Seng-tsʾan

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Seng-tsʾan (Jap., Sōsan). Third patriarch (soshigata) in the Chʾan Buddhist lineage in China, and dharma-successor (hassu) of Huikʾo. He died in 606 CE, but nothing certain is otherwise known of him. He is said to have been attracted by Laṇkāvatāra Sūtra, which he received from Hui-kʾo, and also to have written the poem Hsin-hsin-ming (Jap., Shinjimei, ‘Inscribed on the Believing Mind’), but its union of Taoist and Mahāyāna ideas make this unlikely. It (especially its opening) is much quoted in Zen writings.

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