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

the renowned Tang poet. Other sources point to Zanning’s associations with prominent literati-officials of the Song court, Xu Xuan 徐鉉 and Liu Kai 柳開, not to mention Wang Yucheng, himself.⁵⁵ Xu Xuan, one of the most influential figures at the Song court, wrote a poem in honor of Zanning.⁵⁶ Liu Kai, along with Wang Yucheng, was one of the leading advocates of the guwen revival at the Song court.⁵⁷

The terms of Zanning’s eventual acceptance in the Song bureaucracy had nothing to do with his Buddhist allegiance, which suggested only grounds for dismissal to other members. As suggested in the opening lines of Wang Yucheng’s preface cited above, Zanning impressed and won the admiration of friends and foes alike not as a Buddhist but because of his “other” qualities. Three qualities can be suggested as crucial to Zanning’s success in this regard: (1) his extensive knowledge of things generally, a quality that was noted in his initial conversation with Taizong, and that earned him great respect in the early Song dynasty atmosphere that promoted learning (wen) over martial exploits (wu); (2) his knowledge of Confucianism, a quality for which he was sought out by Confucians seeking to learn of their own principles; and (3) his ability to exhibit wen to an exceptional degree, a quality associated with Confucians of the highest accomplishment.

Zanning’s extensive knowledge is the subject of high praise in Wang’s preface and in other sources. Because Zanning’s writings on various wide-ranging subjects have generally not survived, the content of this knowledge is largely unknown to us. There are, however, some suggestive indicators. One is the survival of a monograph on bamboo.⁵⁸ Another is a record of an exchange between Zanning and Liu Kai on the nature of luminescent substances, recorded in the Record of a Rustic from Mount Xiang (Xiangshan yelu 湘山野錄).

In conversation with Zanning, Liu Kai requested an explanation for the “blue flames” (qingyan 青燄) that appeared in his garden on evenings following dreary, rainy weather, but disappeared whenever one approached them. Zanning explained that this was phosphorescent glow