Fayan school

The Fayan school, or Fayan House (Chinese: 法眼宗; pinyin: Fǎyǎn Zōng) was one of the Five Houses of Chán, the major schools of Chinese Chán during the later Tang Dynasty.

The Fayan school was named after Chinese Zen Master Fayan Wenyi (885–958).

Via Xuefeng Yicun the Fayang school and Yunmen school are traced back to Shitou Xiqian and Huineng. Xuefeng was one of the most influential Chán-teachers at the end of the Tang Dynasty, when "a widely influential zen center formed around Xuefeng Yicun". The loss of control by the Tang Dynasty, and the accompanying loss of support for Buddhist institutions, lead to a regionally based Chan of Xuefeng and his students.

The Zutang ji (祖堂集 "Anthology of the Patriarchal Hall), compiled in 952, the first document which mentions Linji Yixuan, was written to support the Xuefeng Yicun lineage. It pictures this lineage as heir to the legacy of Mazu and the Hongzhou-school, though Xuefeng Yicun's lineage is traced back to Shitou Xiqian (700-790). It was written by two students of Zhaoqing Wendeng (884-972), a dharma descendant of Xuefeng Yicun.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period the Fayan school became the dominant school in the southern kingdoms of Nan-T'ang (Jiangxi, Chiang-hsi) and Wuyue (Che-chiang). It propagated chiao-ch'an i-chih, "harmony between Ch'an and the Teaching", in opposition to chiao-wai pieh-ch'uan, "a special transmission outside the teaching", the latter eventually becoming one of the defining slogans of Chán.

Over the course of Song Dynasty (960–1279), the Fayan school, along with the Guiyang and Yunmen schools were gradually absorbed into the Linji school.

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