Foyan Qingyuan

Foyan emphasized independence and autonomy in his teachings. According to Cleary, Foyan "made no attempt to recruit disciples," wishing instead for people to be able to stand on their own feet.^[3] For example, Foyan said, "What do you go to a 'Zen center' for? You should make a living on your own, and not listen to what others say."^[4] He was critical of over-dependence on teachers, as can be seen in the following story, told by Foyan thus:

The second ancestor of Zen used to give talks wherever he happened to be, and all who heard him attained true awareness. He didn't establish any slogans or talk about causes and effects of practice and realization.
In his time there was a certain meditation teacher who sent a top disciple to listen in on the Zen ancestor. The disciple never came back. The meditation teacher was furious, and took the occasion of a congress to upbraid his former disciple for disloyalty.
The former disciple said, "My perception was originally true, but it was distorted by a teacher."
Later someone asked a Zen master, "Where is my power of perception?" The Zen master said, "It is not obtained from a teacher."
This is the way to attain Zen. An ancient said, "The Way is always with people, but people themselves chase after things."^[5]

In addition to his emphasis on independence and autonomy, Foyan was also critical of reliance on public cases and gong'an stories, arguing that such things did not exist during the time of Bodhidharma.^[6] He said, "In other places they like to have people look at model case stories, but here we have the model case story of what is presently coming into being; you should look at it, but no one can make you see all the way through such an immense affair."^[7]

An important theme repeated throughout Foyan's teachings is that of "saving energy." For example:

I always tell you that what is inherent in you is presently active and presently functioning, and need not be sought after, need not be put in order, need not be practiced or proven. All that is required is to trust it once and for all. This saves a lot of energy.^[8]

Similarly, Foyan said:

You shouldn’t strain to seek the path; if you seek it, you will lose the path. You need not strain to make things fluid; if you try to make them fluid, things remain as they are. If you neither seek nor try to produce fluidity, the path will merge with things; then what thing is not the path?^[9]

On the other hand, Foyan taught that while seeking was no different from "pursuing sounds and chasing forms," nonseeking made one no different from inert matter. Thus, Foyan taught that one should harmonize seeking and nonseeking. He said, "You must seek, and yet without seeking; not seek, yet still seek. If you can manage to penetrate this, you will then manage to harmonize seeking and nonseeking."^{[10][note 1]}