Zhaozhou Congshen
Chinese Chan Buddhist monk (778–897)
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Biography
Zhaozhou became ordained as a monk at an early age. At the age of 18, he met Nanquan Puyuan (南泉普願 748–835; J: Nansen Fugan), a successor of Mazu Daoyi (709–788; J. Baso Do-itsu), and eventually received the Dharma from him. Zhaozhou continued to practice under Nanquan until the latter's death.
Subsequently, Zhaozhou began to travel throughout China, visiting the prominent Chan masters of the time before finally, at the age of eighty, settling in Guanyinyuan (觀音院), a ruined temple in northern China. There, for the next forty years, he taught a small group of monks. This temple, now called Bailin Temple, was rebuilt after the Cultural Revolution and is nowadays again a prominent center of Chinese Buddhism.
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Influence
Zhaozhou is sometimes touted as the greatest Chan master of Tang dynasty China during a time when its hegemony was disintegrating as more and more regional military governors (jiédùshǐ) began to assert their power. Zhaozhou's lineage died out quickly due to the many wars and frequent purges of Buddhism in China at the time, and cannot be documented beyond the year 1000.
Zhaozhou is remembered for his verbal inventiveness and sense of humor. One of his recorded sayings is:
A monk asked the Master, "What is a true statement?" Zhaozhou replied, "Your mother is ugly."
Many koans in both the Blue Cliff Record and The Gateless Gate concern Zhaozhou, with twelve cases in the former and five in the latter being attributed to him. Wumenguan case (koan) 19 records a dialogue between Nanquan and Zhaozhou, with Jōshū asking Nansen "What is the Way [Tao]?", to which Nansen responds ordinary mind is the way, a famous dictum of Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and the Hongzhou school. He is probably best known for the first koan in The Gateless Gate:
A monk asked Chao-chou, "Has the dog Buddha-nature or not?" Chao-chou said, "Wu."
Japanese Zen monk Shunryū Suzuki refers to Zhaozhou (as Jōshū) in his book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. He uses the following saying from Zhaozhou to illustrate the point that Zen practice should not have a particular purpose or goal: "A clay Buddha cannot cross water; a bronze Buddha cannot get through a furnace; a wooden Buddha cannot get through fire".