| Chapter 1: | The Life and Times of Zanning |
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as Long Gonglin 龍共霖, a jinshi recipient from whom Zanning allegedly becomes versed in the study of law (lüxue 律學).97 There is no accounting for this discrepancy, but the Topical Compendium of the Buddhist Clergy affirms Zanning’s familiarity with the administrative and legal traditions of the Chinese bureaucracy.
Prior to his arrival at the Song court, the Orthodox Transmission briefly summarizes Zanning’s career in Wuyue, information that is largely familiar to us from Wang’s Preface. His mother, surnamed Zhou, gave birth to him in a country villa in the fifth year of zhenming (919). While the Xiaochu ji gives the location as Mount Jinwu 金鵡山, in the Orthodox Transmission it is listed as the orthographically similar, Jin’e 金鵝, which seems to be the proper attribution. As in the Xiaochu ji, Zanning left home to become a monk during the tiancheng era (929-930), with the place given in the Orthodox Transmission as Xiangfu 祥符 Monastery in Hangzhou, and received full ordination on Mount Tiantai in the qingtai era (934-936). Wuyue Prince Zhongyi extended an invitation to him and treated him as an esteemed guest; they allegedly discussed matters eagerly throughout the day and night. The nobility of Wuyue frequently turned to Zanning for advice and officials of the region treated him with utmost courtesy.98 In Wuyue, Zanning served as both Ordination Supervisor (jiantan 監壇) and as Buddhist Controller (sengtong), and was conferred the title “Brilliant and Righteous Model of Culture” (mingyi zongwen 明義宗文).99 With minor variation, the Orthodox Transmission account of Zanning’s service at the Song court also follows the description in Wang’s Preface.
The Orthodox Transmission’s attempt to redeem Zanning as Buddhist “defender of the faith” is fostered in the interim through Zhiyuan 智圓 (976-1022), a noted Buddhist monk whose proclivities paralleled those of Zanning.100 Like Zanning, Zhiyuan was fond of guwen and excelled in the study of Confucian texts, even going so far as to teach guwen to other monks.
What is called guwen establishes language worthy of being remembered according to the ancient Way and the language must illuminate