The Caodong lineage of the Chinese Chan school takes its name from a combination of the abbreviated names of its two founders, Dongshan Liangjie (807-869) and Caoshan Benji (840-901). It belongs to the Southern Chan lineage beginning with Qingyuan Xingsi, which was transmitted through Shitou Xiqian to Yaoshan Weiyan and Yunyan Tansheng, and eventually to Liangjie. Liangjie's disciple Benji continued and further developed the Chan style of his master. The Caodong school teaches the identity of phenomena and reality, i.e. the relative and absolute aspects of reality. This thought is expressed in Liangjie's "five ranks" stanzas, which explain the relationship of the "bent" (the relative) and the "straight" (the absolute). This Caodong thought originated in the Huayan school's concept of "complete harmony of absolute and relative". This paper examines the characteristics of Huayan thought in works of important Caodong masters during the Song and Yuan dynasties: Yiqing (1032-1083), Qingliao (1090-1151), Zhengjue (1091-1157), and Xingxiu (1166-1246).
