Fahai

Fahai on the DRL

Classical Chinese Authors

法海

English Phonetics	Fahai
Sort Name	Fahai

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

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Month
Gender
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Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Biographical Information

Fahai. (J. Hōkai; K. Pǒphae 法海) (d.u.). In Chinese, "Sea of Dharma": a disciple of Huineng, the sixth patriarch (Liuzu) of the Chan zong. Fahai is said to have been the head monk of the monastery of Tafansi in Shaozhou Prefecture, where Huineng is presumed to have delivered a sermon on the "sudden" teachings (dunjiao) of the Southern school (Nan zong) of Chan. Fahai is dubiously credited with compiling the written record of this sermon, the Liuzu tan jing ("Platform Sūtra of the Sixth Patriarch"). A rather late "brief preface” (luexu) to the Liuzu tan jing is also retrospectively attributed to Fahai. The story of this figure may have been based on a monk by the same name who was affiliated with the Niutou zong of Chan. (Source: "Fahai." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 289. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

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The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases.