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As for background, Danxia doesn’t appear to have made a lot of an influence in his lifetime, presumably as a result of his well-known instructor, Daokai, outlived him by a few 12 months. Danxia died at simply 53 with no trip of the shadow. So a lot in order that Danxia’s most well-known college students turned often called the Three Sage Grandchildren of Daokai.
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Huizhao Qingyu (1078-1140) was senior and possibly most well-known in his lifetime (just about unknown at present). He outlived Danxia by 20 years.
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Zhenjie Qingliao (1088-1151; English, Tall Reeds Purity Field; Japanese, Tanka Shijun) by whom the surviving Soto lineage to Dogen in a number of generations and to the current flows. Qingliao was additionally the monk that Dahui harshly criticized for his silent illumination proclivities. He outlived Danxia by 30 years.
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Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157) now in all probability probably the most well-known Caodong lineage instructor of the Song dynasty. Hongzhi’s lineage was additionally transmitted to Japan the place it was related extra with the Rinzai Five Mountain system than with the Dogen Soto line. Hongzhi’s lineage died out each in China and Japan after a a number of generations, however Hongzhi’s educating remains to be talked about at present. For instance, see Taigen Leigton’s Cultivating the Empty Field and Guo Gu’s Silent Illumination. He outlived Danxia by 40 years.
A pattern of Danxia’s educating
You ought to understand that that is the final day of your life.
Have you ready your self for at present’s matter?
You can not put together by finding out the sūtras and teachings, you can not put together by reciting out of your Chan notebooks, and you can not put together by sustaining a intelligent thoughts.
Precisely presently if you end up dying and all confused, forgetting immediately all the things you remembered prior to now—at this level it’s mandatory that you just set up your self within the floor of reality, and it’s no use attempting to do it in a superficial method. Right away, for 24 hours a day, it’s best to all put together for it by ceasing and resting.
You should fully let go of all worldly issues and sit completely nonetheless within the “dry wood hall.” You should die a flip after which on this loss of life set up all the things in the entire universe.
From Morten Schlutter’s How Zen Became Zen
