Kongshi Daoren 空室道人

School: Linji | 1130-1200 | Teacher: Sixin Wuxin

Female Chan practitioner born into a scholar's family; her father refused to let her ordain, so she practiced as a laywoman under the name Kongshi ('Empty Room'). She attained deep awakening under Sixin Wuxin of the Huanglong branch; contemporaries Yuanwu Keqin and Foyan Qingyuan praised her realization. She opened a bathhouse near her teacher's monastery with the inscription: 'Nothing exists, not even dirt, so what are you bathing?'

References: Spark Zen (bathhouse koan) | Women Ancestors (Ancient Dragon) | Women Zen Ancestors (Mountain Record)

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