The Administration of Buddhism in China: A Study and Translation ...

lu 景德傳燈錄).⁹¹ Following this example, historians in the Tiantai school constructed histories to counter the claims of patriarchal lineage promoted in the Chan school. Along with the Comprehensive History of the Buddhas and Patriarchs (Fozu tongji 佛祖統紀), the Orthodox Transmission of Buddhism (Shimen zhengtong 釋門正統) represents the crowning attempt to write Buddhist history from the perspective of the Tiantai school.⁹² The main feature of these works is their imitation of the style of history writing associated with “standard histories” (zhengshi 正史), using categories previously exclusive to dynastic histories, “basic annals” (benji 本紀), “biographies” (liezhuan 列傳), and so on, for writing Buddhist history. The Orthodox Transmission of Buddhism (hereafter Orthodox Transmission) is the oldest such work that survives. It also contains the first attempt to retrieve Zanning as an essentially Buddhist figure.

In spite of the influences of “secular” history on the style with which the Orthodox Transmission was conceived, as a Buddhist account it naturally drew different conclusions regarding the significance of Zanning’s life. The Tiantai school openly promoted activities aimed at lay patrons, and the biography of Zanning in the Orthodox Transmission is based on the perception that Zanning promoted activity in Buddhist societies composed of such patrons. Far from the image of the “secular monk” associated with Wang Yucheng’s preface in the Xiaochu ji, the Orthodox Transmission portrays Zanning as a “defender of the faith” (hufa 護法) who promotes the activities engaged in by the Buddhist faithful and, in his capacity of high-ranking scholar-official, defends the faith against the onslaught of secularism.

The Orthodox Transmission biography is divisible into three parts. The first part, the biographical section, follows the chronology of Zanning’s life as in the Xiaochu ji, from which it is largely drawn. The most important additions concern the end of Zanning’s life, and the legacy that followed Zanning after his death. The second part connects Zanning’s image with the aims of Buddhist societies, as mentioned above, in an attempt to strengthen his Buddhist identity as a “defender of the faith.” The third