Hongzhi Zhengjue

Hongzhi Zhengjue
宏智正覺
Religion Chan
Personal
Born 1091
Xizhoue, China
Died 1157
Senior posting
Title Chan master
Predecessor Danxia Zichun
Religious career
Teacher Danxia Zichun

Hongzhi Zhengjue (Chinese: 宏智正覺; pinyin: Hóngzhì Zhēngjué; Wade–Giles: Hung-chih Cheng-chueh, Japanese: Wanshi Shōgaku), also sometimes called Tiantong Zhengjue (Chinese: 天童正覺; Japanese: Tendo Shōgaku) (1091–1157),[1][2] was a Chinese Chan (Japanese: Zen) Buddhist monk who authored or compiled several influential Buddhist texts. Hongzhi's conception of silent illumination is of particular importance to the Chinese Caodong Chan and Japanese Sōtō Zen schools;[1] however, Hongzhi was also the author of an important collection of kōans, although kōans are now usually associated with the Chinese Linji or Japanese Rinzai schools.

Life

According to the account given in Taigen Dan Leighton's Cultivating the Empty Field, Hongzhi was born to a family named Li in Xizhou, present-day Shanxi province. He left home at the age of eleven to become a monk, studying under Caodong master Kumu Faqeng, among others, including Yuanwu Keqin, author of the famous kōan collection, the Blue Cliff Record.

In 1129, Hongzhi began teaching at the Jingde monastery on Mount Tiantong, where he remained for nearly thirty years, until shortly before his death in 1157, when he ventured down the mountain to bid farewell to his supporters.

Texts

The main text associated with Hongzhi is a collection of one hundred of his kōans, known in English as The Book of Equanimity, The Book of Serenity, or The Book of Composure (Chinese: 從容録; pinyin: Cóngróng Lù), or Shōyōroku (従容録) in Japanese. This book was compiled after his death by Wansong Xingxiu (1166–1246) at the urging of the Khitan statesman Yelü Chucai (1190–1244), and first published in 1224, with commentaries by Wansong. This book is regarded as one of the key texts of the Caodong school of Zen Buddhism.[3] A collection of Hongzhi's philosophical texts has also been translated by Leighton.

Hongzhi is often referred to as an exponent of Silent Illumination Chan (Mokushō Zen 黙照禅 in Japanese).

Aside from his own teacher, Eihei Dōgen—the founder of the Sōtō school of Zen in Japan—quotes Hongzhi in his work more than any other Zen figure.[4]

Sources

References

  1. 1 2 The Bright Field of Spirit: The Life and Teachings of Chan Master Hongzhi Zhengjue
  2. ↑ Hongzhi, Dogen and the Background of Shikantaza
  3. ↑ Buswell Jr., Robert E.; Lopez Jr., Donald S. (2013). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. p. 197. ISBN 9781400848058.
  4. ↑ Heine, Steven, "Dōgen, Zen Master, Zen Disciple: Transmitter or Transgressor", in Heine, Steven; Wright, Dale S., Zen Masters, Oxford University Press, p. 119, ISBN 9780195367652


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