The way The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Zhongfeng Mingben (Chinese: 中峰明本; Wade–Giles: Chung-feng Ming-pen; Japanese: Chūhō Myōhon), 1263–1323[1] was a Chan Buddhist master who lived at the beginning of Yuan China.

[5] This may have been inspired by chapter 23 of the Lotus Sutra:[4] If there is one, opening up his thought, wishes to attain Anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi, if he can burn a finger or a toe as an offering to a Buddhastupa, he shall exceed one who uses realm or walled city, wife or children, or even all the lands, mountains, forests, rivers, ponds, and sundry precious objects in the whole thousand-million-fold world as offerings.

[7] He was called "The old Buddha south of the sea", an allusion to Mazu Daoyi, (709–788)[7] one of the most influential teachers of Chan Buddhism, who lived during the Tang dynasty (618–907), the "golden age of Zen".

[8] Zhongfeng Mingben declined a number of titles, appointments and positions, temporarily choosing instead a life of wandering and solitary meditation.

[14] This sutra gives metaphors connected to illusion to explain the insubstantial nature of ignorance, such as dreams or flowers in the sky.

There are alternative, non-discursive ways of relating to words, one of them being k'an-hua, "observing the key phrase", the method of kōan study introduced by Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163).

[20] This work influenced Musō Soseki, a contemporary of Zhongfeng Mingben, when he wrote his guidelines for monasteries and monks, the Rinsen kakun.

According to Zhongfeng Mingben gōng'àn abbreviates gōngfǔ zhī àndú (公府之案牘, Japanese kōfu no antoku – literally the andu "official correspondence; documents; files" of a gongfu "government post"), which referred to a "public record" or the "case records of a public law court" in Tang-dynasty China.

[9][note 5] Other students include Kohō Kakumyō, a teacher of Bassui Tokushō,[24] and Jakushitsu Genkō (1290–1367), the founder of Eigen-ji.

[26] The term "wild fox" points to teachers who lead students astray by giving wrong information.

Whereas Zhongfeng Mingben warns against the impossible attempt of totally silencing the mind,[26] Hakuin uses the term in a more positive sense, to denote the workings of koans, which "possess the power to cause sudden death in students, raising the great doubt in their minds that will lead them to the 'great death' and the rebirth of satori and enlightenment".