Layman Pang龐居士

c. 740–early 9th centuryChanlaymanAlso: Pang Yun 龐蘊 · Hō Koji

Born: c. 740
Died: early 9th century
Studied with: Mazu Daoyi (no transmission)
Studied with: Shitou Xiqian (no transmission)
School: Chan

A lay practitioner of the Tang dynasty who studied with Shitou Xiqian and Mazu Daoyi. The record of his sayings has him living with his wife, son and daughter on the bamboo strainers he and his daughter made and she sold; a Ming compilation adds that he had first sunk his wealth in the Xiang river. His sayings and verses were collected under the name of Yu Di, the prefect at whose side he died.

Writings and records

Recorded Sayings of Layman Pang龐居士語錄

9th centuryClassical Chineserecorded sayingsZokuzōkyō X.1336

The sayings, verses and family stories of Layman Pang, his wife and his daughter Lingzhao, compiled by the governor Yu Di, at whose side Pang died.

Related people

Stories

The death of Lingzhao

death scene

When Layman Pang decided it was time to die, he sat down and told his daughter Lingzhao to go outside and see how high the sun was, and come back and tell him when it reached noon. She went out, came back, and said the sun was at noon and there was an eclipse. He went out to look.

Sources

Yu Di 于頔 (comp.), Pang jushi yulu 龐居士語錄 (Recorded Sayings of Layman Pang), Zokuzōkyō X.1336
Daoyuan (comp.), Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 (1004), Taishō T.2076 · link
Qu Ruji 瞿汝稷 (comp.), Zhiyue lu 指月錄 (Record of Pointing at the Moon) (1602), Zokuzōkyō X.1578 · link
Charles Muller (ed.), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism · link
Andy Ferguson, Zen’s Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings (2011)

Checked against sources 2026-11-02 by pipeline/opus@14c63ac. Report an error.