Nanyue line

Chan

Nanyue line

Branch of Chan

The Nanyue line descends from Nanyue Huairang, a student of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng, and constitutes the second of the two great branches of Chan. Through Nanyue's student Mazu Daoyi—one of the most influential Chan masters in history—this line gave rise to the Linji and Guiyang schools and profoundly shaped the character of Chinese Chan. Mazu's Hongzhou school developed the use of shouts, blows, and spontaneous gestures as teaching methods, famously declaring 'This very mind is Buddha' and 'No mind, no Buddha.' The Nanyue branch is broadly associated with dynamic, forceful, and unpredictable teaching styles. Nanyue is best remembered for his encounter with the young Mazu: seeing Mazu practicing intensive sitting meditation, Nanyue began polishing a tile nearby. When Mazu asked why, Nanyue said he was making a mirror. Mazu protested that polishing a tile cannot make a mirror, and Nanyue replied, 'How can sitting in meditation make a Buddha?' This exchange shattered Mazu's attachment to the form of practice and became one of the foundational teaching stories of Chan.