Venerable Master Lin Chi Yi-Sen (Lin-chi Yi-sen, Lin-chi I-hsuan, Rinzai, Rinzai Gigen) founded one of the most influential school of Buddhism after the Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng. For centuries his followers were the leading Ch'an (Zen) Buddhist masters of China. In the twelfth century, his teachings spread to Japan and formed the Rinzai School of Buddhism.

Lin Chi's method of teaching was straightforward, blunt, and rough. He did not hesitate to use the stick on his disciples, if he thought they needed to be knocked out of their's attachment, or conventional reasoning and logic. Philosophical or metaphysical questions were answered by Lin Chi with a swift blow. Students and disciples were to go out of their paradigms and habitual patters of thinking.

When Lin Chi asked a question, the response could not be based on logic, traditional teachings, and reason. The disciples could not lean on any model or pattern of thinking. Lin Chi pulled out the rug from under everyone. The ordinary models of thinking were unacceptable and there was nothing to hold on to. When students wanted to know the truth sincerely, whole-heartedly, and there would occur an abandonment of all former thinking, and the mind would open up to the direct experience of its own nature.

When Lin Chi was a young monk, he studied under Master Huang Po Si-Yin (?-857) in Huang Po Shan (Yi-fong, Jiangxi). During the first three years at the temple, Lin Chi went unnoticed. He minded his own business and did what he was told; his daily schedule included: work in the fields, meditation, helping in the kitchens, and preparing baths for the older monks.

The head monk, Mu Chou, observed and noticed Lin Chi’s mindfulness and meditation in action. He was impressed with Lin Chi’s humanity and genuineness, and wanted the Master to notice Lin Chi. Since Lin Chi was so honest and simple, he never had anything to ask the Master, and did not make himself the center of attention for no reason.

So Mu Chou advised Lin Chi to ask the following question: “What is the fundamental principle of Buddhism?” Lin Chi asked Huang Po this question three times, and each time Huang Po hit him with a six-foot pole. Lin Chi failed to understand the truth in these blows, and decided to leave the monastery. He decided to be a wanderling and learn from ordinary life what he failed to learn in the monastic setting. When he went to take his leave from Master, Huang Po told him not to go far away, but to first go to Master Ta Yu, who will teach him what he needs to know.

Lin Chi went to Ta Yu’s monastery and told him what had transpired. Ta Yu then said, “Why, Huang Po was to you as your own grandmother. Why have you come here suddenly, asking me about your faults?” Lin Chi became Enlightened. Up until this moment, Lin Chi had a dualistic perception of Buddhism and teachings, they were ideas in his mind, separate from himself. He had always searched for the truth outside of himself, but now, in a flash, he experienced existence as it is in itself, and he realized the emptiness of thoughts, words, and philosophical explanations.

He realized the true generosity and liberating kindness of Master Huang Po. He also understood that his question about Buddhism came from illusion! Where do YOUR questions come from?

When Lin Chi returned to Master Huang Po’s monastery, he told him what had happened. Huang Po was delighted and said, “Just wait till Ta Yu comes here. I’ll give that blabbermouth a real beating.” Lin Chi cried out, “Why wait? You have it (Reality) all now!” And Lin Chi hit Master Huang Po, who was secretly amused by this. But to maintain the attitude of a master, he shouted, “A madman! He’s come back to pull the tiger’s whiskers. “Lin Chi then responded with a thundering great shout of “Ho!” Lin Chi’s “Ho” became famous and is still used by Rinzai masters. “Ho” became “Kwatz” in the Japanese language; this word is shouted to empty the student’s mind and free him from dualistic, ego-centred perception.

Lin Chi’s teachings encourage people to have faith that their natural spontaneous functioning is the true Buddha-Mind. In this pure state of being, one does not obstruct, block, withhold, or repress anything. In this state of being, freedom from attachment does not mean to be without feeling, but rather it means: entering into all activities with your whole heart, not holding anything back, being at one with any situation. This is the enlightened way to live an ordinary life. When Lin Chi’s students told him they were searching for deliverance from this world he would ask them: if they were delivered from the world, where could they go?

Lin-chi is really saying that the essential Buddha is none other than the One who controls the physical body. This “true man without rank” has no form and is definitely not a fixed thing. The “true man” is intrinsically free from the basic qualities of material and mental phenomena. The One who sits upon this lump of red flesh is free of impermanence, suffering, and insubstantiality - what Buddhists call “the three marks” of conditioned phenomena. True nature is intrinsically free, now and forever.

The teaching of Lin Chi are not concerned with ideas of Buddha or God, but with the Reality of the human being. A true human being should not search for what he can get out of Life, but for what Life is in itself. A true human being sees things as they are, is free from wrong ideas about reality and acts in harmony with the universe at all times.

When Master Li Chi was alive, his methods of teaching were considered eccentric and out of ordinary. However, when he was passing into Nirvana, he composed this profound stanza to reveal his final teaching:

Can’t stop the thoughts arising and disappearing in your mind,
True awareness shining boundlessly, you must focus on the one that doesn’t move.
To realize there are neither forms nor names, nothing to pursue,
Sword of Wisdom has been used, must hurry to hone it.

Reference:
“Zen-Direct pointing to reality”, by Anne Bancroft, Published by Thames and Hudson, New York, USA, 1993
“The Record of Lin-chi”, Kyoto, Japan: Institute For Zen Studies, 1975.

Tag: Venerable Master Lin Chi