Moshan Liaoran末山了然

b. 9th centuryChannunWoman in the recordAlso: Massan Ryōnen

Born: 9th century
School: Chan

Abbess of Moshan in the ninth century. Zhixian, a student of Linji Yixuan, came to test her, acknowledged her as his teacher and stayed three years as her gardener.

She was a dharma heir of Gao’an Dayu, which places her in the generation of Linji Yixuan. The Jingde chuandeng lu (1004) records her exchange with Zhixian. According to Levering, no other nun has an entry of her own in that record, and Moshan’s is most likely there because a student credited her for his training and later taught.

Related people

Guanxi Zhixian灌溪志閑

d. 895Linji

Stories

Moshan and Zhixian

encounter

Zhixian, a student of Linji, came to Moshan intending to test the nun who taught there, and if she was no good, to overturn her seat. The nun, Moshan Liaoran, sent an attendant to ask whether he had come to look at the mountain or for the dharma. For the dharma, he said. She took the high seat and he came up.

Sources

Daoyuan (comp.), Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 (1004), Taishō T.2076 · link
Charles Muller (ed.), Digital Dictionary of Buddhism · link
Miriam L. Levering, The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-shan: Gender and Status in the Ch’an Buddhist Tradition (1982), Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 5.1 (1982), pp. 19–35 · link

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