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Zhongfeng Mingben
''Zhongfeng Mingben'' (; ja, Chūhō Myōhon), 1263–1323 was a Chan Buddhism, Chan Buddhist master who lived at the beginning of Yuan dynasty, Yuan China. He adhered to the rigorous style of the Linji school and influenced Zen through several Japanese teachers who studied under him. Biography Zhongfeng Mingben's family name was Sun. He was the youngest of seven children. His mother died when he was nine years old. Already in his teenage years he wanted to become a monk. From fifteen he observed the Upāsaka and Upāsikā, layman's Five Precepts. His left hand became mutilated when, in his youth he burned the little finger as a sacrifice to the Buddha. This may have been inspired by chapter 23 of the ''Lotus Sutra'': In 1287 Zhongfeng Mingben received tonsure at Shiziyuan vihara, Monastery on Tianmu Mountain. In 1288 he was ordained as a bhikkhu, monk. Contrary to the norm, he grew long hair in (presumed) accordance with his teacher, Gaofeng Yuanmai. As a young man he was app ...
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Buddhism
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the world's fourth-largest religion, with over 520 million followers (Buddhists) who comprise seven percent of the global population. The Buddha taught the Middle Way, a path of spiritual development that avoids both extreme asceticism and hedonism. It aims at liberation from clinging and craving to things which are impermanent (), incapable of satisfying ('), and without a lasting essence (), ending the cycle of death and rebirth (). A summary of this path is expressed in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind with observance of Buddhist ethics and meditation. Other widely observed practices include: monasticism; " taking refuge" in the Buddha, the , and the ; ...
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Two Truths Doctrine
The Buddhist doctrine of the two truths (Sanskrit: ''dvasatya,'' ) differentiates between two levels of ''satya'' (Sanskrit; Pali: ''sacca''; word meaning "truth" or "reality") in the teaching of the Śākyamuni Buddha: the "conventional" or "provisional" ('' saṁvṛti'') truth, and the "ultimate" (''paramārtha'') truth. The exact meaning varies between the various Buddhist schools and traditions. The best known interpretation is from the Madhyamaka school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, whose founder was the Indian Buddhist monk and philosopher Nāgārjuna. For Nāgārjuna, the two truths are ''epistemological truths''. The phenomenal world is accorded a provisional existence. The character of the phenomenal world is declared to be neither real nor unreal, but logically indeterminable. Ultimately, all phenomena are empty (''śūnyatā'') of an inherent self or essence due to the non-existence of the self (''anattā''), but exist depending on other phenomena (''pratītyasamutpāda ...
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Yongming Yanshou
Yongming Yanshou (; ) (904–976) was a prominent Buddhist monk during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period and early Song Dynasty in China. Biography Yongming Yanshou is first mentioned in biographical form by Zanning (贊寧) in a work called the ''Song Biographies of Eminent Monks'' (), which was produced in 988, 12 years after Yanshou's death. Yanshou lived largely during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, in the independent Wuyue, Wuyue kingdom. This age was characterized by nearly continuous warfare and political disorder. The future of Buddhism was especially uncertain during this time due to widespread Four Buddhist Persecutions in China, suppression and sponsored destruction of temples. However, most of this activity took place in the north of China, while Yanshou resided in the independent Wuyue, Wuyue kingdom of the south, which was relatively stable during this time. Furthermore, unlike the trouble Buddhism faced in the north, the ruling Qian (surname), ...
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Pure Land Buddhism
Pure Land Buddhism (; ja, 浄土仏教, translit=Jōdo bukkyō; , also referred to as Amidism in English,) is a broad branch of Mahayana Buddhism focused on achieving rebirth in a Buddha's Buddha-field or Pure Land. It is one of the most widely practiced traditions of Buddhism in East Asia. According to Charles B. Jones "Pure Land is the dominant form of Buddhism in China, Japan and Korea."Jones, Charles B. (2021). ''Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice'', p. xii. Shambhala Publications, . In Chinese Buddhism, the tradition is sometimes called a zōng (school) in an institutional sense, but historically it was most commonly described as a "dharma-gate" (fǎmén 法門), referring to a method of Buddhist practice. In Japanese Buddhism, the term more commonly refers to specific institutions.Jones, Charles B. (2019) ''Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Understanding a Tradition of Practice,'' pp. 10-12. University of Hawai‘i Press / Honolulu. In Tibetan Buddhism, prayers an ...
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Dahui Zonggao
Dahui Zonggao (1089–10 August 1163) (; Wade–Giles: Ta-hui Tsung-kao; Japanese: Daie Sōkō; Vietnamese: Đại Huệ Tông Cảo) was a 12th-century Chinese Chan (Zen) master. Dahui was a student of Yuanwu Keqin (Wade–Giles: Yuan-wu K'o-ch'in; Japanese: Engo Kokugon) (1063–1135) and was the 12th generation of the Linji school of Chan Buddhism. He was the dominant figure of the Linji school during the Song dynasty. Dahui introduced the practice of '' kan huatou'', or "inspecting the critical phrase," of a kōan story. This method was called the "Chan of gongan (kōan) introspection" (Kanhua Chan). Dahui was a vigorous critic of what he called the "heretical Chan of silent illumination" (mozhao xie Chan) of the Caodong school (Wade–Giles: Ts'ao-tung; Japanese: Sōtō). Biography Early years Dahui was born in Xuancheng, Anhui, to the Xi family. He left home at sixteen and became a Buddhist monk at seventeen. His initiatory name was Zong Gao. Following the traditi ...
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Kōan
A (; , ; ko, 화두, ; vi, công án) is a story, dialogue, question, or statement which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and to practice or test a student's progress in Zen. Etymology The Japanese term is the Sino-Japanese reading of the Chinese word (). The term is a compound word, consisting of the characters "public; official; governmental; common; collective; fair; equitable" and "table; desk; (law) case; record; file; plan; proposal." According to the Yuan dynasty Zen master Zhongfeng Mingben ( 1263–1323), originated as an abbreviation of (, Japanese —literally the "official correspondence; documents; files" of a "government post"), which referred to a "public record" or the "case records of a public law court" in Tang dynasty China. / thus serves as a metaphor for principles of reality beyond the private opinion of one person, and a teacher may test the student's ability to recognize and understand that principle. Commentaries in col ...
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Eight Consciousnesses
The Eight Consciousnesses (Skt. ''aṣṭa vijñānakāyāḥ'') is a classification developed in the tradition of the Yogācāra school of Mahayana Buddhism. They enumerate the five sense consciousnesses, supplemented by the mental consciousness (''manovijñāna''), the defiled mental consciousness (''kliṣṭamanovijñāna''), and finally the fundamental store-house consciousness (''ālāyavijñāna''), which is the basis of the other seven.Waldron, William S. The Buddhist Unconscious: The Alaya-vijñana in the context of Indian Buddhist Thought. Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism, 2003, page 97 This eighth consciousness is said to store the impressions ('' vāsanāḥ'') of previous experiences, which form the seeds (''bīja'') of future karma in this life and in the next after rebirth. Eightfold network of primary consciousnesses All surviving schools of Buddhist thought accept – "in common" – the existence of the first six primary consciousne ...
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Buddha Nature
Buddha-nature refers to several related Mahayana Buddhist terms, including '' tathata'' ("suchness") but most notably ''tathāgatagarbha'' and ''buddhadhātu''. ''Tathāgatagarbha'' means "the womb" or "embryo" (''garbha'') of the "thus-gone" (''tathāgata''), or "containing a ''tathāgata''", while ''buddhadhātu'' literally means "Buddha-realm" or "Buddha-substrate". Buddha-nature has a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings in Indian and later East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist literature. Broadly speaking, the terms refer to the potential for all sentient beings to be a Buddha, since the luminous mind, "the natural and true state of the mind," the pure (''visuddhi'') mind undefiled by kleshas, is inherently present in every sentient being. It will shine forth when it is cleansed of the defilements, c.q. when the nature of mind is recognised for what it is. The ''Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra'' (written 2nd century CE), which was very influential in the Ch ...
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Mahābhūta
''Mahābhūta'' is Sanskrit and Pāli for "great element". However, very few scholars define the four mahābhūtas in a broader sense as the four fundamental aspects of physical reality. Hinduism In Hinduism's sacred literature, the "great" or "gross" elements (''mahābhūta'') are fivefold: space (or "ether"), air, fire, water and earth. See also the Samkhya Karika of Ishvara Krishna, verse 22. For instance, the Taittiriya Upanishad, describes the five "sheaths" of a person (Sanskrit: ''purusha, purua''), starting with the grossest level of the five evolving great elements: :From this very self (''Atman (Hinduism), tman'') did space come into being; from space, air; from air, fire; from fire, the waters, from the waters, the earth; from the earth, plants; from plants, food; and from food, man.... Different from and lying within this man formed from the essence of food is the self (''tman'') consisting of lifebreath.... Different from and lying within this self consisting o ...
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Three Marks Of Existence
In Buddhism, the three marks of existence are three characteristics (Pali: tilakkhaṇa; Sanskrit: त्रिलक्षण trilakṣaṇa) of all existence and beings, namely ''Impermanence#Buddhism, aniccā'' (impermanence), ''Duḥkha, dukkha'' (commonly translated as "suffering", "unsatisfactory," "unease"), and ''anattā'' (without a lasting essence). That humans are subject to delusion about the three marks, that this delusion results in suffering, and that removal of that delusion results in the end of dukkha, is a central theme in the Buddhist Four Noble Truths and Noble Eightfold Path. Description The three marks are: * ''sabbe saṅkhārā aniccā'' — all ''saṅkhāras'' (conditioned things) are impermanent * ''sabbe saṅkhārā dukkhā'' — all ''saṅkhāras'' are unsatisfactory, imperfect, unstable * ''sabbe dhammā anattā'' — all ''dharma#Buddhism, dharmas'' (conditioned or unconditioned things) have no unchanging self or soul In the Mahayana ''Yogacarabhu ...
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Impermanence
Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It is also an element of Hinduism. In Western philosophy it is most famously known through its first appearance in Greek philosophy in the writings of Heraclitus and in his doctrine of ''panta rhei'' (everything flows). In Western philosophy the concept is also referred to as '' ''becoming''. Indian religions The Pali word for impermanence, ''anicca'', is a compound word consisting of ''"a"'' meaning non-, and ''"nicca"'' meaning "constant, continuous, permanent". While 'nicca' is the concept of continuity and permanence, 'anicca' refers to its exact opposite; the absence of permanence and continuity. The term is synonymous with the Sanskrit term ''anitya'' (a + nitya). The concept of impermanence is prominent in Buddhism, and it is also foun ...
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