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百丈惟政 Baizhang Weizheng (8th-9th c.)
(Rōmaji:) Hyakujō Isei
百丈法正 Baizhang Fazheng (d. 819)
(Rōmaji:) Hyakujō Hōshō
百丈涅槃 Baizhang Niepan (d. 828)
(Rōmaji:) Hyakujō Nehan
Baizhang Weizheng (百丈惟政 Pai-chang Wei-cheng, Hyakujō Isei; 8th–9th c.) was also known as Baizhang Fazheng (d. 819) (百丈法正 Pai-chang Facheng, Hyakujō Hōshō) and Baizhang Niepan (d. 828) (百丈涅槃 Pai-chang Nieh-pan, Hyakujō Nehan).
After Baizhang's death, his disciple Baizhang Fazheng (d. 819) took over as leader of the monastic community, and after his death five years later he was succeeded by another of Baizhang's disciples, Baizhang Niepan (d. 828?).* In 821, the imperial court bestowed on Baizhang the posthumous title Dazhi chanshi (Chan Teacher of Great Wisdom) and the appellation Dabao shenglun (Excellent Discourse of the Great Treasure) to his memorial pagoda. The monastery at Baizhang mountain continued to function as an important center of the Chan school throughout the late Tang and into the Five Dynasties period.
*See Ishii, “Hyakujō shingi no kenkyū,” 39–40. However, in Tō-Godai no zenshū, 143, Suzuki suggests that Baizhang
Fazheng, Baizhang Niepan, and Baizhang Weizheng are all the same person. The confusion started with
Fazheng's and Nieban's stele inscriptions (see QTW 713.3246a for a fragment of Fazheng's inscription). The mix-
up is also evident in the shifting of Weizheng's biography in CDL from among the biographies of Mazu's
disciples to among the biographies of Baizhang's disciples, and vice versa, by the editors of different editions of
the text. It seems to me that Mazu's disciple Weizheng should not be mixed with Baizhang's disciple(s). As for the
Fazheng, who is mentioned in Baizhang's stūpa inscription, and Niepan, it is still uncertain whether they are the
same person (as suggested by Suzuki) or two persons (as implied by Ishii), but to me Ishii's argument seems more
convincing. To add to the confusion, Yanagida has suggested that Fazheng was a disciple of Mazu, not Baizhang.
See Yanagida, “Shinzoku tōshi no keifu: jo no ichi,”25.
Ordinary Mind as the Way
The Hongzhou School and the Growth of Chan Buddhism
by Mario Poceski
See pp. 51, 74-75.
Baizhang Niepan, "Fazheng"
by Andy Ferguson
In: Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings, Wisdom Publications, pp. 142-143.
BAIZHANG NIEPAN (n.d.) was a student of Baizhang Huaihai. Little is recorded of Baizhang Niepan’s life. It is known that upon the death of his teacher, he assumed the abbacy of his temple. The Wudeng Huiyuan offers this short story concerning this teacher.
One day, Zen master Baizhang Niepan spoke to the congregation, saying, “If all of you go and till the field, then I’ll lecture on the great meaning.”
When the monks had finished plowing the field they returned and asked the master to expound on the great meaning.
Niepan held up his hands before the monks.
The monks were dumbfounded.
(In the Song dynasty, Zen master Juefan Hongzhi compiled a text known as The Record of the Monasteries. In that record it says, “Fazheng [Baizhang Niepan], a second-generation teacher beneath Baizhang Huaihai, was a great wisdom ancestor. He originally studied the Nirvana Sutra. People did not call him by his name, instead referring to him as ‘Zen Master Nirvana.’ When he ascended the Dharma seat his merit was very great. He was the master who told the monks to first plow the field, and then he would tell them the great meaning.” Zen masters Huangbo, Guling, and others all honored him.92 The Tang dynasty literary figure Huang Wufan recorded the details inscribed on his stupa monument that were originally written by Yang Gongquan, [which revealed the master’s] timeless wisdom. The monk Baizhang Weizheng is listed incorrectly in the lamp records as an immediate descendant of Mazu. In the lamp record entitled The Record of the True School there are the two names Wei Zheng and Fazheng listed in the generation of Baizhang Huaihai. [The compiler of that record] Zen master Mingzhao did not realize that these two names were the same person and thus saved them both. Now we correct this error in accordance with the record of Yang Gongquan.)
Baizhang Weizheng
(百丈惟政 Pai-chang Wei-cheng, Hyakujō Isei; 8th–9th c.)
In:
Entangling Vines: A Classic Collection of Zen Koans by Thomas Yuho Kirchner. Wisdom Publications, 2013.
Case 93: 百丈開田 Baizhang's New PaddyBaizhang Weizheng (Niepan) of Hongzhao said to the monks, “If you clear a new rice paddy for me, I will explain to you the Great Principle.”
After clearing the new paddy, the monks returned and asked the master to explain the Great Principle. The master held out his two hands.1
1. Baizhang indicates that there was nothing to impart, outside of the monks’ act of clearing the paddy itself.
Case 193: 百丈說了 Baizhang's “Already Explained”There was an old monk living at the temple of Baizhang Weizheng in Hongzhou. Seeing the sunlight streaming through a window, he asked, “Does the window go to the sunlight or does the sunlight go to the window?”
The master said, “Venerable elder, there’s a guest in your room. You’d better return.”1
Baizhang Weizheng asked Nanquan Puyuan, “Is there a Dharma that enlightened teachers everywhere have never expressed to people?”
Nanquan said, “There is.”
Weizheng asked, “What is it?”
Nanquan answered, “Not-mind, not-buddha, [not-things].”2
Weizheng said, “You’ve just expressed it!”
Nanquan said, “That’s the way I see it; how about you?”
Weizheng replied, “I’m not an ‘enlightened teacher.’ How should I know whether there’s a Dharma that has or hasn’t been expressed?”
Nanquan said, “I don’t understand. Please, Dharma uncle, explain.”
Weizheng responded, “I’ve already explained more than enough.”
1. The passage to this point is sometimes treated as a separate koan. The remaining part of the passage, from “Baizhang Weizheng asked Nanquan Puyuan” to the end, appears as the Main Case of Blue Cliff Record 28 and the Main Case of Wumen guan 27.
2. “Not-things” is added from the versions of this koan found in the Blue Cliff Record and Wumen guan.
