Zhaozhou Congshen

Who was Zhaozhou Congshen?

Zhàozhōu Cōngshěn was a Chán Buddhist master especially known for his "paradoxical statements and strange deeds".

Zhaozhou became ordained as a monk at an early age. At the age of 18, he met Nánquán Pǔyuàn, a successor of Mǎzǔ Dàoyī, and eventually received the Dharma from him. When Nanquan asked Zhaozhou the koan "What is the Way?", the two had a dialogue, at the height of which Zhaozhou attained enlightenment. Zhaozhou continued to practice under Nanquan until the latter's death.

Subsequently, Zhaozhou began to travel throughout China, visiting the prominent Chan masters of the time before finally, at the age of eighty, settling in Guānyīnyuàn, a ruined temple in northern China. There, for the next 40 years, he taught a small group of monks.

Zhaozhou is sometimes touted as the greatest Chan master of Tang dynasty China during a time when its hegemony was disintegrating as more and more regional military governors began to assert their power. Zhaozhou's lineage died out quickly due to the many wars and frequent purges of Buddhism in China at the time, and cannot be documented beyond the year 1000.