Yin Shun

Master Taixu 太虛 (1890–1947) divided Mahayana Buddhism into three types.

They are: School of śūnyatā and prajña (faxing konghui zong 法性空慧宗, Madhyamaka), School of dharmalaksana and vijnaptimatra (faxiang weishi zong 法相唯識宗) and School of dharma-dhatu and perfect enlightenment (fajie yuanjue zong 法界圓覺宗).

Furthermore, he states that dharma-dhatu is on the highest level, complete and the final dharma.

On the following levels are Madhyamaka and Vijnaptimatra.

Yin Shun (印順, Yìnshùn; 5 April 1906 – 4 June 2005) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar in the tradition of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism.

Though he was particularly trained in the Three Treatise school, he was an advocate of the One Vehicle (or Ekayana) as the ultimate and universal perspective of Buddhahood for all, and as such included all schools of Buddha Dharma, including the Five Vehicles and the Three Vehicles, within the meaning of the Mahayana as the One Vehicle.

Yin Shun's research helped bring forth the ideal of "Humanistic" (human-realm) Buddhism, a leading mainstream Buddhist philosophy studied and upheld by many practitioners.

His work also regenerated the interests in the long-ignored Āgamas among Chinese Buddhist society and his ideas are echoed by the American Theravadin teacher Bhikkhu Bodhi.

As a contemporary master, he was most popularly known as the mentor of Cheng Yen, the founder of Buddhist Tzu Chi Charity Foundation, as well as the teacher to several other prominent monastics.

Although Yin Shun is closely associated with the Tzu-Chi Foundation, he has had a decisive influence on others of the new generation of Buddhist monks such as Sheng-yen of Dharma Drum Mountain and Hsing Yun of Fo Guang Shan, who were active in humanitarian aid, social work, environmentalism and academic research as well.

He is considered to be one of the most influential figures of Taiwanese Buddhism, having influenced many of the leading Buddhist figures in modern Taiwan.

Yin Shun was born on 5 April 1906 (The traditional Chinese calendar: 12 March 丙午) in a village in Zhejiang Province, China.

His birth name was Zhang Luqin (Wade–Giles: Chang Luch'in).

At the time of Zhang's birth, it was the end of the Qing Dynasty.

Eleven days after his birth, Zhang was critically ill and nearly died.

He began school at age seven.

In his studies, he stumbled upon the subject of immortality—a subject that Zhang found interesting.

His parents found what Zhang was doing to be very unusual, so they required him to teach at other schools.

Zhang turned his attention to Confucianism and Taoism, but neither of these philosophies satisfied his spiritual yearning.

At one point, Christianity aroused his interest but Zhang realised the irrelevance in their doctrine and after two years could not commit himself to Christianity.

One day, Zhang was looking for something to read.

He stumbled onto the words "the Buddha Dharma".

This immediately sparked spiritual interest in his heart, and Zhang zealously looked for anything that had to do with Buddhism.

By contrast, Yinshun 印順 (1906–2005), Tiaxu's disciple, took a different direction from that of his teacher.

He claims that Mahayana Buddhism can be divided into three systems.

They are: School of śūnyatā and name only (xingkong 性空唯名系, Madhyamaka), School of illusion and Vijñapti-mātra (weishi 虛妄唯識系, Vijñapti-mātra) and School of genuine and permanent mind (zhenchang 真常唯心系, Tathāgata-garbha).

For him, early Mahayana Buddhism is characterized by Nāgārjuna's 龍樹 prajñapāramitā thought.

Mahayana Buddhism, in its middle stage, is characterized by Vijñapti-mātra which was upheld by Asanga and Vasubandhu.

Later Mahayana Buddhism is mainly characterized by Tathāgata-garbha thought 如來藏思想.

In 1930, Zhang applied to a Buddhist college in Beijing.

For many days he had travelled from his home to Beijing, with high hopes.

He arrived too late for acceptance.

While pondering where he could go next, Zhang thought of a temple called "Tiantong Temple".

Zhang then went to Mount Putuo, where he met a young man named Wang.

Both searched for an abode where they could study the Buddha Dharma.

They eventually found a small place where they could do so, where their abbot who was well-cultivated.

They asked to study under him.

The elder monk then referred Zhang and Wang to another place called Fuzhun Monastery (福泉庵), less than a half mile from where they were.

The two hurried to Fuzhun Monastery.

Later, on October 11, 1930, the abbot, Master Qingnian (清念和尚), shaved Zhang Luqin's head and gave him the Dharma name of Yin Shun (印順).