Linji Yixuan

Linji Yixuan (Chinese临济 义 玄, Linji Yixuan Pinyin, W.-G. Lin -chi I- hsüan; Jap. Rinzai Gigen; † 866/867 ) is the founder of the Linji school named after him zong (临济 宗, Linji Zong, Lin -chi tsung ), the meditation Buddhism ( Chan) in Imperial China, which gains a foothold in the consequence also in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Best known is the Japanese Rinzai shū, which is a branch of Japanese Zen Buddhism.

Linji was as a young monk in the Huayan tradition an avid student of the Buddhist rules and treatises. One day he is said to have burned all his written documents, to become a monk of the Chan school, whose teachings ' outside of the scriptures ' were transmitted. Thus he became a student of Huangbo and its Dharma successor, and received its name from the Linji Temple in Hebei, where he from 851, during the period of the great Buddhist persecution ( from 845 ), worked. Some of his most important Dharma lectures, briefings and dialogues have been handed down by his disciples in the Linji Lu (Japanese Rinzai Roku ).

Quotes

"If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha [ ... ] then you may obtain exemption for the first time, you will no longer captivated by things and penetrates all free."