Baotang Wuzhu (, 714–774 CE), also rendered in the Wade-Giles romanization as Pao-t'ang Wu-chu, was the head and founder of the Baotang School of Chan Buddhism () in Chengdu, Sichuan, southwest China. The Baotang School was known for its radical rejection of rituals and formal Buddhist practices.
Biography Wuzhu was born in what is now Shaanxi Province. His father had served in the army during the early years of the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang. Wuzhu, also known for his strength and martial abilities, served for a yamen, a local administrative headquarters, as Patrolling Grand Lance Officer before beginning his study of Buddhism under the enlightened layman Chen Chuzang. Chen Chuzang's origins are unknown, but he was regarded as an incarnation of Vimalakīrti.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 105, Columbia University Press, 2011 After receiving transmission from Chuzang, Wuzhu continued to practice as a layman for some time. Later he was persuaded by Chan Master Zizai, a dharma heir of Huineng, to renounce lay life. Wuzhu took full monk's vows in 749, at age thirty-five. After this, Wuzhu spent some time travelling to various locations, such as Mount Wutai, where he heard the teaching of Shenhui, as well as to different monasteries in the capital Chang'an.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, pages 24-25, Columbia University Press, 2011 Broughton points out that Wuzhu did not study under Shenhui directly, but rather heard lectures on his sayings.Jeffrey Broughton. Early Ch'an Schools in Tibet, in Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen, page 65, note 74, University of Hawaii Press, 1983 Since Wuzhu understood their meaning, he did not go on to visit Shenhui or pay him obeisance.Jeffrey Broughton. Early Ch'an Schools in Tibet, in Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen, page 20, University of Hawaii Press, 1983
In 751, Wuzhu travelled to the Helan mountains on the border of now-Inner Mongolia, where he met a merchant named Cao Gui. Cao Gui told Wuzhu that his physical resemblance to the Korean master, Wuxiang, was so uncanny that he must be a transformation-body (huashen). Cao Gui shared some of Wuxiang's teachings with Wuzhu which he claimed not to understand, but which Wuzhu grasped instantly. Wuzhu now felt a mysterious affinity which prompted him to travel to see Wuxiang in Sichuan.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, pages 25-26, Columbia University Press, 2011
Wuzhu arrived at Wuxiang's Jingzhong monastery in 759 at the beginning of a bodhisattva-precepts retreat, when Wuxiang invited him to stay at the monastery. Wuzhu attends the retreat for three days. During his public lectures at the retreat, Wuxiang would cryptically intone a message that was meant for Wuzhu alone: "Why do you not go into the mountains, what good is it to linger?" Thus, Wuzhu left the monastery to enter the mountains.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 26, Columbia University Press, 2011
Although Wuzhu does not meet Wuxiang again, the Lidai fabao ji depicts him as being intimately aware of events at Wuxiang's distant Jingzhong monastery. From his far away mountaintop, Wuzhu says he and Wuxiang see each other constantly as though they were face-to-face.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 27, Columbia University Press, 2011 Wendi Adamek maintains that the "long distance relationship" between Wuzhu and Wuxiang is a device intended to explain away the fact that Wuzhu was never really a disciple of Wuxiang. She points out that the two met face-to-face only once.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, pages 26-27, Columbia University Press, 2011 Similarly, Broughton points out that Wuzhu and Wuxiang had a merely tangential connection.Jeffrey Broughton. Early Ch'an Schools in Tibet, in Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen, page 8, University of Hawaii Press, 1983
When Wuxiang is about to die, he sends a messenger carrying Bodhidharma's robe to give to Wuzhu, thus giving Wuzhu dharma transmission from afar. According to the Lidai fabao ji, Huineng had given Bodhidharma's robe to Empress Wu Zetian, who then passed it to Chan master Zhishen, grandfather-in-dharma to Wuxiang, whom the Lidai fabao ji depicts as the robe's rightful possessor.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, pages 27-28, Columbia University Press, 2011
There is also a second version of indirect transmission from Wuxiang in the Lidai fabao ji. In this alternate version, Wuzhu sends a lay disciple named Dong Xuan to Wuxiang to receive the bodhisattva precepts, bearing a gift of tea. When Dong Xuan presents Wuxiang with the tea, he lies, telling Wuxiang he is a personal disciple of Wuzhu. Just as Dong Xuan is about to leave, he receives a private audience with Wuxiang in which he is entrusted with Bodhidharma's robe and a statement of secret transmission naming Wuzhu as the recipient of the robe.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 28, Columbia University Press, 2011
Teachings Sources for Wuzhu's teachings include the Lidai fabao ji, the main text of his Baotang School; as well as Zongmi's accounts and critiques of various Tang era schools of Chan in his writings.
Antiformalism According to Wendi Adamek, Wuzhu held that one should not be attached to traditional devotional rituals, including, among other things, bodhisattva vows, visualization techniques, and merit-making.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 8, Columbia University Press, 2011 Wuzhu's Baotang School was criticized by Zongmi for its radical rejection of some of the more formal aspects of Buddhist practice, such as taking precepts, performing repentance rituals, reading sutras, and keeping buddha images.Jeffrey Broughton, Zongmi on Chan, pages 182-183, Columbia University Press, 2009 This stance is corroborated by the Jingzhong Chan figure, Hui-i Shen-ch'ing, whose criticism of the Baotang also noted their lack of ritual and imagery.Jeffrey Broughton. Early Ch'an Schools in Tibet, in Studies in Ch'an and Hua-yen, pages 63-64, note 70, University of Hawaii Press, 1983 Wuzhu rejected the traditional Buddhist practices of chanting and worship, preferring instead a practice of "sitting in idleness" (kongxian zuo).Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 109, Columbia University Press, 2011 Antiformalism in Wuzhu's Baotang School extended to denial of customary etiquette as well, as demonstrated by their refusal to stand up to greet or welcome visitors, regardless of their status.Jeffrey Broughton, Zongmi on Chan, pages 182-183, Columbia University Press, 2009 Wuzhu criticized Vinaya masters who maintained forms of decorum for every occasion, saying:
These days Vinaya Masters preach about [sense] ‘contact’ and preach about ‘purity,’ preach about ‘upholding’ and preach about ‘violating.’ They make forms for receiving the precepts, they make forms for decorum, and even for eating food—everything is made into forms. ‘If one makes forms, then one is the same as non-Buddhist [practitioners of] the five supramundane powers. If one does not make forms, this is precisely the unconditioned. One ought not have views.’Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 147, Columbia University Press, 2011
According to Yanagida, the Lidai fabao ji of Wuzhu's Baotang School considers itself as inheriting the spirit of Shenhui's attacks on the gradualistic practices of the Northern School. But while influenced by the teachings of Shenhui, it is also concerned to establish a more radical position.Yanagida Seizan. The Li-tai fa-pao chi and the Chan Doctrine of Sudden Awakening, in Early Ch'an in China and Tibet, edited by Lewis Lancaster and Whalen Lai, pages 25-26, Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series, Regents of the University of California, 1983 For instance, while Wuzhu adopts Shenhui's teaching of wunian ("no-thought"), which was central to Shenhui's critique of Northern Chan, Wuzhu applies its implications to traditional Buddhist practices as well.Yanagida Seizan. The Li-tai fa-pao chi and the Chan Doctrine of Sudden Awakening, in Early Ch'an in China and Tibet, edited by Lewis Lancaster and Whalen Lai, page 29, Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series, Regents of the University of California, 1983 For Wuzhu's radical approach to wunian rejects all Buddhist ritual and places no formal restraints on religious life. As an example of his radical application of this doctrine, when Wuzhu accepted new members to the Buddhist order, he refused to perform the traditional ceremony of conferring the Buddhist precepts.Yanagida Seizan. The Li-tai fa-pao chi and the Chan Doctrine of Sudden Awakening, in Early Ch'an in China and Tibet, edited by Lewis Lancaster and Whalen Lai, page 33, Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series, Regents of the University of California, 1983
According to Adamek, such antiformalism was not a kind of laissez-faire spontaneity, and was more similar to Zongmi's "sudden awakening-gradual cultivation" model of practice than he was willing to credit. That is, according to Adamek, Baotang antiformalism itself functioned as a type of gradual cultivation. Adamek points out that Wuzhu's practice of sitting in idleness was not spontaneity, but rather "forgetting to eat and shit and piss."Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 45, Columbia University Press, 2011 Furthermore, Zongmi observes that, "in their [the Baotang School's] dwellings they do not discuss clothing and food, but give free rein to people's sending of offerings. If sent, then they have warm clothing and enough to eat. If not sent, then they give free rein to hunger and give free rein to cold."Jeffrey Broughton, Zongmi on Chan, page 183, Columbia University Press, 2009 As Adamek puts it, "Bao Tang inversion of institutional norms did not promote carefree spontaneity or a free lunch. It necessitated the hard, gradual training of relinquishing expectations moment by moment, becoming indifferent to the fluctuations of abundance and privation."Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 45, Columbia University Press, 2011
Key features of practice According to Adamek, Wuzhu's signature teaching was no-thought (wunian), which was a kind of practice of no-practice.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 8, Columbia University Press, 2011 For example, Wuzhu said, "No-thought is thus no-practice, no-thought is thus no-contemplation. No-thought is thus no-body, no-thought is thus no-mind. No-thought is thus no-nobility, no-thought is thus no-lowliness. No-thought is thus no-high, no-thought is thus no-low. At the time of true no-thought, no-thought itself is not."Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 136, Columbia University Press, 2011
Wuzhu also taught: ‘The Most Honored Greatly Enlightened One expounded the Dharma of producing no-thought. [Regarding] the mind of no-thought and non-production, the mind is constantly producing and never extinguished.’ At all times self-present, do not retreat and do not turn. Not sinking and not floating, not flowing and not fixed, not moving and not shaking, not coming and not going, lively like a fish jumping! Walking and sitting, everything is meditation.Wendi Adamek, The Teachings of Master Wuzhu, Zen and Religion of No-Religion, page 132, Columbia University Press, 2011