Northern Chán and the Siddhaṃ Songs

Abstract

In this paper, we will examine a text that enjoyed great popularity in the northwestern region of China, with multiple copies preserved in the Dūnhuáng corpus. Although probably authored during the eighth century and conveying typical Northern Chán ideas, the text was copied repeatedly in later years, evidencing that Northern Chán thinking remained en vogue in at least some sectors of the Chinese Buddhist sphere. As mentioned in the Introduction to this volume, Dūnhuáng Chán adherents were well aware of the “split” in the Chán School, resulting in the so-called “Northern” and “Southern” branches. However, in Dūnhuáng, Chán Buddhists could identify with both approaches, and seem tohavehada reconciliatory attitude towards these sectariandevelopments. The text under discussion not only exemplifies early Chán terminology but also illustrates how Sanskrit versification appeared in material relating to Northern Chán. The text in question is the Fóshuō Léngqié jīng chánmén xītán zhāng佛說 楞伽經禪門悉談章 (The Siddhaṃ Chapter of the Gate of Chán [According to] the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra Expounded by the Buddha; hereafter the Siddhaṃ Song), of which several copies have been identified.1 This text was so popular that it was translated into Old Uighur several times (see Chapter Three, this volume). This suggests that early Chán thinking, concepts, and terms remained popular, an observation that is confirmed when we examine the translations in Tibetan (see Chapter Four, this volume). The Siddhaṃ Song is ascribed to a previously unknown Chánmaster named Dìnghuì定惠, who is variously said to have hailed fromDàxīngshānMonastery 大興善寺 in Luòyáng orHuìshànMonastery會善寺 onMt. Sōng嵩嶽 inHénán province.2