Puhua
Puhua | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Born | 770 |
| Died | 840 |
| Religion | Mahayana Buddhism |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| School | Chán |
| Lineage | Linji (Note: Puhua is considered, or at least fabled to have historically founded "Pǔhuà zōng" or the eponymic Fuke-shū sect. — *See article for details.*) |
| Senior posting | |
| Teacher | Panshan Baoji (J. Banzan Hoshaku) |
Zhenzhou Puhua (Chinese: 普化; pinyin: Zhenzhou Pǔhuà; Japanese: Jinshu Fuke; ca. 770-840) [1] was an obscure Chinese Chán (J. Zen) bhikku-priest, notorious for being peculiarly, ambiguously and yet essentially connected to the origin of the ephemeral Fuke[sub-]sect of Japanese Zen Buddhism, which flourished during the nation's Medieval period. It is naturally to Puhua (or in this case, transliterated to Fuke) that the Fuke school owes its namesake; and historically he is referred to as the order's founder. However its most notable and unique characteristics (many more of which are still considered ill-defined or unknown), such as the development and practice of suizen ("blowing zen" or "blowing meditation") with the shakuhachi, and the school's mendicant adherents known as komusō, are seemingly unrelated to the life of Puhua, as it is known.
While much of the information regarding Puhua's connection to the komusō is most-certainly scarce, he is inextricably linked to the rise of the sect in the Feudal era of Japan's history, if not merely is ideological basis, despite the fact that records refer to him as living in China several centuries earlier.
Background and life
Born in Tang Dynasty China in the year 770, Puhua was a known contemporary of Linji Yixuan (临济义玄; pinyin: Línjì Yìxuán; J. Rinzai Gigen; 800–866) and a late disciple in his eponymous Linji/Rinzai lineage.
He is traditionally considered one of the most prominent students of his master, shīfu Panshan Baoji (J. rōshi Banzan Hoshaku), himself a student of Mazu, a in the line of Dharma transmission from the ambiguous and vague "Sudden Enlightenment" (頓教) southern Chán [proto-]school originating with the sixth and final Patriarch of Chán, Huineng.
Most of the details regarding Puhua's affairs are recorded in the Record of Linji, where he is presented (albeit briefly) as Panshan's chief student. Under Panshan, he had a rather notorious reputation as a multi-talented Zen ascetic who was at once inventive, innovative and often absurdly spontaneous, as well as rough and uncompromising in the way he expressed himself. He was well-known for typically acting in such a strange or outlandish manner, considered by some his method of communicating nonverbally to others on the basis of an incommunicable nature inherent in all things.
The Fuke-shū
Puhua is traditionally considered to either be the direct founder of, or at least the philosophical and spiritual antecedent to the Fuke-shū (in Chinese rendered literally as Pǔhuà zōng). Fuke Zen, or Fuke-shū was
References
- ^ "Zhenzhou Puhua - Zen Master". Zen Masters. Osho Bob's [The] Living Workshop. Archived from the original (Web) on an ambiguous date. Retrieved 14 July 2011.
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