Xitang Zhizang
Xitang Zhizang
735 – 814
Xitang Zhizang (西堂智藏, 735–814) was, with Baizhang Huaihai and Nanquan Puyuan, one of the three principal Dharma heirs of Mazu Daoyi who collectively defined the mature shape of the Hongzhou house[1]. He served as abbot at the Kaiyuan-si in Jiangxi, the very temple where Mazu had taught, and was for several decades the institutional anchor of the Mazu community after the founder's death in 788[2].
Xitang is also the master through whom the Hongzhou line first reached Korea: the two future founders of Korean Nine-Mountain Schools, Tooui (doui, founder of Gajisan) and Hyech'ŏl (founder of Tongnisan), both received transmission from him in the early ninth century and carried his line back to Silla, making Xitang the proximate ancestor of two of the foundational Korean Seon schools[3].
Names
Disciples of Xitang Zhizang
Teachers and lineage of Xitang Zhizang
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
- koanKeichu's Wheel
Getsuan said to his students: "Keichu, the first wheel-maker of China, made two wheels of fifty spokes each. Now, suppose you removed the nave uniting the spokes. What would become of the wheel? And had Keichu done this, could he be called the master wheel-maker?" Mumon’s comment: If anyone can answer this question instantly, his eyes will be like a comet and his mind like a flash of lightning. When the hubless wheel turns, Master or no master can stop it. It turns above heaven and below earth, South, north, east, and west.
Other masters in Nanyue line
Master Record Sources
735-814
Xitang Zhizang
Linji
- koan_refsChart of the Chan Ancestors
73 6
- datesZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
735-814
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Xitang Zhizang
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Mazu Daoyi