Xuedou Chongxian
Xuedou Chongxian
980 – 1052
Xuedou Chongxian (雪竇重顯, 980–1052) was the most influential literary figure of the Yunmen house and one of the great Song-period stylists of Chan literature[1]. After training under Zhimen Guangzuo, he settled at Mount Xuedou in modern Ningbo, where he taught for over three decades. He selected the hundred encounter dialogues and composed for each a four-line verse (*sòng* 頌) — the collection that, with Yuanwu Keqin's commentaries and introductions added the next century, became the *Bìyán Lù* (碧巖錄, Blue Cliff Record)[2].
His verses are not paraphrases of the cases but lyrical re-statements that work the original encounter into a literary form designed to be sat with, not solved; this approach — using poetry as a contemplative instrument alongside the dialogue itself — became the model for the later Song "verse-comment" (*sòng-gǔ* 頌古) tradition that produced the *Cóngróng Lù* (Book of Serenity) in the Caodong line and shaped the standard Linji koan curriculum thereafter[3].
Names
Disciples of Xuedou Chongxian
Teachers and lineage of Xuedou Chongxian
Teacher / root master:
Teachings
Vast emptiness, nothing holy— the approach is far too lofty. Had he known what would come after, he would have shut his mouth for good. But the old barbarian sailed across the sea in vain, and to this day there are those who vainly search for him.
- sayingPoetry and Zen
Xuedou said: "If you want to express the inexpressible, you must use the sword that kills and the sword that gives life. A verse that merely describes is dead words. A verse that cuts through all description and makes you gasp—that is the living phrase. My hundred verses are not literature. Each one is a trap for a dragon."
He throws away one, picks up seven, above, below, and in the four directions, nothing compares. Walking slowly, treading the dawn moon, gazing far into the clouds beyond the blue sky.
On the highest peak, a road goes beyond; the boundless ocean, the bottom exposed. Four gates, eight openings, all face the central post— one phrase transcends all regulations.
- proverbSnowy Cliff
I sit on a snowy cliff and write verses for old cases. The cases are old; the snow is new. The two are arranged so that you cannot read one without seeing the other.
I selected one hundred cases and wrote one hundred verses. The reader who runs through them in a day has read nothing. Sit with one for a year, and the other ninety-nine open.
- proverbPoet-Monk
Some say I am too much a poet to be a real Chan master. The Chan that fits inside a poem fits everywhere. The Chan that does not is too small to be the dharma.
- proverbOnly One Thing to Settle
Settle this one thing, and the ten thousand affairs settle themselves. Refuse to settle it, and the ten thousand affairs become ten thousand small stones in your shoe.
- proverbCold Pond and Bright Moon
The cold pond and the bright moon — neither is master, neither is guest. They simply meet, and the meeting is enough. Practice is the same.
Other masters in Yunmen
Master Record Sources
980-1052
Xuedou Chongxian
Yunmen
- koan_refsChart of the Chan Ancestors
4, 23,33,36 26, 34 42,48,55,61 74,81,84,85
- nameZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Xuedou Chongxian
- teachersZen Editorial Overlay - Originals Curation
Zhimen Guangzuo