3. MAZU DAOYI  馬祖道一

馬祖道一  Mǎzŭ Dàoyī (Ma-tsu Tao-yi) 709–788

  Daman Hongren (601-674)

 Zizhou Zhixian (609–702) (Chi-hsin)

Zizhou Chuji (669–736)  (Ch'u-chi)

Jingzhong Wuxiang (684-752)

       Baotang Wuzhu (714–774)

                    Sang-shi

                                               Jingzhong Shenhui (720–794)

                                               Tongchuan Ji

                                               Mazu Daoyi  (709-788)

馬祖道一  Mǎzŭ Dàoyī   709–788

Zongmi made strong assaults upon Mazu Daoyi, who it is recorded was actually a fellow student and possible adversary intellectually with Jingzhong Shenhui, along with other students such as Baotang Wuzhu (714–774), Sang-shi and Tongchuan Ji.

Ma-tsu 馬祖, one of the greatest Ch'an masters of the age, originally came from practicing the Jingzong model (淨眾寺, Ching-chung) in Chengtu, which was one of the two Ch'an models tracing their origin to Zizou Zhixian, the second of the eleven disciples of Hongren.

Later transformation bringing Mazu into the Huineng fold gave Nanyue Huairang, the foremost student of Dajian Huineng, ficticiously as the Master of Mazu.

南嶽懐譲 Nanyue Huairang (Nan-yueh Hai-jang) 677-744.

Huairang studied with a Vinaya master and became ordained. Dissatisfied with his own progress, Huairang found Dajian Huineng in Shaozhou and became his disciple and Dharma brother of Qingyuan Xingsi.

This brought Mazu into the new invented lineage to Bodhidharma through Huineng. Clearly his lineage through Zizhou Chuji would also have led to Bodhidharma, so we must conclude that the impulse of his students who made this new fabled association was rather to put him clearly in the Dharma field of Huineng.

To examine this possibilty we must then examine exactly what the tachings of Zizhou Chuji and Nanyue Huairang were nd how they differed with respect to Awakening and entry to that state and compare both with the system of Mazu.

TEACHINGS OF MAZU

The foundation is without doubt the Tathagatagarbha doctrine stemming from the supportive texts such as the Srimala, the Tathagatagarbha (論如來藏之空性 義), the Surangama (大佛頂首楞嚴經) and the Perfect Enlightenment Sutras.

The Tathagatagarbha doctrine is an attempt to describe reality in more positive terms. The Tathagatagarbha, which is sometimes translated as the “womb of Buddhahood,” is conceived of as an indestructible essence present in all sentient beings which is the cause for both the ultimate reality and the realm of phenomenal appearances.

This essence or “seed” is described as being neither existent nor non-existent. It is the suchness of things, or their emptiness. This is a breaking away from the normal line of thought to a more direct attack upon true emptiness.

The Tathagatagarbha doctrine alleges that all living beings are endowed with the True Mind (alaya), which is fundamentally enlightened and pure by nature, and is only adventitiously covered with defilements (the seventh consciousness). This mind which is empty of defilements is equated with the mind of Buddha.

In the Transmission of the Lamp (續傳燈錄), compiled in 1004, Mazu is described in the following way: "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."

Mazu Daoyi was famous for the subtlety with which he expressed Buddhist notions; he was particularly fond of using few words which are consistent with the aversive-naturally intelligent profile.

He once declared "What the mind is, the Buddha is."

This is a line which is now included among lists of kung-ans.

Mazu in another moment speaking to his group said: "Let 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 is still your Mind; you may not at all talk about it, and it is just the same your own Mind."

This is central to his teachings.

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."

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.

These type of statements have been invented or converted by koan adherents as crafted paradoxes, meant to dislodge preconceptions. It is said that "their penetrating perplexity undoing knots, unraveling inertia, unmasking illusions, makes way for spontaneous door to awakening."

         ACTUAL PRACTICE: EMPTINESS OF THE BUDDHA MIND                 

Mazu Daoyi, in order to shake his students out of routine consciousness, employed novel and unconventional teaching methods. He is credited with the innovations of using sudden shouts of "Ho", surprise blows with a stick, and unexpectedly calling to a person by name as that person is leaving.

This last is said to summon 原识, yuán shì, original consciousness, from which awakening can arise, by striking at the last conscious conceptualization.

He also employed silent gestures, non-responsive answers to questions, and was known to grab and twist the nose of a disciple.

Koan explanations are simplistic and not valid for opening to the door to awakening, which actually requires a mind that is ripe for that awakening, and mere koan solving, shouts or stick hitting is the fodder for donkeys if not fully understood.

The suchness of things, the nature of the Buddha mind as an Emptiness that is free of defilements is the state of mind which must be maintained at all times, together with a complete belief in the presence of a Buddha nature and the the belief that it is the most important task that can be performed for one's apparent self.

When this is held constantly, every moment, as an ultimate conceptualization which we can call the Emptiness of the Buddha Mind, then that last conceptualization can be breached by a momentary shock. This leads to the direct experience of the Pure Mind, which however is not entry into the pure mind of the Feminine Principle, but rther entry into the Masculine Principle developed by Shén as an expression of the Female Principle.

However, this was a major step towards the later more subtle direct experiences.

馬祖道一  Mǎzŭ Dàoyī   (Ma-tsu Tao-yi) 709–788

Baizhang Huaihai (Pai Chang Huai-hai) 720-814               Kuei Tsung 8th-9th c.

           (Kuei Shan Ling-yu) 771-853                                   Kao An 9th c.

         (Yang Shan  Hui-chi) 807-853                                    Huangbo Xiyun (Huang-po Hsi-yun)  d. 850

                                                                                              Linji Yixuan (Lin-Tsi) d. 867

                                 GUIYANG                                               LINJII

                                        Model                                                     Model

Among Mazu's immediate students were also:

• • • • Nanquan Puyuan 南泉普願  748–835

        • Changsha Jingcen 長沙景岑  ?–868

        • Zhaozhou Congshen 趙州從諗 778–897

      • Damei Fachang (Ta-mei Fa-ch'ang) 大梅法常  752–839

        • Hangzhou Tianlong 杭州天龍 

          • • Juzhi 俱胝

Note on the Guiyang Model

• Guishan Lingyou 潙山靈祐 (Isan Reiyū) 771–853

  • Xiangyan Zhixian 香嚴智閑 (Kyōgen Chikan) ?–898

  • Yangshan Huiji 仰山慧寂 (Kyōzan Ejaku) 807–883

    • Nanta Guangyong 南塔光涌 (Nantō Kōyū) 850–938

      • Bajiao Huiqing 芭蕉慧清 (Bashō Esei)

        • Xingyang Qingyang 興陽清讓 (Kōyō Shinjō)

In the 10th century, Shengyan (b. 931) merged this model into the Linji Model.

We might speculate that the excessive reliance upon the koan and like practices without the sustained ultimate conceptualization led to this merger in the absence of the original variety of the Prajnaparamita "Mind is Buddha" and the "Emptiness" teachings.

Lidai fabao ji 歷代法寶記 (Record of the Dharma-Jewel through the Generations).