Zen Buddhism - Ch'an School
- Created by: Awesomelyevil
- Created on: 18-09-16 14:12
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- The Ch'an Schools
- Bodhidharma 1st Zen Patriarch (470-520 CE)
- Semi-legendary figure who is responsible for establishing the 'meditation' school in China at around 520 CE
- Taught the Lankavatara Sutra - the foundation of the mind is the store-house consciousness that contains the Buddha-nature (Tahagata-garbha)
- A great meditation master - one legend has it he spent 9 years in meditation 'gazing at a wall' until his legs dropped off.
- Showing the Ch'an single-minded emphasis on meditation as the main method for gaining enlightenment
- He also told emperor Wu that 'no merit at all' was gained by good works, since these are empty of inherent existence, only insight into reality is what really matters.
- 4 Key Pinciples
- 3. A direct pointing to the human mind.
- 2. No reliance on words and letters.
- 4. Seeing the innate nature, one becomes a Buddha.
- 1. A special transmission outside the scriptures
- Semi-legendary figure who is responsible for establishing the 'meditation' school in China at around 520 CE
- 5th Patriarch Hung-jen (601-674) - Poetry competition
- In the 7th Century Hung-jen (of the East Mountain School) decided to choose his successor on the basis of the insight expressed in verse.
- Led to a period of sectarianism among the following two Ch'an schools.
- Southern School ('Sudden Awakening') - took Hui-neng as the 6th Patriarch.
- Northern School ('Gradual Awakening') took Shen-hsui as the 6th Patriarch which continued only until the 10th Century.
- 8th Century following the 769 CE council -5 Houses formed under the umbrella of Hui-neng's teachings. By the 11th Century the two most dominant of these schools in China were the Lin-chi and Ts'ao-tung school.
- Led to a period of sectarianism among the following two Ch'an schools.
- In the 7th Century Hung-jen (of the East Mountain School) decided to choose his successor on the basis of the insight expressed in verse.
- Life of Hui-Neng
- Was an illiteralte boy, who had an awakening after hearing a monk reciting the DIamond-cutter Perfection of Wisdom Sutra.
- As a young man he went to join Hung'jen's monastic community.
- He worked in the kitchens and was not ordained as a monk due to the ridged caste system in China.
- As a young man he went to join Hung'jen's monastic community.
- Took part in Hung-jens poety contest and has a friend write on the wall...
- Enlightenment originally has no tree; The mirror asl has no standBuddhanature is always clear and pute; Where is there room for dust
- He won as his verse showed the ultimate level of truth - that all phenomena are unreal
- Meditation and wisdom are not two different things but a unity of the essence and functioning of Buddha nature.
- Enlightenment originally has no tree; The mirror asl has no standBuddhanature is always clear and pute; Where is there room for dust
- Was an illiteralte boy, who had an awakening after hearing a monk reciting the DIamond-cutter Perfection of Wisdom Sutra.
- Iconoclasm
- Good works, devotion and study do play a part in Ch'an by can be seen as objects of attachment and a hindrance to spiritual practice.
- Ch'an tends to be iconoclastic in other words opposed to image worship
- Many Ch'an masters were taken to destroying images that are the object of veneration.
- Core Teachings
- Awakening is possible in any situation as it is not a product of mental purification.
- Buddha-nature that can reveal itself anywhere anytime.
- Distinction between essence and function.
- Meditation is the realising of ones Buddha-nature.
- Meditation is the very essence of wisdom and wisdom is the functioning of meditation.
- Bodhidharma 1st Zen Patriarch (470-520 CE)
- As a young man he went to join Hung'jen's monastic community.
- He worked in the kitchens and was not ordained as a monk due to the ridged caste system in China.
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