Zongmi

Zongmi on the DRL

Classical Chinese Authors • Ordained (Monks and Nuns)

English Phonetics	Guifeng Zongmi
Chinese Script	圭峰 宗密
Chinese Transliteration	Guīfēng Zōngmì
Japanese Transliteration	Keihō Shūmitsu
Korean Transliteration	Kyubong Chongmil

Dates

Birth:	780
Death:	841
Place of birth:	Xichong, present-day Sichuan 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

Heze school of Chan

Teachers

Daoyuan · Nanyin Weizhong · Chengguan

Other Biographical info:

Links

Wiki Pages

• Zongmi on the DRL
• Zongmi on the LIB
• Zongmi on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Guifeng Zongmi. (J. Keihō Shūmitsu; K. Kyubong Chongmil 圭峰 宗密) (780-841). Chinese Chan master and historian; putative fifth patriarch of the Huayan tradition and successor in the Heze school of Chan; best known for positing the fundamental harmony between the scriptural teachings of Buddhism and Chan practice. Zongmi was a native of Xichong in present-day Sichuan province. Although little is known of his early life, Zongmi is said to have received a classical Confucian education. In 804, Zongmi encountered the monk Daoyuan (d.u.), purportedly a fourth-generation lineage holder of the Heze line of Chan, and became his student. During this period, Zongmi also carried on his studies of the Yuanjue jing. In 808, Zongmi received the full monastic precepts from Daoyuan, who then recommended the monk Nanyin Weizhong (d. 821) as a suitable teacher. In 810, Zongmi met the monk Lingfeng (d.U.), a disciple of the Huayan monk Chengguan, at the monastery of Huijuesi. Two years later Zongmi began his studies of the Avataṃsakasūtra under Chengguan in Chang’an. In 816, Zongmi began his residence at the monastery of Zhijusi on Zhongnanshan and in 821 he retired to the temple Caotangsi on Gui peak (Guifeng), whence he acquired his toponym. There, Zongmi devoted himself to such works as his influential commentary on the Yuanjue jing, the Yuanjue jing dashu. In 828, Zongmi was invited to the palace and given a purple robe and the title Dade (Great Virtue). During his stay at the capital he met many important statesmen including Pei Xiu (787-860). Zongmi was a prolific writer whose works include commentaries on the Avataṃsakasūtra, Vajracchedikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra, Dasheng qixin lun, Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra, Sifen lü ("Four-Part Vinaya"), and others. He also composed a massive, 100-roll history of the Chan school, the Chanyuan zhuquanji ("Collected Writings on the Source of Chan"), only the prolegomenon to which is extant. Zongmi's writings were extremely influential in the mature Korean Sǒn school and, especially, in the thought and practice of Pojo Chinul (1158-1210), who drew on Zongmi to advocate an accord between the traditions of Sǒn (C. Chan; meditation) and Kyo (C. Jiao; doctrine). (Source: "Guifeng Zongmi." In The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, 335. Princeton University Press, 2104. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt46n41q.27.)

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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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.

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.