Tiāntóng Rújìng (天童如淨; Japanese: Tendō Nyojō) (1163-1228) was a
Caodong
Caodong school () is a Chinese Chan Buddhist sect and one of the Five Houses of Chán.
Etymology
The key figure in the Caodong school was founder Dongshan Liangjie (807-869, 洞山良价 or Jpn. Tozan Ryokai). Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" ...
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 ...
monk living in Qìngdé Temple
(慶徳寺; Japanese: Keitoku-ji) on Tiāntóng Mountain (天童山; Japanese: Tendouzan) in
Yinzhou District, Ningbo. He taught and gave
dharma transmission
In Chan and Zen Buddhism, dharma transmission is a custom in which a person is established as a "successor in an unbroken lineage of teachers and disciples, a spiritual 'bloodline' (''kechimyaku'') theoretically traced back to the Buddha him ...
to
Sōtō Zen founder
Dōgen
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 J ...
as well as early Sōtō monk
Jakuen
Jìyuán (寂円, 1207 – 8 October 1299), better known to Buddhist scholars by his Japanese name Jakuen, was a Chinese Zen Buddhist monk and a disciple of Rujing. Most of his life is known to us only through medieval hagiography, legends, ...
(寂円 Jìyuán).
His teacher was Xuedou Zhijian
(雪竇智鑑, 1105–1192), who was the sixteenth-generation dharma descendant of
Huineng
Dajian Huineng (); (February 27, 638 – August 28, 713), also commonly known as the Sixth Patriarch or Sixth Ancestor of Chan ( traditional Chinese: 禪宗六祖), is a semi-legendary but central figure in the early history of Chinese Chan Budd ...
.
According to
Keizan, when Ruijing became a leader, he didn't put himself above the other monks. He wore the black surplice and robe of a monk. He was given a purple vestment of honor by the emperor of China, but he declined it. Even after reaching enlightenment, he was willing to clean the bathroom.
He is traditionally the originator of the terms ''
shikantaza''
and ''shinjin-datsuraku'' ("casting off of body and mind").
References
External links
*
略述天童如净禅师的生平与禅学思想a summary of some sources about Rujing
Chan patriarchs
1163 births
1228 deaths
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