禅Masters

Huangbo Xiyun

Portrait of Huangbo Xiyun

Linji

Huangbo Xiyun

Unknown – c. 850

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Huangbo Xiyun was a student of Baizhang Huaihai and the teacher of Linji Yixuan, the founder of the Linji school. He was a physically imposing man with a prominent lump on his forehead, said to have been acquired through years of prostrations. His teaching was famed for its bluntness and its stripping away of all concepts about Buddhism or practice. His famous "thirty blows" became an emblem of the immediacy of true Chan teaching.

Huangbo's teaching on the One Mind is recorded in the Transmission of Mind, compiled by his student Pei Xiu: "All buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist." This description of mind as the ground of all appearance and the source of all experience represents the philosophical heart of the Linji teaching. Linji later said that it was through Huangbo's transmission that he had encountered the living Buddha.

Names

dharma · enHuangbo Xiyun
alias · enhuang-po hsi-yün
alias · enHuang-po Hsi-yün
alias · enôbaku kiun
alias · enÔbaku Kiun
alias · zh黃檗希運

Teachers

Students

Teachings

  • proverbCease to Cherish Opinions

    Do not search for the truth. Only cease to cherish opinions.

    Attributed_to: Huangbo Xiyun

  • sermonOn the Transmission of Mind: One Mind

    The Master said: All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the One Mind, beside which nothing exists. This Mind, which is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has neither form nor appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor can it be thought of in terms of new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measures, names, traces, and comparisons. It is that which you see before you. Begin to reason about it and you at once fall into error.

    tr. John Blofeld

    Attributed_to: Huangbo Xiyun

  • sermonNo Distinction Between Ordinary and Holy

    All the Buddhas and all sentient beings are nothing but the universal mind, wherein nothing stirs. This mind, having no beginning, was never born and will never perish. Without form, without appearance, it transcends all categories. It cannot be perceived, it cannot be attained, and it is neither new nor old. It is neither long nor short, large nor small. It cannot be measured, named, traced, or compared. Is there anything you can add to it? Is there anything you can take away? Ordinary people and Buddhas—between them there is not a hair's breadth of distinction.

    tr. John Blofeld

    Attributed_to: Huangbo Xiyun

  • dialogueThe One Mind That All Buddhas Teach

    (traditional attribution)

    Huangbo said, "The dharma that all Buddhas teach is the same dharma—the One Mind. This Mind is without beginning, is unborn and indestructible. It is not green nor yellow, and has no form or appearance. It does not belong to the categories of things which exist or do not exist, nor is it to be considered new or old. It is neither long nor short, big nor small, for it transcends all limits, measures, names, traces, and comparisons." A monk asked, "Then how should one practice?" Huangbo said, "There is nothing to practice. Just let things be in their own way, and there will be neither coming nor going. This is called the One Mind, and there is no other dharma besides it."

    Speaker: Huangbo Xiyun

Master Record Sources

Image: Wikimedia Commons: HuangboXiyun.gif · Public Domain / CC (Wikimedia)