Seon Thought in Yunmen's Three Sentences as Reflected in His Recorded Sayings

This paper examines the life and general Seon thought of Yunmen Wenyan, founder of the Yunmen school, as well as the Zen philosophy expressed in his representative "Three Sentences of Yunmen" (雲門三句).While Yunmen's life is recorded in almost all Seon transmission histories and literature due to his founding of the Yunmen school, this paper focuses on examining his life based on the "Biography" (行錄) compiled shortly after his death. From his life, we can see that Yunmen's Seon thought was formed through three Seon masters: Muzhou Daozong, Xuefeng Yicun, and Lingshu Rumin. Notably, Muzhou Daozong and Lingshu Rumin belonged to the Nanyue lineage, while Xuefeng Yicun was from the Qingyuan lineage, suggesting Yunmen's Seon philosophy tended to encompass both schools of thought.This paper examines the "Three Sentences of Yunmen" as representative of the Yunmen school's Seon philosophy. The original three sentences proposed by Yunmen were "HanGaiGanKun" (函蓋乾坤), "MuJiZhuLiang" (目機銖兩), and "BuSheWanYuan" (不涉萬緣). However, these were later modified by Deshan Yuanmi to "HanGaiGanKun" (函蓋乾坤), "JieDuanZhongLiu" (截斷衆流), and "SuiBZhuLang" (隨波逐浪). While the linguistic expressions changed, the underlying philosophical intent remained essentially the same. The "Concise Essentials of the Five Houses" (五家宗旨纂要) further correlates the Three Sentences with Linji's "SanXuan" (三玄): equating "HanGaiGanKun" with the "TiZhongXuan"(體中玄), "JieDuanZhongLiu" with the "XuanZhongXuan"(玄中玄), and "SuiBZhuLang" with the "KouZhongXuan"(句中玄). This can be seen as deepening the understanding of the Three Sentences.