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2) The equal importance of meditation and doctrine in Buddhist practice and the syncretism of Buddhism and Confucianism
(A) Policies in favor of Buddhism and the religion’s vibrant growth
The history of the Northern and Southern Song dynasties lasted for 320 years. It was said there were eight Emperors in the three centuries. With the exception of Emperor Hui, who was against Buddhism for a short period, the Song Emperors were all proponents of Buddhism. Thanks to the rulers’ support, Buddhism as a social force was very influential in the two Song dynasties.
In the Chenqiao Coup D’état, Zhao Kuangyin, the founding Emperor of Northern Song, overthrew the regime of Later Zhou. During his reign, Zhao Kuangyin abandoned the restrictions that Emperor Shi, the second Emperor of Later Zhou, placed on Buddhism. Instead, the founding Emperor of Song enthusiastically supported Buddhism. In the first year of Jianlong (960 A.D.), the Emperor allowed 8,000 young boys to be initiated into monkhood and ordered that Buddhist temples should not be destroyed. Then, the Emperor selected 157 monks to go to India in search of true Buddhist doctrines. Each of the pilgrim monks received a reward of 30,000 copper pieces. Zhang Xin, a senior Imperial official, was sent to the Yi Prefecture, where he printed Dazangjing, or the complete set of Chinese Buddhist canons. It was the pioneering work in this field.
Emperor Tai was always a supporter of Buddhism. In the first year of Taiping Xingguo, or 976 A.D. when he was enthroned, the Emperor allowed Buddhist temples all over China to recruit 170,000 young monks. In order to carve himself a place in the history of Chinese Buddhism, Emperor Tai followed Emperor Tai of Tang and founded many Imperial translation studios, where the prominent foreign and Chinese monks rendered a large number of Buddhist sutras into Chinese. He himself wrote the preface to The New Translation of Tripitaka concerning the Sacred Teaching and had the preface carved into the stele to make permanent his contributions to Buddhism. He issued an edict, by which an eleven-storied pagoda was built inside the Temple of Kaibao (Exploring Treasures). It reached a height of 360 chi (approximately 60 meters) and was used to preserve the remains of Buddha. Hundreds of millions of coins were poured into the building work in eight years. When the pagoda was finished, Emperor Tai placed the remains of Buddha in person. In the ceremony, “the Emperor burst into a flood of tears and millions of residents in the Imperial city cried, too. [In order to show their piety] countless people burnt their own fingers or had joss sticks burnt on their arms.”20 This shows the Buddhist fervor at that time.
Inheriting the policies of the founding Emperor and Emperor Tai, the successive Emperors of Zhen, Ren, Ying, Shen and Zhe continued to provide substantial support to Buddhism. Consequently, the number of monks and nuns grew very rapidly. Some records showed that in the Northern Song there were 40,000 Buddhist temples and 430,000 monks and nuns in total.21 Those who were privately recruited by temples were, however, not included in this number. Among these professional Buddhists, some were scholar-officials who were so disappointed at the deteriorating situation that they had lost confidence in finding a way to rehabilitate the dynasty. Nevertheless, the majority of monks were poor peasants that could not afford to pay the heavy taxes. “In order to have themselves exempted from paying taxes, [the poor peasants] chose to be engaged in the Buddhist practice and had themselves registered as monks.” From the perspective of stabilizing the state’s revenue, the Song dynasty adopted the “Official Permit” that prevailed in Tang. Only when a person obtained such an Official Permit from the government would they be officially registered as a monk or nun. In this way, the growth of number of Buddhist professionals could be put under the state’s control. At that time the Northern Song was engaged in wars against the powerful nomads in north China. When Song lost the war, the Imperial court had to pay a large amount of money in exchange for peace. As a consequence, the dynasty always faced huge financial pressures. Therefore, something uncommon took place in the history of Song. Whenever there was a war or serious natural disaster, the central government would always increase their revenue by means of selling the Official Permits regarding monkhood. In practice, the Imperial court often issued a large number of blank Permits in exchange for money that would be used to relieve victims of disaster or pay for the construction work. The cheapest Permit was merely 20 or 30 guan (a string of 1,000 cash) and the most expensive one was worthy of 800–900 guan. Even the prestigious Buddhist titles such as “Purple Kasaya” and “The Venerable” could be purchased. Every year the Rite Department of central authorities gave the local governments thousands of blank Permits in substitution for funds on the grounds that such Permits could be sold for money. As a result, the Official Permit could be circulated like a currency in the market.
The monastic economy in Song was particularly strong, though the specific amount of land owned by various Buddhist temples is not easy figure to obtain. Apart from occupying a great number of farm holdings, many monks also ran pawn shops, water mills and sold groceries in order to make huge fortunes. One of the reasons for their staggering profits was the privileged exemption from tax and corvée. Acquiring huge sums of money, the top echelons of Buddhist professionals lived lives of luxury. The undue monastic accumulation of wealth exacerbated the contradictions existing between the secular and monastic landlords. Such a growing tension between the two elite groups caused Emperor Hui’s effort to fundamentally remold Buddhism in the late Northern Song dynasty.
Emperor Hui was a Daoist fanatic. At that time Jin, a Jurchen regime, had serious conflicts with Song. Buddhism very much prevailed in Jin. Thus, some Han people held that Buddhism was the “teaching of barbarian Jin” and promoted Daoism instead. Anti-Buddhist feeling was growing in the reign of Emperor Hui. On the day of “yimao” of the first month in the first year of Xuanhe (1119), Emperor Hui issued an edict, in which he said,
The title of Buddha is changed to the “Golden Immortal of Great Awakening” and the left Buddhist gods are renamed “Immortals” or “Great Scholars.” The monk shall be called “Man of Virtue,” the Buddhist clothing be changed, and original names of Buddhist professionals be restored. Correspondingly, the Buddhist temple will be renamed “palace” and the Buddhist hall or academy renamed “abbey.” Where the female Buddhist professionals were concerned, the nuns are called “Women of Virtue.”22
The Emperor’s work to remold Buddhism was actually a ridiculous Daoist effort to change Buddhism. It would by no means be successful, considering the fact that Buddhism had existed in China for more than 1,000 years and deep roots in the Chinese culture. Such a disparagement that “Buddhism is the teaching of barbarian Jin” could not change Buddhism at all. The next year, the Emperor had to issue another edict, by which the traditional Buddhist clothing was restored and the invented titles like “Man or Woman of Virtue” were abandoned.
Later the royal family moved to the south and the dynasty became very weak. Despite this, Emperors of Southern Song were still enthusiastic supporters of Buddhism. But in practice, they had to place a stricter restriction on the religion. The Imperial court stopped issuing excessive “Permits” in expectation of a decrease in number of Buddhist professionals. The situation however, did not changed very much. The reasons were twofold. On the one hand, the lower reaches of Yangtze River were always the region where Buddhism was prevalent; on the other hand, the central government did not give up selling “Official Permits” in its efforts to make up the deficit. In reality, Buddhism was still very influential and the number of monks and nuns was more than 200,000.
In Song there were two groups of officials with respect to monastic affairs. One was secular and the other was clerical. A number of governmental agencies played a role in administering Buddhism. For example, Honglu Si, or the Central Tributary Authority, supervised Buddhist affairs; the Department of Rites under the Shangshu Sheng (the Central Council of State Affairs) was in charge of issuing the “Official Permit” in regard to the monkhood; the Zhongshu Sheng (the Central Secretariat) or Menxia Sheng (the Central Advisory Department) was responsible for the allocation of Buddhist temples to prefectures and counties, the appointment of superintendents to national temples, and the conferment of prestigious titles such as “Purple Kasaya” and “The Venerable” upon renowned monks and nuns. The head of municipal authorities of Kaifeng, the Imperial city, concurrently served as the special envoy supervising the issue of Official Permit and selection of Buddhist officials. In practice, such governmental agencies mutually restrained each other and consequently there was not a single agency that was able to monopolize the administration of Buddhism. This shows the growing centralization of political power in the Northern Song dynasty.
Where the clerical system was concerned, Song followed the previous Tang dynasty’s organization. At the central level, the Imperial court established the Left and Right Imperial Registrar’s Offices, in which there were monk officials such as the chief Registrar, the Superintendent, the deputy Registrar, Shouzuo (the Chair Monk) and Jianyi (the Principal Administrative Officer). Although the two Offices had the same organizational structure, the Left one was more prominent. The examination of mastery of sutras and practice of Buddhist teaching among monks and nuns all over China were put under the two Offices’ control. At the level of the prefecture, there was the Board of Superintending Monastery. The Board’s personnel included the chief and deputy Superintendents, who were in charge of Buddhist affairs in each prefecture. The renowned temple in the famous mountain also had a similar post, by which the community of monks within the temple was administered. Additionally, each temple had an Abbot (or Superintendent) and there was an officer of general affairs in each community of monks. Thanks to the secular and clerical groups of officials, Buddhism in Song was totally under the government’s control.
(B) The translation and publication of Buddhist sutras
Emperor Tai paid particular attention to the translation of Buddhist sutras. He founded the Imperial Academy of Translation, where prominent monks such as Fatian, Faxian (a. k. a. “Heaven annihilates disaster”) and Shihu were selected. All of these monks were from the Western Region and carried prestigious titles, such as Master of Dissemination Teachings, Master of Elaborating Teachings and Master of Manifesting Teachings, respectively. They were selected to be the principle players of rendering Buddhist sutras into Chinese. Apart from these foreign monks, a great number of Chinese monks participated in the translation projects, in which they played quite significant roles in the transcribing, polishing and rectifying work. Since the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo (982 A.D.) to the second year of Emperor Ren’s Jingyou reign (1035), the translators finished translating 1,428 clips of Sanskrit texts, from which 564 volumes of Buddhist sutras were produced.
In these translated scriptures Buddhist esotericism was predominant. At that time Esoteric Buddhism prevailed across India. Consequently, the sutras that were introduced to China at this time were predominantly esoteric. For example, one piece of record revealed that Shihu, a leading translator in the Imperial translation studio, would always perform a mystical ceremony before his translating work. In the ceremony,
[Shihu] chanted esoteric mantras for seven days and nights. Additionally, he built a wooden altar and created a virtuous wheel, on which four words—Dafa (Great Dharma) manna—were written. … Joss sticks, flowers, lamps, paints, fruits and foods were offered two times every day. [Shilu] worshipped and walked around the altar. In doing so, he would destroy the barriers that were created by demons.23
In the light of his mystical acts, the translator would become a devotee of Esoteric Buddhism.
Many theories of Buddhist Esotericism were, however, inconsistent with the traditional Confucianism. Lots of Confucians, meanwhile, were the officials in charge of translation and polishing work. As a result, some sutras were reported to the Imperial Court and destroyed as soon as they were rendered into Chinese. For example, Daccheng mizang jing大乘密藏经 (Sutra of Mahayanan true words) was translated into Chinese in the fifth year of Chunhua (994 A.D.) and then some pointed out that there were 65 points in the sutra that contradicted orthodox doctrines. When this was reported to Emperor Tai, he issued an edict and said, “If we published it and unleash the evil doctrines, the original goal of promoting the genuine principles would be ruined.” In the end, the translated sutra was immediately and publicly burned. In the first year of Tianxi (1017), the Pinnayejia jing频那夜迦经 (The Vinayaka Sutra) was banned on the grounds that it embraced “bloody sacrifices” and “evil curses.” Emperor Zhen ordered that the sutra could neither be rendered into Chinese nor be included into the catalogue of Buddhist sutras.24 Due to such a strict screening, many pieces of Buddhist scriptures could not be introduced to China or disseminated. Among those that were allowed to be translated and taught, very few of them discussed the Buddhist “doctrines and principles.” It explained why the translation work of Song dynasty was much less influential in comparison with those of previous dynasties. In the fourth year of Xi’ning (1071), Emperor Shen shut down the Imperial Academy of Translation. Eleven years later, or in the fifth year of Yuanfeng, the positions of supervising and polishing the translation were abolished. The work of translating Buddhist sutras ended in Song.
In Song there were three major catalogues of Buddhist sutras. The first one was the 22-volume Dazhong Xiangfu fabao lu大中祥符法宝录 (The Dazhong Xiangfu catalogue of Buddhist treasures [sutras]), which was compiled by scholars such as Zhao Anren, a senior Imperial advisor, and Yang Yi from the Imperial Academy in the sixth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1013). The Dazhong Xiangfu Catalogue recorded basic information about 222 fascicules or 413 volumes of Buddhist sutras, all of which were produced from the seventh year of Taiping Xingguo (982 A.D.) to the fourth year of Dazhong Xiangfu (1011). In addition, 11 fascicules or 160 volumes of Buddhist writings authored by Chinese monks were included into the catalogue. The second one was Tiansheng shijiao lu天圣释教录 (The Tiansheng catalogue of Buddhist sutras). Weijing, an eminent monk, and other scholars edited and published it in the Tiansheng reign. It was a two-volume work, in which 602 fascicules or 6,196 volumes of sutras were listed. The last one was Xinxiu fabao lu新修法宝录 (A new catalogue of Buddhist treasures [sutras]) that was authored by scholars such as Lü Yijian and Song Shou. The New Catalogue embraced all 1,428 clips or 564 volumes of scriptures that were printed in the first 54 years of the Northern Song.
After the Period of Five Dynasties, the block printing technique grew so rapidly that it was applied to the printing of Buddhist sutras in the Northern Song. The application of block printing to the production of Buddhist scripture was groundbreaking in the history of Chinese Buddhism. In more than 300 years, the two Song dynasties officially and privately printed the entire collection of Buddhist sutras five times. The first and most prominent work of printing sutras lasted for 12 years from the fourth year of Kaibao (971 A.D.) to the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo (983 A.D.). At that time the Emperor selected in person an official to supervise the great project. The product of the state’s effort was Kaibao zang开宝藏 (The Kaibao collection of entire Buddhist sutras). It was called the “Sichuan Edition” on the grounds that the printing work was done in the Yi Prefecture, which was located in present-day Sichuan Province. At first it was based on Tang’s Kaiyuan Catalogue of Buddhist scriptures and had approximately 5,000 Buddhist writings included in the printed edition. Later works written by prominent Chinese monks and sutras that were recorded in the Zhenyuan Catalogue were added into the project. Finally, there were 653 folders or 6620 volumes of Buddhist scriptures in total in the printed edition. The “Sichuan Edition” was a really amazing work, on which all official and private work of printing Buddhist sutras in later generations would be based. It served as the master copy of Khitan, Korean and Japanese collections of Buddhist sutra.
The second huge printing project was privately done in the Dengjue (Equalizing Awakening) Academy of Temple of Dongchan (Eastern Zen) of Fuzhou. The work finished in the second year of Chongning (1103). The edition was called Chongning wasnhou dazang崇宁万寿大藏 (The Chongning [Wanshou] collection of entire Buddhist sutras). The third project was also privately done in one of Fuzhou’s temples—the Temple of Kaiyuan (Enlightening Primordiality)—in the 21st year of Shaoxing (1151). The work was initiated by Cai Junchen, a Fuzhou resident. It lasted for more than 40 years. Overall, it followed the project done in the Temple of Dongchan. The fourth renowned printing work was carried out by the Zen Academy of Yuanjue (Perfected Awakening) in Sixi of Chaozhou. What this project produced was the “Sixi Collection.” Such a huge printing project was exclusively financed by Wang Yongcong, who had been the special envoy supervising the local politics of Mi Prefecture. The Sixi project was roughly the same as those done in Fuzhou in terms of the collection of Buddhist sutras. The fifth project was finished in the Zen Academy of Yansheng (Extending Sacredness) in Qisha of Pingjiang (present-day Suzhou). It was a private work. In the first year of Shaoding (1229), Zhao Anguo, a leading bureaucrat, invested solely in printing large Buddhist works like Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra. His efforts initiated the Qisha project. Following the style of Sixi project, Zhao asked scholars to perfect the existing catalogues. Then, according to the perfected catalogue, they had all the listed sutras printed. Unfortunately, the work was stopped in the eighth year of Xianchun (1272) due to the war between Song and the rising Mongol Empire. In the successive Yuan dynasty, the work was resumed and finished. In total, there were 591 folders or 6,362 volumes of Buddhist scriptures in the Qisha Collection.
In comparison with the effort to translate Buddhist sutras, Song’s printing work was much more influential in the Chinese history. In the periods posterior to Tang, Buddhism did not grow too much in terms of Buddhist doctrines and theories. In spite of such a theological stagnancy, the number of Buddhist professionals and Buddhist laymen continued to increase. One of the reasons of such an increase was the religion’s ever-growing influence due to the application of advanced block-printing technique in producing various scriptures.
(C) The growth of Zen Buddhism
In the radical anti-Buddhist movement that was launched by Emperor Wu of Tang, the temples were destroyed, monastic properties confiscated, and Buddhist scriptures burned. As a consequence, the Buddhist sects that depended heavily on believers’ donations to practice meditation and recitation of sutras in exchange of deliverance had to put up their shutters. In these conditions Zen, or the Buddhist School of Meditation, which never attempted to create written scriptures but instead emphasized self-reliance, rehabilitated itself very quickly. Since the very beginning of Song, Zen Buddhism outshone all other Buddhist sects in China. At that time Zen was synonymous with Buddhism. Zen Buddhism in Song was not merely a rehabilitation of its predecessor in the late Tang Empire. Rather, te Song Zen acquired new styles and characteristics in the course of its resuscitation and regrowth.
One of the characteristics of Zen Buddhism in Song was “denglu 灯录” (the records of transmission of the lamp, a symbol of Buddhist doctrines), which was a special writing delineating the history of Zen Buddhism in China. Song produced a great number of denglu and “yulu语录” (quotations of eminent Buddhist figures). A small number of Yulu had been compiled in previous dynasties. Denglu was a unique style of writing that was created by Zen devotees in Song. In addition to denglu, the Song Buddhists also created unique “pingchang 评唱” (explanative songs) and “jijie击节” (complimentary reviews), both of which played annotative roles in the Zen writings.
Denglu, or the records of transmission of the lamp, was a type of historical writing that focused on the speeches of eminent Zen masters. Unlike the traditional biographies of monks, the denglu laid stress on speeches rather than on deeds. In such records, there were “gong’an 公案” (speeches of patriarchs in previous generations), “jifeng 机锋” (words of wisdom) and “chanyu 禅语” (enlightening and inspirational conversations between Zen devotees).The well-known Song denglu included the following texts: Daoyuan’s 道原30-volume Jingde chuandenglu景德传灯录 (The Jingde reign’s records of transmission of the lamp); Li Zun’s 李遵 30-volume Tiansheng guangdenglu天圣广灯录 (The Tiansheng reign’s records of extending the transmission of the lamp); Weibai’s 惟白 30-volume Jianzhong Jingguo xudenglu建中靖国续灯录 (The Jianzhong Jingguo reign’s sequel to the records of transmission of the lamp); Wuming’s 悟明30-volume Liandeng huiyao联灯会要 (The essence of combined records of transmission of the lamp); and Zhengshou’s 正受150-volume Jiaptai pudenglu嘉泰普灯录 (The Jiatai reign’s extensive records of transmission of the lamp). There were tens of millions of words in the five denglu in total. The speeches of previous patriarchs and masters of Zen Buddhism were all recorded in these writings. They were, however, long-winded and repetitious. Puji, a renowned monk, had these records compressed into a 20-volume book and entitled it Wudeng huiyuan五灯会元 (The compact edition of five Records of Transmission of the Lamp). Apart from the denglu, the Song devotees of Zen compiled many yulu, or quotations of famous Zen masters, which included: Zezang’s 赜藏48-volume Guzun suyulu古尊宿语录 (The collected night talks of past patriarchs); Shiming’s 师明 six-volume Xu guzun suyulu续古尊宿语录 (A sequel to Guzun suyulu); and Zhizhao’s 智昭Tianren yanmu天人眼目 (The knowledge and experience of extraordinary Zen masters). Authors of yulu put together the wise words of dozens of Zen patriarchs and masters teaching later than Huineng, the founding patriarch of Zen Buddhism, and made their writings extremely miscellaneous and even trivial. Ma Duanlin, who was a reputable scholar in Yuan dynasty and the author of well-known Wenxian tongkao文献通考 (An encyclopedic examination of institutions through the ages), criticized the work:
Originally [the Zen School] gave up the written scriptures and chose instead to directly enlighten the mind of devotees. However, nowadays the four editions of denglu have already had tens of millions of words. It precisely reveals the fact that the School depend so heavily on rather than give up the written scriptures.25
In addition to the narrative denglu and yulu, there were also annotative “songgu颂古” (rhymed annotations in praise of speeches of past patriarchs), “niangu 拈古” (annotations written in prose style), pingchang and jijie. Songgu had been created before the founding of Song dynasty. Songgu baize颂古百则 (The 100 standard songgu), which was authored by Xuedou Zhongxian雪窦重显 (980–1052), the heir of Yunmen Zen sect in the early Song, was the most renowned work of songgu. It was a beautifully crafted and well-documented book. At the time the scholar-officials and Zen monks liked it very much. Zhongxian was also the author of Niangu baize拈古百则 (The 100 standard niangu). Among the works of pingchang and jijie, Foguo Keqin’s 佛果克勤Biyan ji碧岩集 (Collected writings in Green Rock) and Jijie lu击节录 (Collected precise and insightful reviews) were the most reputable. Biyan ji was an appraisal of Zhongxian’s Songgu baize and Jijie lu was a perfected review of Zhongxian’s Niangu baize.
What Zen devotees in Song did was, however, entirely antithetical to the prime principles—such as “abandonment of written sutras” and “special direct enlightenment that is freed from scriptures”—formulated by Huineng, the founding father of Chinese Zen Buddhism. As discussed in the previous chapter, Huineng’s radical reform was targeted at Buddhism’s excessive engagement in reading, translating and annotating sutras. Buddhism had already been turned into a scholastic philosophy due to such an overexposure to various scriptures. Huineng’s radicalism played a great role in intellectually emancipating Buddhists and infused new vitality into the religion. But on the other hand, Huineng’s innovative method of disseminating Buddhist doctrines was too simple to be perfect. In this sense, the “written Zen” that prevailed in Song was a reaction to and rectification of the “oral Zen” promoted by Huineng. Seemingly, Zen Buddhism in Song was returning to the phase prior to Huineng. It was, however, a spiral development. The reasons of such a growth were threefold.
First, against the backdrop of Huineng’s practice—such as “intellectual re-examination” and “sudden enlightenment”—that was aimed at the “direct enlightenment of the mind” and the “straight acquirement of Buddhahood immediately after the manifestation of Buddha’s nature in an individual,” Zen masters who came after Huineng developed a full set of enlightening methods. These were centered on “inspirational speeches of past patriarchs”, “words of wisdom”, “creative Zen talks”, and “unexpected sharp warning or enlightenment.” If the disciples of a Zen master felt that the methods were really inspirational, they would write it down. Such methods of enlightenment were, however, extemporaneously applied to disciples in accordance with their aptitude. Consequently, Zen devotees in later generations usually could not grasp the main points. In view of this, the annotative works such as pingchang and jijie would be indispensable to the sustainable transmission of Zen doctrines.
Second, the Zen School’s immoderate opposition against the rigid adherence to Buddhist sutras and excessive stress on the individual enlightenment unexpectedly brought about the wild growth of heterodox Zen teachings. Yanshou 延寿 (904–975), a Zen master, pointed out,
In recent years some misused the Zen teaching and failed to get the gist of [the religion]. … Some deliberately misrepresented the teaching. Some were confused rather than enlightened [by false teachings]. Some mistakenly regarded something illusory as true. And some stupidly took harmful doctrines as the true dharma.26
Yanshou continued in his criticism of what he considered the vulgar Zen devotees. He said,
Some abandoned the orthodoxy discoursed by the Golden Mouth [i.e. Buddha] and gave up the practice of perfecting the Root and aiding the Way; [and some] stubbornly adhered to bewildering Zen teachings due to the wild thinking and ran counter to the true Principle in exchange of practical convenience.27
Some even, as Yanshou denounced, profanely held that “drinking wine and eating meat would not err from Bodhi (the wisdom of enlightenment); nor would pilferage and sexual promiscuity impeded Prajna (the highest wisdom).” Consequently, there were quite a few scandals in the communities of monks. In view of such a deteriorating situation, Yanshou explicitly suggested that importance be equally and strictly attached to both Zen (sudden) enlightenment and textual teaching. At the beginning of Zongjing lu, he opined, “Sutra is the discourses by Buddha and Zen the mind of Buddha. What Buddhas think will never be against what they say.” Being a religion, Zen needed to be intellectually bolstered by certain basic theories and consequently endowed with a certain meaning. Consulting 120 Buddhist sutras, 120 quotations of past Zen patriarchs and 60 collections of speeches by virtuous masters, Yanshou wrote the 100-volume Zongjing lu, a collection of resources that claimed to be orthodox Zen teachings. It was an embodiment of and impetus to the unity of sudden enlightenment and textual teaching. Such a unity in turn furthered the return of Zen teaching to the more well-established Buddhist tradition.
Third, Zen thinking prevailed so much among the Chinese scholar-officials inasmuch as such Buddhist thinking coincided with the traditional Chinese mentalities, sentiments and values. As a consequence, Zen Buddhism became Chinese scholar-officials’ spiritual harbor of refuge. The fondness and practice of Zen Buddhism was a fad in the two Songs. For example, Wang Anshi, a senior minister and leading reformer, finally abandoned all personal ambitions and followed (Zen) Buddhism after the political reform fiasco. Su Dongpo, a great poet and politician, wrote a great number of Zen poems. Thanks very much to the learned scholar-officials’ engagement in the Zen practice, the simplicity and coarseness of early Zen Buddhism was greatly changed. Among the Song’s five denglu, Jingde Reign’s Records was polished and reorganized by Yang Yi, a leading scholar of the Imperial Academy. In addition, Tiansheng Reign’s Records was compiled under the editorship of Li Zunxu, who was Emperor Zhen’s brother-in-law. Overall, the scholar-officials played a quite significant role in Zen’s transformation from the exclusive adherence to sudden enlightenment to a more balanced reliance on practice with written scriptures.
