The Sixth Patriarch Huineng is the founder of Chinese Zen Buddhism, and his life experience is still unclear. Based on the autobiography of the Sixth Patriarch in the "Tan Jing" and supplemented by the records of "Southern History" and "Chen Shu", this article preliminarily identifies the Sixth Patriarch Huineng as a descendant of Lu Anxing, the governor of Xinzhou during the Xiaoliang period. The Sixth Patriarch was "illiterate" because his ancestors rebelled and were suppressed. In order to escape pursuit, the Sixth Ancestor once lived on a boat and transformed into a "Dan family". Based on the life experience of the Sixth Patriarch, it can be concluded that the Dan family does not have a unified "ethnic origin". The population sources of the Shuang family are dynamic and diverse. They are composed of people from different generations who "evaded pursuit".
Statue of the Sixth Patriarch at Guangxiao Temple in Guangzhou
Huineng (638-713) was born in the 12th year of Emperor Zhenguan of the Tang Dynasty. The later biography of Huineng and the sudden appearance of records that his father Lu Xingxin was exiled to Lingnan in the 3rd year of Wude (620 years) of the Tang Dynasty are purely It's superfluous. In the third year of Wude, the Tang Dynasty had not yet pacified Lingnan, so how could they resettle the refugees in Xinzhou? This is proven by the manuscript of the Tan Sutra in the Dunhuang Museum. The narrative of the Sixth Patriarch's life became more and more vivid as time went by. As Gu Jiegang said, it is "history created layer by layer."
Self-narration in the "Tan Sutra"
In the earliest version of the "Tan Sutra", the Sixth Patriarch's name was "Huineng", and later it was generally written as "Huineng". In the Dunhuang Museum copy of the earliest extant "Tan Sutra", Huineng describes his life experience as follows:
Huineng's loving father, his official Fan Yang, was demoted to the south of Lingnan and became a commoner in Xinzhou. Huineng was young, his father died early, and his mother was left alone. He moved to Nanhai, where he was living in hardship and poverty, selling firewood in the market. ...
Slightly later than the Dunbo version is the Huixin version of the "Tan Sutra" preserved in Japan. This passage is basically the same:
A certain Jiayan father, originally from Fanyang, left the people of Xinzhou, Lingnan. Unfortunately, his father died young and his mother was left alone. He moved to the South China Sea, where he lived in hardship and poverty, selling firewood in the market. ...
The main versions of the "Tan Sutra" are all derived from the records of Fahai, a disciple of Huineng. According to Huineng's oral transcript, Fahai should have misheard "Ben Guan Fan Yang" when recording, and Huixin corrected it to "Ben Guan Fan Yang" in Hui Xin's version. In front of the believers, Huineng said that it was unreasonable to say that his father had served as an official in Fan Yang. He said "Ben Guan Fan Yang" was a proper way to describe his family background. Later, numerous versions of the "Tan Sutra" and various Huineng biographies added the description of "the common surname Lu", or Huineng mentioned it privately. The Lu family of Fanyang was a prominent family in the Central Plains, together with the Cui family of Qinghe and the Wei family of Jingzhao.
Based on the author's limited reading experience, in the old days, the second generation who "immigrated to Guangdong" mostly liked to claim their place of origin, and it was often only from the third generation onwards that they called themselves Lingnan, Cantonese, or Cantonese. At that time, it was considered honorable to be from the "Central Plains", and people from Lingnan were discriminated against and were called "獦砠". When Hui Neng first met the Fifth Patriarch Hongren in Huangmei, Hubei, he introduced himself as "the disciple is from Lingnan and a commoner in Xinzhou", which led to the debate on whether "獦砠" also has Buddha nature. Huineng generously admitted that he was a "Lingnan native", but he judged that he was not the first or second generation immigrant, but several generations later.
When Huineng's father passed away, he was orphaned and widowed. ("The Biography of Master Caoxi" said he was "orphaned at the age of three") was extremely poor. It was very difficult to get from Xialu Village in Xinzhou (now Xinxing County) to Nanhai (Guangzhou), and transportation was a problem. This is a doubt that the academic community has not paid much attention to in the past. From today's perspective, the straight-line distance between the two places is only 100 kilometers, which seems very convenient. However, considering the land transportation conditions in the Tang Dynasty, walking was very difficult. If a new perspective is introduced, the family originally lived on a boat, and this problem can be easily solved. Both men and women on the water are good at sailing. It is not difficult to reach Guangzhou from the Xijiang River system as long as you bring enough food and clean water. Until the Republic of China, residents in Guangzhou’s urban area mainly relied on Dan people to supply firewood. For more than a thousand years, selling firewood has been one of the livelihood channels for "people on the water". Selling firewood does not require much capital, but it can maintain basic food and clothing. This is a very reasonable choice.
"(Chongzhen) Zhaoqing Prefecture Chronicles" mentioned that the emerging Luxi water was named after the Sixth Patriarch Huineng: "Luxi water originates from Li Juiling, passes through Lu Village, passes through Longshan, flows north around the east gate of the county, and merges with Jinshan Mountain. The place where the Sixth Patriarch was born. The ancestral surname is derived from the name." According to later generations' water routes, it is speculated that the Sixth Patriarch's mother sailed northward along the Luxi River, entered the Xijiang Waterway at Gaoyao Nan'an Town, and went straight down the river to Guangzhou.
Wang Wei's "The Monument Name of the Sixth Patriarch Neng Zen Master" states: "The Zen master's common surname was Lu, and he was from a certain county.The name is false, and it does not give birth to a family with a clan name; the Dharma has no center, and it does not live in the land of China. Good habits are manifested in children's play, and talents are developed in childlike innocence. If you don't keep your body private, you will smell bad to the people who cultivate the mulberry trees; if you don't follow the right path, you will smell bad in the land of barbarians. "According to Wang Wei's original meaning, "the name is false, and the family does not have a clan name." He believed that Huineng was born in an indigenous family in Lingnan and had nothing to do with the Central Plains gentry. The reason why Wang Wei said this was that he was a "lay scholar" with profound Taoism. In his opinion, the lay name and place of origin of eminent monks are not important at all. What is important is that "the Dharma has no middle ground". No matter whether one is born in the Central Plains noble family or in the "hometown of barbarians", everyone can become a Buddha. Wang Wei was detached, but people in the secular world did not think so. Therefore, the works of future generations must continue to "supplement" family information for Huineng.
The later "Origin of the Sixth Patriarch" suddenly appeared that Huineng's father "September of the third year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty" The text "Zuguan Xinzhou" was originally not included in the "Tan Sutra". The purpose was to provide certain information to the ambiguous Huineng's life experience. Unexpectedly, using too much force exposed his own unreliability. "Waiji" Written under the name of Fahai, later generations often published it as an appendix to the "Tan Sutra", and its "poison" was widespread.
"The barbarians on Luting Island are insensitive"
Huineng's common surname is Lu, and he also calls himself "Ben Guan Fan Yang", and is suspected It is unavoidable to be the descendants of Lu Xun's rebels. Lu Xun's collation of Liu Xun's "Lingbiao Luyi" of Tang Dynasty said: "Lu Ting's people, Lu Xun's back to Guangzhou, was defeated, and the remaining party went to the island to live in the wild, eating only oysters. The base shell is the wall. "Zan Ning, a monk of the Song Dynasty, said in his book "Bamboo Shoots" that Liu Xun became the Sima of Guangzhou during the reign of Emperor Zhaozong of the Tang Dynasty. "When he was full of officials, he went to Beijing to make trouble, so he lived in Nanhai and wrote "Lingbiao Lu". "Zan Ning may have read the entire "Ling Biao Lu", rather than the fragments seen by later generations, and may have a deep understanding of "Luting" in Lingnan. Zan Ning wrote "The Biography of Eminent Monks of the Song Dynasty", in which the first paragraph of Hui Neng's Biography is For:
Shi Huineng, surnamed Lu, is a new person from Nanhai. He lived in Fanyang in this life. Xingxing was a taboo in his life. His martial virtues were lost among the people of Xinzhou, and he was finally demoted. Briefly describe the family lineage, and avoid the barbarians from Luting Island. Not sensitive. ...
Lu Xun (?-411), named Yuxian, nicknamed Yuanlong, was from Fanyang. From the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the Fanyang Lu family was called the Cui family of Qinghe, the Zheng family of Xingyang, and the Li family of Zhaojun. A famous family in the north. Zhonglang General Lu Zhi was praised by Cao Cao as "a leader in the country, a scholar of Confucianism, a model of scholars, and the leader of the country." Lu Zhi was a key figure in the rise of the Lu family. In the Western Jin Dynasty, Lu Chenze Famous for his poetry, "Selected Works of Zhaoming" selected 5 poems by Lu Chen. Lu Chen was Lu Xun's great-grandfather. He was killed by the Hu people, and his descendants were forced to cross the south. The Lu family crossed the river late, and in the Eastern Jin Dynasty court Lacking status, he used his belief in Tianshi Dao to repeatedly attempt to overthrow the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Before Lu Xun, "monster thieves" such as Lu Xun and Lu Chen had launched unsuccessful palace coups. "Monster thieves" refer to people who used Tianshi Dao to plot rebellion.
Decades ago, Lu Xun's uprising was called the "Lu Xun Uprising", and the historians included this event in the category of "peasant uprising". At that time, the history of peasant uprisings was one of the "Five Golden Flowers" in the historians , the inclusion is too excessive. Lu Xun's uprising did not reflect the demands of the peasant class, but was an act of the Lu family who was living in the Southern Dynasty, unwilling to lose power and fighting for power. Lu Xun took advantage of the war-torn situation in the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, appointed himself the governor of Guangzhou, and separatized Lingnan , and then led his troops to attack Jiankang. General Liu Yu of the Eastern Jin Dynasty sent Sun Jigao and Shen Tianzi to copy his retreat, raided Guangzhou from the sea channel, and took away Lu Xun's lair. Lu Xun himself died in Jiaozhou with an arrow falling into the water.
Lu Xun's Rebels With a large number of people, he himself was defeated and died. Where did the remaining party go? When describing Quanzhou in Fujian, "Taiping Huanyu Ji" said: "Quan Lang is a barbarian household in the state, and he is also a yacht, that is, the rest of Lu Xun. At the end of the Jin Dynasty, the Lu Xun bandits were violent and were destroyed by Liu Yu. The remaining species defected and scattered in the mountains and seas. There are still many species today. In the eighth year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty, the governor Wang Yitong sent envoys to appease and appease their leaders, and obtained their leaders Zhou Zao, Mai Xiling and others. They were also awarded cavalry captains and ordered the prime minister to take charge of them and not to be bandits. In the tenth year of Zhenguan, he began to lose half of his lessons. His residence is always on a boat, close to the shore of the Luhai Sea. He moves around at any time and does not often return to his home. "After Lu Xun's defeat, the remnants of the party "scattered around the mountains and seas", and a considerable number of them became the Dan family members of the "floating family and general residence".
Guangzhou Henan (Haizhu District) has always been rumored to have the ruins of "Luxun's Old City".Lu Xun's army camped on the south bank of the Pearl River, leaving behind ruins of broken walls, bricks and rubble, which still remained in the Qing Dynasty. There are different opinions on where the ancient city is located. Some people say that it was in Liuwangdianggang, where the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts is today. Pan Youwei, a Jinshi in the Qianlong Dynasty, was born into the Pan family, a wealthy businessman in the Thirteenth Line. During the Qianlong period, his family built gardens in Guangzhou and Henan, and they mostly lived here. There are two poems on bamboo branches in Pan Youwei's "Miscellaneous Odes of Henan", including two poems praising Lu Xun and "Lu Yu": "Ashamed of the descendants of poets, the south of Guangzhou is in vain. Shen Lang's entire army was defeated in the first battle, and there was no barrier village across the river." It is no better than Taoyuan to avoid the Qin Dynasty. If you touch a boat and hide in the reeds. The master of Shuicun painting is a descendant of the Lu family. It is recorded in the annals: It is similar to fish but different from eggs, and it is called Lu Yu."
"Book of Jin Sun En" Cover of "Notes on the Biography of Lu Xun"
People suspect that Huineng is "Lu Yu", which is very reasonable. The first characteristic is that he was born in the Lu family of Fanyang, and the second characteristic is that he once lived on a boat. Zan Ning and later biographers must arrange a history of "exile" for their family, otherwise it will be difficult to clear away the suspicion of "Lu Yu". Therefore, they added that Lu Xingxin, the father of Huineng, "lost his martial virtues to the people of Xinzhou", and later generations would It was concretized into the "Three Years of Wude". "Wude" is the reign name of Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty. In the "Three Years of Wude" (620), Lingnan was still under the rule of the Xiaoxian separatist forces. The term "exiled to the common people of Xinzhou" was very suspicious, and the sinners were "exiled" to the imperial court. Areas that have not yet been controlled should be considered nonsense. "Old Book of Tang·Geography IV" states that "in the fourth year of Wude, after Pingxiao, Xinzhou was established... In Solu, in the fourth year of Wude, the establishment of Xinxing County was analyzed." When the Sixth Patriarch Huineng was born, Xialu Village, his birthplace, still belonged to Solu County, Xinzhou. Later, Solu County was merged into Xinxing County. The old version of "Xinxing County Chronicle" records that two celebrities of the Lu family were exiled to Xinzhou in the Tang Dynasty: the poet Lu Zangyong was exiled to Xinzhou by Wu Zetian because of his attachment to Princess Taiping, in the second year of Xuanzong's Xiantian (713); the prime minister Lu Qi was exiled to Xinzhou in Jianzhong In the fourth year (783), he was demoted to Xinzhou Sima. These two people were demoted to Xinzhou many years after Huineng was born. Judging from historical records, there is no record of exiled convicts to Xinzhou during the Takeoku period (618-626).
Lu Zilue surrounded Guangzhou
Zan Ning clarified that Huineng was not a descendant of Lu Xun's rebels. The author believes that Huineng is a descendant of Lu Anxing. According to Han Tao's master's thesis "Research on the Lu Family of Fan Yang in Medieval Times", Lu Anxing's ancestral home is Fan Yang. During the Xiao Liang period, he served as the governor of Xinzhou and the governor of Nanjiang. In order to suppress the rebellion of ethnic minorities in western Guangdong at any time, Xiao Liang set up the positions of governor of Xijiang and governor of Nanjiang. Chen Baxian was once the governor of Xijiang. The so-called "Nanjiang" refers to the current Yunan and Luoding sections of the river. In order to prevent internal and external collusion, the governor was appointed by officials from Lingbei. The Xiaoliang court would not appoint Lingnan natives to this position.
Lu Zixiong is the son of Lu Anxing and serves as the governor of Xinzhou. In the seventh year of Datong, Xiao Zi, the Marquis of Wulin, was violent, and Li Bi, the powerful right-hand man of Jiaozhi, rebelled against him. The imperial court ordered several generals to attack the enemy, but all efforts were in vain. In the 10th year of Datong (544), Li Ben proclaimed himself emperor. The imperial court appealed to Sun Jiong, the governor of Gaozhou, and Lu Zixiong, the governor of Xinzhou, to lead an expedition. When they arrived at Hepu, 60% to 70% of the soldiers were infected with the epidemic and were forced to return to the army. They were considered disobedient and were sent to Guangzhou. Give death. General Du Senming and others supported Lu Zixiong's younger brothers Lu Zilue and Lu Zilie to rebel against Liang and besieged Guangzhou, but were defeated by Chen Baxian. According to "Chen Shu Du Seng Ming Biography", Lu Zilue and Lu Zilie's "family members are in Nanjiang", which may refer to Nanjiangkou Town in today's Yunan County. The author speculates that after the defeat, the Lu family escaped the pursuit of the army from Nanjiang and settled in Xinzhou to breed their offspring. Lu Xing'an and Lu Zixiong served as governors of Xingxing, and their families should be very familiar with this place. Anthropologist Huang Xinmei believes: “During this war, when Lu Zilue and others were defeated and some remnants of the army fled for their lives, as well as local people who fled for their lives to avoid the war, it is impossible that some people dispersed into the rivers and seas and dispersed into the Dan family group. "(Huang Xinmei, "Pearl River Estuary Residents", page 119) Chen Baxian abolished Liang and established himself in 557. By the fall of the Chen Dynasty in 589, the Lu family remained anonymous for decades in the Liang and Chen dynasties. By the time the Sui Dynasty was established, the Lu family no longer existed. He is "rebellious", but he is used to living on a boat.
"Southern History" has a record of "Guangzhou native Lu Zilue rebelling". Later generations mistakenly believed that Lu Anxing, Lu Zixiong, and Lu Zilue, father and son, were Guangzhou natives. In fact, this family was still a descendant of Fan Yang's Lu family.
The Monument of the Sixth Patriarch of Guangzhou Guangxiao Temple
The rest of the discussion
People from Fujian and Guangdong have lived on boats for a long time and are illiterate. There is no written record of their own "history". Academic circles have discussed the origin of Dan people, but there is no simple conclusion. Judging from the Huineng family history revealed in this article, the Dan people should be people who rebelled against the imperial court and the government in the past dynasties. They dispersed into the rivers and seas to escape pursuit. New bloodlines are constantly being injected. There is no unified ethnic origin. The "bloodlines" are of course mixed. .
Anthropological and sociological research can be conducted on the "people on the water", but historical research is only possible if individual characters among them "landed" and left writings. In China, an "identity" society, "people living on the water" have been discriminated against historically. Even those who began to "live on land" in the 1950s and 1960s often avoid talking about the past, which makes the historical research on the people living on the water almost impossible. possible. According to the author's research, a large number of Lingnan celebrities in modern times were born into the Dan family, but only a few people such as Xian Xinghai and Huo Yingdong actively acknowledged it. The reason is very simple. The Dan family has been discriminated against for more than a thousand years, and their descendants have struggled to After landing on the beach, I was freed from this label. It is really difficult to accept that I have to put this humiliating label back on me.
Anthropologist James C. Scott believes that the people of "Zamiya" in the Southeast Asian highlands adopted various strategies to escape the rule of the river valley regime. The Danjia ethnic groups in Fujian and Guangdong are the result of people from different generations joining "to escape pursuit" and "escape persecution". After the improvement of navigation technology, some ancestors of Fujian and Guangdong fled to Southeast Asia and became the earliest overseas Chinese. According to records, a large number of Chaoshan people went to Nanyang, which was closely related to the "Qingxiang" of Chaozhou General Fang Yao. When Fang Yao "cleared the countryside", he could accuse people of being "bandits" and punish them on the spot without a formal trial. What these people are escaping is persecution. It is not accurate to describe them as "escape from rule". After all, the countries they moved to still have rulers, but they are "honey to me and arsenic to others". They were regarded as "sinners" by the Central Plains court. , but they are useful workers or businessmen in other countries, which is good for promoting economic prosperity.
The Sixth Patriarch Huineng was "illiterate" and was not hindered by the "writing barrier", which gave him enough imagination to found Zen Buddhism. The reason for his "illiteracy" is that the family has lived on the water for many years.
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