Xuansha Shibei

Xuansha Shibei
玄沙師備
Personal life
Born	835 Fuzhou, Min Kingdom
Died	908 (aged 72–73)
Religious life
Religion	Buddhism
School	Chan Buddhism
Teachers	Xuefeng Yicun

Xuansha Shibei (Chinese: 玄沙師備, 835–908) was a Chinese Chan monk in the lineage of Qingyuan Xingsi and a predecessor of the Fayan school of Chan Buddhism.

Biography

Xuansha Shibei was born in Fuzhou in 835 and became a monk on Mount Furong in 860. He first studied with a monk named Yitong (義通) and later with the Hongzhou master Furong Lingxun. Shibei travelled to Kaiyuan Temple in Zhongling (鍾陵, modern-day Jiangxi), where he received monastic precepts from the Vinaya master Daoxuan in 864. Two years later, he visited Chan master Xuefeng Yicun and became his disciple. Xuansha followed the precepts so precisely that he received the nickname Bei Tuotuo (with "Tuotuo" meaning Dhutanga). He subsequently left Xuefeng and established a cloister on Mount Sheng (also known as Mount Xuansha) named Xuansha (玄沙). In 898, he was summoned to live in the cloister of Anguoyin in Fujian by the king of Min. He died in 908.

References

• Brose, Benjamin (2015-08-31). Patrons and Patriarchs: Regional Rulers and Chan Monks during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-5381-5.
• "Xuansha Shibei". The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. 2014. ISBN 978-1-4008-4805-8. OCLC 864788798.