Tung-shan Liang-chieh (Jap., Tōzan Ryōkai), 807-69; Chinese Ch’an (Zen) master. He is considered the student and dharma successor (Hassu) of Yun-yen T’an-sheng (Jap., Ungan Donjō) and was the master of Ts’ao shan Pen-chi (Jap., Sōzan Honjaku), Yueh chou Ch’ien-feng (Jap., E’shū Kempō, and Yun-chu Tao-ying (Jap., Ungo Dōyō). Tung shan Liang-chieh (not to be confused with Tung-shan Shou-chu) was, together with Ts’ao shan Pen-chi, the founder of the – Sōtō school and was one of the most important Ch’an masters of the T’ang period. He formulated thefive degrees ( of enlightenment), which play an important role in Zen training up to the present (they follow completion of kōan training in the Rinzai school). The dharma expositions of Tung-shan Liang-chieh are recorded in the Shui-chou Tung-shan Liang-chieh-ch’an-shih yu lu (Record of the words of Ch ‘an Master Tung shan Liang-chieh from Shui-chou), which was compiled in the 17th century by the monk Yuan-hsin (1571- 1646) and others. We encoun ter Tung-shan Liang-chieh in example 43 of the Pi-yen-lu.
When Tung-shan Liang-chieh was still a novice training in a monastery of the Vinaya school of Buddhism, he asked his master the meaning of a line from the – Heart Sūtra. The master could give no answer. Thus Tung-shan set out to seek an answer to this burning question from Ch’an masters. At the age of twenty one he received full ordination on Sung-shan, then wandered as a pilgrim throughout the country seeking out great Ch’an masters. First he came to Nan-ch’uan P’u-yuan (Jap., Nansen Fugan), who after a talk with Tung-shan recognized his potential and accepted him as a student. After a period of training, he continued his wandering and came to Kuei-shan Ling-yu (Jap., Isan Reiyū). After a time, the latter sent him on to Yun-yen T’an-sheng, whose most outstanding student he became and under whom he had his first experience of enlightenment.
When Tung-shan took leave of Yun-yen, as we read in the Ching-te ch’uan-teng-lu, Tung-shan asked him, “How should I describe your dharma if someone asks me about it after you have passed away?” Yunyen answered, “Just say, ‘Just that, that! ‘ ” This was an answer that Tung-shan did not understand. When, however, during his further travels, he was wading a river and glimpsed his reflection in the water, he experienced profound enlightenment (daigo-tettei) and suddenly understood.
At about fifty years of age, Tung-shan became the abbot of a monastery on Mount Hsin-feng. Later he settled on Mount Tung-shan (from which his name is derived), where numerous students gathered around him. He guided them on the path of Ch’an until, in his sixty-third year, sitting in meditation, he passed away.
An example of Tung-shan’s teaching style is found in example 43 of the Pi-yen-lu:
A monk asked Tung-shan, “Cold and heat come and go. How can one avoid them?”
Tung-shan said, “Why don’t you go where there’s no cold and heat?”
The monk said, “Where is the place where there is no cold and heat?”
Tung-shan said, “When it’s cold, the cold kills the āchārya [you]; when it’s hot, the heat kills the āchārya.”
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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