Where Linji Chan and the Huayan jing meet: on the Huayan jing in the essential points of the Linji [Chan] lineage

Abstract

ABSTRACT Juefan Huihong’s 覺範惠洪 (1071–1128) Linji zongzhi shows that eminent statesmen and contemporary Chan monastics during the twelfth century in China interpreted the core teaching strategies of several Linji Chan patriarchs – especially Linji Yixuan 臨濟義玄 (d. 866) and Fenyang Shanzhao 汾陽善昭 (980–1024) – through the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra (Huayan jing 華嚴經, T nos. 278–279), and with special consideration for Mañjuśrī and ṛṣi (seera) in the Gaṇḍavyūha (Ru fajie pin 入法界品) chapter, Bhīṣmôttaranirghoṣa 毗目仙人. Huihong was certainly influenced by the writings of the highly admired ‘Two Shuis’ – Changshui Zixuan 長水子璿 (964–1038) and Jinshui Jingyuan 晉水淨源 (1011–1088) – and by his close confidant, Zhang Shangying 張商英 (1043–1122), who visited Mount Wutai circa 1088 and recorded his journey in Xu Qingliang zhuan 續清涼傳 (Further Record of Mt. ‘Chill Clarity,’ T. 2100). In this article I reconsider the central role the Huayan jing and the cult of Mañjuśrī play in the core teachings of the Linji Chan lineage with particular attention to how current Song dynasty, rather than late Tang (618–907) era, readings and uses of the Huayan jing underscore the enduring significance of this seminal Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture and Mount Wutai as a sacred space in the history of Chinese Chan Buddhism.