How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China (Studies in East Asian Buddhism)

305 Pages·2008·1.62 MB·English

by  Morten Schlutter

HOW ZEN
BECAME ZEN
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How Zen Became Zen

StudieS in eaSt aSian BuddhiSm 22
How Zen Became Zen
the dispute over enlightenment
and the Formation of Chan Buddhism
in Song-dynasty China
morten Schlütter
a Kuroda institute Book
university of hawai‘i Press
honolulu
© 2008 Kuroda institute
all rights reserved
Printed in the united States of america
13 12 11 10 09 08 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schlütter, morten.
how Zen became Zen: the dispute over enlightenment and the formation
of Chan Buddhism in Song-dynasty China / morten Schlütter.
p. cm.—(Studies in east asian Buddhism ; 22)
“a Kuroda institute Book.”
includes bibliographical references and index.
iSBn 978-0-8248-3255-1 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Zen Buddhism—China—history. i. title.
BQ9262.9.C5S35 2008
294.3ʹ9270951—dc22
2008000386
the Kuroda institute for the Study of Buddhism and human Values is
a nonprofit, educational corporation founded in 1976. One of its primary
objectives is to promote scholarship on the historical, philosophical, and
cultural ramifications of Buddhism. in association with the university of
hawai‘i Press, the institute also publishes Classics in east asian Buddhism,
a series devoted to the translation of significant texts in the
east asian Buddhist tradition.
university of hawai‘i Press books are printed on acid-free
paper and meet the guidelines for permanence and
durability of the Council on Library Resources.
designed by university of hawai‘i Press Production Staff
Printed by the maple-Vail Book manufacturing Group
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
Conventions ix
introduction 1
1 Chan Buddhism in the Song: Some Background 13
2 the Chan School and the Song State 31
3 Procreation and Patronage in the Song Chan School 55
4 a new Chan tradition: the Reinvention of the Caodong
Lineage in the Song 78
5 a dog has no Buddha-nature: Kanhua Chan and dahui
Zonggao’s attacks on Silent illumination 104
6 the Caodong tradition as the target of attacks by the
Linji tradition 122
7 Silent illumination and the Caodong tradition 144
Conclusion 175
Notes 183
Caodong Lineage 236
Linji Lineage 237
Glossary 239
Bibliography 251
Index 277
v

Acknowledgments
this book is the product of a process that started very many years ago, and
in researching and writing it i have benefited from the advice, help, and
support of numerous people. needless to say, i alone am responsible for
its contents. i first wish to express my gratitude to my dissertation advisor,
Stanley Weinstein, now professor emeritus at Yale university, who patiently
(at least most of the time) imparted to me crucial research skills in Chi-
nese Buddhism and without whose instruction and friendship this study
would never have been written. i also want to thank Lucie Weinstein for
her great kindness during my time at Yale. my gratitude further goes to
Birthe arendrup, who first taught me classical Chinese at the university of
Copenhagen, and whose infectious enthusiasm instilled in me a great love
of the language from the very beginning. i am also grateful for the generous
help afforded me by henrik h. Sørensen of Copenhagen, who, when i first
became interested in Chinese Buddhism, opened up his private library to
me and helped me in numerous other ways.
i am further indebted to a number of scholars in Buddhist and Chi-
nese studies for the advice and support they have offered in various ways
over the years. my fellow students and senpai at Yale university, Richard
Jaffe, William Bodiford, Yifa, dan Getz, John mcRae, Paul Groner, anne
dutton, James dobbins, timothy Barrett, and Yamabe nobuyoshi, have all
sustained me with friendship, help, and support over the years. Griff Foulk
was a reader both of my dissertation and of the manuscript of this book and
has offered much helpful advice and encouragement. i have also in numer-
ous ways benefited from discussions with, and helpful suggestions from,
Peter Gregory, Steve heine, miriam Levering, dan Stevenson, albert Wel-
ter, Robert Buswell, mark halperin, Robert Sharf, Koichi Shinohara, Linda
Penkower, Valerie hansen, ellen neskar (who was a manuscript reader for
this book), and many others who cannot be listed here.
my former colleagues in the department of Religious Studies at Victo-
ria university of Wellington, Paul morris, Jim Veitch, and Kate Blackstone,
offered much support and encouragement at a time when i was both teach-
ing my first courses and finishing up my dissertation. my current colleagues
at the university of iowa have also been highly supportive; i especially wish
vii
viii acknowledgments
to thank Janine Sawada, Fred Smith, and Ray mentzer. i am also grateful
for the assistance in getting needed materials that i have received from the
east asia librarians at the university of iowa, min tian and Chiaki Sakai
(who also checked the Japanese bibliography items for me). i further want
to acknowledge the generous support i have received in various ways from
the College of Liberal arts and Sciences at the university of iowa.
a major part of the research for this study was done over two years
at Komazawa university, where i was supported by a fellowship from the
Bukkyō dendō Kyōkai. i am grateful to both institutions. at Komazawa uni-
versity, i benefited immeasurably from the instruction and guidance gen-
erously offered by ishii Shūdō, whose work on Song Chan Buddhism will
remain a point of departure for research in the area for years to come. ishii-
sensei and his late wife, emi-san, also showed me great kindness and did
much to make my stay in Japan a very pleasant experience. Ogawa takeshi,
david and diane Riggs, my fellow kenkyūin, the venerable Zhanru, as well
as Yoshizu Yoshihide and Satō Shūkō, among others, also offered help and
friendship during this period. Further research for this book was done dur-
ing 2001–2002, when i held a fellowship from the national endowment
for the humanities, and i gratefully acknowledge the support of this insti-
tution. Finally, i want to thank Ruth homrighaus, whose skillful editing at
various stages has done much to improve this book.
the publication of this book was supported by subvention grants from
the Office of the Vice President for Research, the department of Religious
Studies, and the Center for asian and Pacific Studies of the university of
iowa. i want to express my gratitude to each of these institutions.
my parents, Grete and Vagn Schlütter, and my siblings, annette Bering
and Carsten Schlütter, have never wavered in their loving support of me,
no matter what my chosen path; i feel deeply grateful to them and a tinge
of regret that my father did not live to see this work in print. Last, i owe a
great debt to my wife, Katina Lillios, for her enduring love, patience, and
intellectual companionship, and to our son, Rasmus, who never lets me for-
get that life can be full of unexpected joys.
Conventions
Names of Chinese Monastics
Song-dynasty Chinese monks and nuns were given two-character dharma
(or tonsure) names when they took tonsure, which essentially replaced their
given and family names (for more on this, see chapter 3). most monastics
were known throughout their lives by their dharma names; however, sources
commonly identify monks or nuns with only the last of the two characters in
these names, and sometimes it is the only one known to posterity.
When a monastic became the abbot of a monastery, the name of the
monastery or its location was added in front of his dharma name in referring
to him. Frequently, a Chan master, especially if he was famous, would be re-
ferred to just by the name of his location. dongshan Liangjie, for example,
is often referred to as dongshan, the mountain where his monastery was,
although “Liangjie,” his dharma name, would be a more precise reference.
Since most Chan masters were abbots at a number of different monasteries
in succession, how they were referred to would also change. however, once
a monk had passed away, his name would be more or less fixed to the name
of the monastery with which he was most strongly associated, whether that
was where he had resided the longest or the most prestigious of the mon-
asteries where he served. masters who were bestowed an honorific name
by the court, often posthumously, would normally be known under those
names rather than by the names of monasteries with which they were asso-
ciated. dahui Zonggao, who is best known by his honorific “dahui,” is such
an example. (“Zonggao” is his dharma name.) Furthermore, elite monks
would often be given sobriquets by members of the educated elite that they
sometimes became known by; thus, dahui was given the name “miaoxi” by
the famous statesman Zhang Shangying, a name that was often used by both
dahui and others. the sources are not consistent, and one master may be
found referred to with a number of different names. in this book, i try to
more or less consistently use dharma names, except in cases where a monas-
tic is well known under another name.
Names of Secular Persons
Chinese names consist of a family name and a given name, in that order.
the family name is usually only one character. Literati are often known by
ix