Shenxiu
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| Shenxiu (神秀) | ||
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| Date of birth: | 606? | |
| Place of birth: | Luoyang, Henan, China | |
| Birth name: | Li | |
| Date of death: | 706 | |
| Place of death: | Tu-men ssu (Monastery of the Six Perfections) | |
| School: | Early Chan, Northern School, Mahayana | |
| Order: | Chan (Zen) | |
| Titles/Honors: | Greatly Penetrating Dyãna Master | |
| Quote: | The mind is without essence | |
Shenxiu (神秀) (606?-706) (Wade-Giles: Shen-hsiu; Japanese: Jinshū) was one of the most influential Chan Buddhist masters of his day, a patriarch[1] of the so-called “Northern School” of Chan, Dharma-heir of Hongren (弘忍)(601 - 674) (Wade Giles: Shih Hung-jen; Japanese: Gunin), honoured by Empress Wu Zetian (r. 690-705) of the Tang Dynasty, and author of the Guan Xin Lun (Treatise on the Contemplation of the Mind, written between 675-700[2] ), a text once attributed to Bodhidharma. [3] Most of his teachings were lost after Northern School being taken over by Southern School headed by Huineng, Shenhui [1] in some fierce crushing aided by the regime on Dharma succession. It is a big loss in East Asian history of philosophy. Much of his thinking still bear traces from India, a moral system of dualism, which was replaced by Chinese monism to entertain its egalitarian social thinking.
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[edit] Biography
Shenxiu was born in Weishi County, suburb of Luoyang, Henan, then secondary capital of China. His family name was Li. His family was aristocratic and may have been related to the Tang Dynasty imperial family [4] He was educated in the Chinese classics and Taoism and became a Buddhist at the age of thirteen when he went to the government granaries at Kaifeng during a famine to plead the release of grain to the starving population. There he met an unnamed Buddhist and was inspired to take up Buddhism. After some seven years of a homeless life visiting the famous mountain centres of China, Shenxiu took the full precepts of Buddhist monk in 625 at Tankong monastery in Luoyang(洛阳), the Buddhist centre at the end of Silk Road since the second century.
Traces of his activities for the next twenty-five years were lost, the Chuanfa Baochi (Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma-treasure) claim that Shenxiu studied the Buddhist regulations (vinaya) and ceremonies and devoted himself to the practice of meditation (dhyāna) and the development of wisdom (prajñā ). In 651 he began to study under Hongren. The aforementioned Ch’uan fa-pao chi states that he studied with Hongren for six years, thereby leaving in 657, before the arrival of the Sixth Patriarch, Huineng, with whom Shenxiu supposedly had the famous verse-writing contest. [5]
It is not clear why, but sometime around 665-668, Shenxiu was banished by the emperor and remained incognito for some ten years, returning to public notice between 676-679. [6] He initially took up residence at the monastery Yü-ch’üan-ssu but soon was one built for him, the Monastery of the Six Perfections (Tu-men ssu) where spent the next quarter century.
In late 700 the Empress Wu invited Shenxiu to the capital at Luoyang to teach Chan Buddhism. His welcome in 701 was by all accounts quite spectacular. The Annals of the Transmission of the Dharma-treasure describe Shenxiu’s path being bedecked with flowers and the master riding on a litter of the type reserved for the imperial family. In an unprecedented gesture, the Empress knelt before the Chan master, touching her forehead to the ground in great reverence. The Annals go on to say that “From princes and nobles down, everyone [in the capital] took refuge in him.”[7]
For the last five years of his life, Shenxiu traveled between the two capitals of Luoyang and Chang'an, preaching the Buddhist Dharma before passing away at his monastery, Tumen Si, sitting in meditation on February 28, 706.[8] The leng-ch’ieh shih-tzu chi (Records of the Teachers and Disciples of the Lankavatara) state that his last words were ch’u-ch’u chiao, which Professor Seizan Yanagida translates as “the teachings of the expedient means have been made direct” [9] The reigning Emperor Zhongzong (705-710) granted the posthumous title Ta-t’ung ch’an-shih (Greatly Penetrating Dhyāna Master), only the second time in Chinese Buddhism and the first for three hundred years that this imperial honour had been bestowed.[10]
[edit] Teachings
Although Shenxiu was labeled a teacher of the “Northern School” of Chan in subsequent histories of Chan, he saw himself as teaching in the “East Mountain” tradition of Hongren. The “Northern School” appellation was applied in the early 730’s by the monk Shenhui (684-758) (Wade-Giles: Shen-hui; Japanese: Kataku Jinne) who accused Shenxiu of teaching a “gradualist” approach to Chan Buddhism.
Shenxiu was highly educated and studied the Buddhist scriptures assiduously. He re-interpreted the scriptures as metaphors of “skilful means” (Sanskrit: upāya; Wade Giles: fang-pien) for “contemplation of the mind”, advocating the attainment of Buddhahood in all daily activities, here and now. Every act was seen as religious practice. For example, he saw simple activities, like taking a bath, as a religious act. He taught that soap used to clean away dirt “is actually the ability of discrimination by which one can ferret out the sources of evil within oneself.” Cleaning the mouth with toothpicks is “nothing less than the Truth by which one puts an end to false speech.” Overt religious activities such as burning of incense were seen as “the unconditioned Dharma, which ‘perfumes’ the tainted and evil karma of ignorance and cause it to disappear.” [11]
In meditation practice, Shenxiu taught that the student should develop the innate ability of the mind “to illuminate and understand all things” [12]and to see the emptiness of all things. He taught that there is a profound stillness and tranquillity in all things. A “Northern School” text known as the Five Skilful Means states: “in purity there is not a single thing…Peaceful and vast without limit, its untaintedness is the path of bodhi (बोधि). The mind serene and enlightenment distinct, the body’s serenity is the bodhi tree.”[13]
Even though Shenxiu and the “Northern School” were subsequently attacked as teaching a gradualist approach to enlightenment, the Kuan-hsin lun (Treatise on the Contemplation of the Mind), a text which is “unquestionably written by him [Shenxiu]” [14]clearly states: “It does not take long to witness this (i.e., to realize sagehood); enlightenment is in the instant. Why worry about your white hair (i.e., about your age)?”[15] Shenxiu’s exhortations to constant, unremitting practice gave Shenhui the opening to attack the teaching as “gradualist”. In any case, the vilification of Shenxiu by Shenhui occurred some thirty years after Shenxiu’s death. During his lifetime, and especially his relatively brief teaching in the capital cities of the Tang Dynasty, Shenxiu’s teachings were received with widespread acceptance and reverence. The influence of Shenxiu’s teachings on subsequent Chan doctrine and practices is still a somewhat open question.
[edit] Decline of Northern Chan School
It was Southern School teaching survived to date, thus came the myth that Northern Chan was lost over a debate on succession. Historical context shows that the dominance of Southern Chan was largely aided by the regime for political support from lower classes, during the watershed events of An Shi Rebellion, Shenhui, the follower of Huineng, gained official support by massively gathering donations from Chan Buddhists. The destroy of Shenxiu's teaching was done during the period.
Traces of Dualism in his moral cosmology has conflicts with Chinese society which does not have a cast system and started to lose its aristocracy privilege around 6th century. Concept of Evil or predetermined sin couldn't convince a Chinese who had much social mobility after the collapse of aristocracy. Monism of less pure. less good, and that all humanity originated in good and pure, looked far more appealing. Southern Chan teaching of quick enlightenment provided easy access and affirmation of egalitarian thoughts.
[edit] References
- ^ Dumoulin:1994, 1998:109)
- ^ McRae, 1986:119
- ^ (McRae, 1986:148)
- ^ McRae, 1986:46
- ^ Historical writings date Huineng’s arrival at Hongren’s monastery sometime between 659 and 674 (the sources disagree on the date). Fa-hai’s (n.d.) preface to the Platform Sutra gives the year as 661. see McRae, 1986:285 n.77
- ^ see McRae, 1986:48-50 for speculation as to Shenxiu’s banishment
- ^ McRae, 1986:51
- ^ the date is McRae’s (1986:54). Yampolsky gives the date as April 15, 706 (Yampolsky, 1967:16)
- ^ McRae, 1986:55
- ^ ibid
- ^ McRae, 2003:50
- ^ McRae, 2003:53
- ^ ibid
- ^ McRae, 1986:207
- ^ ibid
- Dumoulin, Heinrich (1994, 1998) Zen Buddhism: A History, Volume I, India and China, Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall International ISBN 0 02 897109 4
- McRae, John (2003) Seeing through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism, University of California Press ISBN 0 520 23798 6
- ___________(1986) The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch’an Buddhism, University of Hawaii Press ISBN 0-8248-1056-2
- Yampolsky, Philip B (1967) The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch: the text of Tun-Huang manuscript, translated, with notes, Columbia University Press ISBN 0-231-08361-0
