Fenggan (, Japanese Bukan, fl. 9th century) was a Chinese

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

monk-poet lived in the

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 Kingdo ...

, associated with

Hanshan Hanshan may refer to: * Hanshan (poet) (寒山), a figure associated with a collection of poems from the Tang Dynasty * Hanshan Deqing (憨山德清), a Buddhist monk from the Chinese Ming Dynasty *'' Mountain Cry'' (）, 2015 Chinese film PR Chin ...

and Shide in the famed "

Tiantai Tiantai or T'ien-t'ai () is an East Asian Buddhist school of Mahāyāna Buddhism that developed in 6th-century China. The school emphasizes the ''Lotus Sutra's'' doctrine of the "One Vehicle" ('' Ekayāna'') as well as Mādhyamaka philosop ...

Trio" (天台三聖).

Biography

Legendarily, Feng appeared one day at

Guoqing Temple The Guoqing Temple () is a Buddhist temple on Mount Tiantai, in Taizhou, Zhejiang Province, China. Originally built in 598 CE during the Sui dynasty, and renovated during the reign of the Qing Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1722–1735), the temple is ...

(located by the East China Sea, in the Tiantai mountain range), a monk with an unshaven head, riding a tiger. From then on, he took up residence in the temple behind the library, where he would hull rice and chant

sutra ''Sutra'' ( sa, सूत्र, translit=sūtra, translit-std=IAST, translation=string, thread)Monier Williams, ''Sanskrit English Dictionary'', Oxford University Press, Entry fo''sutra'' page 1241 in Indian literary traditions refers to an a ...

s. The few accounts of him record that he became close friends to Hanshan, and was the one who found the orphaned Shide, named him, and brought him to the temple. From these and other anecdotes, it appears that Feng was the oldest of the three. The circumstances of his death are as murky as his life: the stories in which Feng is any more than a name or foil for Hanshan cease after he healed a local prefect. It has been conjectured that Hanshan's Poem 50 refers to his death: ::Show me the person who doesn't die; ::death remains impartial. ::I recall a towering man ::who is now a pile of dust- ::the World Below knows no dawn ::plants enjoy another spring ::but those who visit this sorrowful place ::the pine wind slays with grief.

Poetry

Very few of Feng's poems survive, but the ones which do are very revealing; the third of the four confirms Feng's relationships with the other members of the Tientai Trio: ::Whenever Cold Mountain stops to visit, ::or Pick-Up pays his usual call, ::we talk about the mind the moon ::or wide open space- ::reality has no limits ::so anything real includes it all. The first of the poems appears to confirm the stories of how he was an itinerant monk prior to stopping at Kuoching Temple (and even then he would depart at least once for a pilgrimage to

Mount Wutai Mount Wutai, also known by its Chinese name Wutaishan and as is a sacred Buddhist site at the headwaters of the Qingshui in Shanxi Province, China. Its central area is surrounded by a cluster of flat-topped peaks roughly corresponding to the ...

): ::I have been to Tientai ::maybe a million times ::like a cloud or river ::drifting back and forth. ::Roaming free of trouble ::trusting the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in ...

's spacious

path A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire ...

::while the world's forked mind ::only brings men pain. The fourth poem is especially important, since it unmistakably references the challenge the Fifth Patriarch of Zen set his would-be successors ~713 C. E. making it impossible for Feng (and by extension Hanshan and Shide) to predate the 720's, thereby eliminating many other dating possibilities: ::Actually there isn't a thing ::much less any dust to wipe away. ::Who can master this ::doesn't need to sit there stiff. (The exchange referenced was between two potential successors Shenxiu 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 Budd ...

. Shenxiu to demonstrate his mastery of Zen wrote the following poem: ''The body is the Bodhi Tree \ the mind like a clear mirror. \ Always wipe it clean, \ don't let it gather dust.'' Huineng retorted with ''Bodhi isn't a tree, \ what's clear isn't a mirror. \ Actually, there isn't a thing- \ where do you get this dust?'') It is difficult to judge Feng's poetic oeuvre with only four works to judge by, and only one really poetic. But it appears that his poetry's formal structures were fairly conventional, and in ideas, from a strictly Buddhist perspective; Hanshan, in contrast, often played with rhymes and tones and structure, and very often dropped in

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

references, to the point where his actual religious orientation is in some doubt. See for example Feng's second poem, which expresses strictly Buddhist ideas: ::Sinking like a rock in the Sea, ::drifting through the Three Worlds- ::poor ethereal creature ::forever immersed in scenes ::until a flash of lightning shows ::that life and death are dust in space. (The 'Three Worlds' refer to either those of the past, present, and future; or alternatively, those of form, formlessness, and becoming.)

References

*''The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain'',

Red Pine ''Pinus resinosa'', known as red pine (also Norway pine in Minnesota), is a pine native to North America. Description Red pine is a coniferous evergreen tree characterized by tall, straight growth. It usually ranges from in height and in trun ...

Biography

Poetry

See also

References

Further reading