Jingxi Zhanran

Jingxi Zhanran on the DRL

Classical Chinese Authors • Ordained (Monks and Nuns)

湛然

English Phonetics	Jingxi Zhanran
Sort Name	Jingxi Zhanran
Chinese Script	荊溪湛然
Japanese Transliteration	Keikei Tannen
Korean Transliteration	Hyŏnggye Tamyŏn

Alternate names

• Qi (戚)
• Jingqi 荊溪
• Great Master Miaole (Sublime Bliss)
• Dharma Master Jizhu (Lord of Exegesis)

Dates

Birth:	711
Death:	782
Place of birth:	Jingqi, (present-day Jiangsu province)

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Religious Affiliation

Tiantai

Teachers

Xuanlang (673–754)

Biographical Information

Jingxi Zhanran. (J. Keikei Tannen; K. Hyŏnggye Tamyŏn 荊溪湛然 (711–782). Chinese monk who is the putative ninth patriarch of the Tiantai zong; also known as Great Master Miaole (Sublime Bliss) and Dharma Master Jizhu (Lord of Exegesis). Zhanran was a native of Jingqi in present-day Jiangsu province. At age nineteen, Zhanran became a student of the monk Xuanlang (673–754), who had revitalized the community on Mt. Tiantai. After Xuanlang's death, Zhanran continued his efforts to unify the disparate regional centers of Tiantai learning under the school's banner; for his efforts, Zhanran is remembered as one of the great revitalizers of the Tiantai tradition. A gifted exegete who composed numerous commentaries on the treatises of Tiantai Zhiyi, Zhanran established Zhiyi's Mohe zhiguan, Fahua xuanyi, and Fahua wenju as the three central texts of the Tiantai exegetical tradition. His commentary on the Mohe zhiguan, the Mohe zhiguan fuxing zhuanhong jue, is the first work to correlate zhiguan (calmness and insight) practice as outlined by Zhiyi with the teachings of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīkasūtra ("Lotus Sūtra"), the central scripture of the Tiantai tradition. In his Jingang Pi ("Adamantine Scalpel"), Zhanran argued in favor of the controversial proposition that insentient beings also possess the buddha-nature (foxing). Zhanran's interpretation of Tiantai doctrine and the distinction he drew between his own tradition and the rival schools of the Huayan zong and Chan zong set the stage for the internal Tiantai debates during the Song dynasty between its on-mountain (shanjia) and off-mountain (shanwai) branches. Zhanran lectured at various monasteries throughout the country and was later invited by emperors Xuanzong (r. 712–756), Suzong (r. 756–762), and Daizong (r. 762–779) to lecture at court, before retiring to the monastery Guoqingsi on Mt. Tiantai. (Source: "Jingxi Zhanran." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 391–92. Princeton University Press, 2014. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

Links

Wiki Pages

• Jingxi Zhanran on the DRL
• Jingxi Zhanran on the LIB
• Jingxi Zhanran on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
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All beings have Buddha-nature
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If "Qualified", explain:
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Promotes how many vehicles?
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
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What is Buddha-nature?
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.