Ziran

 ( Taoist Philosophy ) 

The ideal of ziran was further promoted by later Daoists such as Ji Kang (223–262, or 224–263) and the other “Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove”. Like Wang Bi, Ji Kang held there was a natural order to all things, underpinned by the natural unfolding of vital energies ( qi). Through self-cultivation, Ji held one could enhance one's energies and lifespan as long as it followed the ways of nature. He also applied ziran to ethical cultivation. For Ji, moral purity was best achieved through abandoning self-interest and calculations about self-benefit. In this one, could be completely authentic about one's feelings and intentions.

Guo Xiang (d. 312) is another key Neo-Daoist figure who was influential in the development of the concept of ziran. Unlike Wang Bi, whjo emphasized non-being, Guo Xiang emphasized ziran, which he glosses as spontaneous “self-production” ( zi sheng) and “self-transformation” ( zi hua or du hua). For Guo Xiang, ziran is the most fundamental reality. Thus at the ontological basis of all things is being "so of itself," which is also in everything as its real nature. As Guo writes in his Commentary to the Zhuangzi: “Generally, we may know the causes of certain things and affairs near to us. But tracing their origin to the ultimate end, we find that without any cause, they of themselves come to be what they are. Being so of themselves, we can no longer question the reason or cause of their being, but should accept them as they are.” This applies not just to nature, but to civilization. All the norms and rites of a society also flow naturally and spontaneously from nature's ziran.

The true principle is tzu-jan Taoist. Enlightenment occurs when one is mysteriously united with it. Since the truth allows no variance, how can enlightenment involve stages? The unchanging essence is always quiescent and shining chao. It is only because of the delusions obscuring it that it appears to be beyond our reach.Lai, Whalen. Tao-sheng's Theory of Sudden Enlightenment, in Sudden and Gradual Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Thought, page 173. Motilal Banarsidass, 1991.

Ziran was later taken up in Chan Buddhism sources as well. For example, in the Xiuxin yao lun, after providing an analogy in which buddha-nature is likened to the sun hidden behind the clouds of false thoughts, Daman Hongren goes on to give the analogy of a mirror: when its dust has been removed, its nature, or brightness, becomes manifest naturally ( ziran).McRae, John. The Northern School and the Formation of Early Ch’an Buddhism, pages 125 and 317 (note 79). University of Hawaii Press, 1986

The teachings of Shenhui, the famous Southern School proponent of sudden enlightenment, contain references to ziran as well. According to Yanagida Seizan, Shenhui's understanding of no-thought ( wunian) as sudden awakening is based on the notion of a "natural knowledge" (自然知; ziran zhi), or "original knowledge" (本知; ben zhi).Yanagida Seizan. The Li-tai fa-pao chi and the Chan Doctrine of Sudden Awakening, in Early Ch'an in China and Tibet, edited by Lewis Lancaster and Whalen Lai, page 19, Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series, Regents of the University of California, 1983 Shenhui also speaks of a , or . As such, Shenhui criticizes Buddhist monks who hold to causes and conditions without acknowledging naturalness (), while also criticizing Taoists who hold to naturalness without acknowledging causes and conditions. When pressed as to what the naturalness of the Buddhists and the causes and conditions of the Taoists would be, Shenhui responds that Buddhist naturalness refers to the fundamental nature of sentient beings, as well as to the "natural wisdom and teacherless wisdom" spoken of in the sutras; while the Taoists' causes and conditions refers to the teaching that "the Way gives birth to the one, the one gives birth to the two, the two gives birth to the three, and from the three are born the myriad things" found in the Tao Te Ching.

According to Henrik Sorensen, one of the most salient features of the Xin Ming (Mind Inscription) and Jueguan lun (Treatise on Cutting Off Contemplation), two texts associated with the Oxhead school of Chan, is their "taoistic" flavor. He observes the appearance in these texts of concepts commonly found in Taoism, such as Wu wei, and the valuation of spontaneity, ziran, over the vinaya, or Buddhist disciplinary code.The "Hsin-Ming" Attributed to Niu-t'ou Fa-jung, translated into English by Henrik H. Sorensen, in the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Vol.13, 1986, page 104 Sorensen points out, however, that this should not be taken to mean that the Oxhead School was a kind of synthesis of Neo-Taoism and Chan Buddhism, but simply that the Oxhead School expressed the "practical realization of universal emptiness" of Chinese Madhyamaka partly in Taoist terminology.The "Hsin-Ming" Attributed to Niu-t'ou Fa-jung, translated into English by Henrik H. Sorensen, in the Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Vol.13, 1986, page 115, note 40

Ziran occurs twice in the Xin Ming, both times in connection with brightness ():

Without unifying, without dispersing
Neither quick nor slow
Bright, peaceful and naturally so []
It cannot be reached by words

And also:

Do not extinguish ordinary feeling
Only teach putting opinions to rest
When opinions are no more, the heart ceases
When heart is no more, practice is cut off
There is no need to prove the Void
It is naturally bright and penetrating []

Additionally, ziran can be found in the famous Xinxin Ming (Faith-Mind Inscription), a text which bears a close similarity to the Xin Ming (Mind Inscription). According to Dusan Pajin, this work contains influences from Taoism. For example, he notes the inclusion in the text of the term ziran, which Pajin says "has a completely Taoist meaning." Pajin writes that this aligns with the Chan tendency, influenced by Taoism, "to stress spontaneity, at the expense of rules, or discipline." The Xinxin Ming says, "The essence of the Great Way is spaciousness / It is neither easy nor difficult / Small views of foxy doubts / Are too hasty or too late / Attach to them, the measure will be lost / Certain to enter on a deviant path / Letting go of them, it goes naturally []." Although the Xinxin Ming is traditionally attributed to the third Chan patriarch Sengcan (d. 606?), this is not taken seriously by scholarship, and both it and the slightly earlier Xin Ming have been associated with the Oxhead school. Both are likely products of the eighth or early ninth century.

Naturalness appears in another text which exhibits connections with the Oxhead School known as the Baozang lun (Treasure Store Treatise). For instance: "When body and mind are both gone, numinous wisdom alone remains. When the sphere of existence and nonexistence is destroyed, and the abode of subject and object is obliterated, there is only the naturalness of the dharma-realm radiating resplendent functions, yet without any coming into being." According to Robert Sharf, this text contains influences from the Chongxuan School of Taoism.

Ziran also occurs in material attributed to the Liang dynasty Buddhist figure Baozhi. For example: "The uncontrived Great Way is natural and spontaneous []; you don't need to use your mind to figure it out."The Zen Reader, edited by Thomas Cleary, page 9, Shambhala Publications, 2012 According to Jinhua Jia, although a number of Chan teachings, including this, have been attributed to Baozhi of the Liang, these are likely products of the Hongzhou school of Chan, which flourished during the Tang dynasty.Jinhua Jia. The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China, pages 89-95, State University of New York Press, 2006 Ziran can be found in the teachings of Huangbo Xiyun of the Hongzhou School as well. For example: "Once body and mind are spontaneous [], you will reach the Way and know the mind."A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace: The Zen Teachings of Huangbo with a Modern Commentary by Seon Master Subul, translated by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Seong-Uk Kim, pages 92-93, Wisdom Publications, 2019 And:

If you leave behind all dharmas that are subject to existence and nonexistence, your mind will become like the orb of the sun that is always present in the sky, its radiance shining naturally without [making any effort to] shine []. Isn’t that a situation where you should conserve your strength?A Bird in Flight Leaves No Trace: The Zen Teachings of Huangbo with a Modern Commentary by Seon Master Subul, translated by Robert E. Buswell Jr. and Seong-Uk Kim, page 111, Wisdom Publications, 2019

Guifeng Zongmi, of the Heze School of Chan, was critical of the Hongzhou School for its emphasis on spontaneity, ziran, as he felt this undermined ethical and religious cultivation.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 250. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 While Zongmi, like the Hongzhou school, advocated for sudden awakening, he felt that sudden awakening must still be followed by "gradual cultivation" in which one's lingering habitual tendencies are progressively removed in stages.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 247. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 According to Zongmi, because the Hongzhou School believed that "Simply allowing the mind to act spontaneously is cultivation," they were at risk of erasing the distinction between enlightenment and delusion altogether and liable to fall into antinomianism.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 238. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 Nonetheless, Zongmi himself maintained that the nature of mind was characterized by an awareness, or knowing (知; zhi), which is spontaneous. As he writes in the Chan Prolegomenon:

The mind of voidness and calm is a spiritual Knowing that never darkens. It is precisely this Knowing of voidness and calm that is your true nature. No matter whether you are deluded or awakened, mind from the outset is spontaneously Knowing. Knowing is not produced by conditions, nor does it arise in dependence on any sense object.Broughton, Jeffrey (2009). Zongmi on Chan, page 123. Columbia University Press.