| Chapter 1: | The Life and Times of Zanning |
|
|
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
inevitable he reached the age and rank he did?”88 Regarding Zanning’s scholarship, Wang praises the breadth of his learning, encompassing topics relating to both Buddhist and non-Buddhist subject matter. The influence of Zanning’s scholarship is such that the rulers of the empire allegedly trust what he says.89
The structure of Wang Yucheng’s preface highlights Zanning’s service to the secular establishment. The tone is that of a tribute to a respected wen master. The immediate context of this tribute pertains only peripherally to his identity as a Buddhist. The main concern is Zanning’s approach to the study of wen, a topic of intense debate among members of the Song bureaucracy. The preface by Wang Yucheng, the linking of Zanning to Huizheng and Gong Lin, the association with Zhiyuan (see below), and with Liu Kai, all suggest Zanning’s affiliation with the guwen movement at the Song court. This movement was inherently critical of the Buddhist presence in Chinese affairs, and it is odd to consider Buddhist participation in it. It did, however, hold a certain appeal for “Confucian monks” (to borrow Makita’s phrase) like Zanning, regardless of the contradictions that such affiliation implied.
4. Defender of the Faith: The Life of a Model Buddhist
The Song period was a “golden age” in the development of Buddhist historical writing, one fostered by the works of Zanning.90 A large portion of this development was taken up with the writing of history based on sectarian lineages to substantiate claims of legitimacy among rival Buddhist schools. This was a major preoccupation among factions of the Chan school that sponsored numerous transmission histories, known as “lamp records” (denglu 燈錄), documenting the preservation of “true” Buddhist teaching based on “mind to mind transmission” (yi xin chuan xin 一心傳心) within their lineage. The forerunners of this development were the Patriarch’s Hall Anthology (Zutang ji 祖堂集) and the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp compiled in the Jingde era (Jingde chuandeng