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13. The Disciples under
the Sixth Patriarch.
Some time after this the
Sixth Patriarch settled himself down at the Pao Lin Monastery, better known as
Tsao Ki Shan (So-kei-zan), in Shao Cheu, and it grow into a great centre of Zen
in the Southern States. Under his instruction many eminent Zen masters
qualified themselves as Leaders of the Three Worlds. He did not give the
patriarchal symbol, the Kachaya, to his successors, lest it might cause
needless quarrels among the brethren, as was experienced by himself. He only
gave sanction to his disciples who attained to Enlightenment, and allowed them
to teach Zen in a manner best suited to their own personalities. For instance,
Hüen Kioh (Gen-kaku), a scholar of the Tien Tai doctrine,' well known as the
Teacher of Yung Kia1 (Yo-ka), received a sanction for his spiritual
attainment after exchanging a few words with the master in their first
interview,
and was at once
acknowledged as a Zen teacher. When he reached the zenith of his fame, he was
presented with a crystal bowl together with rich gifts by the Empress Tseh
Tien; and it was in A.D. 705 that the Emperor Chung Tsung invited him in vain
to proceed to the palace, since the latter followed the example of the Fourth
Patriarch.
After the death1 of
the Sixth Patriarch (A.D. 713), the Southern Zen was divided into two schools,
one being represented by Tsing Yuen (Sei-gen), the other by Nan Yoh (Nan-gaku.)
Out of these two main schools soon developed the five2 branches of Zen,
and the faith made a splendid progress. After Tsing Yuen and Nan Yoh, one of
the junior disciples of the Sixth Patriarch, Hwui Chung (E-chu), held an
honourable position for sixteen years as the spiritual adviser to the Emperor
Suh Tsung (A.D. 756762) and to the Emperor Tai Tsung (A.D. 763-779). These two
Emperors were enthusiastic admirers of Zen, and ordered several times the
Kachaya of Bodhidharma to be brought into the palace from the Pao Lin Monastery
that they might do proper homage to it. Within some one hundred and thirty
years after the Sixth Patriarch, Zen
gained so great influence
among higher classes that at the time of the Emperor Süen Tsung (A.D. 847-859)
both the Emperor and his Prime Minister, Pei Hiu, were noted for the practice
of Zen. It may be said that Zen had its golden age, beginning with the reign of
the Emperor Suh Tsung, of the Tang dynasty, until the reign of the Emperor Hiao
Tsung (1163-1189), who was the greatest patron of Buddhism in the Southern Sung
dynasty. To this age belong almost all the greatest Zen scholars' of China. To
this age belong almost all
the eminent men of letters,1 statesmen, warriors, and artists who were known
as the practisers of Zen. To this age belongs the production of almost all Zen
books,2 doctrinal and historical.
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