Moheyan
Heshang Moheyan (Chinese: 和尚摩訶衍; pinyin: Héshang Móhēyǎn) was a late 8th century Buddhist monk associated with the East Mountain Teaching.
[web 2] Moheyan promulgated a variety of Chan Buddhism and disseminated teachings from Samye where he attracted a considerable number of followers.
In this view, practices such as the perfection of morality, and studying Buddhist texts was seen as "gradualist", and Moheyan held that these were only necessary for those of "dim" facility and "dull" propensity.
This concession to the "gradualists", that not everyone can achieve the highest state of meditation, left Moheyan open to the charge that he had a dualistic approach to practice.
To overcome these inconsistencies in his thesis, Moheyan claimed that when one gave up all conceptions, an automatic, all-at-once attainment of virtue resulted.
Kamalaśīla was the advocate of a “gradualist” (rim gyis pa) position, the view that enlightenment is attained through the incremental purification of the mind that takes place by the practice of the six perfections.
Hwa shang held the “simultaneist” (cig car ba) view—that (for advanced adepts at least) enlightenment is not attained gradually through the purification of the mind, that for these individuals analytical activity is a distraction and the accumulation of merit unnecessary.
King Khri srong lde’u btsan, who served as “arbiter” or “judge” (dpang po) in the debate, declared that henceforth Tibetans would follow the Indian Buddhist tradition, in particular the system of Nagarjuna.Most Tibetan sources state that the debate was decided in Kamalaśīla's favour (though many Chinese sources claim Moheyan won)[5] and Moheyan was required to leave the country and that all sudden-enlightenment texts were gathered and destroyed by royal decree.
This was a pivotal event in the history of Tibetan Buddhism, which would afterward continue to follow the late Indian model with only minor influence from China.
[web 2] One Chinese manuscript from Dunhuang (Pelliot chinois 4646) has the Tibetan emperor giving the teachings of Moheyan his seal of approval: The Chan doctrine taught by Mahayana is a fully-justified development based on the text of the sutras; it is without error.
[14] Eventually, dhyana leads to the realisation that awareness is empty, and cannot be grasped by concepts: When he enters a state of deep contemplation, he looks into his own mind.
[16] The Dzogchen of the Nyingma was often identified with the subitist ("sudden enlightenment")[note 8] of Moheyan, and was called to defend itself against this charge by avowed members of the Sarma lineages that held to the staunch view of "gradual enlightenment"[note 9][17] According to Ying Chua, Moheyan is often iconographically depicted holding a shankha (Sanskrit) and a mala (Sanskrit): He is usually depicted as a rotund and jovial figure and holding a mala, or prayer beads in his left hand and a sankha, conch shell in his right.
[web 1]An iconographic thangka depiction of Moheyan is held in the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art (SAMA) collection, St. Francis College, Loretto, Pennsylvania.
