北宋末臨濟宗楊岐派佛眼清遠〈坐禪銘〉和黃龍派佛心本才〈坐禪儀〉的回歸坐禪

The Return of Seated Meditation in the“Seated Meditation Inscription”by Qingyuan of the Yangchi Branch and the“Seated Meditation Etiquette”by Bencai of the Huanglong Branch in the Linji School in the Late Northern Song Dynasty

唐代臨濟宗繼承惠能南宗批判身體坐禪的傳統，主要以機鋒問答接引學人，加上燈錄甚少臨濟禪師的坐禪紀錄，形塑其不重視身體坐禪，甚至是否定坐禪的印象，但是到了北宋，宗門內對坐禪的態度發生了變化。《嘉泰普燈錄》卷三十收錄兩篇北宋後期臨濟宗的坐禪文—佛眼清遠的〈坐禪銘〉和佛心本才的〈坐禪儀〉，二人都是慈明下四世，前者屬楊岐派，後者屬黃龍派，本文將由此二文來探究臨濟宗坐禪態度的轉變。首先，從禪宗實踐脈絡考察，發現北宋臨濟禪師多有坐禪經驗；其次，從整體文義脈絡細讀兩篇文本的坐禪觀，清遠〈坐禪銘〉重視坐禪作為悟見本元清淨自性的關鍵基礎，在達到甚深禪定之後，方能動寂常禪、任運自在。本才〈坐禪儀〉強調由坐禪入門，先悟得「心外無別佛」，然後「順悟增修，因修而證」。二人都肯定坐禪的重要性，他們對坐禪的態度與過去臨濟宗批判身體坐禪已有所不同；相反地，他們都重視坐禪作為頓悟自性的基礎，都受到宗密的啟發，認同須經次第性漸修方能得悟，悟後還有一段圓修的歷程，才能達究竟圓滿，由此可以看出北宋末臨濟宗裡有向坐禪回歸的發展趨向。

The Linji school in the Tang Dynasty inherited the tradition of criticizing seated meditation from Huineng’s Southern Chan School, and mainly used wise conversations to attract literati. In the Song Dynasty, the attitude towards seated meditation in various schools seemed to have changed, which is observable in the attitude of the“Seated Meditation Inscription”by Qingyuan of the Yangchi Branch and the“Seated Meditation Etiquette”by Bencai of the Huanglong Branch in the Linji School in the late Northern Song dynasty. This study mainly investigates the changes in perspective on seated meditation of the Linji school in the Song dynasty based on these two works. Based on the historical context, firstly, this study examines the daily practice of seated meditation of the Linji school Chan masters in the Northern Song dynasty and how the schools at that time emphasized the plain atmosphere and ignored the importance of enlightenment in the practice process. Qingyuan and Bencai emphasized that seated meditation must reach a certain level of enlightenment to change the disadvantages of various schools. Besides, Qingyuan’s branch was closely related to the Caodong school, and Bencai’s Buddhist practice journey was inspired by the Chan method of the Caodong school. Therefore, they paid special attention to seated meditation. Secondly, this study interprets the perspective on seated meditation of the two seated meditation texts in detail based on the overall context. Qingyuan’s“Seated Meditation Inscription”attaches great importance to the critical role of seated meditation in the process of realizing the self-nature. After reaching deep tranquility, practitioners can move to seated meditation and freely apply it. Bencai’s“Seated Meditation Etiquette”emphasizes that practitioners should start with seated meditation. As long as they realize that“there is no other Buddha outside the mind,”they can“reach enlightenment, enhance practice, and realize Buddhism through meditation.”Apparently, in the late Northern Song dynasty, in the Linji school, both the Yangchi and Huanglong branches no longer denied physical seated meditation, which is different from the Linji Chan masters in the Tang dynasty who opposed physical seated meditation. On the contrary, they all affirmed that seated meditation is the basis for enlightenment of the self-nature, and they all agreed that there must be gradual practice in various stages and there is still a process of complete practice after enlightenment, in order to reach the ultimate state of seated meditation. Therefore, the trend of return of seated meditation in the Linji school was observable in the late Northern Song dynasty.