École Caodong

Caodong school () is a Chinese Chan Buddhist branch and one of the Five Houses of Chán. The school emphasised sitting meditation (Ch: zuochan, Jp: zazen), and the "five ranks" teaching. During the Song dynasty, Caodong masters like Honzhi developed "silent illumination" (mozhao) meditation. The key figure in the Caodong school was founder Dongshan Liangjie (807-869, 洞山良价, Jpn. Tozan Ryokai) and his heir Caoshan Benji (840-901, 曹山本寂, Ts'ao-shan Pen-chi, Jpn. Sōzan Honjaku). Some attribute the name "Cáodòng" as a union of "Dongshan" and "Caoshan". The "Cao" may also be from Cáoxī (曹溪), the "mountain-name" of Huineng, the Sixth Ancestor of Chan, as Caoshan was of little importance unlike his contemporary and fellow Dharma-heir, Yunju Daoying. The Caodong school was founded by Dongshan Liangjie and his Dharma-heir Caoshan Benji. Dongshan traced back his lineage to Shitou Xiqian (700-790), a contemporary of Mazu Daoyi (709–788). Sayings to the effect that Shitou and Mazu were the two great masters of their day date from decades after their respective deaths. Shítóu's retrospective prominence owes much to the importance of Dongshan Liangjie. Shítóu does not appear to have been influential or famous during his lifetime: He was a little-known teacher who led a reclusive life and had relatively few disciples. For decades after Shitou's death, his lineage remained an obscure provincial tradition. In the 11th century the Caodong-school nearly extinguished. Dayang Jingxuan (942-1027), the last descendant of the Caodong-lineage passed on his dharma-transmission via Fushan Fayuan, a teacher from the Linji school, to Fayuan's student Touzi Yiqing (1032-1083), who was born five years after Jingxuan's death. During the Northern Song (960-1127) the Caodong was not successful in the social elite. The Linji school and Yunmen school dominated Chán. It was Touzi Yiqing's student Furong Daokai (1043-1118) who was a successful monastic, and revived the Caodong school.