Yang-shan Hui-chi (Jap., Kyōzan Ejaku), 807-83 or 813/14-90/91; one of the great Ch’an (Zen) masters of China; a student and dharma successor (hassu) of Kuei-shan Ling-yu (Jap., Isan Reiyū) and the master of Nan-t’a Kuang-jun (Jap., Nantō Kōyū). Yang-shan was one of the most important Ch’an masters of his time; his great abilities brought him the nick name Little Shākyamuni. Already before he was twenty years old, he had visited several great Ch’an masters, among them Ma-tsu Tao-i (Jap., Baso Dōitsu) and Pai-chang Huai-hai (Jap., Hyakujō Ekai), and had made himself a name as an outstanding student of Ch’an. Under Kuei-shan he realized profound enlightenment. As his master’s dharma successor of equalaccomplishment, he is considered the cofounder with his master of the Igyō school of Ch’an, which derives its name from the first character of the names of the two men. By Master Tan-yuan Ying-chen (Jap., Tangen Ōshin), under whom he had his first enlightenment experience, he was initiated into the use of the ninety-seven circle symbols that were later to play a major role in the Igyō school.
The hossen and mondō of Y ang-shan with his master Kuei-shan and other Ch’an masters, recorded in the Yuan-chou Hui-chi ch’an-shih yu-lu (Record of the Words of the Ch’an Master Yang-shan Hui-chi from Yuan-chou), are considered outstanding examples of Ch’an (Zen) mind. Yang-shan appears in example 25 of the Wu-men-kuan and examples 34 and 68 of the Pi-yen-lu.
Yang-shan already wanted to become a monk at the age of fifteen, but his parents held him back. At the age of seventeen he finally cut off two of his fingers and presented them to his parents as a sign of his resolve. They then permitted him to go ahead. After having sought out a number of great Ch’an masters and, under them, having opened his dharma eye to a certain extent, he found in Kuei-shan the master who ideally suited him and who could guide him to profound enlightenment. Between Kuei-shan and Yang-shan there prevailed such a harmony of temperament and of spiritual outlook, that it was said of them: “Father and son sing with one mouth.”
Source: The Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion: Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen. Shambhala Publications, Inc.
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