On the Concept of Effortlessness and Non-Activity in Medieval Chinese Buddhist Practice, with Focus on Chan During the Tang

In late medieval Chinese Chan Buddhism, the concepts of non-doing (wuwei) and effortlessness (wu gongyong) were central soteriological strategies for attaining nirvana, buddha-nature, or buddha-mind. Drawing on primary sources from the Tang dynasty, the Five Dynasties, and the early Northern Song, the article elucidates the hermeneutics and doctrinal interpretations that shaped how Chan practitioners constructed and practiced these ideas, particularly remaining aloof from the conditioned world of phenomena.

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Abstract

This article aims at approaching the topic of non-doing (Chin. wuwei 無為), and the related idea of effortlessness (Chin. wu gongyong 無功用), from the perspective of the Chan Buddhist tradition (禪宗) in late medieval China. This highly practice-oriented form of Chinese Buddhism developed well-defined soteriological strategies for their practitioners to attain the absolute, variously defined as the nirvāṇic state, the buddha-nature (Chin. wuxing 佛性), buddha-mind (Chin. foxin 佛心), dharmakāya (Chin. fashen 法身), etc. As part of these strategies were the concepts of effortlessness, non-doing/non-activity, and to remain aloof from the conditioned world of phenomena. Through a number of representative cases—all lifted from primary sources written during the medieval period in China—I will attempt to elucidate the hermeneutics and doctrinal interpretations which lie at the heart of the manner these ideas were constructed and brought into practice by Chan adherents. The historical framework for the selected material in this presentation is the Tang dynasty, often referred to as the ‘Golden of Chan,’ but it also features passages from later works from the Five Dynasties and the early Northern Song.