The way
74-763: The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen The Five Mountains and Ten Monasteries System ( 五山十刹制度 , Chinese: Wushan Shicha , Japanese: Gozan Jissetsu Seido ) system, more commonly called simply Five Mountain System , was a network of state-sponsored Chan (Zen) Buddhist temples created in China during
148-587: A Brahman king of South India" (c. 715 CE). Some traditions specifically describe Bodhidharma to be the third son of a Pallava king from Kanchipuram . The Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices written by Tan Lin (曇林; 506–574), contains teachings that are attributed to Bodhidharma. The text is known from the Dunhuang manuscripts . The two entrances to enlightenment are
222-761: A certain province, but in Japan this meaning was lost. We know that in 1321 Sagami province's Sūju-ji ( 崇寿寺 ) and in 1230 Higo Province 's Jushō-ji ( 寿勝寺 ) were part of the system, which therefore must be older. More temples from all parts of the country were added later during the Kemmu restoration. Unlike the Gozan and the Jissetsu , the Shozan were not ordered hierarchically and there were no limits to their number, which consequently grew until more than 230 temples belonged to
296-568: A clear Gozan ranking system dates to the year 1341. The system was modified again many times according to the preferences of the government and of the Imperial Household. From their base cities of Kamakura and Kyoto, the twin Five Mountains Systems had great influence over the entire country. Following the advice of Musō Soseki , shōgun Ashikaga Takauji and his brother Ashikaga Tadayoshi decided to strengthen
370-542: A network of monastic offices and rituals wanted by the state. Around the 12th century, this tendency to monastic wealth and imperial patronage became even more pronounced with the creation by direct imperial order in South China of the Five Mountains and Ten Temples System (五山十刹, wushan shicha ) during the late Southern Song (1127–1279). It was a system of state-sponsored temples and monasteries built to pray to
444-530: A sign of transmission of the Dharma: a robe, a bowl, and a copy of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra . The transmission then passed to the second ancestral founder Dazu Huike, the third Sengcan, the fourth ancestral founder Dayi Daoxin, and the fifth ancestral founder Daman Hongren . With the fourth patriarch, Daoxin ( 道信 580–651), Chan began to take shape as a distinct school. The link between Huike and Sengcan, and
518-421: Is "without steps or gradations. One concentrates, understands, and is enlightened, all in one undifferentiated practice." Sharf notes that the notion of "Mind" came to be criticised by radical subitists, and was replaced by "No Mind," to avoid any reifications. A large group of students gathered at a permanent residence, and extreme asceticism became outdated. The period of Daoxin and Hongren came to be called
592-561: Is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto , Japan . Emperor Kameyama established it in 1291 on the site of his previous detached palace. It is also the headquarters of the Nanzen-ji branch of Rinzai Zen . The precincts of Nanzen-ji are a nationally designated Historic Site and the Hōjō gardens a Place of Scenic Beauty . The temple was destroyed in a fire in 1895 and rebuilt in 1909. Nanzen-ji
666-601: Is a Chinese school of Mahāyāna Buddhism . It developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming especially popular during the Tang and Song dynasties . Chan is the originating tradition of Zen Buddhism (the Japanese pronunciation of the same character , which is the most commonly used English name for the school). Chan Buddhism spread from China south to Vietnam as Thiền and north to Korea as Seon , and, in
740-616: Is associated with the East Mountain School . It is a method named "Maintaining the one without wavering" ( shou-i pu i, 守一不移), the one being the nature of mind , which is equated with Buddha-nature. In this practice, one turns the attention from the objects of experience, to the perceiving subject itself. According to McRae, this type of meditation resembles the methods of "virtually all schools of Mahayana Buddhism," but differs in that "no preparatory requirements, no moral prerequisites or preliminary exercises are given," and
814-523: Is even described as a nirmanakaya , or incarnate Buddha. The complex monastic bureaucracy described by the code clearly reflects the imperial administration with its eastern and western ranks. The code has been in continuous use ever since, and not only within Chan Buddhism. Introduced to Japan by the Hōjō regency , after an initial hostility from older and established Buddhist sects, it prospered thanks to
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#1732772760337888-683: Is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend. There are three principal sources for Bodhidharma's biography: The Record of the Buddhist Monasteries of Luoyang by Yáng Xuànzhī's (楊衒之, 547), Tan Lin's preface to the Long Scroll of the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices (6th century CE), and Dayi Daoxin 's Further Biographies of Eminent Monks (7th century CE). These sources vary in their account of Bodhidharma being either "from Persia" (547 CE), "a Brahman monk from South India" (645 CE), "the third son of
962-525: Is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian " ( 碧眼胡 ; Bìyǎn hú ) in Chinese Chan texts. Only scarce historical information is available about him but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China was developed. Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma
1036-567: The Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra . As a result, early masters of the Chan tradition were referred to as "Laṅkāvatāra masters". As the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra teaches the doctrine of the Ekayāna "One Vehicle", the early Chan school was sometimes referred to as the "One Vehicle School". In other early texts, the school that would later become known as Chan is sometimes even referred to as simply the "Laṅkāvatāra school" (Ch. 楞伽宗, Léngqié Zōng ). Accounts recording
1110-658: The Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra the Chinese supposed that the teaching of Buddha-nature was, as stated by that sutra, the final Buddhist teaching, and that there is an essential truth above sunyata and the two truths. When Buddhism came to China, there were three divisions of training: It was in this context that Buddhism entered into Chinese culture. Three types of teachers with expertise in each training practice developed: Monasteries and practice centers were created that tended to focus on either
1184-502: The shushigaku (朱子学) is concerned) from China to Japan. At the end of the Kamakura period (1333) the four temples of Kennin-ji , Kenchō-ji , Engaku-ji and Jufuku-ji , were already known as the Gozan , but not much is otherwise known about the system, its structure and the hierarchical order. The first official recognition of the system came from Emperor Go-Daigo during the brief Kenmu Restoration (1333–1336). Go-Daigo added
1258-514: The Buddha's thirty-two Characteristics . Other important translators of meditation texts were Kumārajīva (334–413 CE), who translated The Sutra on the Concentration of Sitting Meditation , amongst many other texts; and Buddhabhadra . These Chinese translations of mostly Indian Sarvāstivāda Yogacara meditation manuals were the basis for the meditation techniques of Chinese Chan. Buddhism
1332-478: The East Mountain Teaching , due to the location of the residence of Hongren at Huangmei. The term was used by Yuquan Shenxiu (神秀 606?–706), the most important successor to Hongren. By this time the group had grown into a matured congregation that became significant enough to be reckoned with by the ruling forces. The East Mountain community was a specialized meditation training centre. Hongren
1406-543: The Gozan in Kyoto is Nanzen-ji. After the completion of Shōkoku-ji by Ashikaga Yoshimitsu in 1386, a new ranking system was created with Nanzen-ji at the top and in a class of its own. Nanzen-ji had the title of "First Temple of The Land" and played a supervising role. The temple's Sanmon gate was originally constructed in the 13th century, destroyed in 1369 at the order of the government, and reconstructed in 1628. The gate contains stairs to an elevated viewing area, which
1480-619: The Japanese Literature of the Five Mountains . During this time, its scholars exerted a far-reaching influence on the internal political affairs of the country. The system put great value in a strong orientation towards Chinese Zen, Chinese philosophy and Chinese literature. The organization's scholars had a close relationship with the Ming imperial dynasty, had a pervasive influence in many cultural fields and played an important role in importing Neo-Confucianism (particularly as far as
1554-548: The Kyoto Gozan to the existing temples in Kamakura with Daitoku-ji and Nanzen-ji together at the top as number 1, followed by Kennin-ji and Tōfuku-ji . At this point in time, in spite of their name, the Gozan were not five but four in both cities. At the beginning of Muromachi period , they became five in Kyoto later, when Ashikaga Takauji built Tenryū-ji in memory of Go-Daigo. The first explicit formulation of
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#17327727603371628-510: The Shingon , Tendai and Risshū sects. Both brothers died early (Tadayoshi in 1352, according to the Taiheiki of poisoning, and Takauji in 1358 of cancer), so they couldn't couldn't oversee the system's creation until its end. The system was completed under Ashikaga Yoshimitsu when he was 10 years old. During his father Ashikaga Yoshiakira 's regency, who was until his death busy with
1702-624: The Southern Song (1127–1279). The term "mountain" in this context means "temple" or "monastery", and was adopted because the traditional name for monastics was mountain monks as many monasteries were built on isolated mountains. The system originated in India and was then adopted by China, later spreading to Japan during the late Kamakura period (1185–1333). In Japan, the ten existing "Five Mountain" temples (five in Kyoto and five in Kamakura, Kanagawa ) were both protected and controlled by
1776-599: The Srimala Sutra , one of the Tathāgatagarbha sūtras , figures in the stories about Bodhidharma. Huike is regarded as the second Chan patriarch, appointed by Bodhidharma to succeed him. One of Huike's students, Sengcan , to whom is ascribed the Xinxin Ming , is regarded as the third patriarch. By the late 8th century, under the influence of Huineng's student Shenhui , the traditional list of patriarchs of
1850-514: The Tang dynasty to lend credibility to the growing Chan-school. Only scarce historical information is available about him, but his hagiography developed when the Chan tradition grew stronger and gained prominence in the early 8th century. By this time a lineage of the six ancestral founders of Chan in China was developed. The actual origins of Chan may lie in ascetic practitioners of Buddhism, who found refuge in forests and mountains. Huike , "a dhuta (extreme ascetic) who schooled others" and used
1924-536: The "five great Zen temples of Kyoto"; however, it does play an important role in the " Five Mountain System " which was modified from Chinese roots. Tenryū-ji ( 天龍寺 , Tenryū-ji ) is considered to be one of the so-called Kyoto Gozan ( 京都五山 , Kyōto gozan ) or "five great Zen temples of Kyoto", along with Shōkoku-ji ( 相国寺 , Shōkoku-ji ) , Kennin-ji ( 建仁寺 , Kennin-ji ) , Tōfuku-ji ( 東福寺 , Tōfuku-ji ) , and Manju-ji ( 満寿寺 , Manju-ji ) . The head temple presiding over
1998-478: The 13th century, east to Japan as Japanese Zen . The historical records required for a complete, accurate account of early Chan history no longer exist. The history of Chan in China can be divided into several periods. Zen, as we know it today, is the result of a long history, with many changes and contingent factors. Each period had different types of Zen, some of which remained influential, while others vanished. Andy Ferguson distinguishes three periods from
2072-488: The 5th century into the 13th century: Although John R. McRae has reservations about the division of Chan history in phases or periods, he nevertheless distinguishes four phases in the history of Chan: Neither Ferguson nor McRae gives a periodisation for Chinese Chan following the Song-dynasty, though McRae mentions When Buddhism came to China, it was adapted to the Chinese culture and understanding. Theories about
2146-467: The Buddha was tired or ill. The Buddha silently held up and twirled a flower and his eyes twinkled; several of his disciples tried to interpret what this meant, though none of them were correct. One of the Buddha's disciples, Mahākāśyapa , gazed at the flower and smiled. The Buddha then acknowledged Mahākāśyapa's insight by saying the following: I possess the true Dharma eye, the marvelous mind of Nirvāṇa,
2220-484: The Chan lineage had been established: In later writings, this lineage was extended to include 28 Indian patriarchs. In the Song of Enlightenment (證道歌 Zhèngdào gē ) of Yongjia Xuanjue (永嘉玄覺, 665–713), one of the chief disciples of Huìnéng , it is written that Bodhidharma was the 28th patriarch in a line of descent from Mahākāśyapa, a disciple of Śākyamuni Buddha , and the first patriarch of Chan Buddhism. Mahākāśyapa
2294-460: The Chan temples, a power which had been growing with the years and worried the central government. The consequent submission of the Chan network to imperial power and its goals is evident in later codes, particularly in the Baizhang qinggui compiled in 1336. Because the conquering Mongols financially supported Chan, the code emphasizes prayers for the emperor and the monastic ancestors The emperor
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2368-467: The Christian Era, this barbarian influence was infiltrating China just when it was least politically stable and more vulnerable to sedition. As the philosophy and practice infiltrated society, many traditionalists banded together to stop the foreign influence, not so much out of intolerance (an attitude flatly rejected by both Taoism and Confucianism), but because they felt that the Chinese worldview
2442-522: The Rinzai sect, the collaboration with the shogunate brought wealth, influence and political clout. The system had come to Japan at a time when Kamakura's five great Zen temples were already known as the Five Mountains, and it unified in one organization all the great temples of the dominant Zen schools of the time. It thus institutionalized a large and very important part of the Rinzai school, bringing to it
2516-551: The Vinaya and training of monks or the teachings focused on one scripture or a small group of texts. Dhyāna ( Chan ) masters tended to practice in solitary hermitages, or to be associated with Vinaya training monasteries or the dharma teaching centers. The later naming of the Zen school has its origins in this view of the threefold division of training. McRae goes so far as to say: ... one important feature must not be overlooked: Chan
2590-570: The Yogacara meditation teachings of the Sarvāstivāda school of Kashmir circa 1st-4th centuries CE. The five main types of meditation in the Dhyana sutras are anapanasati (mindfulness of breathing); paṭikūlamanasikāra meditation, mindfulness of the impurities of the body; loving-kindness maitrī meditation; the contemplation on the twelve links of pratītyasamutpāda ; and the contemplation on
2664-543: The beginning of their history was however the reason why they prospered later. During the slow decline of Ashikaga authority, and particularly after the catastrophic Ōnin war , in the latter half of the Muromachi period , because the Rinka had a close relationship with local warlords , they became progressively more important and influential than the Gozan , which followed their Ashikaga masters in their decline. A measure of
2738-596: The concepts". Judging from the reception by the Han of the Hinayana works and from the early commentaries, it appears that Buddhism was being perceived and digested through the medium of religious Daoism (Taoism). Buddha was seen as a foreign immortal who had achieved some form of Daoist nondeath. The Buddhists' mindfulness of the breath was regarded as an extension of Daoist breathing exercises. The first Buddhist converts in China were Taoists. They developed high esteem for
2812-590: The direct control of the state. During Japan's Middle Ages, the Rinka monasteries were Zen's other main branch. Unlike the Five Mountain temples, they placed little emphasis on Chinese culture, were run by less well-educated monks who preferred zazen and kōan to poetry. Rinka Zen prospered among the lower layers of the warrior, merchant and peasant castes, who saw religion as a means to achieve simple worldly goals such as profits and exorcisms. The very lack of political connection which had hampered them at
2886-518: The entrance of principle and the entrance of practice: The entrance of principle is to become enlightened to the Truth on the basis of the teaching. One must have a profound faith in the fact that one and the same True Nature is possessed by all sentient beings, both ordinary and enlightened, and that this True Nature is only covered up and made imperceptible [in the case of ordinary people] by false sense impressions ". The entrance of practice includes
2960-567: The following four increments: This text was used and studied by Huike and his students. The True Nature refers to the Buddha-nature . Bodhidharma settled in Northern Wei China. Shortly before his death, Bodhidharma appointed his disciple Dazu Huike to succeed him, making Huike the first Chinese-born ancestral founder and the second ancestral founder of Chan in China. Bodhidharma is said to have passed three items to Huike as
3034-465: The fourth patriarch Daoxin "is far from clear and remains tenuous". With Daoxin and his successor, the fifth patriarch Hongren ( 弘忍 601–674), there emerged a new style of teaching, which was inspired by the Chinese text Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana . According to McRae, the "first explicit statement of the sudden and direct approach that was to become the hallmark of Ch'an religious practice"
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3108-410: The gods for the dynasty and the state, which was threatened by enemies from Northern China. The system had at its top five famous temples and ten lesser ones immediately below. Officials chose both the five temples of the top tier, and the chief priest that ruled over them. The five famous monasteries ('five mountains') were: The system was devised specifically to bureaucratize and control the power of
3182-553: The history of this early period are to be found in the Records of the Laṅkāvatāra Masters ( Chinese : 楞伽師資記 ). Bodhidharma is recorded as having come into China during the time of Southern and Northern Dynasties to teach a "special transmission outside scriptures" which "did not stand upon words". Throughout Buddhist art , Bodhidharma is depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian. He
3256-583: The ineffable Tao and Buddha-nature , and thus, rather than feeling bound to the abstract "wisdom of the sūtras", emphasized Buddha-nature to be found in "everyday" human life, just as the Tao. Chinese Buddhism absorbed Neo-Daoist concepts as well. Concepts such as T'i-yung (體用 Essence and Function) and Li-shih (理事 Noumenon and Phenomenon, or Principle and Practice) first appeared in Hua-yen Buddhism, which consequently influenced Chan deeply. On
3330-571: The influence of other schools in the evolution of Chan vary widely and are heavily reliant upon speculative correlation rather than on written records or histories. Numerous scholars have argued that Chan developed from the interaction between Mahāyāna Buddhism and Taoism . Buddhist meditation was practiced in China centuries before the rise of Chan, by people such as An Shigao (c. 148–180 CE) and his school, who translated various Dhyāna sutras (Chán-jing, 禪経, "meditation treatises"), which were influential early meditation texts mostly based on
3404-1178: The military government financially and in other ways. During the Kenmu restoration temples like Jōmyō-ji in Sagami Province and Manju-ji ( 万寿寺 ) in Bungo Province were already part of the system, which is therefore assumed to have been born during the late Kamakura period. Nothing else is known however about the character and structure of the system at the time. In 1341 the system included Jōmyō-ji, Zenkō-ji ( 禅興寺 ) , Tōshō-ji and Manju-ji in Sagami province, Manju-ji, Shinnyō-ji ( 真如寺 ) , and Ankoku-ji ( 安国寺 ) in Yamashiro Province , Chōraku-ji ( 長楽寺 ) in Kōzuke Province , Shōfuku-ji ( 聖福寺 ) in Chikuzen Province and Manju-ji in Bungo. After many changes, in 1386
3478-459: The new system, and from 1362 to 1367 the temples and the pagodas were built in 66 provinces. The Ankoku-ji network was tightly controlled by Ashikaga shugo (Governors) and was associated with the Gozan system. The Rishō-tō were direct property of the Gozan , with the exception of those associated with the Ashikaga, which were connected to powerful temples of non-Rinzai schools, mainly of
3552-456: The newly introduced Buddhist meditational techniques, and blended them with Taoist meditation . Representatives of early Chinese Buddhism like Sengzhao and Tao Sheng were deeply influenced by the Taoist keystone works of Laozi and Zhuangzi . Against this background, especially the Taoist concept of naturalness was inherited by the early Chan disciples: they equated – to some extent –
3626-399: The other hand, Taoists at first misunderstood sunyata to be akin to the Taoist non-being . The emerging Chinese Buddhism nevertheless had to compete with Taoism and Confucianism: Because Buddhism was a foreign influence, however, and everything "barbarian" was suspect, certain Chinese critics were jolted out of complacency by the spread of the dharma [...] In the first four centuries of
3700-549: The protection, but also the control of the state. The whole network of temples was supervised by a state bureaucracy created specifically for the task. The system in its final form had three tiers, with at the top Kyoto's Five Mountains (the Kyoto Gozan ( 京都五山 ) , known in English also as Kyoto's Five Zen Temples ) and Kamakura's Five Mountains (the Kamakura Gozan ( 鎌倉五山 ) , in a subordinate position). Below them were
3774-469: The shogunate. In time, they became a sort of governmental bureaucracy that helped the Ashikaga shogunate stabilize the country during the turbulent Nanboku-chō period . Below the ten Gozan temples there were ten so-called Jissetsu ( 十刹 ) temples, followed by another network called Shozan ( 諸山 , lit. many temples ) . The terms Gozan and Five Mountain System are used both for the ten temples at
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#17327727603373848-532: The so-called Ten Temples, or Jissetsu , with at the bottom other temples collectively known as Shozan . The Gozan temples were dominated mainly by the Rinzai Zen schools. The Kōchi-ha ( 宏智派 ) branch of the Sōtō Zen school however belonged to the Gozan system too. Under their masters' patronage, the Five Mountain temples gradually became centers of learning and developed a characteristic literature called
3922-646: The success of the Rinka is given by the fact that today's Sōtō and Rinzai sects emerged from Rinka Zen. Chan Buddhism The way The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Chan ( traditional Chinese : 禪 ; simplified Chinese : 禅 ; pinyin : Chán ; abbr. of Chinese : 禪那 ; pinyin : chánnà ), from Sanskrit dhyāna (meaning " meditation " or "meditative state" ),
3996-447: The support of the country's military rulers in Kamakura first and Kyoto later. In the final version of the system, Kamakura's Five Mountains were, from the first-ranked to the last, Kenchō-ji , Engaku-ji , Jufuku-ji , Jōchi-ji and Jōmyō-ji . Kyoto's Five Mountains, created later by the Ashikaga shogunate after the collapse of the Kamakura regime , were Tenryū-ji , Shōkoku-ji , Kennin-ji , Tōfuku-ji and Manju-ji . Above them all
4070-459: The system through the building in every province of an Ankoku-ji ( 安国寺 , Temple for National Pacification ) and a Rishō-tō ( 利生塔 , Pagoda for the welfare of sentient beings ) . These were dedicated to the memory of the dead of the Genkō War of 1331-3, war in which Emperor Go-Daigo broke the power of the Hōjō clan. Emperor Kōgon promulgated in 1345 an edict for the deployment of
4144-1049: The system was divided in half between the Kantō Jissetsu , that is the temples under the Kamakura Gozan , and the Kyoto Jissetsu , that is the temples under the Kyoto Gozan . The Kyoto Jissetsu were then Tōji-in ( 等持院 ) , Rinsen-ji ( 臨川寺 ) , Shinnyō-ji ( 真如寺 ) , Ankoku-ji ( 安国寺 ) , Hōdō-ji ( 宝幢寺 ) , Fumon-ji ( 普門寺 ) , Kōkaku-ji ( 広覚寺 ) , Myōkō-ji ( 妙光寺 ) , Daitoku-ji ( 大徳寺 ) and Ryūshō-ji ( 竜翔寺 ) . The Kantō Jissetsu were Zenkō-ji ( 禅興寺 ) , Zuisen-ji ( 瑞泉寺 ) , Tōshō-ji ( 東勝寺 ) , Manju-ji ( 万寿寺 ) , Taikei-ji ( 大慶寺 ) , Zenpuku-ji ( 善福寺 ) , and Hōsen-ji ( 法泉寺 ) in Sagami, plus Kōsei-ji ( 興聖寺 ) in Mutsu Province , Tōzen-ji ( 東漸寺 ) in Musashi Province and Chōraku-ji ( 長楽寺 ) in Kōzuke. Later,
4218-402: The system. A Zen chief priest (a jūji ( 住持 ) ) in his career would usually rise from the Shozan to the Jissetsu and finally to the Gozan . Apart from the Gozan temples, there were also many others in the provinces called Rinka ( 林下 , the forest below ) , among them Sōtō 's Eihei-ji founded by Dōgen , and Rinzai's Daitoku-ji , Myōshin-ji and Kōgen-ji , which were not under
4292-530: The teachings, a style which is also used in the Platform Sutra. The establishment of a community in one location was a change from the wandering lives of Bodhidharma and Huike and their followers. It fitted better into the Chinese society, which highly valued community-oriented behaviour, instead of solitary practice. Nanzen-ji Nanzen-ji ( 南禅寺 , Nanzen-ji ) , or Zuiryusan Nanzen-ji , formerly Zenrin-ji ( 禅林寺 , Zenrin-ji ) ,
4366-461: The term Jissetsu lost its original meaning and became just a rank. Consequently, at the end of the Middle Ages it included over 60 temples. The third and lowest tier was that of the so-called Shozan , sometimes also called kassatsu , kōsatsu or kassetsu ( 甲刹 ) as the corresponding tier of the Chinese state-sponsored temple system. These last terms are however normally used only in writing for elegance. The term in China meant "first in rank" in
4440-450: The top and for the Five Mountain System network in general, including the Jissetsu and the Shozan . There used to be in Kamakura a parallel "Five Mountain System" of nunneries called Amagozan ( 尼五山 ) , of which the famous Tōkei-ji is the only survivor. At the time of the Song dynasty, Chan (Japanese Zen ) was the dominant form of monasticism and had considerable imperial support. This forced it to assume certain features and develop
4514-411: The top to function as de facto ministries, using their nationwide network of temples for the distribution of government laws and norms, and for the monitoring of local conditions for their military superiors. The Hōjō first, and the Ashikaga later were therefore able to disguise their power under a religious mask, while monks and priests worked for the government as translators, diplomats and advisers. To
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#17327727603374588-400: The true form of the formless, the subtle Dharma gate that does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa. Traditionally the origin of Chan in China is credited to Bodhidharma , an Iranian-language speaking Central Asian monk or an Indian monk. The story of his life, and of the Six Patriarchs, was constructed during
4662-404: The war with the Southern Court , the Ashikaga governors had become however strong and independent warlords. Even though as a consequence the provinces didn't accept any more the oversight of the Gozan and of the shogunate , the Gozan/Ankoku-ji system remained a valuable instrument to control the various Zen sects. After the completion of Shōkoku-ji by Yoshimitsu in 1386 a new ranking system
4736-409: Was a plain meditation teacher, who taught students of "various religious interests", including "practitioners of the Lotus Sutra, students of Madhyamaka philosophy, or specialists in the monastic regulations of Buddhist Vinaya ". The school was typified by a "loose practice," aiming to make meditation accessible to a larger audience. Shenxiu used short formulas extracted from various sutras to package
4810-492: Was being turned upside down. One point of confusion for this new emerging Chinese Buddhism was the two truths doctrine . Chinese thinking took this to refer to two ontological truths : reality exists on two levels, a relative level and an absolute level. Taoists at first misunderstood sunyata to be akin to the Taoist non-being. In Indian Madhyamaka philosophy the two truths are two epistemological truths : two different ways to look at reality. Based on their understanding of
4884-406: Was built in the 1600s by Kobori Enshu . The garden mirrors natural forms, and is seventy percent gravel. It has been designated a national Place of Scenic Beauty. The hōjō itself, also known as the Seiryo-den, was given to the temple by the Emperor Go-Yōzei . It contains a variety of important screen paintings on gold backgrounds, including two of tigers by Kanō Tan'yū . It has been designated
4958-503: Was created with Nanzen-ji at the top and in a class of its own. Nanzen-ji had the title of "First Temple of The Land" and played a supervising role. This structure then remained more or less unchanged for the rest of the system's history. The Jissetsu , second tier of the Five Mountain system, was created to be hierarchically under the Gozan , but developed slowly towards an independent system. The temples of this rank were in general powerful institutions of great prestige and had to help
5032-419: Was exposed to Confucian , Taoist and local Folk religious influences when it came to China. Goddard quotes D.T. Suzuki , calling Chan a "natural evolution of Buddhism under Taoist conditions". Buddhism was first identified to be "a barbarian variant of Taoism", and Taoist terminology was used to express Buddhist doctrines in the oldest translations of Buddhist texts, a practice termed ko-i , "matching
5106-420: Was founded in the middle Kamakura period (1291, or Shōō 4 in the Japanese era system). It was destroyed by fire in 1393, 1447, and 1467, rebuilt in 1597, and expanded in the Edo era. A large complex, it has varied over time between nine and twelve sub-temples. Zenkei Shibayama , who provided a popular commentary on the Mumonkan , was an abbot of the monastery. Nanzen-ji is not itself considered one of
5180-451: Was never any such thing as an institutionally separate Chan "school" at any time in Chinese Buddhist history (emphasis McRae). The Chan tradition ascribes the origins of Chan in India to the Flower Sermon , the earliest source for which comes from the 14th century. It is said that Gautama Buddha gathered his disciples one day for a Dharma talk . When they gathered together, the Buddha was completely silent and some speculated that perhaps
5254-475: Was not nearly as separate from these other types of Buddhist activities as one might think [...] [T]he monasteries of which Chan monks became abbots were comprehensive institutions, "public monasteries" that supported various types of Buddhist activities other than Chan-style meditation. The reader should bear this point in mind: In contrast to the independent denominations of Soto and Rinzai that emerged (largely by government fiat) in seventeenth-century Japan, there
5328-618: Was the first, leading the line of transmission; Twenty-eight Fathers followed him in the West; The Lamp was then brought over the sea to this country; And Bodhidharma became the First Father here: His mantle, as we all know, passed over six Fathers, And by them many minds came to see the Light. In its beginnings in China, Chan primarily referred to the Mahāyāna sūtras and especially to
5402-411: Was the huge Nanzen-ji temple. Below the top tier there was a nationwide capillary network of smaller temples that allowed its influence to be felt everywhere. The system was adopted to promote Zen in Japan however, in Japan as it had already happened in China, it was controlled and used by the country's ruling class for its own administrative and political ends. The Gozan system allowed the temples at
5476-472: Was the setting for a famous scene in the 1778 Kabuki play Sanmon Gosan no Kiri inspired by the story of the criminal Ishikawa Goemon who is said to have spoken of the beauty of the view (but who was executed prior to the construction of the current gate). The hōjō (abbot's quarters) of Nanzen-ji is notable both for its gardens and its art. The garden of the hōjō is considered one of the most significant examples of karesansui gardens (rock gardens), and
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