Xuefeng Yicun

Xuefeng Yicun was a student of Deshan Xuanjian who traveled and practiced intensively for decades before his awakening, reportedly visiting his teacher Touzi Datong nine times and Dongshan Liangjie three times before his final awakening occurred with Deshan. He founded a large monastic community on Xuefeng Mountain that attracted hundreds of students and became one of the major centers of Chan in the late Tang dynasty.

Xuefeng was the teacher of both Yunmen Wenyan and Xuansha Shibei, two of the most significant figures of the next generation. His teaching featured powerful imagery drawn from the natural world, and his dialogues with students are marked by a quality of utter simplicity that breaks through discursive thinking. He once held up a wooden ball and asked the assembly: "When this universe is completely destroyed—sun, moon, mountains, rivers—what happens to this ball?" No student could answer. This kind of encounter, pointing to the unlocatable nature of awareness, characterizes his teaching.