禅Masters

Linji Yixuan

Portrait of Linji Yixuan

Linji

Linji Yixuan

Unknown – 866

Show in lineageView school

Linji Yixuan founded one of the most dynamic and enduring of all Chan schools, the Linji school, which later became the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. He was a student of Huangbo Xiyun who underwent an extremely severe training. Three times he asked Huangbo the fundamental meaning of Buddhism, and three times Huangbo struck him without speaking. Linji left in confusion, and Huangbo sent him to consult the master Dayu. When Linji told Dayu what had happened, Dayu said: "Huangbo was so grandmotherly for you!" At this moment Linji had a sudden awakening and said: "There's not much to Huangbo's Buddha Dharma!" When Dayu grabbed him and demanded an explanation, Linji struck Dayu three times in the ribs. This exchange is one of the most analyzed in the entire koan literature.

Linji's teaching was radical and uncompromising. His famous saying—"If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha; if you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch"—is not a rejection of the tradition but an insistence on not becoming attached to any authority outside one's own true nature. He introduced the "Four Shouts" and the "Four Positions of Guest and Host" as systematic teaching methods. His Record (Linji Lu) became the foundational text of the Linji/Rinzai school, which through the Japanese transmission of Eisai and later Hakuin became the living backbone of formal koan practice.

Names

dharma · enLinji Yixuan
alias · enlin-chi i-hsüan
alias · enLin-chi I-hsüan
alias · enrinzai gigen
alias · enRinzai Gigen
alias · zh臨済義玄
alias · zh臨濟義玄

Teachers

Students

Teachings

  • proverbWhen You Meet a Swordsman

    When you meet a swordsman, draw your sword. Do not offer a poem to someone who is not a poet.

    Attributed_to: Linji Yixuan

  • sermonThe True Person of No Rank

    Linji ascended the hall and said: "On this lump of red flesh there sits a True Person of No Rank, constantly going in and out through the gates of your face. Those who have not yet recognized this—look, look!" A monk came forward and asked, "What is the True Person of No Rank?" Linji came down from his seat, grabbed the monk, and said, "Speak! Speak!" The monk hesitated. Linji pushed him away and said, "The True Person of No Rank—what a piece of dry excrement!" Then he returned to his quarters.

    Speaker: Linji Yixuan

  • sermonLinji's Four Shouts

    Linji said to a monk: "Sometimes my shout is like the jeweled sword of the Vajra King. Sometimes my shout is like a golden-haired lion crouching on the ground. Sometimes my shout is like a fishing pole with a reed shade. Sometimes my shout does not function as a shout at all. How do you understand this?" The monk hesitated. Linji shouted.

    Speaker: Linji Yixuan

  • dialogueLinji's Three Blows from Huangbo

    Linji was studying under Huangbo. The head monk urged him, "You have been here three years and have never asked the master a question. Why not ask what the fundamental principle of Buddhism is?" Linji went to Huangbo and asked. Before he could finish, Huangbo struck him. Linji returned to the head monk and told him what happened. The head monk said, "Go ask again." Linji went again and was struck again. He went a third time and was struck a third time. Linji went to Huangbo and said, "I must leave. I have asked the master three times and been struck three times. Perhaps my karma does not allow me to understand." Huangbo said, "Go see Dayu." Linji went to Dayu and told him everything. Dayu said, "That old grandmotherly Huangbo—he was trying to help you! He exhausted himself for your sake, and you come here asking whether you were at fault!" At these words Linji was greatly awakened and said, "There isn't so much to Huangbo's Buddhism after all!" Dayu grabbed him and said, "You bed-wetting little devil! You just said you didn't understand, and now you say there isn't so much to it. What do you see? Speak!" Linji punched Dayu three times in the ribs. Dayu pushed him away and said, "Your teacher is Huangbo—it's nothing to do with me."

    Respondent: Dayu Shouzhi, Respondent: Huangbo Xiyun, Speaker: Linji Yixuan

  • sayingIf You Meet the Buddha, Kill the Buddha

    If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha. If you meet a patriarch, kill the patriarch. If you meet an arhat, kill the arhat. If you meet your parents, kill your parents. If you meet your relatives, kill your relatives. Only then will you find liberation.

    Attributed_to: Linji Yixuan

  • sayingBe the Master Wherever You Are

    (traditional attribution)

    Be the master wherever you are, and wherever you stand is the true place. No matter what circumstances come your way, they cannot pull you off center. Even if you are confronted by the evil influences of old karma, or by the five kinds of uninterrupted hell, these become for you the great ocean of emancipation. Students today cannot get anywhere because they base their understanding on the interpretations of old masters. If you want to be free, be the master right now. Do not be swayed by anything. Break through every obstacle you meet, and the place where you stand will be genuine.

    Attributed_to: Linji Yixuan

Master Record Sources

Image: Wikimedia Commons: RinzaiGigen.jpg · Public Domain / CC (Wikimedia)