Guishan Daan

Guishan Daan was a Yangqi line master who taught at Mount Guishan during the Song dynasty. He maintained the Yangqi tradition's emphasis on direct and spontaneous teaching, using encounters with students to provoke insight rather than offering systematic instruction. His dialogues reflect the mature form of the Yangqi approach.

Daan's teaching on Mount Guishan—a name associated with the earlier Guishan Lingyou of the Guiyang school—placed him in dialogue with one of the most hallowed sites in Chan history. His work there continued the mountain's tradition as a center of rigorous practice and genuine transmission, demonstrating the continuity of the Chan spirit across different schools and centuries.