A Review Of Dahuizonggao's Ideology On Dhyana

Zonggao's ideology on Dhyana is not water without a source. The first advocate of Kanhua Dhyana is Xiyun in Mountain Huangbo, as well as Fayan in Mountain Wuzu later. Their theories on enlightenment are the major source of religious thought of Zonggao. As the evangelist of the Linji sect, Zonggao's thought on nature mainly originates from Yixuan in Linji, Fanghui in Yangqi and Keqin, etc. The mergence of Xiyun's thought and Yixuan's thought becomes the solid foundation of the Kanhua Dhyana by Zonggao. In addition, more and more abuses in the Dhyana system also bring an opportunity for the rise of the Kanhua Dhyana.As an ideology, Zonggao's thought on the Kanhua Dhyana includes not only the "Kan Hua Tou " , which means the meditation on some given themes, but also some other parts as follows. One is the theory on nature, which consists of the thought on Buddhist nature, the thought on Kong nature, the thought on enlightenment. This paper discusses this theory in the four aspects, i.e. "acquiring correct belief, "making your own nature as Buddha", "enlightenment is the goal", "the Kong of own nature and the natural law". Another is Zonggao's implement ways of enlightenment by Kan Hua Tou. This paper discusses this theme in six aspects, such as, the basis of Dhyana, the"dead word" and " living word", restraining the "five false ideas " and "eight disciplines ", eliminating all suspicion, attaining thorough extrication, etc. Zonggao thinks that Buddhists should firstly understand "all is Kong" and believe "Buddha is nature" in our own, and then persistently meditate "living word", so he can enlighten the Buddha finally. In a word, the ideology by Zonggao is a perfect system, involving ontology, practice theory, ideal state and values, etc.The influence of Zonggao ideology mainly can be found in the following two aspects. One is the effect on scholar-officials, who gradually began to accept Dhyana for Zonggao's effort. It is these scholar-officials' acceptance and recommendation that the Dhyana of Kanhua gradually affects the whole society in the Song dynasty. Another is the effect on the style change of the Nianfo Dhyana which often simply chanted the name of Buddha Amitabha before. The Nianfo Dhyana changes this old style into the new style, "meditating on Amitabha", as the result of mergence of the Dhyana and the Pure Land.