User:Joshua Jonathan/Zhongfeng Mingben

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Zhongfeng Mingben (中峰明本, Wade Giles:Chung-feng Ming-pen; Jpn. Chūhō Myōhon) (1263-1323) was a Chinese Chán-master who lived at the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty. He adhered to a rigorous style of Rinzai-practice, and influenced Japanese Zen thorough several Japanese teachers who studied under him.

Biography
Zhongfeng Mingben family-name was Sun. He was the youngest of seven childeren. His mother died when he was nine years old. Already in his teenage years he wanted to become a monk. From fifteen he observed the layman's five precepts. His left hand became mutilated when, in his youth he burned the little finger as a sacrifice to the Buddha. This may have been inspired by chapter 23 of the Lotus Sutra: "If there is one, opening up his thought, wishes to attain anuttarasamyaksambodhi, if he can burn a finger or a toe as an offering to a Buddhastupa, he shall exceed one who uses realm or walled city, wife or children, or even all the lands, mountains, forests, rivers, ponds, and sundry precious objects in the whole thousand-millionfold world as offerings."

In 1287 Zhongfeng Mingben received tonsure at Shizi-yuan Monastery on Mount Tienmu (Tianmu, T'ien-mu). In 1288 he was ordained as a monk. Ccontrary to the norm, he grew long hair in (presumed) accordance with his teacher, Gaofeng Yuanmai.

As a young man he was appointed to succeed the abbot of the monastery on Mount T'ien-mu, but fled the monastery insearch for solitude.

As an adult he had an "overpowering physical build". He was called "The old Buddha south of the sea", an allusion to Mazu Daoyi (709–788), one of the most influential teachers of Chán, who lived during the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the "golden age of Zen". Zhongfeng Mingben declined a number of titles, appointments and positions, temporarily choosing instead a life of wandering and solitary meditation. He turned down an invitation of empreror Emperor Renzong of Yuan to come to the imperial court.

Monastic discipline
Zhongfeng Mingben lived after the "golden age of Chán" of the Tang and the profilation of Chán during the Tang. His age was regarderd as an age of mofa ("Degenarate age of the Law"). Zhongfeng Mingben attributed this to a lack of monastic discipline and a lack of persoanl dedication by monks, and tried to counter this by writing a monastic code, the Huan-chu ch'ing-kuei (Jpn. Genju shingi), in 1317. This work influenced Musō Soseki, a contemporary of Zhongfeng Mingben, when he wrote his guidelines for monateries and monks, the Rinsen kakun.

Gong-an
Zhongfeng Mingben was the first to compare the sayings and teachings of the 'masters of the old' with the public cases of the court, the gong-an.

According to Zhongfeng Mingben gōng'àn abbreviaties gōngfǔ zhī àndú (公府之案牘, Japanese kōfu no antoku – literally the andu "official correspondence; documents; files" of a gongfu "government post"), which referred to a "public record" or the "case records of a public law court" in Tang-dynasty China. Kōan/gong'an thus serves as a metaphor for principles of reality beyond the private opinion of one person, and a teacher may test the student's ability to recognize and understand that principle.

Japanese Zen


Several Japanese Buddhists came to China to study with Zhongfeng Mingben on Mount T'ien-mu. They formed the Genjū line of the Rinka monasteries, the more independent monasteries outide the cities and the Five Mountain Sytem of government-approved temples. Kosen Ingen was the most important of these Japanese students. Other student was Kohō Kakumyō, a teacher of Bassui Tokushō, and Jakushitsu Genkō (1290-1367), the founder of Eihen-ji.

Though they never met, Zhongfeng Mingben had a close affinity with Musō Soseki, via the Japanese students who studied with him.

Wild Fox Slobber
Hakuin's warning against "wild fox slobber" can be traced back to Zhongfeng Mingben. The term "wild fox" points to teachers who lead students students astray by giving wrong information. The term wild fox is also the name of the Wild fox koan. Where-as Zhongfeng Mingben warns against the impossible attempt of totally silencing the mind, Hakuin uses the term in a more positive sense, to denote the workings of koans, which "possess the power to cause sudden death in students, raising the great doubt in their minds that will lead them to the "great death" and the rebirth of satori and enlightenment".

Calligraphy
Zhongfeng Mingben was a celebrated calligraphy artist.