Xiyuan Siming

Xiyuan Siming was a Linji school master who taught at Xiyuan Temple during the Song dynasty. His recorded encounters demonstrate the mature form of Linji pedagogy, using the full range of methods developed over the school's history. He trained students in the rigorous practice of encounter dialogue and maintained the high standards of the tradition.

Siming's teaching, like that of many Song dynasty Linji masters, reflected the school's integration of literary culture with direct experiential practice. The Song period saw Chan become deeply embedded in Chinese intellectual life, and masters like Siming navigated this cultural environment while preserving the radical simplicity at the heart of the Linji teaching.