Hung-chih Cheng-chüeh

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Hung-chih Cheng-chüeh (Jap., Wanshi Shōgaku; 1091–1157). Chinese Chʾan/Zen master of the Sōtō school who clarified the distinction from Rinzai Zen, in argument with his contemporary, Ta-hui Tsung-kao. Where Ta-hui advocated the way of kōan, Hung-chih valued more highly the way of silent illumination (mo-chao chʾan; Jap., mokushō zen), and responded to Ta-hui in a brilliant work of only 288 characters, Mo-chao ming/Mokushomei, (The Seal of Silent Illumination). Ta-hui attacked this as false Zen (jazen). Hung-chih rejected Ta-hui's method as kōan-gazing Zen, kʾan-hua chʾan/kanna zen, and the terms mokushō zen and kanna zen now designate the sides in this division; but the division is not absolute, and remains one of emphasis and of different understanding of the status of kōan and of satori (enlightenment).

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