| Chapter 1: | The Life and Times of Zanning |
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out amidst this climate.17 The changes were particularly significant for Buddhism and the role it played in Chinese society.
The suppression of Buddhism during the Huichang era (841-846) deprived the major Tang Buddhist schools (Tiantai 天台 and Huayan 華嚴) of economic support and official authorization. Monks and monasteries that had relied on private support were subjected to increasingly stringent government control. In spite of this setback, Buddhism continued to exercise broad influence over Chinese society, both in the way Chinese intellectuals thought and the religious practices that people engaged in. The Chan school became a major force in China at this time, representing a departure from the aristocratic style of Buddhism of the Tang and compatible with the religious needs of growing segments of the population.18
Zanning occupies an important place in the transformation of Buddhism in China during the tenth century. Zanning possessed a breadth and depth of knowledge that was highly prized at the Song court. Not only was he the highest ranking Buddhist of his day, filling prominent positions within the Song bureaucracy, he was also allegedly appointed to the prestigious Hanlin Academy of scholars and served as one of the “Nine Elders,”19 a group composed of members that represented the pinnacle of early Song intellectual achievement. In the minds of biographers, a supposed dichotomy existed between Zanning as faithful Buddhist and defender of the Dharma, and Zanning as loyal bureaucrat and instrument of imperial policy.
Above all, the image of Zanning preserved is of a man of divided loyalties, a Buddhist monk and historian who served in the highest echelons of the Confucian-based bureaucracy. In the context of the times he lived in and the positions he occupied, it was not unusual to have dual allegiances. Slogans suggesting harmony between the three teachings (sanjiao yizhi 三教一致), Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, were prominently promoted at this time. Zanning himself was an advocate of such harmony, though with a unique twist that is a hallmark of