Nanquan Puyuan (
Chinese
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**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
: 南泉普願;
Wade-Giles: Nan-ch’üan P’u-yüan;
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
: Nánquán Pǔyuàn;
Japanese
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** Japanese diaspor ...
: Nansen Fugan;
Korean
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** ...
: 남천보원 Nam-cheon Bo-won) (c. 749 – c. 835) was a
Chán
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 So ...
(
Zen
Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...
)
Buddhist
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 ...
master in
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
during the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
. He was the student and Dharma successor of the Master
Mazu Daoyi
Mazu Daoyi (709–788) (, Japanese: Baso Dōitsu) was an influential abbot of Chan Buddhism during the Tang dynasty. The earliest recorded use of the term "Chan school" is from his ''Extensive Records''. Master Ma's teaching style of "strange wo ...
(709–788).
Biography
In the year 795, after his enlightenment experience under Mǎzŭ, he settled in a self-made hut on Mount Nanquan, from which his dharma name is derived, and lived there in eremitic solitude for three decades. In time, monks persuaded him to come down the mountain and found a monastery; from that time forward, he always had hundreds of students.
Appearance in koans
Nanquan appears in several koans:
* 4 koans 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 ...
(#14, #19, #27, #34),
* 6 koans in the
Blue Cliff Record
The ''Blue Cliff Record'' () is a collection of Chan Buddhist kōans originally compiled in Song China in 1125, during the reign of Emperor Huizong, and then expanded into its present form by Chan master Yuanwu Keqin (1063–1135; ).K. Sekida, ...
(#28, #31, #40, #63, #64, #69), and
* 3 koans in The
Book of Equanimity (#9, #69, #91).
Two koans from the Blue Cliff Record (#28 & #69) depict Nanquan as an advanced student interacting with fellow students of Mǎzŭ, and the others depict him as a teacher in his own right.
A well-known koan is case #14 of the Gateless Gate, "Nansen kills the cat":
Influence
Nánquán had seventeen Dharma successors, the most famous of whom was
Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn (778–897). Case #19 of the Gateless Gate recounts an interaction between Nánquán and Zhàozhōu that led to the latter having a profound realization; some translators/editors, for example
Paul Reps
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
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People
Christianity
* Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
, interpret this as Zhàozhōu's enlightenment moment.
[Reps, Paul. ''Zen Flesh, Zen Bones'', 1989, p. 105]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nanquan Puyuan
Chinese Zen Buddhists
740s births
835 deaths