Nan-ch’uan P’u-yuan
The best-remembered disciple of Ma-tsu was Nan-ch'uan P'u-yuan (748-835), founder of a famous monastery and a brilliant if short-lived lineage whose finest example was his pupil Chao-chou Ts'ung-shen (778-897). The Transmission of the Lamp reports that Nan-ch'uan was born in the North China province of Honan.1 He began study of meditation at age ten, and according to the Biographies of Eminent Monks compiled in the Sung (Sung kao-seng chuan) he went to study Buddhism on Mt. Sung, near Loyang, when he was thirty and became a priest of traditional Buddhism, apparently of the Vinaya school.2 After his ordination, he traveled to various of the better-known monasteries, perfected his knowledge of Buddhist scriptures, and landed finally at the mountain establishment of the Ch'an master Ma-tsu.