Gaofeng Yuanmiao
Gaofeng Yuanmiao
1238 – 1295
Gaofeng Yuanmiao was a Yangqi line master of the late Song and early Yuan dynasty known for the extreme intensity of his practice. He is said to have vowed not to sleep until he attained awakening, and he practiced on a cliff's edge to ensure he would not drift off. His awakening came after extended effort when a monk dropped a wooden board, and the sound shattered his remaining doubt.
Gaofeng's teaching emphasized the absolute necessity of great doubt, great faith, and great determination—the three pillars of Linji practice. He taught that without a doubt so intense that it feels like a ball of fire stuck in one's throat, awakening cannot occur. His student Zhongfeng Mingben carried this teaching forward, and through subsequent generations the emphasis on the three pillars became standard in the Linji and Rinzai traditions.
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Teachings
- sayingThe Great Doubt Block
Gaofeng said: "Beneath the great doubt there is great awakening. If you can raise the doubt mass to fill your entire body so that it becomes like a solid block—no gap, no crack, no place for thinking to enter—then suddenly it will shatter of itself. When this happens, you will be like a person who has been dead and comes back to life, or like a person who snatches back what has been stolen. Only then will you know that you yourself have always had it."
Master Record Sources
- datesZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
1238-1295
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Gaofeng Yuanmiao
- schoolZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Yangqi line
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Xueyan Zuqin