Taiyō Kyōgen

Biography

Taiyō Kyōgen (Dayang Jingxuan in Chinese) was born in 948, during the Northern Song dynasty, in a town in present-day Jiangsu province. He left his hometown to become a monk at Chongxiao Temple in Jinling (present-day Nanjing), receiving teachings from a master named Zhitong.

At the age of nineteen, he left Chongxiao and studied for a time with Yuanjiao Liaoyi before settling with Ryōzan Enkan, whose dharma heir he became as the 44^th patriarch of the Caodong lineage. He later resided on Mount Dayang (in present-day Hubei province), southeast of the ancient capital Kaifeng, where he taught for many years.

Taiyō is the last Caodong master mentioned in the prestigious Jingde Chuandeng Lu (Transmission of the Lamp), compiled in 1004 — this compilation being contemporary with his life, it does not yet contain his detailed biography. This would only appear in the Xudeng Lu of 1101.

He passed away in 1027 at the age of 79, leaving behind a lineage on the brink of extinction.

Posthumous Transmission: An Unprecedented Story

Taiyō Kyōgen occupies a unique place in Chan history. During his lifetime, he was apparently the sole living master representing the Caodong school, but none of his direct disciples officially received the dharma transmission. The lineage seemed destined to die out with him.

However, an unprecedented event in Chan annals allowed its rebirth. A disciple of Taiyō named Fushan Fayuan (法遠, 991–1067) — who had already received transmission in the rival Linji school and therefore could not be considered a Caodong heir — agreed to "keep in deposit" his master's lineage. Before dying, Taiyō entrusted Fayuan with the robe and bowl of Ryōzan Enkan, symbols of transmission, charging him with finding a true heir for the Caodong school.

Fayuan kept the transmission symbols for over forty years before entrusting them to Tōshi Gisei, whom he recognized as Taiyō's worthy successor — without ever having met the latter. This mode of transmission, where a master transmits the lineage of another without being its heir himself, is unique in Zen history. Scholar Morten Schlütter notes that this form of lineage transfer "has no parallel in early Chan literature."

Teachings

Taiyō Kyōgen is renowned for his teaching of the "one and only way" of the Caodong school, based on the realization of the interpenetration of presence and absence (hen-shō). He emphasized the simplicity of practice and the direct transmission of awakening beyond words.

His sermons, preserved in Chan chronicles, show a master of great philosophical depth, wielding the language of the Caodong school — that of the "Five Ranks" (五位, goi) — with subtlety and precision.

Legacy

Although he had no direct heir during his lifetime, Taiyō Kyōgen is considered the 44^th patriarch of Sōtō Zen. Through Fushan Fayuan, his lineage was transmitted to Tōshi Gisei, then to Fuyō Dōkai — who restored the strength of the Caodong school — and ultimately to Dōgen in Japan.

He is mentioned in Sōtō genealogies between Ryōzan Enkan (43^rd) and Tōshi Gisei (45^th), and his memory is honored for having preserved the flame of Caodong dharma during a period of profound darkness.

Sources

• Morten Schlütter, How Zen Became Zen: The Dispute over Enlightenment and the Formation of Chan Buddhism in Song-Dynasty China, University of Hawai'i Press, 2008
• Andy Ferguson, Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings, Wisdom Publications, 2011
• Xudeng Lu (續傳燈錄, 1101) — Continuation of the Transmission of the Lamp
• Juefan Huihong, Chanlin sengbao zhuan (1119) — Chronicle of the Sangha Treasure in the Chan Groves
• Heinrich Dumoulin, Zen Buddhism: A History — India and China, Wisdom Publications, 2005
• Wikipedia — Dayang Jingxuan