Zongmi

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Guifeng Zongmi (宗密 圭峰) (780 - 841) (Wade-Giles: Kuei-feng Tsung-mi; Japanese: Keiho Shumitsu) was a Tang dynasty Buddhist scholar-monk, installed as fifth patriarch of the Huayan (Chinese: 華嚴; pinyin: Huáyán; Japanese: Kegon; Sanskrit: Avatamsaka) school, as well as a patriarch of the Heze (WG: Ho-tse) lineage of Southern Chan.

A meticulous scholar, Zongmi wrote extensive critical analyses of the various Chan and scholastic sects of the period, as well as numerous scriptural exegeses. He was deeply affected by Huayan thought and is famous for his work in the area of doctrinal classification: the attempt to account for the apparent disparities in the Buddhist doctrines by categorizing them according to their specific aims.

Zongmi, like many later Korean monks on whom he extended his influence, was deeply interested in both the practical and doctrinal aspects of Buddhism, and was especially concerned about harmonizing the views of those that tended toward exclusivity in either direction. Zonmgmi's efforts of integration of thoughts were also extended to the integration of three major traditions of Far Eastern thoughts: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

Guifeng Zongmi (宗密 圭峰)
Date of birth:	780
Place of birth:	Hsi-ch’ung County, Szechwan
Date of death:	841
Place of death:	Chang-an
School:	Heze (WG: Ho-tse) school, Southern Chan
Lineage:	Sui-chou Tao-yuan via Huineng
Order:	Chan (Zen)
Titles/Honors:	Samādi-Prajnā Chan Master
Quote:	Sudden enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation.

Biography

Early life

Zongmi was born in 780, into the powerful and influential Ho family in Hsi-ch’ung County of present-day central Szechwan. In his early years, he studied the Confucian classics, hoping to for a career in the provincial government. When he was seventeen or eighteen, Zongmi lost his father and took up Buddhist studies. In an 811 letter to a friend, he wrote that for three years, he "gave up eating meat, examined [Buddhist] scriptures and treatises, became familiar with the virtues of meditation and sought out the acquaintance of noted monks" (quoted in Gregory, 2002:30). At the age of twenty-two, he returned to the Confucian classics and deepened his understanding, studying at the I-hsüeh yüan Confucian Academy in Sui-chou. His later writings reveal a detailed familiarity with the Confucian Analects, the Classic of Filial Piety (Xiao Jing), the Classic of Rites, as well as historical texts and Taoist classics such as the works of Lao tzu.

At the age of twenty-four, Zongmi met the Chan master Sui-chou Tao-yüan and trained in Zen Buddhism for two or three years, receiving Tao-yuan’s seal in 807, the year he was fully ordained as a Buddhist monk. In his autobiographical summary, he states that it was the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment (Yüan-chüeh ching) which led him to enlightenment, his "mind-ground opened thoroughly…its [the scripture’s] meaning was as clear and bright as the heavens" (quoted in Gregory, 2002:33). Zongmi’s sudden awakening after reading only two or three pages of the scripture had a profound impact upon his subsequent scholarly career. He propounded the necessity of scriptural studies in Chan and was highly critical of what he saw as the antinomianism of the Hung-chou lineage derived from Mazu Daoyi (Chn: 馬祖道一) (709 C.E.–788 C.E.) (WG: Ma-tsu Tao-yi) which practiced "entrusting oneself to act freely according to the nature of one’s feelings" (Gregory, 2000:19). Zongmi’s Confucian moral values never left him and he spent much of his career attempting to integrate Confucian ethics with Buddhism.^[1]

Middle period

In 810, at the age of thirty, Zongmi met Ling-feng, a disciple of the preeminent Buddhist scholar and Huayan exegete Ch’eng-kuan (738-839). Ling-feng gave Zongmi a copy of Ch’eng-kuan’s commentary and subcommentary on the Huayan Sūtra (Flower Garland Sutra). The two texts were to have a profound impact on Zongmi. He studied these texts and the sūtra with great intensity, declaring later that due to his assiduous efforts, finally "all remaining doubts were completely washed away" (Gregory, 2002:59). In 812, Zongmi traveled to the western capital, Chang’an, where he spent two years studying with Ch’eng-kuan, who was not only the undisputed authority on Huayan, but was also highly knowledgeable in Chan, Tientai, the Vinaya, and San-lun.

Zongmi withdrew to Mount Chung-nan, southwest of Chang’an, in 816 and began his writing career, composing an annotated outline of the Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment and a compilation of passages from four commentaries on the sūtra. For the next three years Zongmi continued his research into Buddhism, reading the entire Buddhist canon, the Tripitaka, and traveling to various temples on Mount Chung-nan. He returned Chang’an in 819, and continued his studies utilizing the extensive libraries of various monasteries in the capital city. In late 819, he completed a commentary (shu) and subcommentary (ch’ao) on the Diamond Sūtra. In early 821, he returned to Ts’ao-t’ang temple beneath Kuei Peak and hence became known as Guifeng Zongmi (Broughton, 2004:13). In mid-823, he finally finished his own commentary on the text that had led to his first awakening experience, Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, and the culmination of a vow he had made some fifteen years earlier (Gregory, 2002:71).

For the next five years Zongmi continued writing and studying on Mount Chung-an as his fame grew. He was summoned to the capital in 828, by Emperor Wenzong (r. 826-840) and awarded the purple robe and the honorific title "Great Worthy" (ta-te; bhadanta). The two years he spent in the capital were significant for Zongmi. He was now a nationally honored Chan master with extensive contacts among the literati of the day. He turned his considerable knowledge and intellect towards writing for a broader audience rather than the technical exegetical works he had produced for a limited readership of Buddhist specialists. His scholarly efforts became directed towards the intellectual issues of the day and much of his subsequent work was produced at the appeals of assorted literati of the day (Gregory, 2002:72-73). He began collecting every extant Chan text in circulation with the goal of producing a Chan canon to create a new section of the Buddhist canon.^[2]

Later life

It was Zongmi’s association with the great and the powerful that led to his downfall in 835 in an event known as the "Sweet Dew Incident" (kan-lu chih pien). A high official and friend of Zongmi, Li Hsün (d. 835), in connivance with Emperor Wenzong, attempted to curb the power of the court eunuchs by massacring them all. The plot failed and Li Hsün fled to Mount Chung-nan seeking refuge with Zongmi. Li Hsün was quickly captured and executed and Zongmi was arrested and tried for treason. Impressed with Zongmi’s bravery in the face of execution, the eunuch generals pardoned the Chan master. Nothing is known about Zongmi’s activities after this event. Zongmi died in the zazen posture on February 1, 841, in Chang-an. He was cremated on March 4, at Guifeng temple. Twelve years later, he was awarded the posthumous title Samādi-Prajnā Chan Master and his remains were interred in a stupa called Blue Lotus.^[3]

Writings

There is no certainty about the quantity of Zongmi’s writings but they were extensive and influential. Zongmi’s epitaph, written by P’ei Hsiu, (787-860) listed over ninety fascicles whereas Tsan-ning’s (919-1001) biography claimed over two hundred (Gregory, 2002: 315). For modern scholars, Zongmi provides the "most valuable sources on Tang dynasty Zen. There is no other extant source even remotely as informative" (Broughton, 2004:14).

His first major work was his commentary and subcommentary on Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, completed in 823-824. Within the subcommentary, there is extensive data on the teachings, the ideas and practices on the seven houses of Chan, much clearly derived from personal experience and observations (Broughton, 2004: 14). These observations provide excellent sources on Tang Dynasty Chan for modern studies.

Another important work for scholars of Tang Dynasty Chan was written at the request of P’ei Hsiu sometime between 830 and 833. Known as the Chart of the Master-Disciple Succession of the Chan Gate That Has Transmitted the Mind-Ground in China (Chung-hua ch’uan-hsin-ti ch’an-men shih-tzu ch’eng-his t’u), the work clarifies the major Ch’an traditions of the Tang era and contains detailed critiques of the Northern School, the Ox-head School and the two branches of Southern Chan, the Hung-chou and his own Ho-tse lines (Gregory, 2002: 74).

The third work of interest for scholars of Tang Dynasty Chan is Zongmi’s the Prolegomenon to the Collection of Expressions of the Zen Source(also known as the Chan Preface) (Ch’an-yuan chu-ch’uan-chi tu-hsu) written around 833. This lengthy preface to the Chan canon provides a theoretical basis for Zongmi’s vision of the correlation between Chan and the Buddhist scriptures and gives accounts of the several lineages extant at the time, many of which had died out by the time Chan history was definitively established during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) (Gregory, 2002: 15). In this preface Zongmi says that he had assembled the contemporary Chan practices and teachings into ten categories. Unfortunately, the collection itself is lost and only the preface exists.

Among many other important texts written by Zongmi is his Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity (Yüan jen lun), written sometime between his being given the purple robe in 828 and his downfall in 835. This essay, which became one of his best-known works, surveys the current major Buddhist teachings of the day as well as Confucian and Taoist teachings and shows how Buddhism is superior to the native Chinese philosophies. However, his goal was not to denigrate the Chinese philosophies, but to integrate them into Buddhist teachings to reach an understanding of how the human condition came into being (Gregory, 1995: 33). The writing style is simple and straightforward and the content not overly technical, making the work accessible to non-Buddhist intellectuals of the day.^[4]

Other important works include his undated commentary (Ch’i-hsin lun shu) on the Awakening of Faith probably written between 823 and 828 (Gregory 2002: 316). Although Zongmi is recognized as a Huayan patriarch, he considered the Awakening of Faith scripture to exemplify the highest teaching, displacing the Huayan Sūtra as the supreme Buddhist teaching. Around the same time he wrote a major work in eighteen fascicles called A Manual of Procedures for the Cultivation and Realization of Ritual Practice according to the Scripture of Perfect Enlightenment. In this work, Zongmi discusses the conditions of practice, the methods of worship and the method of seated meditation (zazen). Unfortunately, many of Zongmi’s works are lost, including his Collected Writings on the Source of Ch’an (Ch’an-yüan chu-ch’üan-chi) which would provide modern scholars with an invaluable source to reconstruct Tang Dynasty Chan. However, the preface (Prolegomenon to the Collection of Expressions of the Zen Source) is extant and does give an insight into Tang Dynasty Chan.

Philosophy

Integration of Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism

Much of Zongmi’s work was concerned with providing a dialogue between the three religions of China: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. He saw all three as expedients, functioning within a particular historical context and although he placed Buddhism as revealing the highest truth of the three. This had nothing to do with the level of understanding of the three sages, Confucius, Lao-tzu and Buddha, (who Zongmi saw as equally enlightened) and everything to do with the particular circumstances in which the three lived and taught (Gregory, 2002: 256-257). As Zongmi said:

Since encouraging the myriad practices, admonishing against evil, and promoting good contribute in common to order, the three teachings should all be followed and practiced. [However], if it be a matter of investigating the myriad phenomena, exhausting principle, realizing the nature, and reaching the original source, then Buddhism alone is the ultimate judgment.^[5]

Zongmi’s early training in Confucianism never left him and he tried to create a syncretic framework where Confucian moral principles could be integrated with the Buddhist teachings (Gregory, 1995: 33). Hence, he was critical of Chan sects that seemed to ignore the moral order of Confucianism. For example, while he saw the Northern line as believing "everything as altogether false," Zongmi claimed the Hung-chou tradition, derived from Mazu Daoyi (709-788), believed "everything as altogether true" (Gregory, 2002: 236). To Zongmi, the Hung-chou school teaching led to a radical nondualism that believed that all actions, good or bad, as expressing essential Buddha-nature, denying the need for spiritual cultivation and moral discipline. This was a dangerously antinomian view as it eliminated all moral distinctions and validated any actions as expressions of the essence of Buddha-nature. While Zongmi acknowledged that the essence of Buddha-nature and its functioning in the day-to-day reality are but difference aspects of the same reality, he insisted that there is a difference. To avoid the dualism he saw in the Northern Line and the radical nondualism and antinomianism of the Hung-chou school, Zongmi’s paradigm preserved "an ethically critical duality within a larger ontological unity" (Gregory, 2002: 239), an ontology which he saw as lacking in Hung-chou Chan.

Integration of Buddhist thoughts

Zongmi’s lifelong work was the attempt to incorporate differing and sometimes conflicting value systems into an integrated framework that could bridge not only the differences between Buddhism and the traditional Taoism and Confucianism, but also within Buddhist theory itself. He tried to harmonize the differing scholastic traditions and conflicting practices of Chan. For the Chan tradition, one of the major issues of the day was the bifurcation of the school into two distinct camps: The Northern line, which advocated a "gradual enlightenment" and the Southern line’s "sudden enlightenment." Coming as he did from the Southern Chan tradition, Zongmi clearly advocated the Southern teachings of sudden enlightenment over the perceived gradualism and duality of the Northern line. However, he also saw the two as according with the teachings of the Buddha and not separate. He said:

It is only because of variations in the style of the World Honored One’s exposition of the teachings that there are sudden expositions in accordance with the truth and gradual expositions in accordance with the capacities [of beings]…this does not mean that there is a separate sudden and gradual [teaching] (quoted in Gregory, 2002: 149).

Clearly, Zongmi saw "sudden" and "gradual" as differing teaching methods of the Buddha, not separate teachings in themselves. However, although the sudden teaching reveals the truth directly and results in a "sudden" understanding that all beings are Buddhas, this does not mean that one would act as a Buddha. Hence, Zongmi advocated "sudden enlightenment" followed by "gradual cultivation." This gradual cultivation was to eliminate all remaining traces of defilements of the mind that prevented one from fully integrating one’s intrinsic Buddha-nature into actual behavior (Gregory, 1995: 188-189). To explain this, Zongmi used the metaphor of water and waves found in the Awakening of Faith scripture. The essential tranquil nature of water which reflects all things (intrinsic enlightenment) is disturbed by the winds of ignorance (unenlightenment, delusion). Although the wind may stop suddenly (sudden enlightenment), the disturbing waves subside only gradually (gradual cultivation) until all motion ceases and the water once again reflects its intrinsic nature (Buddhahood). However, whether disturbed by ignorance or not, the fundamental nature of the water (that is, the mind) never changes (Gregory, 2002:205).

Systematic classification of Buddhist doctrines

As with many Buddhist scholars of the day, doctrinal classification (p’an chiao) was an integral part of Zongmi’s work. As Gregory (2002: 115) points out, Zongmi’s "systematic classification of Buddhist doctrine is itself a theory of the Buddhist path (mārga)." Zongmi arranged the Buddha’s teachings into five categories: 1) The teaching of men and gods, 2) the teachings of the Hinayana, 3) the teaching of phenomenal appearances, 4) the teaching of the negation of phenomenal appearances, and 5) the teaching that reveals the true nature of phenomena (intrinsic enlightenment) (Gregory, 2002: 134). Zongmi saw enlightenment and its opposite, delusion, as ten reciprocal steps that are not so much separate but parallel processes moving in opposite directions (Gregory, 2002: 196-203).

Zongmi’s classification also included the various Chan schools of the day. He provided a critique of the various practices which reveal not only the nature of Chan in Tang Dynasty, but also Zongmi’s understanding of Buddhist doctrine.

Zongmi’s critique of Northern Chan was based on its practice of removing impurities of the mind to reach enlightenment. Zongmi criticized this on the basis that the Northern school was under the misconception that impurities were "real" as opposed to "empty" (that is, lack any independent reality of their own) and therefore this was a dualistic teaching. Zongmi, on the other hand, saw impurities of the mind as intrinsically "empty" and but a manifestation of the intrinsically pure nature of the mind. This understanding of Zongmi came from the Awakening of Faith scripture which espoused the tathagatagarbha doctrine of the intrinsically enlightened nature possessed by all beings.

His criticism of another prominent Chan lineage of the time, the Ox-head School, was also based on the tathāgatagarbha doctrine but in this case Zongmi saw their teaching as a one-sided understanding of emptiness. He claimed that the Ox-head School taught "no mind" (that is, the emptiness of mind) but did not recognize the functioning of the mind, assuming that the intrinsically enlightened nature is likewise "empty" and "that there is nothing to be cognized." Zongmi went on to say, "we know that this teaching merely destroys our attachment to feelings but does not yet reveal the nature that is true and luminous" (Gregory, 2002: 235).

In all, Zongmi gave critiques on seven Chan schools in his Prolegomenon to the Collection of Expressions of the Zen Source and although he promoted his own Ho-tse school as exemplifying the highest practice, his accounts of the other schools were balanced and unbiased (Broughton 2004: 18). It is clear from his writings that in many cases, he visited the various Chan monasteries he wrote about and took notes of his discussions with teachers and adapts. His work had an enduring influence on the adaptation of Indian Buddhism to the philosophy of traditional Chinese culture. The writings that remain have proved to be an invaluable source for modern scholars of the history of the development of Buddhism in China.

Notes

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Broughton, J. 2004. Tsung-mi’s Zen Prolegomenon: Introduction to an Exemplary Zen Canon, in The Zen Canon: Understanding the Classic Texts. S. Heine and D.S. Wright (eds.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-515068-6.
• Gregory, Peter N. 2002. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism. University of Hawai’i Press, Kuroda Institute. ISBN 0-8248-2623-X.
• Gregory, Peter N. 1995. Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity: An Annotated Translation of Tsung-mi’s Yüan jen lun with a Modern Commentary. University of Hawai’i Press, Kuroda Institute. ISBN 0-8248-1764-8.
• Oh, Kang Nam. 2000. The Taoist Influence on Hua-yen Buddhism: A Case of the Sinicization of Buddhism in China. Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal No. 13.2: 277-297.

Retrieved July 19, 2008.

• Ray, Gary L. (n.d.) The Northern Ch'an School And Sudden Versus Gradual Enlightenment Debates In China And Tibet. Institute of Buddhist Studies. Retrieved July 19, 2008.
• Shi, Hu. 1953. Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism in China Its History and Method. Philosophy East and West, Vol. 3, No. 1 (January, 1953), p. 3-24. Retrieved July 19, 2008.