![]() By the time of the Song dynasty (960 – 1279), a century after Linji’s death, Linji’s followers had collected and created texts that connected Bodhidharma and Huineng, popular with all Five Houses, to Mazu, Huangbo and Linji himself. After the imperial support for Tiantai and Huayan ended with the fall of the Tang, the legend of the incomprehensible and unconquerable Chan master took hold in the Five Dynasties period between the Tang and Song (907 – 960), a new incarnation of the zany Daoist sage beyond all borders and boundaries popularized in the Han. Some intellectuals and artists turned from these and the northern schools of Chan to the southern protest of Huineng, who tore up sutras and taught that the lowliest born could be the greatest master. Why would a revered Zen master who takes Mahayana vows of compassion for all living beings tell us to kill, and the Buddha of all people?Ĭhan (Japanese: Zen) had some support in the Tang dynasty (618 – 907), the time when the revered masters Huineng, Mazu, Linji and Zhaozhou taught, but the imperial court supported other Buddhist sects such as Tiantai and Huayan far more. Out of this line comes Linji who said we need to have greater faith in ourselves, so let’s kill the Buddha while basely insulting everything that is holy. ![]() Mazu pulled noses, kicked people and said “mind is Buddha” and “no mind no Buddha”, acting as if everything as well as its opposite is true. Huairang said that trying to be Buddha is killing the Buddha. Huineng tore up sacred texts and said that the Buddha is and isn’t. Mahayana Buddhists believe in nonduality and identifying with all conscious beings. Enlightenment and freedom are hitching posts for donkeys. Sages and arhats are just so much crap in the toilet. Those who have obtained high stages of enlightenment are prisoners, shackled and bound. Those who have completed all stages of bodhisattva practice are no better than hired fieldhands. The way I see it, we should cut off the heads of the buddhas. Bodhisattvas and arhats are all so many collars and chains, things for tying people up. In my view, he’s more like the hole in a toilet. Linji said in a sermon to monks:įollowers of the Way, don’t take the Buddha to be some sort of ultimate goal. Linji infamously said, “When you see the Buddha, kill the Buddha,” as if it’s the thing to do. Huairang told Mazu, “If you try to sit like the Buddha, you kill the Buddha,” as if it’s a bad thing. The House of Linji made “What is the sound of one hand clapping?” and “If a tree falls in the forest when no one is around, does it make a sound?” the paradoxical objects of contemplation they remain today. Linji (~810 – 866), known in Japan as Rinzai, is the central grand master of Zen as his teachings and followers created the texts and practices that have been core to the Zen tradition for the last thousand years. The House of Linji & The Silent Transmission Please read and contemplate the second 8 koans (8-15), with commentary, of the Gateless Gate. In this lecture, we will be covering the Tang dynasty Zen master Linji (~810 – 866).
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