The Hongzhou school of Chan Buddhism, founded by Mazu Daoyi (709-88) in Tang China (618-907), is generally regarded as the beginning of "classical" Chan. After supplying a complete biography of Daoyi, I analyze Daoyi's core teaching that "ordinary mind is the Way" ( pingchangxin shi dao ), and point out that he transformed ontological Buddha-nature into substantial human mind, which is a mixture of good and evil, purity and defilement. He affirmed that an ordinary man is the Buddha, and that spontaneous daily life is enlightenment and liberation. He further applied the essence/function paradigm to assume that function is identical with Buddha-nature and daily activities are all wonderful functions, so as to supply an ontological ground for his new doctrine. This is the most important reformation he brought to the Chan tradition and marks a humanistic turn in the development of Chinese Buddhism. Then I trace Daoyi's doctrinal background and assert that the Chan tradition can be described as a continuing development and transformation of the Indian Tathagata-garbha /Buddha-nature theory. I also discuss the influence of various lines of early Chan, of the Tiantai and Huayan schools, and of traditional Chinese thought and religion.
In addition, I explore the interaction between the Hongzhou school and the literati of the mid-Tang period who were associates or contemporaries of Daoyi and of his direct disciples. I first discuss a group of southern literati, who learned the Hongzhou doctrine early and helped to spread it. Then, I take the great poet Bai Juyi (772-846) as the most important figure for detailed analysis. Bai transformed the traditional idea of "eremitism in officialdom" ( liyin ) and put forward a new type of hermit, the "middling hermit" ( zhongyin ). The "middling hermit" implies the concept of self-comforting, which was influenced by Daoyi's advocacy of an ordinary, unrestrained mind, and which fosters a psychological balance of the tension between individual freedom and political authority. Because of his encounter with Hongzhou thought, Bai's life and poetry were both changed. Finally, I study a group of leisurely poets in the eastern capital, who were all associated with Bai, and who demonstrate tendencies similar to those of Bai in their concept of values and styles of life and poetry.
