Also, "Baso" redirects here. For the island, see Baso (island)

Baso (island)

Baso is the middle town between Bukittinggi and Payakumbuh, West Sumatra. It is only 15 kilometers east of Bukittingi.In the history of West Sumatra this town was the transit and junction town of Payakumbuh, Bukittinggi and Batusangkar. This town was known also as the most important farmers trading...

.

Mazu Daoyi was a Ch'an Buddhist master in China during the Tang dynasty. In dharma-succession through Nanyue to the Sixth Patriarch, Mazu Daoyi contributed far-reaching insights and changes in teaching methods regarding the transmission of awareness. His innovations became widely recognized as characteristic features of Ch'an in China and of Zen in Japan.

Life

Mǎzŭ Dàoyī (709–788) (Chn

Chinese language

The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...

: 馬祖道一) (WG

Wade-Giles

Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...

: Ma-tsu Tao-yi) (Jpn

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

: Baso Döitsu) was a master of the Ch'an School (Chn: Ch'an-tsung) of Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

. Mazu, whose family name was Ma (Ma-tsu meaning Ma the Father or Master Ma),
lived during the flowering of Ch'an under the Tang dynasty

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

 of China. A native of Sichuan

Sichuan

' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...

 province (northwest of Chengdu

Chengdu

Chengdu , formerly transliterated Chengtu, is the capital of Sichuan province in Southwest China. It holds sub-provincial administrative status...

), during his years as master Mazu lived in Kiangsi

Jiangxi

' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...

 province (he being also known to Chinese as Kiangsi Tao-i).

As a young man he studied with the sixth Ch'an Patriarch, Huineng

Huineng

Dajian Huineng was a Chinese Chán monastic who is one of the most important figures in the entire tradition, according to standard Zen hagiographies...

 (638-713), near Guangzhou

Guangzhou

Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...

 in Guangdong

Guangdong

Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

 province. Later Mazu became a disciple of Huineng's student and successor, Nanyue Huairang

Nanyue Huairang

Nányuè Huáiràng was the foremost student of Dajian Huineng, the 6th Patriarch of Ch'an and teacher of one of his Dharma heirs, Mazu Daoyi. The ancestor of two of the Five Houses of Ch'an, Huairang studied with a Vinaya master and became ordained...

 (677-744), in Hunan

Hunan

' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...

 province by Hengshan

Mount Heng (Hunan)

Mount Heng , also known as Nan Yue , is located in Hunan Province, People's Republic of China and is one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism in China. Heng Shan is a mountain range long with 72 peaks and lies at 27.254798°N and 112.655743°E...

 (a mountain already sacred to Daoism). An episode in the enlightenment of Mazu [here "Ma"] under the direction of Nanyue Huairang [here "Rang"] is written in the Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall (transcribed in 952).

"Reverend Ma was sitting in a spot, and Reverend Rang took a tile and sat on the rock facing him, rubbing it. Master Ma asked, 'What are you doing?' Master [Huairang] said, 'I'm rubbing the tile to make it a mirror.' Master Ma said, 'How can you make a mirror by rubbing a tile?' Master [Huairang] said, 'If I can't make a mirror by rubbing a tile, how can you achieve buddhahood by sitting in meditation?'"

Mazu became Nanyue Huairang's dharma

Dharma

Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...

–successor

Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...

. Eventually Mazu settled at Kung-kung Mountain by Nankang, southern Kiangsi province, where he founded a monastery and gathered scores of disciples. After the sixth and last Patriarch Huineng, Mazu is perhaps the most influential teaching master in the formation of Ch'an Buddhism in China, from which sprang Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 in Japan.

Predecessors

Mazu Daoyi followed doctrines

Mahayana

Mahāyāna is one of the two main existing branches of Buddhism and a term for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice...

 that may be said to commence with the Buddha

Buddha

In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...

 (563-483) or (463-383). In addition to his discourses recorded in the Sutra

Sutra

Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...

s, the Buddha in person wordlessly gave Ch'an knowledge in embryo to Kassapa

Mahakasyapa

Mahākāśyapa or Kāśyapa was a brahman of Magadha, who became one of the principal disciples of Śākyamuni Buddha and who convened and directed the first council. Mahākāśyapa is one of the most revered of the Buddha's early disciples, foremost in ascetic practices...

, from whom it was passed on through a lineage, by transmissions

Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...

 of "mind

Luminous mind

Luminous mind is a term attributed to the Buddha in the Nikayas...

" across many generations. After perhaps a thousand years, these "wordless" teachings were received by Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma

Bodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century AD. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Ch'an to China, and regarded as the first Chinese patriarch...

 (circa 470-c.543). He then brought them to China where he became known as the First Patriarch of Ch'an Buddhism. Bodhidharma's Chinese disciples, of course, understood his Buddhism, including the transmission of "mind" across generations, in a Chinese context.

Huineng

Huineng

Dajian Huineng was a Chinese Chán monastic who is one of the most important figures in the entire tradition, according to standard Zen hagiographies...

 (638-713) (Canton: Wei-lang) (Jpn: Enō), the Sixth Chan Patriarch, inspired new approaches, according to some interpretations, a Sinification of Buddhism. Ch'an Buddhism instructs practitioners to further their spiritual development, not by study of scripture nor by participation in ritual, per se, but chiefly through on-going encounter and the direct experience of his or her own human nature. It is through direct spiritual experience that enlightenment

Buddhahood

In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...

 (Skt: Bodhi

Bodhi

Bodhi is both a Pāli and Sanskrit word traditionally translated into English with the word "enlightenment", but which means awakened. In Buddhism it is the knowledge possessed by a Buddha into the nature of things...

) (Chn: Wu) (Jpn: Satori

Satori

is a Japanese Buddhist term for enlightenment that literally means "understanding". In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to a flash of sudden awareness, or individual enlightenment, and is considered a "first step" or embarkation toward nirvana....

) might suddenly transform the consciousness

Consciousness

Consciousness is a term that refers to the relationship between the mind and the world with which it interacts. It has been defined as: subjectivity, awareness, the ability to experience or to feel, wakefulness, having a sense of selfhood, and the executive control system of the mind...

 of the practitioner. The primary method of putting this direct experience teaching into use had been meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

 (Skt: Dhyana

Dhyāna in Buddhism

Dhyāna in Sanskrit or jhāna in Pāli can refer to either meditation or meditative states. Equivalent terms are "Chán" in modern Chinese, "Zen" in Japanese, "Seon" in Korean, "Thien" in Vietnamese, and "Samten" in Tibetan....

) (Chn: Ch'an [ch'an-na]) (Jpn: Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 [zenna]). After Huineng, the Sixth and last Ch'an Patriarch, a period of fresh experiment with different approaches ensued. Here emerged the approach of Mazu Daoyi.

Teachings

Mazu Daoyi, in order to shake his students out of routine consciousness, employed novel and unconventional teaching methods

Upaya

Upaya is a term in Mahayana Buddhism which is derived from the root upa√i and refers to a means that goes or brings one up to some goal, often the goal of Enlightenment. The term is often used with kaushalya ; upaya-kaushalya means roughly "skill in means"...

. He is credited with the innovations of using sudden shouts

Katsu (Zen)

Katsu is a type of shout that is used in Chán and Zen Buddhism to give expression to one's own enlightened state and/or to induce another person to move beyond rationality and logic and, potentially, achieve an initial enlightenment experience...

 (Chn: "ho"; Jpn: "katsu"), surprise blows with a stick, and unexpectedly calling to a person by name as that person is leaving. This last is said to summon yeh-shih (original consciousness), from which enlightenment. He also employed silent gestures, non-responsive answers to questions, and was know to grab and twist the nose of a disciple. In the Transmission of the Lamp

Transmission of the Lamp

The Transmission of the Lamp is a compilation of biographies of prominent Buddhist monks produced in the Song dynasty by Shi Daoyuan .The first two characters of the title are the Song dynasty reign name , which dates the work to between 1004 and 1007 CE...

 [Ching-te Ch'uan-teng-lu] compiled in 1004, Mazu is described: "His appearance was remarkable. He strode along like a bull and glared about him like a tiger. If he stretched out his tongue, it reached up over his nose; on the soles of his feet were imprinted two circular marks." Utilizing a variety of unexpected shocks, his teaching methods challenged both habit and vanity, a push that might inspire suddenly the seeing of one's true nature (Chn: chien-hsing) (Jpn: kensho

Kensho

Kenshō is a Japanese term for enlightenment experiences. It is most commonly referred to in Zen Buddhism.Literally it means "seeing one's nature" or "true self." It generally "refers to the realization of nonduality of subject and object." Frequently used in juxtaposition with satori , there is...

).

This phrase seeing one's true nature was favored by Huineng, the sixth patriarch, being a doctrinal development of the "mind" transmitted by the first patriarch Bodhidharma. Masao Abe relates a discussion by the modern scholar Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki

Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki

Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki was a Japanese author of books and essays on Buddhism, Zen and Shin that were instrumental in spreading interest in both Zen and Shin to the West. Suzuki was also a prolific translator of Chinese, Japanese, and Sanskrit literature...

 of progressive Ch'an Buddhist understanding in this regard. Huineng's seeing was interpreted by some as a "knowing" and hence might reify as a concept and become abstracted, contrary to the thrust of Ch'an. Along came Mazu Daoyi who instead treated Huineng's seeing as an "act" and this teaching by Mazu "prospered with great vigor... because activity is nothing other than [Ch'an] itself."

Mazu Daoyi was famous for the subtlety with which he expressed Buddhist notions; he was particularly fond of using the kung'an (Jpn: koan) "What the mind is, what the Buddha is." In the particular case of Damei Fachang (Ta-mei Fa-ch'ang), hearing this brought about a spiritual awakening. Later this was contradicted by Mazu when he taught the kung'an "No mind, No Buddha." These two kung-ans may be seen as crafted paradoxes, meant to dislodge preconceptions, their penetrating perplexity undoing knots, unraveling inertia, unmasking illusions, hence making way for spontaneous enlightenment

Satori

is a Japanese Buddhist term for enlightenment that literally means "understanding". In the Zen Buddhist tradition, satori refers to a flash of sudden awareness, or individual enlightenment, and is considered a "first step" or embarkation toward nirvana....

.

When sick Mazu was asked how he felt; he replied, "Sun Face Buddha. Moon Face Buddha." P'ang

Layman Pang

Layman Pang was a celebrated lay Buddhist in the Chinese Chán tradition...

 asked Mazu, "Who is it who is not dependent upon the ten thousand things?" Matsu answered, "This I'll tell you when you drink up the waters of the West River in one gulp." A monk asked Mazu, "Please indicate the meaning of Ch'an directly, apart from all permutations of assertion and denial." Mazu told him to ask Zhiang. Zhiang paused, then said for him to ask Baizhang. Baizhang seemed to say he didn't understand. The monk returned to Mazu and related what happened. Mazu observed dryly that Zhiang had white hair, while Baizhang's was black.

Mazu: "[L]et each of you see into his own mind. ... However eloquently I may talk about all kinds of things as innumerable as the sands of the Ganges, the Mind shows no increase... . You may talk ever so much about it, and it

Tathagatagarbha doctrine

In Mahāyāna, The "Tathāgatagarbha Sutras" are a collection of Mahayana sutras which present a unique model of Buddha-nature, i.e. the original vision of the Buddha-nature as an ungenerated, unconditioned and immortal Buddhic element within all beings. Even though this collection was generally...

 is still your Mind; you may not at all talk about it, and it is just the same your own Mind." A monk asked why the Master [Mazu] maintained, "The Mind is the Buddha." The Master answered, "Because I want to stop the crying of a baby." The monk persisted, "When the crying has stopped, what is it then?" "Not Mind, not Buddha", was the answer. Mazu listed "falsehood, flattery, self-conceit, arrogance" as impediments.

Successors

Among Mazu's immediate students were Baizhang Huaihai [WG: Po-chang Huai-hai] (720-814), Nan-ch'üan P'u-yüan

Nánquán Pǔyuàn

Nánquán Pǔyuàn was a Chán Buddhist master in China during the Tang Dynasty. He was the student and Dharma successor of the Master Mǎzŭ Dàoyī...

 (748-835), and Damei Fachang [Ta-mei Fa-ch'ang] (752-839). A generation later his lineage (via Baizhang) came to include Huangbo Xiyun

Huangbo Xiyun

Huángbò Xīyùn was an influential Chinese master of Zen Buddhism. He was born in Fujian, China in the Tang Dynasty. Huángbò was a disciple of Baizhang Huaihai and the teacher of Linji Yixuan .-Biography:Very little about Huángbò‘s life is known for certain as, unlike other Transmission of the...

 (WG: Huang-po Hsi-yün) (Jpn: Obaku Kiun) (d.850), and his celebrated successor Linji Yixuan (WG: Lin-chi I-shuan) (Jpn: Rinzai Gigen) (d.866), as well as Kuei-shan Ling-yu (771-853), first of the Igyo school, and therein Yang-shan Hui-chi (807-883). The Igyo school's use of symbols influenced the well-known series of pictures

Ten Bulls

Ten Bulls or Ten Ox Herding Pictures is, in the tradition of Zen Buddhism, a series of short poems and accompanying pictures that are intended to illustrate the stages of a Mahāyāna Buddhist practitioner's progression towards enlightenment, as well as his or her subsequent perfection of wisdom...

 showing a water buffalo and a herder, which demonstrates various stages of growth in Ch'an awareness. From Linji Yixuan derived the Lin-chi-tsung (Jpn: Rinzai) school. These two schools merged (Igyo into Linji) in the 10th century. Later, Japanese Buddhists (including Eisai Zenji) came to China to study at the Linji (WG: Lin-chi) school. Taken to Japan in the 12th and 13th centuries, Rinzai Yōgi thrives today; use of the koan (Chn: kung-an) is a characteristic practice, fitting for distant spiritual descedents of Mazu. The long history of Buddhism in China

Buddhism in China

Chinese Buddhism refers collectively to the various schools of Buddhism that have flourished in China since ancient times. Buddhism has played an enormous role in shaping the mindset of the Chinese people, affecting their aesthetics, politics, literature, philosophy and medicine.At the peak of the...

 has included forfeiture, and periods of syncretism

Syncretism

Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...

; nonetheless, the Ch'an Buddhist tradition has been continued, e.g., by T'ai Hsü (1899-1847), Hsu Yun

Hsu Yun

Hsu Yun , born Xiao Guyan 萧古巖, 26 August 1840 – 13 October 1959) was a renowned Zen Buddhist master and one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of the 19th and 20th centuries. He is often noted for his unusually long lifespan, having lived to age 119.-Early life:Hsu Yun was born on April 26...

 (d.1959), and Sheng-yen

Sheng-yen

Sheng-yen was a Buddhist monk, a religious scholar, and one of the mainstream teachers of Chinese Chan Buddhism. He was the 57th generational descendant of Linji in the Linji School and a 3rd generational descendant of Master Hsu Yun...

 (b.1931).

Chinese Sources

Mazu Daoyi's teachings and dialogues were collected and published in his Kiangsi Tao-i-ch'an-shih yu-lu [Records of the Words of Ch'an Master Tao-i from Kiangsi]. Mazu appears in early Chan anthologies, e.g., Transmission of the Lamp [Ch'uan-têng Lu] compiled in 1004 by Tao-yüan (in 30 volumes, it contains sayings of over 600 Ch'an masters); the renowned collection The Blue Cliff Record [Pi-yen-lu] compiled with commentary by Yuanwu circa 1125; and The Gateless Gate

The Gateless Gate

The Gateless Gate is a collection of 48 Chan koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen master Wumen Hui-k'ai . Wumen's preface indicates that the volume was published in 1228. Each koan is accompanied by a commentary and verse by Wumen...

 [Wu-men-kuan] compiled circa 1228 by Wumen Hui-K'ai

Wumen

Wumen Huikai is a Song period Chán master most famous as the compiler of and commentator on the 48-koan collection The Gateless Gate . Wumen was at that time the monastery.Wumen was born in Hangzhou and his first master was Gong Heshang...

(Jpn: Mu-mon Ekai) (1183–1260). Other anthologies where Mazu appears include: Records of Pointing at the Moon (compiled 1602), Recorded Saying of the Ancient Worthies (compiled 1271), Records of the Regular Transmission of the Dharma (1062).