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*''Born: [[638]]''
*''Died: [[713]]''
Huineng is counted as the Sixth [[Zen]] Patriarch. He is considered the founder of the then-radical "Southern" school of Chan (J: ''Zen'') Buddhism in China.
Where the Northern school of Chan Buddhism emphasized gradual enlightenment through meditation, the Southern school advanced the idea of sudden enlightenment that comes in a flash, but only after a long period of searching and thinking about the various questions of the universe. The Southern school introduced the concept of the ''[[koan|kôan]]'' (C: ''gōng'àn''), along with a variety of other methods to attempt to shock practitioners out of normal (unenlightened) ways of thinking, including the master physically striking the students, uttering nonsense syllables, and so forth.
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==References==
*Conrad Schirokauer, et al, ''A Brief History of Chinese and Japanese Civilizations'', Fourth Edition, Cengage Learning (2012), 115.
[[Category:Religious Figures]]
[[Category:Asuka Period]]