Guifeng Zongmi

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Guifeng Zongmi (Chinese: 圭峰宗密; pinyin: Guīfēng Zōngmì; Japanese pronunciation: Keihō Shūmitsu) (780–1 February 841) was a Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist monk and scholar who is considered a patriarch of both the Huayan school and Chan Buddhism.^[1] Zongmi wrote a number of works on several Mahayana Sutras, Chan and Huayan, and he also discussed Taoism and Confucianism. His works are a major source for studying the various Chan schools of the Tang.^[2]

Zongmi was deeply interested in both the practical and doctrinal aspects of Mahayana Buddhism, especially the teachings of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment and the Mahayana Awakening of Faith. Zongmi's work is concerned with harmonizing the various Chan teachings (especially the doctrines of sudden awakening and original enlightenment) with other Chinese Buddhist traditions, especially Huayan, though he also drew on the work of Tiantai Zhiyi in his ritual works.

Biography

Early years (780–810)

Zongmi was born in 780 into the powerful and influential He (Chinese: 何) family in what is now central Sichuan. In his early years, he studied the Chinese classics, hoping for a career in the provincial government. When he was seventeen or eighteen, Zongmi lost his father and took up Buddhist studies. In an 811 letter to Chengguan, he wrote that for three years he "gave up eating meat, examined [Buddhist] scriptures and treatises, became familiar with the virtues of meditation and sought out the acquaintance of noted monks."^[3]

At the age of twenty-two, he returned to the Confucian classics and deepened his understanding, studying at the Yixueyuan (義學院) Confucian Academy in Suizhou. His later writings reveal a detailed familiarity with the Analects, the Classic of Filial Piety, and the Book of Rites, as well as historical texts and Daoist classics such as the works of Laozi. He eventually converted to Buddhism, but Zongmi's Confucian moral values never left him and he spent much of his career attempting to integrate Confucian ethics with Buddhism.^[4]

Chan (804–810)

At the age of twenty-four, Zongmi met the Chan master Suizhou Daoyuan (Chinese: 遂州道圓; pinyin: Suìzhōu Dàoyuán^[a] and trained in Chan for two or three years. He received Daoyuan's seal in 807, the year he was fully ordained as a Buddhist monk. Daoyuan was part of a southern Chan tradition called the Ching-chung school, which was based in Chengdu, Sichuan. This lineage goes back to the Korean prince and Chan master Kim Hwasang (c. 684–762, also known as Wuxiang), and to his student Shenhui (not to be confused with the earlier Heze Shenhui).^[5]

In his autobiographical summary, Zongmi recounts how after a sutra chanting service, he encountered a copy of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment. According to Gregory, "after only reading two or three pages, he had an awakening, an experience whose intensity so overwhelmed him that he found himself spontaneously dancing for joy."^[6] Zongmi would later write: "at one word [from Daoyuan] my mind-ground opened thoroughly, and with one scroll [of the Scripture of Perfect Enlightenment] its meaning was as clear and bright as the heavens."^[7]

Zongmi's sudden awakening during this period had a profound impact upon his subsequent scholarly career. He spent the next several years studying the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment and its commentaries extensively.^[6] He propounded the necessity of scriptural studies in Chan, and was highly critical of what he saw as the antinomianism of the Hongzhou lineage derived from Mazu Daoyi (Chinese: 馬祖道一; pinyin: Mǎzǔ Dàoyī; Japanese pronunciation: Baso Dōitsu, 709–788), which practiced "entrusting oneself to act freely according to the nature of one's feelings".^[8]

Huayan (810–816)

In 810, at the age of thirty, Zongmi met Lingfeng (

In 816, Zongmi withdrew to the Zhongnan Mountains southwest of Chang'an and began his writing career, composing an annotated outline of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, and a compilation of passages from four commentaries on the sūtra.^[11] For the next three years Zongmi continued his scholarly research, reading through the Buddhist canon, the Tripiṭaka, and traveling to various temples on Zhongnan. He returned Chang'an in 819 and continued his studies utilizing the extensive libraries of various monasteries in the capital city. In late 819 he completed a commentary (Chinese: 疏; pinyin: shū) and subcommentary (Chinese: 鈔; pinyin: chāo) on the Diamond Sutra. In early 821 he returned to Cottage Temple (Chinese: 草堂寺; pinyin: Cǎotáng sì) beneath Gui Peak and hence became known as "Guifeng Zongmi".^[12] In mid-823, he finally finished his own commentary on the text that had led to his first awakening, Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, and the culmination of a vow he had made some fifteen years earlier.^[13] For the next five years, Zongmi continued writing and studying in the Zhongnan Mountains as his fame grew.

Capital city (828–835)

Zongmi was summoned to the capital in 828 by Emperor Wenzong (r. 826–840) and awarded the purple robe and the honorific title "Great Worthy" (大德; dade; bhadanta). The two years he spent in the capital were significant for Zongmi. He was now a nationally honored Buddhist master with extensive contacts among the literati of the day, such as the devout Buddhist layman and scholar-official Pei Xiu and the famed poet Bai Juyi (772–846).^[14]

During this time, Zongmi turned his considerable knowledge and intellect towards writing for a broader audience rather than the technical exegetical works he had produced for a limited readership of Buddhist specialists. His scholarly efforts became directed towards the intellectual issues of the day and much of his subsequent work was produced at the appeals of assorted literati of the day.^[15] One such works directed at the lay literati was Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity.^[16]

During this period, Zongmi also began collecting every extant Chan text in circulation with the goal of producing a Chan canon to create a new section of the Buddhist canon. This work is lost but the title, Collected Writings on the Source of Chan (禪源諸詮集; Chanyuan zhuquanji) remains.^[17]

Last years (835–841)

It was Zongmi's association with the great and the powerful that led to his downfall in 835 in an event known as the

Zongmi's work continued to be studied by later Chinese Buddhists. His ecumenical vision of Chan as a single family with many branches and his account of Tang Chan lineages were influential sources for later Song dynasty Chan works.^[22] His work was also very influential on the "Huayan-Chan" traditions of the Khitan Liao Empire (916-1125) and the Tangut kingdom (1038-1227) of the Western Xia.^[23]

Zongmi was especially influential on Korean Buddhism, due to his importance for Jinul's (1158-1210) system. Zongmi's thought continues to be influential on modern Korean Seon, and his ideas continue to be a major topic of debate today.^[22]

Philosophy

Zongmi's lifelong work was the attempt to incorporate differing and sometimes conflicting systems into an integrated framework that harmonized various Buddhist teachings and traditions, especially those of Chan practice and Huayan doctrine.^[24] More specifically, according to Peter Gregory, one of Zongmi's main philosophical projects was to reformulate Huayan thought so as to "provide an ontological basis and philosophical rationale for Ch'an practice".^[8] This philosophical basis also provided a basic ethical theory for Chan which could stand up against Confucian critiques. It also provided the moral foundations needed to critique the more antinomian forms of Chan Buddhism that had developed in the Tang.^[25]

Metaphysically speaking, Zongmi moves beyond the thought of earlier Huayan thinkers like Fazang, who emphasized the doctrine of perfect interfusion or unobstructed interpenetration. Instead, Zongmi emphasizes the teachings of the Mahayana Awakening of Faith on the "one mind" (一心) and the teachings of the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment on the teaching of sudden enlightenment (頓教), gradual cultivation, which is based on the originally enlightened mind that all beings have.^[26]

Classification of teachings

As with many Chinese Buddhist scholars, doctrinal classification (Chinese: p’an chiao) was an integral part of Zongmi's work.^[27] Such taxonomical schemas (prefigured by Indian ideas like the three turnings of the wheel) were important in Chinese Buddhism, since they provided a sense of order and a hermeneutical structure to the mass of Buddhist teachings which contained numerous, seemingly conflicting ideas and which had been transmitted to China at different times.^[28]

Zongmi's classification system, influenced by previous Huayan schemas like those of Fazang and Chengguan, provided a schematic analysis of various teachings and practices which explained and harmonized their differences.^[29] Zongmi organized all teachings into a hierarchical schema that integrates and validates all traditions and teachings, seeing each lower category as partially true. According to Gregory, "the logic by which such a synthetic approach worked was dialectical. Each teaching overcame the particular shortcoming of the one that preceded it, and the highest teaching was accorded that vaunted position precisely because it succeeded in sublating all of the other teachings within itself."^[29]

Zongmi's mature panchiao (found in sources like Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity and Chan Preface) arranged the Buddhist teachings into five categories:^[30]

1. The teaching of men and gods (人天教), teaches ethics and karmic retribution, and may include the ethical teachings of other religions like Confucianism and Daoism;
2. The teachings of the Hinayana ("Lesser Vehicle", non-Mahayana Buddhism, Ch: 小乘教);
3. The Mahayana teaching of the analysis of phenomenal appearances (大乘法相教), Yogacara;
4. The Mahayana teaching of the negation of phenomenal appearances (大乘破相教), Madhyamaka;
5. The teaching of the Ekayāna that reveals the nature (一乘顯性教), which is associated with the teaching of intrinsic enlightenment found in the Awakening of Faith and the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment.^[31]

In Zongmi's teaching, the "nature" of each person is identical with Buddha-nature, which is emphasised in Chan. He stated, "To designate it, initially there is only one true spiritual nature, that is not born, does not die, does not increase, does not decrease, does not become, and does not change."^[32]

In giving this teaching the highest position, Zongmi's schema is quite different from the Huayan system of Fazang, who regarded the Huayan "perfect" teaching of the interpenetration of all dharmas (Ch: shih-shih wu-ai), as illustrated by the Indra's net metaphor, to be the supreme teaching.^[33][34] Zongmi's thought instead focuses on the nature of the mind and on how all phenomena arise from that ultimate nature and are deeply interconnected with it. As such, Zongmi follows a doctrinal shift initiated by Chengguan, who also saw the idea of the "unobstructed interpenetration of the absolute and phenomenal" (li-shih wu-ai) and "nature origination" (how all phenomena arise from one ultimate nature) as a more foundational doctrine than the interpenetration of all phenomena (shih-shih wu-ai).^[35] Zongmi identifies this ultimate nature, the one true dharmadhatu, with the "one mind" taught in the Awakening of Faith and with buddha-nature.^[36]

As such, for Zongmi, the highest teaching of the "One Vehicle" (Ekayāna), the culmination of Chan and Huayan, is grounded in this teaching of the ontological basis of all reality, which is the originally awakened mind, the ultimate "nature" or principle (li).^[34][36]

The intrinsically enlightened true mind

The central doctrine of the highest teaching which is at the core of Zongmi's thought is the idea that all beings are endowed with a "perfectly enlightenment mind", which is none other than the

Zongmi cites the Avatamsaka sutra which states that "there is not a single sentient being that is not fully endowed with the wisdom of the Tathagata" as a major source for this teaching.[40] He also sees this teaching as exemplified by numerous sources, like the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment, the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, Ghanavyuha, Śrīmālādevī, Tathagatagarbha sutra, Nirvana sutra, Awakening of Faith, Buddha-nature treatise (Foxing lun) and Ratnagotravibhāga.^[41]

Nature origination

This ultimate ground of reality, the "dharmadhatu of suchness" (chen-ju fa-chieh), is, according to Zongmi, "the pure mind that is the source of Buddhas and sentient beings."^[42] It is the nature of the essence of mind which gives rise to all dharmas (phenomena). This is termed "nature origination" and is also identified with the concept of the interpenetration of the absolute and the phenomenal realms (li-shih wu-ai). Like gold (i.e. the nature) and the various objects that can be produced from gold (dharmas), they are neither the same exact thing, nor are they different in essence.^[43] According to Zongmi, this teaching of nature origination is one of the key differences between Huayan thought and Yogacara, since for Yogacara, the pure suchness is inert and unchanging, while in Huayan and in the Awakening of Faith, suchness also has a conditioned aspect that gives rise to all dharmas.^[43]

Furthermore, it is precisely due to the fact that all dharmas originate wholly from suchness that all dharmas also interpenetrate. As Zongmi writes, nature origination "is why Buddhas and sentient beings are inextricably interconnected and the pure and defiled lands harmoniously interpenetrate."^[44] As such, for Zongmi, the Huayan idea of the interfusion and interpenetration of all dharmas with each other (shih shih wu-ai) is subordinate to and derived from the interpenetration of the ultimate principle and phenomena that arise from it (li-shih wu-ai).^[44]

The five stages of phenomenal evolution

Another key part of Zongmi's system is a theory of the cosmogonic development which as Gregory writes "explains how the world of delusion and defilement, the world in terms of which unenlightened beings experience themselves, evolves out of a unitary ontological ground that is both intrinsically enlightened and pure."^[45] In this system, which is largely derived from the Awakening of Faith, the world of suffering, samsara, arises out of a primal dualistic delusion arises out of the primordial state of undifferentiated perfection.^[45]

1. The One Mind, the ultimate source (Ch: pen-yuan) of all pure and impure phenomena. It is the underlying nature (hsing) of all reality, the buddha-nature in all beings that is the basis for samsara and nirvana and yet transcends all dualities. It is also termed the wondrous mind of perfect enlightenment (in the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment) and the one true dharmadhatu (in Huayan). Enlightenment for Zongmi is thus a return to the original source, which is also said to be ineffable, inconceivable and beyond thought.
2. The Two Aspects of the One Mind - As described in the Awakening of Faith, the one mind also has two aspects: the transcendent "mind as suchness", which is neither born nor dies, and the "mind subject to birth-and-death", which refers to the storehouse consciousness. As indicated by the Awakening of Faith, the second aspect (the storehouse) is an interfusion of buddha-nature and the conditioned deluded consciousness "in such a way that they are neither one nor different." This is compared to waves and water, though a wave is not identical to water itself, their nature is not different. As such, in this system, ignorance and delusion are adventitious manifestations of the one mind.
3. The Two Modes of the storehouse consciousness. These two modes are the enlightened mode, which is free of thought and gives rise to pure dharmas (phenomena), and the unenlightened mode, which gives rise to impure dharmas. The enlightened mode refers to intrinsic awakening, which is none other than the undifferentiated Dharmakaya. The unenlightened mode is "primordial unenlightenment", which itself is based on the enlightened nature (i.e. they are of the same essence).
4. The Three Subtle Phenomenal Appearances: 1. activation (yeh) or the activity of ignorance, 2. the perceiving subject, 3. the perceived object. The activity of ignorance is the initial "subtle movement of thought" which stirs the originally calm one mind, and this produces the duality of subject and object.
5. The Six Coarse Phenomenal Appearances, which is a step by step process found in the Awakening of Faith, each one leading to the other, . The six are: 1. discrimination of likes and dislikes; 2. continuation - awareness and thoughts of pleasure and pain; 3. attachment to and objectification of perceptual objects; 4. conceptual elaboration; 5. karmic generation in which one's attachments lead to actions (karma); 6. suffering of karmic bondage - the experience of the consequences of one's past actions.

Zongmi also correlated these five stages to the various teachings in his doctrinal classification system, seeing different teachings as focusing on overcoming different stages of phenomenal development in a process that reverses the course of phenomenal evolution. As such, the first three stages of evolution are associated with the sudden and advanced teachings, while the fourth stage of evolution is correlated with the Yogacara teachings. The first two of the six coarse phenomenal appearances are then seen as covered by the Mahayana teachings on emptiness, the third and fourth appearances by Hinayana, and the last two phenomenal appearances are dealt with by the teaching of men and gods.^[46] Thus, this psycho-cosmogy provides another layer to Zongmi's soteriological map of Buddhist practice.^[47]

Sudden awakening, gradual cultivation

Zongmi tried to harmonize the different views on the nature of awakening (bodhi). A key topic of debate in Tang Chan circles was the nature of awakening, and how it could occur suddenly. Zongmi advocated the subitist view of sudden awakening (Ch: tun-wu), which however was also accompanied by gradual cultivation. Indeed, sudden awakening and gradual cultivation were one and the same according to Zongmi who writes:

It is only because of variations in the style of the World Honoured One’s exposition of the teachings that there are sudden expositions in accordance with the truth and gradual expositions in accordance with the capacities [of beings]…this does not mean that there is a separate sudden and gradual [teaching].^[48]

Zongmi thus understands "sudden" and "gradual" teachings as different ways or methods that express the same truth, not to two separate teachings or truths.^[48] Furthermore, although the sudden teaching reveals the truth directly, and results in a "sudden" understanding that all beings are Buddhas, this does not mean that one attained full Buddhahood right away without further training to reduce the residual effects of past conditioning.^[49] Thus, Zongmi advocated "sudden enlightenment, gradual cultivation" (Ch: tun-wu chien-hsiu). Sudden awakening provides an initial insight into the true nature and gradual cultivation was needed to eliminate all remaining traces of defilements that prevented the total integration of the originally enlightened mind into all actions.^[50] As Gregory writes: "the realization that one was a Buddha was not sufficient to guarantee that one acted like a Buddha. The gradual practices thus played a necessary role in the post-enlightenment actualization of the insight afforded by the sudden teaching to beings of superior capacity."^[51]

Zongmi drew on various similes to explain this process:

In terms of the elimination of hindrances, it is like when the sun immediately comes out, yet the frost melts gradually. With respect to the perfection of virtue, it is like a child which, when born, immediately possesses four limbs and six senses. As it grows, it gradually develops control over its actions. Therefore, the Hua Yen [Avatamsaka sutra] says that when the bodhicitta is first aroused, this is already the accomplishment of perfect enlightenment.^[52]

Zongmi also used the metaphor of water and waves found in the Awakening of Faith to explain this teaching. The essential tranquil nature of water which reflects all things (intrinsic enlightenment) is disturbed by the winds of ignorance (un-enlightenment, delusion). Although the wind may stop suddenly (sudden enlightenment), the disturbing waves subside only gradually (gradual cultivation) until all motion ceases and the water once again reflects its intrinsic nature (Buddhahood). However, whether disturbed by ignorance or not, the fundamental nature of the water (i.e., the pure luminous mind) never changes.^[53]

The three teachings

Zongmi was also concerned with providing a dialogue between the three main religions of China:

Since encouraging the myriad practices, admonishing against evil, and promoting good contribute in common to order, the three teachings should all be followed and practiced. [However] if it be a matter of investigating the myriad phenomena, exhausting principle, realizing the nature, and reaching the original source, then Buddhism alone is the ultimate judgment.[56]

Zongmi's early training in Confucianism led him to attempt to develop a syncretic framework where Confucian moral principles could be integrated within the Buddhist teachings.^[57]

Account of Chan Buddhism

Analysis of the Five Different Types of Chan

In his discussion of the various meanings of Chan, Zongmi explains the meaning of chan (Sanskrit dhyāna "meditative states") in terms of five categories as befits the differences in human aptitudes. The first four types of chan all involve the progressive mastery of a hierarchical sequence of meditative stages and are therefore gradual, in contradistinction to the fifth type of chan, which was introduced by Bodhidharma and which is sudden. The five categories are:

1. The first is that form of meditation practised by non-Buddhists that seeks rebirth in the higher realms and avoidance of rebirth in the lower realms. It corresponds to the teachings of Confucianism and Daoism.
2. The second is that form of meditation practised by Buddhists who have a correct understanding of cause and effect and who seek rebirth in the higher realms and avoidance of rebirth in the lower realms. It corresponds to the teaching of humans and gods in Zongmi's classification of Buddhist teachings.
3. The third is that form of meditation practised by Theravada Buddhists who have realized the emptiness of self.
4. The fourth is that form of meditation practised by Māhayāna Buddhists who have realized the emptiness of all things (dharmas) in addition to the emptiness of self.
5. The fifth is that form of meditation practised "based on the sudden insight that one’s own mind is intrinsically pure, that from the beginning it is devoid of the defilements, that originally it is fully endowed with the nature of untainted wisdom, that this mind is the Buddha, and that ultimately there is no difference between them"—which Zongmi refers to as the chan of the supreme vehicle.^{[citation needed]}

Critiques of Chan schools

Zongmi gave critiques on seven Chan schools in his Prolegomenon to the Collection of Expressions of the Zen Source and although he promoted his own Ho-tse school as exemplifying the highest practice, his accounts of the other schools were balanced and unbiased.^[58] It is clear from his writings that in many cases he visited the various Chan monasteries he wrote about and took notes of his discussions with teachers and adepts. His work had an enduring influence on the adaptation of Indian Buddhism to the philosophy of traditional Chinese culture. The writings that remain have proved to be an invaluable source for modern scholars of the history of the development of Buddhism in China.

Hongzhou and Baotang schools

Zongmi was critical of certain Chan sects that seemed to ignore the moral order of traditional Buddhism and Confucianism. For example, while he saw the Northern line as believing "everything as altogether false", Zongmi claimed the Hung-chou tradition, derived from Mazu Daoyi (709–788), believed "everything as altogether true".^[59]

According to Zongmi, the Hung-chou school teaching led to a radical nondualism that believed that all actions, good or bad, as expressing essential Buddha-nature, denying the need for spiritual cultivation and moral discipline. Zongmi described their teaching as "entrusting oneself to act freely according to the nature of one's feelings".^[8] For Zongmi, this was a dangerously antinomian view as it eliminated all moral distinctions and validated any actions as expressions of the essence of Buddha-nature.^[8]

Zongmi also criticized the Baotang school on similar lines. According to Zongmi, this school had misinterpreted Shenhui's teaching on "no-thought" as entailing "the rejection of all forms of traditional Buddhist ethical practice and ritual observance."^[8]

While Zongmi acknowledged that the essence of Buddha-nature and its functioning in the day-to-day reality are but difference aspects of the same reality, he insisted that there is a difference. To avoid the dualism he saw in the Northern Line and the radical

His criticism of another prominent Chan lineage of the time, the Oxhead school, was also based on the tathāgatagarbha doctrine but in this case Zongmi saw their teaching as a one-sided understanding of emptiness. He claimed that the Oxhead School taught "no mind" (i.e., the emptiness of mind) but did not recognize the functioning of the mind, assuming that the intrinsically enlightened nature is likewise "empty" and "that there is nothing to be cognized". Zongmi went on to say, "we know that this teaching merely destroys our attachment to feelings but does not yet reveal the nature that is true and luminous".^[61]

Writings

Zongmi's writings were extensive and influential. He wrote commentaries, ritual manuals, and popular essays for literati audiences.^[62] There is no certainty about the quantity of Zongmi's writings. Zongmi's epitaph, written by P’ei Hsiu, (787?–860) listed over ninety fascicles. Tsan-ning's (919–1001) biography claimed over two hundred.^[63]

For modern scholars, Zongmi provides the "most valuable sources on Tang dynasty Zen. There is no other extant source even remotely as informative".^[17] Unfortunately, many of Zongmi's works are lost, including his Collected Writings on the Source of Ch’an (Ch’an-yüan chu-ch’üan-chi) which would provide modern scholars with an invaluable source to reconstruct Tang dynasty Chan.

Work on the Sutra of Perfect Enlightenment

Zongmi's first major work was his commentary and sub-commentary on Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment, completed in 823–824. The sub-commentary contains extensive data on the teachings, the ideas and practices on the seven houses of Chan. These data are derived from personal experience and observations.^[17] These observations provide excellent sources on Tang dynasty Chan for modern studies. The work focuses on the theory of Buddhist practice and discusses the details of practice as well.

Zongmi also wrote a major work in eighteen fascicles called A Manual of Procedures for the Cultivation and Realization of Ritual Practice according to the Scripture of Perfect Enlightenment. In this work, Zongmi discusses the theoretical basis of Buddhist practice as well as the specific details of Buddhist practice. According to Gregory, the work is influenced by the writings of Zhiyi and explains a "complex program of ritual and meditation practice in terms of the Scripture of Perfect Enlightenment."^[62]

Chart of Chan Succession

The Chart of the Master-Disciple Succession of the Chan Gate That Has Transmitted the Mind-Ground in China (Chung-hua ch’uan-hsin-ti ch’an-men shih-tzu ch’eng-his t’u), was written at the request of P’ei Hsiu sometime between 830 and 833. The work clarifies the major Ch’an traditions of the Tang era. It contains detailed critiques of the Northern School, the Ox-head School and the two branches of Southern Chan, the Hung-chou and his own Ho-tse (Heze) lines.^[64]

The Chan Preface

The Prolegomenon to the Collection of Expressions of the Chan Source, also known as the Chan Preface, was written around 833. It provides a theoretical basis for Zongmi's vision of the correlation between Chan and the Buddhist scriptures. It gives accounts of the several lineages extant at the time, many of which had died out by the time of the Song dynasty (960–1279).^[65] In this preface, Zongmi says that he had assembled the contemporary Chan practices and teachings into ten categories. Unfortunately, the collection itself is lost, and only the preface exists.

On the Original Nature of Man

Zongmi's Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity, (or On the Original Nature of Man, or The Debate on an Original Person) (原人論 Yüanren lun)^[66] was written sometime between 828 and 835. This essay became one of his best-known works.

It surveys the current major Buddhist teachings of the day, as well as Confucian and Taoist teachings. The text aims to show not only how Buddhism is superior to the native Chinese philosophies, but also to present a hierarchy of the profundity of the Buddhist schools. Zongmi criticizes Confucianism for not having an adequate moral system or explanation of causation. He holds up the Buddhist view of karma as the superior system of moral responsibility.

De Bary writes,

Here Tsung-mi's own spiritual development and his consideration of alternative philosophies are clearly reflected, as is his awareness of the need to defend his new faith against critics upholding Chinese tradition against Buddhism It has been said that Tsung-mi wrote this treatise as an answer to the famous essays On the original Nature of Man (Yuan jen) and On the Tao (Yuan tao) by his contemporary Han Yu (768–824), leader of the Confucian resurgence against Buddhism.^[67]

However, his goal was not to wholly denigrate or invalidate the Chinese philosophies, but to integrate them into Buddhist teachings to reach a greater understanding of how the human condition came into being.^[57]

The writing style is simple and straightforward, and the content not overly technical, making the work accessible to non-Buddhist intellectuals of the day.^[c]

Other commentaries

Zongmi also wrote the following works:^[68]

• Commentary on the Diamond Sutra
• Commentary on the Nirvana Sutra, probably written between 823 and 828.^[69]
• Commentary on the Chengweshilun
• Commentary on the Bianzong lun of Xie Lingyun
• Commentary on the Yulanpen Sutra

Notes

References