金元北方云門宗初探 -- 以大聖安寺為中心=A Preliminary Investigation into the Yunmen School of Zen in Northern China in the Jin and Yuan Dynasties: A Study Centering on the History of Great Sheng An Temple
The Yunmen School was one of the "Five Schools and Seven Sects" of Zen. It was very prosperous in the Northern Song dynasty but began to decline under the Southern Song. By the end of the dynasty, its transmission can no longer be traced. However, in the part of northern China ruled by the Jin dynasty, the Yunmen school continued to develop, and formed a Vindhyavana group centering on the Great Sheng An Temple. The abbots of the temple, Yuan Tong and Guang Shan, were honored as national masters by the Jin emperors. The school suffered a blow in the Yuan dynasty when Khubilai Khan adopted a policy of supporting Lamaism and suppressing Zen. But during the reign of Emperors Wuzong and Renzong at the latest, the Yunmen school of Zen enjoyed a renaissance and the abbots Yun Shan and Hui Cong were honored by Emperor Renzong as Grand Master for Glorious Happiness (榮祿大夫) and Grand Minister of Works (大司空), in charge of the affairs of the Yunmen school. With the Linji and Caodong schools, the Yunmen school was one of the three main schools of Zen. This situation lasted until the end of the Yuan dynasty.
