Guifeng Zongmi
Guifeng Zongmi
c. 780 – c. 841
Guifeng Zongmi held the rare distinction of being recognized as both the fifth patriarch of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism and a Chan master in the Heze lineage of Shenhui. He was the most important figure in the integration of Chan practice with the philosophical systems of classical Chinese Buddhism, arguing that the different schools and methods were not contradictory but represented different levels and approaches to the same ultimate truth.
Zongmi's classification of Chan schools—distinguishing them by the depth of their understanding of the nature of mind—became an influential framework for understanding the diversity within the Chan tradition. His insistence that practice and doctrinal understanding should support each other, rather than being opposed, represented a middle path between the anti-intellectual tendencies of some Chan schools and the purely scholastic approach of the philosophical traditions.
Teachings
- sermonClassification of Chan Schools
The various Chan schools may be classified according to their depth of understanding. The lowest teaches that all dharmas are illusory and that one should cut off all entanglements—but this falls into nihilism. The next teaches that all dharmas are like dreams, neither real nor unreal—but this can lead to indifference. The next teaches that the mind-ground is originally pure and that defilements have never truly existed—but this can lead to quietism. The highest teaches that the true mind is the source of both delusion and enlightenment, that it is not empty and not existent, that it neither arises nor ceases. This is the teaching that directly reveals the nature of mind, and it encompasses all the others.
Master Record Sources
Guifeng Zongmi
Other
- teachersChart of the Chan Ancestors
Suizhou Daoyuan (Q11)