Xiangyan Zhixian (; Japanese: Kyōgen Chikan; ''c''. 820–898) was a
Tang dynasty Chan master of the
Guiyang school
The Guiyang school (, also read Weiyang School) is one of the sects of Chan Buddhism.
History
The Guiyang school was the first established house of the Five Houses of Chán. Guiyang is named after master Guishan Lingyou (771–854) and his discip ...
. A
Dharma heir of
Guishan Lingyou, the story of Xiangyan's enlightenment is rather famous in the Chan and
Zen traditions. According to this story, he had been an accomplished scholar of
Buddhist ''
sūtra''s, but for many years had made very little headway in his meditation practice. One day, his master asked him what his
original face
The original face is a term in Zen Buddhism, pointing to the nonduality of subject and object.
Origins
The phrase "original face" originates in Huangpo's Chuanhsin fayao (857) and the Hui-sin edition (967) of the Platform Sutra:
This question ap ...
was before birth, to which he could not respond—this question became his ''
kōan'', and he subsequently burned his ''sūtra''s and left the monastery because he could not figure it out. One day, while working, he heard the sound of a tile striking the ground and attained enlightenment.
Additionally, there is a ''kōan'' attributed to Xiangyan in ''
The Gateless Gate
''The Gateless Barrier'' ( Mandarin: 無門關 ''Wúménguān''; Japanese: 無門関 ''Mumonkan''), sometimes translated as ''The Gateless Gate'', is a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen maste ...
'': the story is that of a man hanging in a tree by his teeth being asked why
Bodhidharma
Bodhidharma was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to a 17th century apo ...
came west; how the man is to react became this famous ''kōan''.
References
898 deaths
Chan Buddhist monks
Chinese Zen Buddhists
Tang dynasty Buddhist monks
Year of birth uncertain
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