Vô Ngôn Thông
Vô Ngôn Thông
Unknown – 826
Vô Ngôn Thông (無言通, d. 826) founded the second major Thiền lineage in Vietnam and is the Chinese disciple of Baizhang Huaihai through whom the Southern School of Chan entered Vietnamese Buddhism[1]. Sources describe his travelling south late in life to Kiến Sơ temple in what is now Bắc Ninh province, where his transmission passed through fifteen generations of Vietnamese masters[1]. Where the Vinītaruci line emphasized Indian-rooted meditative practice, the Vô Ngôn Thông line carried the characteristic Chinese-Chan emphasis on mind-to-mind transmission outside the scriptures. Together the two schools formed the main stems of Vietnamese Thiền for the next five centuries[2].
Names
Disciples of Vô Ngôn Thông
Teachers and lineage of Vô Ngôn Thông
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
- proverbWordless
The one who speaks the dharma most completely has not opened his mouth. The student who hears it most clearly has not pricked up his ears.
- proverbWall-Gazing in Vietnam
Bodhidharma sat facing a wall in China. I sit facing the wall of the heart in Vietnam. The wall has not changed; only the country and the century around it.
- proverbSchool of No Words
The school I founded was named for the silence I came in. If you wish to study with me, study the silences in your speaking. Study them long enough, and the speaking arranges itself.
- proverbWhen the Emperor Asked
The emperor asked: what is the great meaning? I bowed and said nothing. He pressed me three times; three times I bowed and said nothing. On the fourth, he bowed too. That was the answer.
Other masters in Thiền
Master Record Sources
- biographyCuong Tu Nguyen — medieval Vietnamese Buddhism scholarship
- teachersLê Mạnh Thát — Vietnamese Buddhist history publications