The Fayan school, or Fayan House () was one of the

Five Houses of Chán The Five Houses of Chán (also called the Five Houses of Zen) were the five major schools of Chan Buddhism that originated during Tang China. Although at the time they were not considered formal schools or sects of Buddhism, they are now regarde ...

, the major schools of Chan Buddhism during the later

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

History

Origins

The Fayan school was named after Chinese Zen Master

Qingliang Wenyi Qingliang Wenyi (), Biography of the eminent monks of Song dynasty. Vol.13 also known as Fayan Wenyi ()Blue Cliff Records is a Chinese Buddhist monk in the early 10th century. Wenyi was born in Yuhang. His secular surname is Lu. Fayan school, one ...

(885–958). Via

Xuefeng Yicun Xuefeng Yicun (822-908) (; ; ) was a Chinese Chan-master who was influential during the Tang Dynasty. The Yunmen school and Fayan school originated with descendants of his lineage. Biography According to the ''Wudeng Huiyuan'' ("Compendium of F ...

the Fayang school and Yunmen school are traced back to

Shitou Xiqian Shítóu Xīqiān (700-790) () was an 8th-century Chinese Chán (Zen) Buddhist teacher and author. All existing branches of Zen throughout the world are said to descend either from Shitou Xiqian or from his contemporary Mazu Daoyi. Biography Lif ...

and

Huineng Dajian Huineng (); (February 27, 638 – August 28, 713), also commonly known as the Sixth Patriarch or Sixth Ancestor of Chan (traditional Chinese: 禪宗六祖), is a semi-legendary but central figure in the early history of Chinese Chan Buddhi ...

. Xuefeng was one of the most influential Chán-teachers at the end of the Tang Dynasty, when "a widely influential zen center formed around

". The loss of control by the Tang Dynasty, and the accompanying loss of support for Buddhist institutions, lead to a regionally based Chan of Xuefeng and his students. The '' Zutang ji'' (祖堂集 "Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall"), compiled in 952, the first document which mentions

Linji Yixuan Linji Yixuan (; ja, 臨済義玄 ''Rinzai Gigen''; died 866 CE) was the founder of the Linji school of Chan Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. Línjì yǔlù Information on Linji is based on the ''Línjì yǔlù'' (臨濟語錄; Japanese ...

, was written to support the Xuefeng Yicun lineage. It pictures this lineage as heir to the legacy of Mazu and the Hongzhou-school, though Xuefeng Yicun's lineage is traced back to

(700-790). It was written by two students of Zhaoqing Wendeng (884-972), a dharma descendant of

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period (907–960/979)

During the

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...

the Fayan school became the dominant school in

Southern Tang Southern Tang () was a state in Southern China that existed during Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, which proclaimed itself to be the successor of the former Tang dynasty. The capital was located at Nanjing in present-day Jiangsu Province. ...

(

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

) and Wuyue. It propagated ''jiaochan yizhi'', "harmony between Chan and the Teaching", in opposition to ''jiaowai biechuan'', "a special transmission outside the teaching", the latter eventually becoming one of the defining slogans of Chan.

Absorption into the Linji school

Over the course of Song Dynasty (960–1279), the Fayan school, along with the Guiyang and Yunmen schools were gradually absorbed into the

Linji school The Línjì school () is a school of Chan Buddhism named after Linji Yixuan (d. 866). It took prominence in Song China (960–1279), spread to Japan as the Rinzai school and influenced the nine mountain schools of Korean Seon. History Song d ...

References

Sources

* * * * Chan schools {{zen-stub