Guishan Lingyou
Guishan Lingyou
c. 771 – c. 853
Guishan Lingyou was a student of Baizhang Huaihai who, together with his student Yangshan Huiji, founded the Guiyang school, the first of the Five Houses of Chan. He established a community on Mount Gui that became one of the most influential centers of Chan practice in the late Tang period. His selection as abbot by Baizhang—through the famous koan of the water bottle—is one of the great transmission stories.
Guishan taught for over forty years on his mountain, developing a subtle teaching style that used symbols, circular figures, and gestures alongside verbal exchanges. His famous challenge to his student Xiangyan Zhixian—asking him to express his understanding without relying on anything he had learned—drove Xiangyan to burn his books and ultimately to his celebrated awakening at the sound of a pebble striking bamboo. Guishan's teaching on the "water buffalo" became a beloved metaphor for the practitioner's patient return to ordinary life after awakening.
Names
Teachers
Teachings
- koanTipping Over A Water Vase
Hyakujo wished to send a monk to open a new monastery. He told his pupils that whoever answered a question most ably would be appointed. Placing a water vase on the ground, he asked: "Who can say what this is without calling its name?" The chief monk said: "No one can call it a wooden shoe." Isan, the cooking monk, tipped over the vase with his foot and went out. Hyakujo smiled and said: "The chief monk loses." And Isan became the master of the new monastery. Mumon’s comment: Isan was brave enough, but he could not escape Hyakujo's trick. After all, he gave up a light job and took a heavy one. Why, can't you see, he took off his comfortable hat and placed himself in iron stocks. Giving up cooking utensils, Defeating the chatterbox, Though his teacher sets a barrier for him His feet will tip over everything, even the Buddha.
Master Record Sources
Guishan Lingyou
Caodong
- koan_refsChart of the Chan Ancestors
4, 24, 70 15,37,60,83 40 47
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Guishan Lingyou
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Baizhang Huaihai