Linji Lu (Record of Linji)

Text

Compiled by Linji's heirs and reaching its present form under Yuanjue Zongyan in 1120, the Linji Lu collects the master's discourses, encounter dialogues, and travel records. It is the source text for the four shouts, the four classifications of subject and object, and "the true person of no rank" — the rhetorical devices around which the entire Linji/Rinzai school subsequently organised itself.

tr. Burton Watson, The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-chi, Columbia University Press 1993

license: fair_use

Original language

Attribution

• Attributed To
  Linji Yixuan

Lineage: Linji

By Linji Yixuan

• When You Meet a Swordsmanproverb
• The True Person of No Ranksermon
• Linji's Four Shoutssermon
• Linji's Three Blows from Huangbodialogue
• If You Meet the Buddha, Kill the Buddhasaying

From Linji Lu

• Be the Master Wherever You Are

Sources

• contentZen Buddhism: A History, Volume 1 — India and China

  Heinrich Dumoulin (trans. James W. Heisig & Paul Knitter)

  Volume 1, chapter on Linji Yixuan

  The Linji Lu is the foundational scripture of the Linji school, compiled by Linji's followers and reaching its standard form in the Song.