Baizhang Huaihai (720–814) was a Chinese

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

 Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 master during the Tang Dynasty

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

. He was a dharma heir

Dharma transmission

Dharma transmission refers to "the manner in which the teaching, or Dharma, is passed from a Zen master to their disciple and heir...

 of Mazu Daoyi

Mazu Daoyi

Mazu Daoyi was a Ch'an Buddhist master in China during the Tang dynasty. In dharma-succession through Nanyue to the Sixth Patriarch, Mazu Daoyi contributed far-reaching insights and changes in teaching methods regarding the transmission of awareness...

 (Wade-Giles

Wade-Giles

Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...

: Ma-tsu Tao-i). Baizhang's students included Huangbo

Huangbo Xiyun

Huángbò Xīyùn was an influential Chinese master of Zen Buddhism. He was born in Fujian, China in the Tang Dynasty. Huángbò was a disciple of Baizhang Huaihai and the teacher of Linji Yixuan .-Biography:Very little about Huángbò‘s life is known for certain as, unlike other Transmission of the...

, Linji

Linji

Línjì Yìxuán was the founder of the Linji school of Chán Buddhism during Tang Dynasty China. Linji was born into a family named Xing in Caozhou , which he left at a young age to study Buddhism in many places....

 and Puhua.

Traditional Chan/Zen mythology holds Baizhang established an early set of rules for Chan

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 (Chinese Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

) monastic

Monk

A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...

 discipline, the Pure Rules of Baizhang , famous for the saying One day not work, one day not eat (一日不做一日不食). As the Zen monks farmed, it helped them to survive the Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution

Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution

The Great Anti-Buddhist Persecution initiated by Tang Emperor Wuzong reached its height in the year 845 CE. Among its purposes were to appropriate war funds and to cleanse China of foreign influences. As such, the persecution was directed not only towards Buddhism but also towards other foreign...

 more than other sects which rely more on donations. The rules are used today in many Zen monasteries, but some believe these rules developed much later in Chan history, and are agreed by the monks Taixu

Taixu

Venerable Master Taixu , 1890-1947, was a Buddhist modernist, activist and thinker who advocated the reform and renewal of Chinese Buddhism.- Biography :...

 and Hsu Yun

Hsu Yun

Hsu Yun , born Xiao Guyan 萧古巖, 26 August 1840 – 13 October 1959) was a renowned Zen Buddhist master and one of the most influential Buddhist teachers of the 19th and 20th centuries. He is often noted for his unusually long lifespan, having lived to age 119.-Early life:Hsu Yun was born on April 26...

.

Baizhang is remembered for the aphorism: "A day without work is a day without food." His teachings and sayings have been translated by Thomas Cleary

Thomas Cleary

Thomas Cleary is a prolific author and translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Muslim classics, and of the Chinese Art of War tradition of strategy and statecraft. He lives in Oakland, California in the United States.-Life and work:...

 in Sayings and Doings of Pai-Chang (1978). Another book translated by John Blofeld

John Blofeld

John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld was a British writer on Asian thought and religion, especially Taoism and Chinese Buddhism.-Early life:Blofeld was born in London in 1913...

 in 'The Zen Teachings of Instaneous Awakening (1987) Buddhist Publishing Group, Totnes, has been erroneously attributed by some to Baizhang Huaihai, but was in fact a work by his dharma brother, Ta-chu Hui-hai

The Wild fox koan

Wild fox koan

The wild fox kōan, also known as "Pai-chang 's fox" and "Hyakujō and a Fox," is an influential kōan story in the Zen tradition dating back as early as 1036, when it appeared in the Chinese biographical history T'ien-sheng kuang-teng lu...

is attributed to Baizhang.