The Origins And History Of Chan(Zen) Thought In Northern Song

This dissertation is to elucidate the history of Chan(禪) thought from Mazu(马祖) to Yuanwu Keqin(圜悟克勤). It consists of two parts: the first part, Origins of Chan Thought in Northern Song, which aims to shed light on the history of Chan thought in Tang dynasty, covers the first three chapters; the second part, The History of Chan Thought in Northern Song, spreads from Chapter 4 to Chapter 8. The first part divides the history of Chan Buddhism in Tang dynasty into three stages: Mazu, post-Mazu, and Xuefeng(雪峰)-Xuansha(玄沙).Mazu's "action is essence"(作用是性) theory was epoch-making in the history of Chinese Chan Buddhism. Mazu directly combined Buddha-nature with action and cognition. His thought was hugely influential and became the cornerstone for later Chan history. There were at least two kinds of responses to Mazu's theory, which were represented by Mazu School and Shitou(石头) School respectively. Both schools stressed the emptiness(空) of essence instead of Mazu's "action is essence" which insisted the truthfulness of phenomenon, however, adherents of Mazu School viewed observing emptiness(空觀) as the basis of "action is essence" theory in the hope of adding new support to the theory, while monks of Shitou School emphasized the differentiation of phenomenon and essence.The thought of Xuefeng School in Fujian(福建) represented another stage of the history of Chan thought. Xuefeng School had two branches, namely, Xuansha School, also called Fayan School(法眼宗), and Yunmen School(雲门宗). These two schools lasted until early Song, and became the direct origin of Chan thought in Northern Song. Xuansha School could be viewed as a new thought based on the above-mentioned post-Mazu thought due to its considerable scale and complete system. The idea of "the Three Realms are only mind" (三界唯心), which was the core of Xuansha-Fayan branch, later became the basis of Chan thought afterwards.The second part of this dissertation probes into the history of Chan thought in Northern Song. Chapter 4, entitled "On 'Three words' theoryⅡ", discusses Jianfu-Chenggu(薦福承古)'s "Three abstruseness" theory, which is comparable with Xuansha's "Three words" theory and is relating to the same topic with the latter. The comparison of these two theories highlights the specific problematique of Chan thought in Song dynasty. The rest of the chapters in the second part present the history of Chan Buddhism in Northern Song through the replacement of Yunmen School, Huanglong Branch(黄龙派) of Linji School(臨濟宗), Yangqi Branch(杨岐派) of Linji School in sequence. However, the change of theoretical issues is not in complete accordance with the replacement of schools; therefore, this part narrates the historical change through four approaches: "Yunmen-Wenyan(云门文偃) and Yunmen School"(Chapter 5), "Inactive Chan(无事禪)"(Chapter 6), "Gong'an(公案)-Chan"(Chapter 7), "Yuanwu-Keqin(圜悟克勤), and 'sudden enlightenment-gradual practice' theory(頓司漸修)"(Chapter 8).Xuefeng's another disciple was Yunmen-Wenyan. His sect was the most influential in the beginning of Northern Song. Yunmen-Wenyan's thought is basically the same as Xuansha's. In the era of Yunmen-Wenyan's disciples, two theoretical tendencies arose within Yunmen School, namely, "Living words"(活句), and "Inactive Chan"(无事禪). "Living Words" thought spawned "Literary Chan"(文字禪) which had an enduring influence on the thought of Chan, while the thought of "Inactive Chan" experienced many ups and downs.Linji School began to expand after the generation of Fenyang-Shanzhao(汾阳善昭) and his peers. Their tendence was to incorporate the doctrines of various schools to create an all-embracing system, and this tendence could be called "museology" tendency. The attitude to Gong'an in this era showed the same tendency. Some monks "analyzed" and "classified" the Gong'ans. This style, distinctively different from the style of the following Yangqi branch, characterized the attitude of this era.In the middle of Northern Song, Huanglong-Huinan(黄龙慧南) and Huanglong branch replaced Yunmen school and became the new mainstream. One aim of theirs was to react against the "museology" tendency. They opposed to the movement in the middle of Northern Song, and cleared up the differences between schools by means of absolute idea-"Li"(理). Their idea is called "Unadorned Chan"(平實禪).Changzong(常總), Huinan's disciple, inherited "Unadorned Chan". But it degenerated into dogmatism soon. Facing such a situation, dissidents appeared within Huanglong branch. Zhenjing-Kewen(真淨克文)'s criticism to "Inactive Chan" represented this reaction. The context of the criticism to "inactive Chan" is very complex. The direct target of Zhenjing's criticism is "Unadorned Chan" of Changzong and his disciples, but the concept of "inactive Chan" stemmed from the criticism to the thought of Yunmen School, these two concepts are not identical. It can be said that Zhenjing used the discourse about "Inactive Chan" to criticize Changzong's "Unadorned Chan". However, the two concepts still have some relationship anyhow. They both recognized phenomena and held "no practice no enlightenment". As a matter of fact, such theoretical tendency was quite widespread in Chan Buddhism circles of Tang dynasty. It can be inferred that "Inactive Chan" and "Unadorned Chan" had a common orgin which was in a tradition enduring and deeply-rooted.Facing such situation, Zhenjing put forward a concept of "awakening to truth by initial enlightenment". The concept of "initial enlightenment" came from "the Awakening of Mahāyána Faith", which was in opposition to "original enlightenment". "original enlightenment" refers to the state that everybody has a clean heart, while "initial enlightenment" refers to the turning from ignorance into awakening. Zhenjing's ""awakening" valued such turning, which was in opposition to "no enlightenment no practice" theory. He criticized "Inactive Chan" using this concept. If we view from another perspective, it can be said that Zhenjing's "awakening" also stemmed from Huinan's thought. Huinan emphasized the uniqueness of "Li" in his criticism of the redundant and complicated "museology", and, the object of Zhenjing's awakening is also the same "Li". Their difference is just if the abrupt turning is required. To a great extent, the history from "museology" tendency to "awakening to truth" is the process that the value of "Li" was promoted.The promotion of the value of "Li" also reflected in the change of "Gong'an Chan" thought. As mentioned above, the major access to Gong'an in the era of "museology" was through analysis and classification, but the thought of the following Yangqi branch was different. Generally speaking, monks of Yangqi branch like Huinan stressed the uniqueness of "Li". They held that all the Gong'ans mirrored only one unique and absolute "Li". Therefore, they objected the analysis and classification of Gong'ans. The turning point of the change between two approaches to Gong'ans was the rising of Huanglong branch. This change also reflects how much the monks in Northern Song stressed "Li".In the end of this dissertation, the "Sudden Enlightenment Gradual Practice" theory of Yuanwu-Keqin was discussed. His theory relates to a variety of elements of Chan thought, therefore, to view it merely through comparing it with Zongmi(宗密)'s "Sudden Enlightenment Gradual Practice" theory would be far from enough. Yuanwu's "Sudden Enlightenment Gradual Practice" aimed to solve problems relating to Gong'an and "Inactive Chan". His thought was deeply influenced by the "Three Words" theory. Yuanwu was after Zhenjing, and his response to Zhenjing could be found in his thought on Gong'an Chan. In this sense, Yuanwu's "Sudden Enlightenment Gradual Practice" theory reflected the historical changes of Chan thought which are illuminated in this dissertation.