Jiashan Shanhui

Jiashan Shanhui (夾山善會, 805–881) is recorded in the *Jǐngdé Chuándēng Lù* and the *Zǔtáng Jí* as a former lecturer-monk whose merely intellectual understanding was exposed by Daowu Yuanzhi: when Jiashan, then well known for his expositions, claimed that "the Dharmakāya has no marks; the Dharma-eye has no flaw," Daowu directed him to seek out the ferryman Chuanzi Decheng on the Huating River^[1].

At that meeting Chuanzi, after a series of probing questions, capsized the boat into the water and shouted, "Speak! Speak!" — and as Jiashan began to reply, Chuanzi struck him with the oar, precipitating his awakening. Chuanzi then capsized his own boat and disappeared into the river, having transmitted his Dharma to a single heir^[2]. Jiashan later settled on Mount Jia (in modern Hunan), where he established a community that became a major training centre of the Yaoshan / Qingyuan stream; his principal heir Luopu Yuanan carried the line forward, and his recorded sayings preserve the somewhat astringent style that characterised the Jiashan line through the late Tang^[3].