The Discursive Formation of Silence in Lengqie Shizi Ji: Within the Context of the Huayan–Chan Interaction

This article traces the formation of silence as a tradition in early Chan Buddhism, focusing on its construction in the Lengqie Shizi Ji 楞伽師資記. Challenging later perceptions, it argues that silence was not an innate characteristic but a historically contingent product of doctrinal interaction with the Huayan school. The analysis focuses on Fazang’s 法藏 definition of the “sudden teaching” (Dunjiao 頓教), showing how Huayan scholastics legitimized silence as an expression of the “wordless suchness” (Liyan Zhenru 離言真如) in the Dasheng Qixin Lun 大乘起信論. This doctrinal classification thus provided the Chan author Jingjue 淨覺 with a doctrinal framework to elevate wordlessness into a marker of authentic transmission. The paper further considers the Huayan critique of silent pedagogy, which pointed out the paradox of using silence as a didactic method. By situating the Lengqie Shizi Ji within the dynamics of Chan–Huayan interaction, this study demonstrates that the Chan tradition of silence was not a mere meditative stance or a timeless essence, but a discursive construction that functioned simultaneously as pedagogy and as a marker of sectarian identity.