Mingzhao Deqian

Mingzhao Deqian was a student of Luohan Guichen, making him a dharma brother of Fayan Wenyi. He appears in the Blue Cliff Record in a famous exchange about the "bright-eyed one." A monk asked what "the mind of the ancient Buddhas" was. Mingzhao replied, "Mountains, rivers, and the great earth." This direct identification of the natural world with Buddha-mind exemplifies the Fayan lineage's emphasis on the interpenetration of the absolute and the phenomenal.

Mingzhao's teaching shares the Fayan school's characteristic lucidity—a clarity that makes the profound appear self-evident. His recorded sayings suggest a teacher who was comfortable pointing to the world as it is, without the dramatic devices employed by masters in other lineages.