Songshan Puji

Songshan Puji was a principal student of Yuquan Shenxiu and one of the most influential representatives of the Northern School of Chan. He taught on Mount Song, the central sacred mountain, and attracted a large following that included both monastics and members of the Tang aristocracy. He continued Shenxiu's emphasis on methodical meditation practice and was known for his skill in adapting the teaching to different audiences.

After the Southern School's rise to orthodoxy, Puji and the Northern School were marginalized in official Chan histories, depicted as proponents of a merely gradual and conceptual practice. Historical evidence suggests that Puji's actual teaching was considerably more sophisticated than the caricature. His lineage contributed to the transmission of meditation methods that continued to influence Chinese Buddhist practice even as the institutional identity of the Northern School faded.