Baotang Wuzhu

Baotang Wuzhu was the founder of the Baotang school of Chan in Sichuan province, one of the regional Chan schools that flourished during the Tang dynasty. He was known for a radically antinomian approach that rejected all external forms of practice—including bowing, chanting, and even formal meditation—in favor of a pure non-engagement with any activity or concept.

Wuzhu's extreme position—that any deliberate practice is itself a form of attachment—pushed the logic of non-attachment to its furthest limit. While the Baotang school did not survive as an independent tradition, its radical challenge to all forms of practice-based Buddhism raised questions that continued to stimulate Chan thought. His teaching reminds the tradition that even the most refined methods can become obstacles if they are clung to as ends in themselves.