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Mazu Daoyi

Mazu Daoyi

709 CE–788 CE · Shifang (Hanzhou)

709–788 CE

Mazu Daoyi (709–788 CE) was one of the most influential Chan masters of the Tang dynasty, founder of the Hongzhou school and heir of the lineage descending from Huineng. Born near Chengdu in Sichuan, he taught chiefly in Jiangxi, where his vivid, spontaneous teaching style—shouts, blows, and paradoxical exchanges, and the dictum that 'ordinary mind is the Way'—helped define the 'encounter dialogue' that became central to later Chan and Zen. A great many of the celebrated Tang masters trace their lineage to him. He is a well-attested historical figure, though the most colorful anecdotes come from later recorded-sayings collections.

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Shifang (Hanzhou)

What they did here

DOCUMENTED ORIGIN: born northwest of Chengdu in Sichuan; ordained young and trained in the Chan lineage descending from Huineng through Nanyue Huairang.

About Shifang (Hanzhou)

Shifang, in the Hanzhou area of what is now Sichuan province, China (north of modern Chengdu), was the birthplace of the eighth-century Chan master Mazu Daoyi, founder of the Hongzhou school whose vigorous, spontaneous teaching style shaped the 'golden age' of Tang Chan.

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The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Mazu Daoyi’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

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