| Chapter 1: | The Life and Times of Zanning |
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the ancient Way. What is the ancient Way? It is the Way the sage-teacher Confucius practiced…. His fundamental precepts were simply benevolence and righteousness and the five constants. If you aspire to This Culture (siwen 斯文), you must really master the Way of the five constants. Do not lose the center yet change with the times, change but maintain continuity [with the ancient], for what is continuous endures and what endures agrees [with the Way]. Once you have apprehended the Way in the mind, let it come out by writing essays (wenzhang 文章) and spread its transformation through instruction (jiaohua 教化) [thus saving the age and setting forth the kingly way, etc.]…. This should be the goal of doing wen. The creation of guwen is complete in this.101
Zanning concurred with Zhiyuan’s view, “Do not lose the center yet change with the times, change but maintain continuity [with the ancient], for what is continuous endures and what endures agrees [with the Way],” as the rationale for including Buddhist writings (“changing with the times”) with the ancient Confucian legacy (“not losing the center”) as “the goal of doing wen” and “the creation of guwen.”102
The Orthodox Transmission records a poem written by Zhiyuan commemorating Zanning’s memory not for these common associations, but reflecting Buddhist sentiments.
In a state of tranquility, he returned to the realm of Truth (nirvāṇa);
The work of saving humankind having already been completed.
The courts of two emperors esteemed his efforts;
All within the four seas acknowledged his eminence.
Of the traditions of old, he preserved the Lotus Society;
In preserving lost records, he fulfilled [service to] the imperial capital.
He deliberated with great pause over previous events;
In the trees of the courtyard, a crow calls out at sunset.103
Zhiyuan presents an image of Zanning as a model bodhisattva who, having fulfilled his vow to save others, has passed into nirvāṇa. The crows crying in the courtyard at sunset, in imagery often associated with Chan