Yuean Shanguo

Yuean Shanguo was a Linji school master of the Song dynasty who contributed to the school's flourishing during this period of peak influence. He taught at a community where students engaged in the intensive practice of encounter dialogue and koan contemplation that had become the hallmark of the Linji approach.

Shanguo's place in the lineage represents the depth and breadth of the Linji tradition during the Song dynasty. The school's institutional network extended across China, with hundreds of teachers maintaining the standard of practice that had been established by the great masters of earlier generations. Each teacher in this network carried the responsibility of transmitting the living essence of the tradition to those who came seeking it.