Mazu Daoyi: a Complete Biography

Mazu Daoyi (709-88) 馬祖道一, the founder of the Hongzhou 洪州 school of Chan Buddhism in Tang China (618-907), is generally regarded as a key figure in the development of Chinese Chan thought. However, though modern scholars have made useful efforts toward reconstructing Daoyi's biography, it remains incomplete. Many important events in his life have not been clearly or accurately described. In this article, based on other scholars' studies and drawing upon available sources of all kinds, I supply a new, complete biography of Daoyi. It is divided into four periods: 1. the first period of learning (709-29): Daoyi's youth in Sichuan; 2. the second period of learning (730-41): wandering in Hubei and Hunan; 3. the first period of teaching (742-71): at the mountains of Fujian and Jiangxi; 4. the second period of teaching (772-88): establishing the Hongzhou School. These four sections not only clearly describe the various stages of learning and teaching in his life and fix the years during which he put forward new teaching and teaching method to establish the school, but also correct many errors and mistakes seen in sources and previous research works.

禪宗洪州宗的創始人馬祖道一（709-88）被公認為中國禪思想發展史上的一位關鍵人物。但是，雖然不少現代學者已經致力于研究道一的生平，其傳記到目前為止仍然很不完全。道一生活中的許多重要事件還未被清楚地或準確地描述。在有關學者研究的基礎上，本文搜集運用所有可以獲得的原始資料，提供了一個新的、完整的道一傳記。文中將道一生平分為四個時期：一、學道時期（1）：在蜀中的青少年生活；二、學道時期（2）：游學湖北、湖南；三、闡道時期（1）：在福建、江西的山林中；四、闡道時期（2）：建立洪州宗。此四個時期清楚地描述了道一一生學道及闡道的各個階段，並確定了其提出新的禪學宗旨和教學方式以建立洪州宗的時間。而在考證此四個時期的過程中，本文還糾正了原始資料及相關研究著作中的不少訛誤。