thought into the Zen view and gave full play to it, which enriched the content of Zen, and thus opened up the style of his sect. In "shentongqi", the relationship between mind and Dharma is repeatedly expounded, so as to show the connection of all principles from individual matters. If we look at the directors separately, then "the Deacon is a mystery, and the understanding is not understanding"; if we look at them together, then every door has all the realms, that is, the so-called "all the realms of the door, back to each other, but not back to each other"; there are mutual implications and mutual exclusion. In the middle, it is said that each Dharma has its own nature, such as the son has his mother, so that he can see the end of the meeting and return to the origin without waiting for arrangement; at the same time, the same Dharma has both (dynamic) and (static), and relies on each other, such as the light and dark, the exchange and transformation, and the tossing and turning. In this way, we can realize all things, natural things should be reasonable, and we can know the way, so as to reach the realm of "real things". The wonderful use of Zen, round turn without hindrance, such as ring without reason. Mazudaoyi, a Zen master of different schools at the same time as xiqian, often says that xiqian's Zen style is "slippery on the stone road", which is enough to show its characteristics. Xiqian's Zen style obviously has a tendency of philosophical thinking, which is close to static compared with Mazu Daoyi's advocating great opportunities and great functions. Therefore, the Zen method he created and advocated can also be said to be a kind of Zen thinking. This kind of thought, later also combined with meditation and continued to develop. Yao Shan, who inherited the xiqian payment method, is just like sitting around, and has the saying of "thinking about one but not the end". When it came to Yunyan Tansheng (782-841), he put forward the method of "Baojing samadhi", which reflected the whole realm from individual to individual. He continued to pass on to Liangjia (807-869) of Dongshan and Benji (840-901) of Caoshan. They all developed in this direction and became the caodong school. They were more engaged in the relationship between each other, and established the theory of partial positive and reciprocal, five meritorious and so on. The application of Zen became more and more detailed. At the same time, the Cao Dong school and the Linji school were handed down by Mazu. Linji zongfeng is famous for its strong drinking style, while Cao dongchan exhorts each other with kindness and emphasis on teaching, which shows the development of Qingyuan Xingsi and Nanyue huairang under Huineng, forming a significant contrast between different zongfeng. Xiqian's Zen method was also widely spread by the emperor's Daowu under his command. In the Five Dynasties, it developed into Yunmen and fayan. They also focused on "everything is ready", which was in the same line with xiqian's tenet of "real and immediate". Among the five schools of Zen, one of them died early. The other four schools, except Linji, all originated from xiqian. Cao dongchan was introduced into Japan after his birth and has been passed on for a long time. The retransmission of fayan also flourished in Korea. For the Zen circles at home and abroad, the influence of xiqian's Zen thought is quite great.

Cultural heritage

There are many disciples in xiqian, including Yaoshan Weiyan, Emperor Daowu, Danxia nature, zhaoti Huilang, Xingguo zhenlang, Tanzhou Dachuan, Chaozhou Dadian, etc. However, he was most valued by xiqian among his peers. He passed on the Dharma to Tansheng of Yunyan. Tansheng passed on the good price of Dongshan, and the good price passed on to Benji of Caoshan and Daoying of Yunju. Later, Cao mountain was interrupted, and Lai Yunju's biography was handed down to the South Song Dynasty. On the other hand, Daowu was passed on to Longtan, Deshan, Xuefeng and Wenyan in Yunmen, and the transformation from south to north. Yicun is the founder of fayanzong, the last of the five families. Wenyi's biography Yongming Yanshou (904-975) is composed of one hundred volumes of zongjinglu, which guides Tiantai, Weizhi and xianshou to zongmen and integrates the great achievements of Zen. In particular, it is an important turning point for Chinese Buddhism to transfer from the competition of Buddhism and Zen to the integration of various sects. Among the disciples of xiqian, there are seven in volume 4 and 5 of Zutangji, and 21 in Volume 14 of jingdezhuandenglu. Among them, the famous ones are Huilang, Daowu, Weiyan, natural and Dadian. In addition, there are zhenlang, Shili and daomian. Here are just the top five. Huilang (738-820), opposite to zhenlang, is called Dalang. The common surname is Ouyang. He was born in Qujiang, Shaozhou (now Shaoguan, Guangdong). At the age of 13, he became a monk in Denglin temple. When he was 17 years old (754), he went to Nanyue, where he received a full commandment and went to Nankang (in Qianzhou)

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