Liaoran of Mo Mountain

Ani Mo Shan or Liaoran of Mo Mountain[1]

from the Ḍākinīs’ Great Dharma Treasury

The Master Ani Liaoran[2] lived at Mo Mountain, [or Mo Shan],[3] which is why she is also known as “the nun from Mo Mountain." The story of her journey[4] is as follows.

She held the lineage of Master Dayu from Gao’an,[5] under whom she attained profound realization. She then went to Mo Mountain in Reizhou,[6] where she gathered disciples and taught the Dharma. She turned no one away and took in students from diverse ideological backgrounds. Usually, when people first arrived, they would interrogate her experience, debate, and discuss her approach to meditation.

One day, Zhixian,[7] a monk who did not know his own limits, showed up. Immensely proud, he considered himself no ordinary person, but someone extremely learned. He had been traveling all over, and his motivation for coming was to get the better of Ani Liaoran of Mo Shan [in debate]. His surname was Shi,[8] and he was originally a subject of the Weifu[9] government in Guantao,[10] Hebei Province.[11] When he was young, he had taken ordination from a Master Boyan,[12] and later, he became a disciple of Master Linji,[13] an irascible character who applied his methods of discipline to everyone alike, without exception, often grabbing them and abusing them with harsh words and blows. The day Zhixian arrived, Linji was greatly delighted, and wishing to test the newcomer, stepped forward and seized him by the front of his robe, wadding it up in his fists. Zhixian, like a snared little bird, could not react.

Linji, in a stentorian voice, shouted, “Answer! Answer! Answer!’”

In that moment, Zhixian found himself in a state without discursive thoughts.

Master Linji then said, “Since there is nothing to do other than that, when I loosen my grip, by my command, you are free to go.”

That Zhixian was not beaten was a matter of great significance.[14]

From then on, Zhixian continually imbibed Linji’s teaching and became utterly fearless, believing he had brought everything under his control. [Thus], it is no wonder he thought, “When I met Master Linji, I said nothing at all. As a result, to this point, I have been full and have never known hunger."

Master Fa She Yen Be,[15] experiencing that same state, once described it in the following way:

After the rain cleared and the clouds scattered,
There were only ten heavy mountains.
Leaning back on the range, wherever I look in all directions,
Who is my equal?

We cannot deny that[16] Zhixian was special; however, he was actually a bit pathetic, since [following this analogy], he was only worth about half a mountain.

The reason Zhixian went to Mo Mountain that day was that he had previously heard of the famous Moshan [abbess]. He said to himself, “Today, if [she shows] that her meditative qualities are exalted, I will have no choice but to stay here. If she doesn’t, I’ll bring an end to her meditation guidance.”[17] [Thus], intent on gauging her, he thought, “Don’t lose! Find a way to make her bow on the ground!”

In such an agitated state of mind, he arrived at her hut, and at first, she said nothing to him. When he sat before her, she asked, “Are you just wandering in these mountains, or have you come for the Buddha’s teachings?”

“I have come for the Buddha’s teachings,” he replied.

Liaoran sat on her teaching seat, ready to debate. Zhixian sat before her and respectfully bowed.

Liaoran spoke first, asking, “From what entrance have you come?”[18]

“I have come from the entrance to the road,”[19] he replied.

“Why did you not block it?”[20]

Zhixian could not respond. Block what? Zhixian found himself blocked, unable to do anything but bow to her. He had been defeated by a single question, and he had brought shame onto his teacher, Linji.

Not simply accepting his defeat, Zhixian summoned his courage and asked, “What is Mo Mountain, [i.e., ”Peak Mountain"]?[21]

“It does not expose its peak,” she replied.[22]

In that non-perception of a peak, Zhixian experienced a traceless limpidity, and then wondered, “Who is this person before me?”

He thought there must be a conflict between his perception and the real object of his perception, so he might be able to catch her by the tail—[that is, in a contradiction]. If he could catch her, he could still defeat her.

He then asked, “What is the master of Mo Mountain like?”[23]

She replied, “They are not man; they are not woman.”[24]

Zhixian then thought, “She has just acknowledged forms; now I’ve got the vixen by the tail!”[25]

In a loud voice, he said, “Well then, why don’t you change to a single form?”[26]

Zhixian was perplexed; was Ani Liaoran the nāga girl from the Lotus Sūtra? Had she already become a buddha?

Yet, Liaoran calmly replied, “I am not a god or a demon-ghost. What else would I become?”[27]

Zhixian could no longer deny that he was totally checkmated. He was like Śāriputra beholding the goddess in the Vimalakīrti Sūtra.[28]

Master Tiantong Zhengjue[29] celebrated this kind of situation in the following way:

Form neither male nor female;
Transcending the limits of existence and nonexistence;
Displaying[30] ten thousand tricks
Going beyond the three realms of existence.
[This is] the ultimate truth, enlightenment.
Words are easy and apt.[31]
Wind blows through the trees, and the night is cool.[32]
The river mingles with the rain, and spring is in full bloom.[33]

Looking at an image of the mountain, it is beautiful, and its river follows its course, flowing to the southeast.[34]

Master Tsi Te Hen[35] also described it in the following way:

Not male, not female, it stands alone, autonomous.
Its body is elastic;[36] who can scale its heights?
It has no words but a thousand divine eyes.
A—In the blue sky, there is no wind, and the moon is bright.

The night [of their meeting], the moon was especially bright. Following that night, Zhixian, glad and joyful, stayed at Mo Shan for three years, working as the gardener. Every day, enduring whatever hardship came his way, he served the master of Mo Shan.[37] Carrying heavy loads of vegetables, he dedicated himself entirely to preparing meals in the kitchen while she and her students discussed Dharma and meditated.

Later on, Zhixian went to stay at Mount Guanxi[38] in Hunan Changsha,[39] and he became known as Guanxi Zhixian.[40] One day there, among the assembly, he said, “I got half from grandfather Linji, and half from Mo Shan Ani. Combining them, I got a full measure. Having eaten that meal, to this day, I have never known hunger.”[41]

It was Zhixian himself who spread the name of Ani Mo Shan throughout the world, and now, her renown resounds like thunder. The benefit she enacted for others was immeasurable. Through countless skillful methods, she tamed beings, revealing their minds to them as easily as pointing with her finger.

On another occasion, a certain śrāmaṇera came to Ani Liaoran to ask her questions about meditation.

She said to him, “Your visage is born of great strife.”[42] Liaoran wanted him to see his own ugliness, so she held up a mirror.

When you throw a ball[43] to a dog, it snarls, and this monk, [when the mirror was held up to him], was drawn in, like a dog biting a ball.

He said back to her, “That may be, but I am a lion’s cub.”[44]

With this reply, Liaoran caught him like a fish on a hook. With nowhere to run, he had to defend his claim that he was a lion’s cub.

Dubious, Liaoran asked, “If you are a lion’s cub, why does Mañjuśrī ride on you?”[45]

The monk found no way to reply. He then peppered her with questions,[46] looking for something she had no answer for. Finally, he asked, “What is the mind of the primordial buddhas like?”

He thought that since the answer could not be anything other than that [the buddhas’ mind] is imbued with love, compassion, insight, enlightenment, and other such qualities, he could defeat her [with this question].

Without thinking,[47] Liaoran replied, “Even if the whole world were no more, [that would be fine].”[48]

He asked, “Why would it be good for this world to be no more?”[49]

To which Liaoran said, “If it were without my body, wouldn’t that be nice?”[50]

[With this reply], the streams of the three times were cut off and [the monk] completely realized the natural condition, so hard to understand. His ego was emptied. Despite [his having set out to defeat her], it was through the Nun’s great, compassionate heart—through her saying, “How nice it would be if my body were gone”—that he came to clearly understand the mind of the primordial buddhas.

| Translated by Joseph McClellan, 2026.

Bibliography

Tibetan Source

mkhan mo zla ba sgrol ma, trans. "Mo ri ba’i a ne nywa ran". (2017). In mkhaʼ ʼgroʼi chos mdzod chen mo (Par gzhi dang poʼi par thengs dang po, Vol. 8, p. 291–296. Bod ljongs bod yig dpe rnying dpe skrun khang. BDRC MW3CN2459_990B84

Secondary Texts

Ahn, Juhn Y. Gongan Collections I: Collected Works of Korean Buddhism. Edited by John Jorgensen. Seoul: Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, 2012.

Cheung, Kin. "The Somaesthetics of Discord in the Vimalakīrti." In Buddhism and the Body, edited by Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives, 112–134. Leiden: Brill, 2023.

"Chuandeng lu" 傳燈錄, juan 12, Wikisource, accessed July 7, 2026,. Cf. CBETA edition, T no. 2076, vol. 51, https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/zh/T2076.

Daoyuan 道原, comp. Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 \[Record of the transmission of the lamp, compiled in the Jingde era\]. 1004. In Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經, edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭, vol. 51, no. 2076. Tokyo: Taishō Issaikyō Kankōkai, 1924–32.

Faure, Bernard. The Power of Denial: Buddhism, Purity, and Gender. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2003.

Ferguson, Andrew, trans. Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings Expanded. Wisdom Publications, 2011.

Ford, James Ishmael. "Thinking of Mother Moshan, one of the Early Zen Masters." Patheos.com, 2023.

Levering, Miriam L. "The Dragon Girl and the Abbess of Mo-Shan: Gender and Status in the Ch'an Buddhist Tradition. Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 19–36, 1982.

Loori, Joh Daido. "Moshan's Nature of the Summit Mountain." Mountain Record, Vol. XXII. No. 2, Winter 2004.

Paul, Diana Y. "Pursuing the Ultimate Balance: The Goddess and Shanyuan." In Women in Buddhism: Images of the Feminine in the Mahāyāna Tradition, 166–211. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.

Puji 普濟, comp. Wudeng huiyuan 五燈會元 \[Compendium of the five lamps\]. 1252. In Manji shinsan dai Nihon zokuzōkyō 卍新纂大日本續藏經 \[Xuzangjing\], vol. 80, no. 1565. Tokyo: Kokusho Kankōkai, 1975–89.

Red Pine. Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China. Counterpoint Press, 2011.

Thurman, Robert, trans. The Teaching of Vimalakīrti. Toh 176. 84000: Translating the Words of the Buddha. https://84000.co/translation/toh176.

Tsai, Kathryn A. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women, Volume II. Edited by Lily Xiao Hong Lee and Sue Wiles. Taylor and Francis, 2015. Ebook.

Wawrytko, Sandra A. "Buddhist Nondualism: Deconstructing Gender and Other Delusions of the Discriminating Mind through Awareness." Journal of Chinese Philosophy 27, no. 1 (2000): 49–64.

Whitfield, Randolph S. "The Dharma Heir of the Venerable Dayu of Gao'an." In Records of the Transmission of the Lamp: Volume 3; The Nanyue Huairang Lineage (Books 10–13), The Early Masters. Hokun Trust, nd. Ebook.

Version: 1.0–20260924