Langye Huijue
Langye Huijue
Dates uncertain
Langye Huijue (琅琊慧覺, fl. late 10th – early 11th c.) was a Linji-line Chan master of the early Northern Song and a Dharma heir of Fenyang Shanzhao, one of the most important transmitters of the Linji house after the turbulence of the Five Dynasties period[1]. He settled at Langye Mountain in modern Anhui, where his community became one of the few significant Linji teaching centres of the early Song outside Fenyang Shanzhao's home base at Fenzhou[2].
Huijue is among the teachers recorded in the *Jǐngdé Chuándēng Lù* continuation-records and the *Wudeng Huiyuan* for small collections of encounter dialogues in the characteristic Linji style — terse exchanges using the shout, the staff, and sharp reversals of question and answer. Although his individual line did not give rise to any of the canonical sub-houses, his community helped sustain the Linji house during the Northern Song generation before Shishuang Chuyuan's heirs Yangqi Fanghui and Huanglong Huinan restructured it into the two sub-lineages that would dominate the Southern Song period[3]. Several Song-era lamp records cite him alongside Fenyang's other students as proof that the Linji line had revived from near-extinction across the Five Dynasties interregnum[4].
Names
Disciples of Langye Huijue
Teachers and lineage of Langye Huijue
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
When spring comes, the grass grows naturally. When autumn comes, the dew becomes frost. This is not something arranged. This is not something practiced. The ten thousand things arise and cease according to their nature— and the Dharma that underlies them all arises and ceases with nothing.
- dialogueThe Vast Empty Sky
A monk asked Langye, "What is the state before a thought arises?" Langye said, "The vast empty sky." The monk asked, "What is the state after a thought arises?" Langye said, "The vast empty sky." The monk said, "How is it possible that the sky is the same before and after?" Langye said, "How is it possible that you think it would be different?"
Other masters in Linji
Master Record Sources
Langye Huijue
Linji
- koan_refsChart of the Chan Ancestors
100
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Langye Huijue
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Shishuang Chuyuan