Pai-chang Huai-hai also Po-chang Hui-hai, (Jap., Hyakujō Ekai), 720-814; one of the great Chinese masters of Ch’an (Zen) of the T’ang period; a student and dharma successor (hassu) of Ma-tsu Tao-i (Jap., Baso Dōitsu) and the master of Kuei-shan Ling-yu (Jap., Isan Reiyū) and Huang-po Hsi-yun (Jap., Ōbaku Kiun). Pai-chang founded the Ch’an Zen) monastic tradition by establishing precise rules for the life and daily routine of a Ch’an monastery (see also tera). Ch’an masters and their students had hitherto been “guests” in monasteries of other Buddhist schools and had adhered to the monastic rules of these schools. The rules of Pai-chang made possible the development of independent Ch’an monasteries in which the daily routine was entirely determined by the requirements of the Ch’an style of training.
Following the tradition of Tao-hsin, the fourth patriarch of Ch’an who founded the first self-supporting community of Ch’an monks, Pai-chang stressed the importance of combining meditative practice (zazen) with daily work in the monastery and in the fields. From Pai chang comes the well-known Zen saying: “A day without work, a day without food.” He himself lived in accordance with this principle until advanced old age (samu). Until this time Buddhist monks in China had lived, following the Indian monastic tradition, from offerings gathered by the monks on begging rounds or brought to the monasteries by lay believers. Now the monks of the Ch’an monasteries gained their livelihoods principally through their own manual labor. However, the tradition of making begging rounds (takuhatsu) was preserved in Pai-chang’s rules as a form of spiritual training.
Although the precise written form in which Pai-chang originally set forth his rules has been lost, these rules and their spirit have been preserved in the Zen tradition and are followed today in Zen monasteries.
Pai-chang is not known for his organizational talent alone, rather primarily for his profound Zen realization and his great wisdom, already indicated by the monastic name he received from his first master, Tao-chih. The name is Huai-hai, ‘[He Who Bears the] Ocean [of Wisdom in His] Bosom.” Pai-chang is the author of Tun-wuju-tao yao-men-lung, a fundamental Ch’an text concerning “sudden enlightenment” (tango). In this work he shows that the teaching of the Southern school of Ch’an is in accord with the deepest sense of the great Mahāyāna sūtras.
From this text it is evident that Pai-chang was well versed in the sūtras. Thus even in the school of sudden enlightenment (the Southern school), though the primacy of the enlightenment experience over any “theory” was stressed, great importance was still placed on the study of the sūtras. This text, composed by Pai chang in dialogue form, begins with the following sentences:
Question: What practice must we practice in order to attain liberation?
Answer: Liberation can only be realized through sudden enlightenment.
Question: What is sudden enlightenment?
Answer: Sudden means to liberate oneself in an instant from all delusive thoughts. Enlightenment means the insight that enlightenment is nothing that could be attained.
Question: Where should we begin with this practice?
Answer: At the root.
Question: And what is the root?
Answer: The mind [consciousness] is the root.
An English translation of this text is found in J. Blofeld, The Zen Teaching of Hua Hai on Sudden Illumination (London, 1962). The sayings and teachings of Pai-chang are recorded in Hung-chou Pai-chang-shan ta-chih-ch ‘an-shih yü-lu (Record of the Words of the Ch’an Master of Great Wisdom, Pai-chang from Hung-chou; Chinese short title, Pai-chang yü-lu) and in the Pai-chang kuang-lu. An English translation of both texts is found in T. Cleary, trans., Sayings and Doings of Pai-Chang (Los Angeles, 1978). Pai-chang appears in examples 2 and 40 of the Wu-men-kuan, as well as examples 26, 53, 70, 71, and 72 of the Pi-yen-lu.
We learn more about the mind of Pai-chang from these koans than from all historical data concerning his life and significance. Here, for instance, is example 26 of the Pi-yen-lu:
A monk asked Pai-chang, “What is there that’s extraordinary?”
Pai-chang said, “Sitting alone on [Mount] Ta Hsiung [Jap., Dai Yūho].”
The monk bowed respectfully. Pai-chang hit him.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Books on Pai-chang Huai-hai
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