Niutou Farong

Niutou Farong was the founder of the Oxhead (Niutou) school of Chan, one of the earliest independent Chan lineages in China. According to tradition, he was a student of the Fourth Patriarch Dayi Daoxin, though this connection is disputed by modern scholars. He practiced on Mount Niutou (Ox Head) near Nanjing and developed a distinctive approach to Chan that emphasized the integration of Madhyamaka emptiness philosophy with meditative practice.

The Oxhead school flourished for several generations before being absorbed into the mainstream of Chan. Its philosophical sophistication—particularly its emphasis on the emptiness of mind and its rejection of any substantial notion of Buddha-nature—influenced the later development of Chan thought. Niutou's teaching that "the mind does not abide in anything" contributed to the broader tradition's understanding of non-attachment and the freedom of awakened awareness.