Jayata
Jayata
4th c. – Unknown
Jayata, twentieth patriarch in the Chan list, is named in the *Jǐngdé Chuándēng Lù* as the disciple of Kumārata and teacher of Vasubandhu[1]. He belongs to the legendary stratum of the late Indian lineage and is not securely attested outside the transmission-of-the-lamp literature.
Dumoulin notes that the Chan tradition's interweaving of legendary and historically attested names in this section of the list reflects a literary strategy: significant Mahāyāna figures (Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, Āryadeva, possibly Vasubandhu and Kumārata) anchor the chain, while bridging names like Jayata supply the formal continuity required by the twenty-eight-patriarch frame[2].
Names
Disciples of Jayata
Teachers and lineage of Jayata
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
- dialogueThe Incense That Never Burns Out
Jayata said to a skeptic who questioned the value of meditation: 'Light a stick of incense. Watch the smoke rise and disappear. Now tell me: where did it go?' The skeptic said: 'Into the air—into nothing.' Jayata said: 'And the sitting—where does it go?' The skeptic fell silent. Jayata said: 'Now you are beginning to understand sitting.' Keizan's verse: The smoke rises and is gone— / yet the fragrance fills the room. / Where does practice go / when the sitting ends?
When Jayata arrived in the land where Vasubandhu's followers flourished, the senior monks sent a message: 'Our practice is to analyze the constituents of mind and body in careful detail. We have no interest in the wordless transmission.' Jayata sent back this reply: 'The constituents of mind and body—who is doing the analyzing?' When no answer came, Jayata entered the community and taught.
Other masters in Indian Patriarchs
Master Record Sources
- datesZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
trad. 4th c. CE
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Jayata
- schoolZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Indian Patriarchs
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Kumarata
Jayata is counted the nineteenth Indian patriarch in Chan lineage lists; the Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia records the traditional account of his transmission in the Indian patriarchal succession.