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Five Houses Of Chán
The Five Houses of Chán (also called the Five Houses of Zen) were the five major schools of Chan Buddhism that originated during Tang China. Although at the time they were not considered formal schools or sects of Buddhism, they are now regarded as important schools in the history of Chán Buddhism. Most Chán lineages throughout Asia and the rest of the world originally grew from or were heavily influenced by the original five houses of Chán. East Mountain Teaching The period of Daoxin ( 580–651) and Daman Hongren ( 601–674) came to be called the East Mountain Teaching, due to the location of the residence of Hongren at Huamgmei. The term was used by Shenxiu (神秀 606?–706), the most important successor to Hongren. In 701, Shenxiu was invited to the Imperial Court by Empress Wu, who paid him due imperial reverence. The first lineage documents were produced in this period. According to tradition, the sixth and last ancestral founder, Huineng (惠能; 638–713), wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chan Buddhism
Chan (; of ), from Sanskrit '' dhyāna'' (meaning "meditation" or "meditative state"), is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism. It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song dynasties. Chan is the originating tradition of Zen Buddhism (the Japanese pronunciation of the same character, which is the most commonly used English name for the school). Chan Buddhism spread from China south to Vietnam as Thiền and north to Korea as Seon, and, in the 13th century, east to Japan as Japanese Zen. History The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Chan history no longer exist. Periodisation The history of Chan in China can be divided into several periods. Zen, as we know it today, is the result of a long history, with many changes and contingent factors. Each period had different types of Zen, some of which remained influential while others vanished. Ferguson distinguishes three p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiangxi
Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into hillier areas in the south and east, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to the northwest. The name "Jiangxi" is derived from the circuit administrated under the Tang dynasty in 733, Jiangnanxidao (; Gan: Kongnomsitau). The abbreviation for Jiangxi is "" (; Gan: Gōm), for the Gan River which runs across from the south to the north and flows into the Yangtze River. Jiangxi is also alternately called ''Ganpo Dadi'' () which literally means the "Great Land of Gan and Po". After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Jiangxi became one of the earliest bases for the Communists and many peasants were recruited to join the growing people's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fayan Wenyi
Qingliang Wenyi (), Biography of the eminent monks of Song dynasty. Vol.13 also known as Fayan Wenyi ()Blue Cliff Records is a Chinese Buddhist monk in the early 10th century. Wenyi was born in Yuhang. His secular surname is Lu. Fayan school, one of the main philosophical schools of Zen Buddhism was created by him. Life Wenyi became a Buddhist monk by the age of 7.Jingde Chuandenglu. Vol.24 His first tutor was Quanwei Chanbo. He followed monk Xijue to the Ashoka temple of Mingzhou where Xijue and Wenyi preached. He then traveled to the southern city of Fuzhou in search of the solution of his doubts on the subject of Zen. In Fuzhou, Wenyi's knowledge gained him much popularity. However, he was not content with himself and thought that he had not detached himself from the secular world. His departure from Fuzhou eventually led him to Linchuan. The tradition of Zen Buddhism holds that it was during this particular trip, Wenyi acquired great insight( 頓悟). Knowing that Wenyi is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sōtō
Sōtō Zen or is the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (the others being Rinzai and Ōbaku). It is the Japanese line of the Chinese Cáodòng school, which was founded during the Tang dynasty by Dòngshān Liánjiè. It emphasizes Shikantaza, meditation with no objects, anchors, or content. The meditator strives to be aware of the stream of thoughts, allowing them to arise and pass away without interference. The Japanese brand of the sect was imported in the 13th century by Dōgen Zenji, who studied Cáodòng Buddhism () abroad in China. Dōgen is remembered today as the co-patriarch of Sōtō Zen in Japan along with Keizan Jōkin. With about 14,000 temples, Sōtō is one of the largest Japanese Buddhist organizations. Sōtō Zen is now also popular in the West, and in 1996 priests of the Sōtō Zen tradition formed the Soto Zen Buddhist Association based in North America. History Chinese origins The original Chinese version of Sōtō- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tendai
, also known as the Tendai Lotus School (天台法華宗 ''Tendai hokke shū,'' sometimes just "''hokke shū''") is a Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition (with significant esoteric elements) officially established in Japan in 806 by the Japanese monk Saichō ( posthumously known as Dengyō Daishi). The Tendai school, which has been based on Mount Hiei since its inception, rose to prominence during the Heian period (794-1185). It gradually eclipsed the powerful ''Hossō'' school and competed with the rival Shingon school to become the most influential sect at the Imperial court. By the Kamakura period (1185-1333), Tendai had become one of the dominant forms of Japanese Buddhism, with numerous temples and vast landholdings. During the Kamakura period, various monks left Tendai (seeing it as corrupt) to establish their own "new" or "Kamakura" Buddhist schools such as Jōdo-shū, Nichiren-shū and Sōtō Zen. The destruction of the head temple of Enryaku-ji by Oda Nobunaga in 1571, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dōgen Zenji
Dōgen Zenji (道元禅師; 26 January 1200 – 22 September 1253), also known as Dōgen Kigen (道元希玄), Eihei Dōgen (永平道元), Kōso Jōyō Daishi (高祖承陽大師), or Busshō Dentō Kokushi (仏性伝東国師), was a Japanese Buddhist priest, writer, poet, philosopher, and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan. Originally ordained as a monk in the Tendai School in Kyoto, he was ultimately dissatisfied with its teaching and traveled to China to seek out what he believed to be a more authentic Buddhism. He remained there for four years, finally training under Tiantong Rujing, an eminent teacher of the Caodong lineage of Chinese Chan. Upon his return to Japan, he began promoting the practice of zazen (sitting meditation) through literary works such as '' Fukanzazengi'' and ''Bendōwa''. He eventually broke relations completely with the powerful Tendai School, and, after several years of likely friction between himself and the establishment, left Ky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shikantaza
is Dogen's Japanese language, Japanese translation of the Chinese language, Chinese phrase ''zhǐguǎn dǎzuò'' (只管打坐 / 祇管 打坐), "just sitting." The phrase was used by his teacher Rujing, a monk of the Caodong school of Zen Buddhism, to refer to the Dhyana in Buddhism, meditation-practice called "Silent Illumination" (), or "Serene Reflection," taught by the Caodong master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157). In Japan, it is associated with the Soto school. In shikantaza one does not focus attention on a specific object (such as the breath); instead, practitioners "just sit" in a state of conscious awareness. Etymology The term ''shikantaza'' is the Kanji#On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading), Sino-Japanese reading of ''Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò'' (只管打坐 / 祇管 打坐) "just sitting," "nothing but sitting," "meditation of just sitting," “just mind [yourself] sitting.” ''Zhǐguǎn dǎzuò'' (只管打坐 / 祇管打坐) translates as follows: * ''zhǐguǎn'' (只管, J. '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitting Meditation (Zen)
''Zazen'' (literally " seated meditation"; ja, 座禅; , pronounced ) is a meditative discipline that is typically the primary practice of the Zen Buddhist tradition. However, the term is a general one not unique to Zen, and thus technically any Buddhist tradition's seated meditation is "zazen". The term ''zuòchán'' can be found in early Chinese Buddhist sources, such as the Dhyāna sutras. For example, the famous translator Kumārajīva (344-413) translated a work termed ''Zuòchán sān mēi jīng'' (''A'' ''Manual on the Samādhi of Sitting Meditation'') and the Chinese Tiantai master Zhiyi (538–597 CE) wrote some very influential works on sitting meditation.Swanson, Paul L. (2002). ''Ch'an and Chih-kuan: T'ien-t’ai Chih-i's View of "Zen" and the Practice of the Lotus Sutra''. Presented at the International Lotus Sutra Conference on the theme "The Lotus Sutra and Zen", 11–16 July 2002. Source: (accessed: 6 August 2008). p.4 The earliest manual on sitting meditati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dongshan Liangjie
Dongshan Liangjie (807–869) (; ) was a Chan Buddhist monk of the Tang dynasty. He founded the Caodong school (), which was transmitted to Japan in the thirteenth century (Song-Yuan era) by Dōgen and developed into the Sōtō school of Zen. Dongshan is also known for the poetic ''Five Ranks''. Biography Start of Chan studies Dongshan was born during the Tang dynasty in Kuaiji (present-day Shaoxing, Zhejiang) to the south of Hangzhou Bay. His secular birth surname was Yu (兪氏). He started his private studies in Chan Buddhism at a young age, as was popular among educated elite families of the time. At the village cloister, Dongshan showed promise by questioning the fundamental Doctrine of the Six Roots during his tutor's recitation of the '' Heart Sutra''. Though aged only ten, he was sent away from his home village to train under Lingmo (霊黙) at the monastery on nearby Wutai Mountain (五台山). He also had his head shaved and took on yellow robes, which represented the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enlightenment In Buddhism
The English term enlightenment is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably bodhi and vimutti. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi''), means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, of a Buddha. The verbal root ''budh-'' means "to awaken," and its literal meaning is closer to awakening. Although the term ''buddhi'' is also used in other Indian philosophies and traditions, its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism. '' Vimukti'' is the freedom from or release of the fetters and hindrances. The term "enlightenment" was popularised in the Western world through the 19th-century translations of German-born philologist Max Müller. It has the Western connotation of general insight into transcendental truth or reality. The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts, which are used to denote (initial) insight ('' prajna'' (Sanskrit), '' wu'' (Chinese), '' kensho'' and ''satori'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
