Ouyi Zhixu

Ouyi Zhixu ( 1599–1655) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar in 17th century China. He is considered the Ninth Patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land tradition, the Thirty-First Patriarch of the Tiantai tradition as well as a Chan master. He was also one of the Four Eminent Monks of the Wanli Era, after Yunqi Zhuhong (1535–1615), Hanshan Deqing (1546–1623), and Zibo Zhenke (1543–1604).

Zhixu is well known for his non-sectarian and syncretic writings, which draw on various traditions like Tiantai, Pure Land, Yogacara, and Chan, and also engage with Confucian, Daoist and Jesuit sources.

Life Ouyi was a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu province (South Zhili). He was initially a student of Confucianism and rejected Buddhism, writing various anti-Buddhist tracts. However, after reading the works of Yunqi Zhuhong, he changed his mind and burned his old writings. According to Foulks, his use of lots (rather than lineage ties or doctrinal reasons) for writing from a specific Buddhist tradition suggests that he saw these schools of thought as "not only compatible but also interchangeable." Ouyi also became a public teacher during this time, writing and lecturing extensively. At the age of 56, he underwent serious illness, after which he devoted himself almost entirely to Pure Land practice. In his Preface to the Pure Land Repentance, Zhixu explains how in his later years he turned to Pure Land practice:When I first aspired to the Mahayana, I diligently practiced for several years. Although I did not dare to be arrogant and claim to have arrived home, I felt that I had gained some strength in my practice. I then thought that I could not be reborn in the Pure Land. However, when I was seriously ill and close to death, I found that none of the methods I had practiced were of any use. I then single-mindedly aspired to return to the Pure Land. However, I did not abandon my original practice, hoping to combine Chan and Pure Land practice. After meeting Boshan, I fully understood the Chan sickness of the present age. I then resolutely abandoned Chan practice and cultivated Pure Land practice. Although I was criticized for being like a person who stops eating because of choking, I did not care. Ouyi died in 1656, at fifty-seven. While Ouyi had previously written in his will that he wanted his remains to be burned and scattered in rivers as food for animals, his followers kept some of his bones as relics and placed them in a stupa at Lingfeng temple. Today, this temple has been renovated, and it continues to celebrate its ties to master Ouyi. In 2007, a new reliquary courtyard and memorial hall for Ouyi were constructed. In the writings of Gukun (fl. 1855-d. 1892), Ouyi was raised to the status of a patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism, and this status was also promoted by Yinguang.

Ouyi Zhixu's work was influential on many later Chinese Buddhists including modern reformists like Taixu (1889–1947), Yinshun, and Hongyi (1880–1942). The modern Chinese Buddhist teacher Sheng Yen (1930–2009) wrote his doctoral dissertation on Ouyi, and considered Ouyi to be one of the greatest modern Buddhist figures (alongside Taixu, Ouyang Jingwu, and Yinshun).

His prolific writings and popularity with scholars made Ouyi one of the “four great eminent monks of the late Ming period" ”. Ouyi had over a hundred commentaries written on his works by Japanese Buddhist monks during the Edo Period. Ouyi was well versed in the different Buddhist traditions of China, and according to his autobiography, he saw himself as being part of an inclusive tradition that included diverse Buddhisms such as Tiantai, Chan, Vinaya, and Pure Land. Numerous scholars see Ouyi as being affiliated with the Tiantai school. This is because his works show a deep influence from Tiantai ideas and doctrinal schemas, including the three truths, three contemplations, four teachings and so on. Throughout his life, he studied and practiced multiple Chinese lineages, including Chan, Vinaya, Tiantai and Pure Land. The basic source of this metaphysical theory is found in key Mahayana sources such as the Awakening of Faith, Śūraṅgama Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra, both of which were commented upon by Ouyi.

Pure Land teaching

As with other Ming authors on Pure Land at the time, Ouyi Zhixu defended the view that Pure Land practice worked through a symbiotic combination of the "other power" of the Buddha Amitabha with the "self power" of a person's Buddhist practice. For Ouyi, this resonance is grounded in the classic Chinese Buddhist metaphysical view of Buddhahood as a holistic and harmonious ultimate reality. In his Commentary on the Amitābha-sūtra, Ouyi explains the Pure Land teaching by relying on the philosophy of the Awakening of Faith and on the Yogacara mind-only (cittamatra) school. According to Ouyi's commentary, there is only one ultimate reality: the Dharmakaya, or Buddha-Mind, also known as the One Mind. Everything is but a manifestation within the vast ocean of this One Mind, like waves, or ripples. This includes all worlds, Buddhas, sentient beings, times, places, and experiences across the entirety of existence. The One Mind perspective highlights our connection to the absolute while preserving the conventional realities.

According to Ouyi, the best skillful means in our times for attaining the true Buddha Mind is to practice nianfo (buddha recollection):Among all expedients , if we seek the most direct and the most complete, none is as good as seeking birth in the Pure Land through Buddha-remembrance .

This is because "the method of reciting the Buddha-name, applies to people of high, medium, and limited capacities. It encompasses both the level of phenomena, and the level of inner truth (noumenon), omitting nothing. It embraces both Zen Buddhism and Scriptural Buddhism, and leaves nothing out." Ouyi also thinks this is the superior method because it is the most inclusive and accessible, "embracing people of all mentalities and the one that is easiest to practice."

Ouyi taught a threefold schema of nianfo (buddha recollection):

Other Buddha Recollection: chanting the name of Amitabha while focusing on the Buddha’s merits and adornments as the object of contemplation. Self Buddha Recollection: contemplating one’s own intrinsic Buddha-nature, the formless originally enlightened mind. Self and Other Buddha Recollection: This reflects the unity of mind, Buddha, and sentient beings. It is a simultaneous contemplation of one's inner Buddha-mind and the external Buddha realms.

Furthermore, Ouyi also writes that "the name of Amitabha is the inherently enlightened true nature of sentient beings, and reciting the name of Amitabha reveals this enlightenment." For Ouyi, the other-power of Amitabha Buddha (which is also inherent in our own mind) infuses his name with the force to lead beings to the pure land. Due to this, when someone recites the name (even those with low spiritual faculties), they merge with the Buddha, even without making an effort to meditate ("without bothering with visualization or meditation"). Thus, Ouyi writes:We must realize that there is no name of Amitabha apart from the mind of infinite light and infinite life that is before us now at this moment, and there is no way for us to penetrate the mind of infinite light and infinite life that is before us now at this moment apart from the name of Amitabha. I hope you will ponder this deeply!

Ouyi writes that it is important to practice nianfo with a focused and undisturbed mind, as this will guarantee rebirth in the pure land. However, he also held that even if our mind is scattered, reciting the name still plants wholesome seeds in the mind, due to the Buddha's mysterious power and compassion towards all: His moderate position is also evident in his understanding of how meditation (chan), doctrine (jiao) and precepts (lü) are all important and complementary elements of Buddhist practice. Believing in phenomena ( shì) means having deep faith that this present single thought-moment appearing before one is inexhaustible, and therefore all the worlds of the ten directions manifested from the mind are also inexhaustible. The Land of Ultimate Bliss really does exist ten billion Buddha-lands away, a place of utmost purity and splendor. This is not like some parable from the Zhuangzi. This is called belief in phenomena. Believing in principle ( lǐ) means having deep faith that although the Land of Ultimate Bliss is ten billion Buddha-lands away, it does not really exist outside oneself [out of] this single thought-moment of mind present before you, for the nature of this very single thought moment is truly all-encompassing (, “without an outside”).

Repentance, precepts and mantra Ouyi was actively involved in Tiantai repentance rituals. He wrote three works on repentance rites from a Tiantai perspective and practiced these rites extensively. This is because he was concerned that his past slandering of Buddhism (when he was a Confucian in his youth) had left a deep karmic imprint. Ouyi practices various Tiantai repentance rituals throughout his life, but he performed Zunshi’s Amitābha repentance (Mituo chanfa) more often than the others.

Ouyi was also deeply interested in Buddhist precepts and the rituals for conferring precepts. His works discuss the Tiantai concept of “precept-essence” (jie ti, ) and how to maintain this essence pure. For Ouyi, maintaining ethical precepts remained a necessary aspect of the path, even if one relies on the Buddha's response power.

Ouyi was also devoted to Dizang and his dhāraṇī. Dizang (Kṣitigarbha) was a bodhisattva known for saving people from hell and other bad rebirths and for having the power to transform bad karma. Along with these mantras, he also promoted the Amitābha Pure Land Mantra. Ouyi wrote a Chan interpretation of the Book of Changes (Yijing) and he said that this was "nothing else but an introduction of Chan into Confucianism, in order to entice Confucians to understand Chan".

In his autobiography, Ouyi describes himself as "a follower of the eight negations". This term can have different connotations, including eight negations found in Madhyamaka sources ("neither arising nor ceasing, neither eternal nor impermanent, neither unitary nor different, neither coming nor going"). However, Ouyi also writes that this term can mean that he does not follow or study "Confucianism, Chan, Vinaya, and the Teachings." Foulks writes that this means Ouyi was "refusing to be categorized as Confucian or Buddhist (in any particular tradition), Ouyi instead espouses the most general religious identification of “follower” or “a person on the path” (daoren)". According to Foulks, in his autobiography, Ouyi defends a "broad, nonsectarian religiosity" instead of focusing on any specific Buddhist tradition or seeing himself as part of any "school" (zong). Zhixu generally writes his critiques of Christianity from a Confucian perspective, drawing on Confucian works instead of citing Buddhist sources.

Some of his important works include:

Essentials of Doctrine and Contemplation (教观钢宗) a primer on Tiantai Buddhism Essential Explanations of the Amitābha-sūtra (Emituojing yaojie). This has been translated into English by Jonathan Christopher Cleary as Mind-seal of the Buddhas: patriarch Ou-i's commentary on the Amitabha Sutra. The commentary "often uses T’ien-t’ai categories, and is firmly based on the ontology of Yogacara philosophy." Ten essentials about the Pure Land ( Jingtu shiyao), a collection of essential Pure Land teachings Explanation of the Keypoints to the Heart Sutra (Taisho # M555). Meaning of the Lankāvatāra Sūtra, in one fascicle . Commentary on the Lankāvatāra Sūtra, in ten fascicles . The Meaning of the Brahma Net Sūtra . Zhouyi chanjie (A Chan Explanation of the Book of Changes). Yuezangzhijin , explanations of the titles of the sutras in the Chinese Tripitaka. Fahaiguanlan , contains outlines of major Mahayana and Hinayana sūtras and shastras.