Jiào wài bié zhuàn 教外別 傳
“A special transmission outside the teachings”
IN CONSTRUCTION
Distinguish commenaries (transmission) outside teaching
The controversial first line “a special transmission outside the teachings” (jiào wài bié zhuàn 教外別 傳) was said to be found on the tomb inscription of Línjì Yìxuán 臨濟義玄(d 867) [5.3.2], attributed to his disciple, Fēngxué Yánzhǎo 風穴延沼 (896-973), and appended to the end of the Línjí lù 臨濟錄, 21 the record of Línjì’s teachings. However, as the Japanese Zen scholar, YANAGIDA Seizan, has pointed out, the historical authenticity of this inscription is very uncertain. 22 It is more certain, however, that this first line was first documented in the Zǔtáng jí 祖堂集(“Anthology of the Patriarchs’ Hall”), compiled in 952.
We are now certain that this first line was not the invention of Bodhidharma, the Línjì or anyone of the Táng Chán tradition.
It is mentioned in the Jǐngdé chuándēng lù 景德傳燈錄(“The Jingde Era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp”), completed in 1004, and where it was attributed to Guìshēng, in his biography.
At the start of the 12th century, the saying, “a special transmission outside the teachings,” was mentioned in the list of Chán sayings attributed to the Chán patriarch Bodhidharma in Zǔtáng jí 祖堂集 (952).
Connecting the Línjì line and Bodhidharma was the culmination of identity-building for the Línjì lineage by its own members. The inclusion of this quatrain into the Línjì record was clearly for the sake of legitimizing the Línjì lineage during the Sòng dynasty to compete for the support of the elite, which was a common practice then. The current version of the Chán quatrain is also found in an edition of the Línjì lù dated 1120.
The character jiào 教in the first line means “religion” (and as a verb jiāo means “teach”), but is often mistranslated as “scripture” which would be jīng 經. In the second line, wénzì 文字, does not mean “word” but “(Chinese) character, written word.” In other words, Chán does not reject any sutra or scripture.
This means that for the Chán tradition (as with early Buddhism), it is the spirit of the teaching, not the word of the teaching that is the true transmission. This is further supported by the next two lines: such a transmission occurs through the living word, and as such is a direct transmission from teacher to pupil, or from one person to another (that is, not through books or a dead medium). That Chán and Zen reject scriptures interestingly is a western scholarly construction due to a simple mistranslation! This may explain the fact that Chán and Zen are the most prolix and verbose of Buddhist schools! 23
20 One of the earliest eminent monks from Goguryeo or Koguryo (5th-6th cent) who travelled in China and lived there for a lengthy period, and where he studied Sānlún 三論and Huáyán 華嚴before returning home. (Xù gāosēng zhuàn 續高僧傳T 2060.50.425c25, Gāosēng zhuàn 高僧傳T 2059.50.351b25) (based on AC Muller).
21 T1985.47.495b-506c. One of the most popular texts in the Chán schools of East Asian Buddhism. There are numerous English trs, incl the The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi by Burton Watson, Columbia Univ Press, 1999.
22 Shoki no Zenshi 2, 1976.
23 See Vladimir K[eremidschieff], “Legends in Ch’an,” 2005.
According to the Tiānshèng guǎngdēng lù, the interpretation of Chán as a “special transmission outside the scriptures” was not the innovation of Bodhidharma or Línjì, as suggested in later tradition. The first mention of “a special transmission outside the scriptures” in the Tiānshèng guǎngdēng lù was in the biography of Chán master Yèxiàn Guìshēng 葉縣歸省 (late 10th-early 11th cent), from the Guǎngjiào 廣教 Temple on Mt. Bǎo’ān 寶安山in Sūzhōu 蘇州, 43 a recipient of the patriarch’s purple robe (zǐyī 紫衣) [5.2.2.2.]. He is reputed to be “cold and severe, tough and frugal and that even patch-robed monks respected and feared him.” 44
Guìshēng used the phrase in connection with a sermon in which he tried to explain the meaning of Bodhidharma’s coming from the West:
達磨西來 Dámó xī lái When Bodhidharma came from the west and
法傳東土 fǎchuán dōngtǔ transmitted the Dharma in the eastern lands (i.e., China),
直指人心 zhízhǐ rénxīn direct pointing to the human mind,
見性成佛 jiànxìng chéngfó see one’s nature and become a Buddha....
況以西來的意 kuàngyǐ xīlái de yì What is the meaning of his coming from the west?
教外別傳 jiàowài biézhuàn A special transmission outside the scriptures.
(TX78.1553.496a23-b2)
This same link between Bodhidharma’s message and the interpretation of Chán as “a special transmission outside the scriptures” is found in the biography of Chán master Shíshuāng (or Nányüán) Chǔyuán 石霜(南源)楚圓 (987-1040) of Mt. Nányüán 南源山in Yuánzhōu 原州 (early 11th cent). As the teacher of both Yángqí fānghuì 楊岐方會(992-1049) and Hénglóng Huìnán 横龍慧南 (1002-1069), heads of the two branches that dominated the Línjì lineage since the Sòng, the influence of Chǔyuán’s interpretation was of great significance for the future of Sòng Chán.
5.1.2.7 THE BUDDHA’S FLOWER AND MAHĀKĀŚYAPA’S SMILE. The Tiānshèng guǎngdēng lù did not link the phrase “a special transmission outside the scriptures” to Bodhidharma, but it has a story that is innovative. It is said that a “special transmission” was first made by Shakyamuni himself to Kaśyapa: "Once Shakyamuni held up a flower, and Kāśyapa responded with a smile at the assembly." This is one of the most famous Chán stories illustrating a key event advocating a silent transmission independent of the written word. 45
Shakyamuni’s Dharma transmission to Kāśyapa is noted in the Jǐngdé zhuàndēng lù 景德傳燈錄 as a transmission of “the pure Dharma-eye, the wondrous mind of nirvana,” but there is no mention of the famous episode of the flower and Kaśyapa’s smile. The flower story was first mentioned in Chán transmission records in the Tiānshèng guǎngdēng lù, understandably in a key text that established Sòng Chán identity in terms of “a special transmission outside the scriptures.”
In the apocryphal story, Shakyamuni, acknowledging Kaśyapa’s smile upon presenting the flower to the assembly, announces: “I possess the treasury of the true Dharma-eye, the wondrous mind of nirvana. I entrust it to Mahā Kaśyapa.” The treasury of the true Dharma-eye (zhèngfǎyǎn zàng 正法眼藏), 46 the essence of Shakyamuni’s teaching was not yet linked in any way to the expression “a special transmission outside the scriptures,” but would be soon. In fact, by Sòng times, the expression the treasury of the true Dharma-eye became a catchword of Ch’an ideology, but it no longer referred to the tripiṭaka. It signified, rather, a special ‘collection’ (piṭaka; tsang) [zàng 藏] that comprised no texts at all but simply the‘eye’ or formless essence of the dharma—the Buddha-mind or enlightenment itself. It was also used to refer to the sayings of Ch’an patriarchs, especially when collected and used as kung-an. (Foulk 1999: 230 & n19)
The appearance in the same transmission record, the Tiānshèng guǎngdēng lù, of an interpretation of Chán as a tradition independent of Buddhist scripture, and a story about how that independent tradition began, showed how actively Chán promoters laboured to reconstruct their image in the early Sòng. The first version of the story to make explicit what was only implicitly drawn in the Tiānshèng guǎngdēng lù was the Dàfán tiānwáng wèn fójuéyí jīng 大梵天王問佛覺決疑經 (“The Scripture on the Heavenly Lord Mahābrahmā Asking the Buddha About His Doubt”).
According to the Dàfán tiānwáng wèn fójuéyí jīng version of the story, as Shakyamuni sat before the assembly holding the lotus-blossom given him by brahmin, Kaśyapa, without saying a word, broke into a smile. The Buddha then proclaimed, “I possess the treasury of the true Dharma-eye, the wondrous mind of nirvana, miraculous Dharma-methods born of the formlessness of true form, not established on words and letters, a special transmission outside the scriptures, etc.” and went on to entrust it to Kaśyapa.
This proclamation, as it were, directly linked the Buddha’s teaching, “the treasury of the true Dharma eye, the wondrous mind of nirvana,” etc., to the Chán identity as “a special transmission outside the teaching.” Ironically, scripture is used under the pretext of scriptural authorization! There is no evidence that the Dàfán tiānwáng wèn fójuéyí jīng existed before the Sòng, and it is widely regarded as apocryphal—evidently the story of Shakyamuni and Kāśyapa was invented for the purpose of legitimizing the lineage.
This new persona of Chán as “a special transmission outside the scriptures” was moulded through a uniquely Chán literary form, the gōng’àn 公案(Jap: koan) or “public notice,” or more figuratively, “case studies.” [5.1.3.1]. The Wúménguān 無門關 (Gateless Gate), 47compiled at the end of the Sòng period, includes the story of the interaction between Shakyamuni and Kāśyapa as one of its case studies, following the version established in the apocryphal Dàfán tiānwáng wèn fójuéyí jīng. Through the inclusion of the story in the Wúménguān, put the final touch, as it were, on Chán as “a special transmission outside the scriptures,” so that this is the received tradition to this day. Albert Welter concludes:
What does all this suggest about the nature of the Chán tradition? Rather than the “standard” view of Chán as intrinsically representative of specific norms and values, I see the Chán tradition as the struggle between contending forces and interpretations. This process reveals Chán practitioners manufacturing their identities by forging their own histories, deciding what is important, what to include and exclude. There was no one uniform consensus regarding what Chán teaching represented. Even basic principles were disputed. Rather, there were contending views promoted by recognized leaders. As power shifted from one branch to another, the “orthodox” interpretation of Chán also changed, reflecting the views of masters representing different lineages. The study also suggests that the dynamic forces shaping Chán interpretation were not exclusive to Chan, or even Buddhist, participants. Chán developed in a larger secular world, where connections to powerful warlords and officials, not to mention members of the imperial family, played a decisive role in determining what “orthodox” view of Chán received official acceptance. Finally, these forces shaping the interpretation of Chán are not historically isolated to one particular 47
The Gateless Gate (Wmén’gun 無門關; Jap Mumonkan) is a collection of 48 koan anecdotes compiled by the Chinese Chán master Wmén Huìkāi 無門慧 (1183-1260) and published in 1229. These are encounters between various well-known Chinese Chán figures highlighting a decisive moment in their teaching. These condensed episodes are each accompanied by a short comment and poem by Hui-k’ai himself. The whole Wúménguān can be downloaded from http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/zen/mumonkan.htm.
42 Welter 2006: 1 f.
43 See Welter 2006a: 6.
44 Orig from Jìzhōu 冀州 (Hébĕi 河北), and a Dharma successor of Shǒushān Shěngniàn 首山省念(also pronounced Xĭngniàn) (926-993), Guisheng is the 5th generation after Línjì (Fózǔ lìdài tōngzǎi 佛祖歷代通載 T2036.49.482a20). See Taigen Dan Leighton & S Okumura (tr), Dogen’s Pure Standards for the Zen Community, 1996: 139. http://www.ancientdragon.org/dharma/articles/sacred_fools_and_monastic_rules#f6.
45 See Albert Welter, “Mahākāṥyapa’s smile,” 2000.
46 This is a tt; cf 5.1.3.2 where it is the title of Dahui Zonggao’s only work. Piya Tan SD 40b.5 "How Buddhism Became Chinese" http://dharmafarer.org 111
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zànníng, a high official in the royal court of the second Sòng emperor, Tàizōng (太宗, r 626-649) accepted the three-line Táng verse attributed to Bodhidharma (that is, without the first line). [5.1.2.1], and accepted Bodhidharma’s teachings as a branch of the larger tradition coming down from Shakyamuni. Zànníng held the view that those who took Chán to be independent of the mainstream teaching did not understand that
ñññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññññ
5.1.2.2 WÚYUÈ, FǍYǍN CHÁN AND THE WÉN MONKS. One of the most successful, if not the most successful, Buddhist kingdoms of ancient China was the Wúyuè kingdom 吳越(907-978) [4.1.1], whose capital was at Hángzhōu 杭州. 24 The king of Wúyuè highly respected the Chán patriarch Fǎyǎn Wényì 法. The Fǎyǎn circle regarded Chán as the quintessential apex of all Buddhism, which it viewed as an indispensable force in the creation of a civilized society. 25
Driven by this vision of a Buddhist utopia, the Wúyuè rulers made the building and rebuilding of Buddhist institutions and sites their central concern. The Mt. Tiāntái complex was rebuilt, and new Buddhist centres, such as the Yǒngmíng 永明 temple in Lín’ān 臨安 (west of Hángzhōu), constructed. Ambassadors were sent to Japan and Korea to collect copies of important texts no longer found in China. In due course, the monastics of Wúyuè built a great reputation for themselves and Buddhists throughout China were drawn to its monasteries.
The leading Wúyuè official and monk Zànníng [5.1.2.3] was a high official in the royal court of the second Sòng emperor, Tàizōng (太宗, r 626-649), the “emperor of letters” (wéndì 文帝). The wén (文) revival in early Sòng marked an important turning point in Chinese intellectual history, which “[f]rom its outset…signaled a return to native values and a study of the sources that discusses them,” 26 and there was a consensus that this revival be guided by Confucianism. While some argued for the purist “classical” culture (gǔwén 古文), others (including Zànníng) proposed a broader view to embrace innovative forms.
This was the period of the “lettered monks” (wénsēng 文僧). Understandably, Zànníng, who was himself a prolific literato, proposed that Buddhism be a part of this Sòng renaissance, that is, to be included in the new definition of “culture” (wén 文), but was strongly opposed by the Confucianists. Although he did not succeed in his proposals, his learning and writings continued to impress and influence the emperor and the court. In other words, he was himself a Buddhist wén master. Zànníng’s numerous works reflected his broad knowledge of the Chinese literary tradition, but sadly none of these works survived.
5.1.2.3 WÚYUÈ: ZÀNNÍNG AND YÁNSHÒU. Wúyuè Chán continued the old Táng traditions, but its patriarchs distinguished themselves with the syncretic harmonization between Chán and Huáyán (by Wényì 文益, 885-958), between Chán and Tiāntái (by Désháo 徳韶, 891-972), and between Chán and Pure Land (by Yánshòu 延壽, 904-975). Wúyuè Chán was officially represented at the Sòng court by Zànníng [5.1.2.2].
Zànníng, a high official in the royal court of the second Sòng emperor, Tàizōng (太宗, r 626-649) accepted the three-line Táng verse attributed to Bodhidharma (that is, without the first line) [5.1.2.1], and accepted Bodhidharma’s teachings as a branch of the larger tradition coming down from Shakyamuni. Zànníng held the view that those who took Chán to be independent of the mainstream teaching did not understand that
The scriptures are the words of the Buddha, and meditation (Chán) is the thought of the Buddha: there is no discrepancy whatsoever between what the Buddha conceives in his mind and what he utters with his mouth. (Zànníng, T50-790a) 27
Zànníng’s inspiration was Zōngmì 宗密 (780-841) [4.3.3.1], a patriarch of both Chán and Huáyán, and who presented a harmonious syncretism of Chán and Buddhism as a whole. 28 Zōngmì was also the model for Yǒngmíng Yánshòu 永明延壽 (904-975), the leading Wúyuè Chán authority. Yánshòu, as such, advocated the practice of Chán in accordance with Indian Buddhism, opposing those who “have become attached to emptiness, and (whose practice) is not compatible with the scriptures” (T48.961b), following the words of Zhìyĭ and the Tiāntái school. According to Yánshòu, it is necessary to engage in two types of meditation practice, namely, calmness (shì 事) and insight (lǐ 理), in order to awaken. Calmness may arise from common activities such as worship, etc. 29 Those who “become attached to emptiness”—that is, those who devoted themselves to cultivating insight at the expense of engaging in mindfulness of common daily activities—should learn to calm their minds, for example, by focussing on their breath. Meditation practice, in other words, should be harmonized between calm and insight. 国) [2.3.4].
24 Wuyue was a small but significant kingdom that covered the area of modern Jiāngsū shěng 江蘇省 and Zhèjiāng shěng 浙江省. It was ruled over by Qiánliú 錢鏐(902-931), his son and three grandsons for over 70 years, the longest surviving of all the states of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period Wǔcháo shíguó 五朝十國(五朝十 Living Word of the Buddha SD vol 40b 5 Transmission Outside the Scripture? 106 http://dharmafarer.org 眼文益(885-958), and was deeply influenced by his teachings. In fact, 10th century China was dominated by the practitioners and supporters of the Fǎyǎn lineage, many of whom were of great fame and influence. Qian Liu started as a common soldier but rose to become an able and shrewd Táng military governor, and died at 80, the longest lived ruler of the period. His successsors wisely gave up expansionism, and focussed on building a network of commercial, diplomatic and cultural relations which enriched the kingdom and ensured its survival despite its small size and relatively limited natural sources. See Cambridge Encyclopedia of China, 1991: 175.
25 Further see Welter 2006a: 5 & 2006b: 186-207.
26 See Albert Welter, “A Buddhist response to the Confucian revival,” 1999.
27 See Heine & Wright, The Koan, 2000: 89 f & Wright, “The disputed place of ‘a special transmission outside of the scriptures’ in Ch’an,” 1996: 2-5 digital.
28 Zanning also argued that Buddhism should be a part of mainstream Chinese culture (wén 文): see Albert Welter, “A Buddhist response to the Confucian revival,” 1999: 21-61.
Piya Tan SD 40b.5 "How Buddhism Became Chinese" http://dharmafarer.org 107
OPPOSING VIEWS. Some Chán teachers outside of the Wúyuè community saw the two conceptions of “harmony between Chán and the scriptures” and “a special transmission outside the scriptures” as competing epistemologies. The former was a form of rationalism, a view that scripture is a means of communicating the truth, while the latter was a sort of mysticism, a view that enlightenment is beyond word and thought, and that scripture is incapable of conveying it. Simply put, the early Sòng Chán debate was whether Chán was rationalist or an independent mystical tradition.
Sòng Chán is generally presented as denying rationalism in favour of “a special transmission outside the teachings” that “does not depend on written words,” taking the two slogans as a couplet. Here, both phrases point to the common principle that enlightenment, as experienced by the Buddha and transmitted through the patriarchs, is independent of verbal explanations, including the Buddha’s teachings as scripture and later doctrinal elaborations.
This view was rejected by Wúyuè Chán, which regarded the injunction, “do not depend on written words” and the principle of “a special transmission outside the teachings” as opposing ideas. Wúyuè Chán accepted Bodhidharma’s warning against attachment to scriptures and doctrines, but did not accept that this warning amounted to a categorical denial of scripture. However, as Chán became established in the Sòng, its monks and officials rose to challenge the Wúyuè Chán view, and insisted on an independent tradition outside the scriptures.
In short, the view that Chán was “a special transmission outside the scriptures” was a post-Táng innovation, a view rejected by the Wúyuè Chán tradition and generally unaccepted today, too. We will now examine how the Línjì line, during the Sòng period, successfully argued for official recognition as “a special transmission outside the teachings,” claiming for Chán a unique identity in Chinese Buddhism.
5.1.2 The Chán root quatrain.
5.1.2.1 THE BODHIDHARMA VERSE. The traditional Chán view has been that the famous quatrain or four slogans originated with Bodhidharma, and that they contain the essence of Chán, thus: 14
教外別傳 jiào wài bié zhuàn A special [separate] transmission outside the teachings,
不立文字 bú lì wén zì do not depend on written words, 15
直指人心 zhí zhĭ rén xīn directly point to the human mind,
見性成佛 jiàn xìng chéng fó see one’s nature and become Buddha.
(See T2008.360a24-360c12 & 2008.364c9-364c24)
Contemporary writers following orthodox Chán views, regard this quatrain as the product of the Táng period, reflecting the rise to prominence of Chán during the “Golden Age,” that is, the 8th and 9th centuries.
The truth is that these slogans were separately found in works dating before the Sòng, but they do not appear together as a quatrain until well into the Sòng. They were then attributed to Bodhidharma in a collection of sayings of Chán master Fānghuì 方會 (or more colloquially, Hui or Huai) 17 (992-1064), preserved in the “Chrestomathy from the Patriarchs’ Hall” (Zǔtíngshìyuàn 祖庭事苑 TX64.1261), compiled by Mù’ān Shànqīng 睦庵善卿 (du) in 1108. 18
It was the early Sòng historian and scholar-monk Zànníng 贊寧(919-1001) [5.1.2.3] who attributed this three-line verse to Bodhidharma [5.1], thus:
直指人心 zhí zhĭ rén xīn Directly point to human mind,
見性成佛 jiàn xìng chéng fó see one’s nature and become Buddha,
不立文字 bú lì wén zì do not depend on written words. 19
15 Most translations take wénzì (文字) as a dvandva (“words and letters”), but the more common usage is as karmadharaya, which I follow here.
17 More fully, Yuánzhōu yángqí fānghuì chánshī 袁州楊歧方會禪師, or in brief, Huì chánshī 會禪師. See also
18 The Zǔtíngshìyuàn is a record of masters associated with the Yúnmén lineage. The quatrain was attr to Bodhidharma in two places by Huai, in ch 5 (TX64.1261.377b & 379a). See Miura, Zen Dust 1966: 228-230; Suzuki, Essays 1 1927: 176; Foulk, “Controversies concerning the ‘separate transmission’,” 1999: 265 f; Welter, “MahāKāśyapa’s smile,” 2000: 77-80.
19 See Welter, “The disputed place of 'a special transmission outside the scriptures’ in Ch’an,” 1996: 1.