Tsung-Mi and the Sinification of Buddhism - Hardcover

Gregory, Peter N.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691073732 ISBN 13: 9780691073736

Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr, 1991

Synopsis

Honored as a patriarch in both the Ch'an and Hua-yen schools of medieval Chinese Buddhism, Kuei-feng Tsung-mi (780-841) was a key thinker in a period of intellectual ferment giving way to new, uniquely Chinese forms of religion. Beginning with a detailed discussion of Tsung-mi's life and times, Peter Gregory analyzes his thought within the context of T'ang dynasty Buddhism and Chinese intellectual history. Tsung-mi's reformulations of Buddhist doctrine within the Ch'an and Hua-yen schools and his incorporation of elements from Confucianism are shown as having led to a truly integrative and comprehensive framework of thought, one in which all religious values can be seen to inform one another. Gregory maintains that Tsung-mi's reformulation of Hua-yen can be understood only by relating it to his involvement with and reaction to the various movements within the Ch'an of his day. He then examines Tsung-mi's analysis of Ch'an, which is characterized by the thinker's strong reaction against the antinomian interpretations of Ch'an advocated in some of the school's more radical strands. The moral tenor of these writings suggests the formative influence that Tsung-mi's early study of Confucian texts had on his overall orientation.

About this title

About the Author

Peter N. Gregory is Jill Ker Conway Professor of Religion and East Asian Studies at Smith College.

Review

"Professor Gregory is without a doubt the leading Western authority on Tsung-mi, . . . As his book's title suggests, he is particularly concerned here to present Tsung-mi's vision as a creative Chinese response to and reformulation of some of the central tenets of Mahayana Buddhist thought. In this [Gregory's book] not only represents a major advance in the study of Tsung-mi, surpassing in scope of vision anything hitherto attempted . . . [this volume] also has much to say to those with interest in the intellectual life of the T'ang dynasty and, more broadly, in the history of Chinese philosophy and religious thought. It is a masterful piece of work, sure to be standard reading in Chinese Buddhist studies for years to come."

"Gregory deserves the highest praise for having produced a superlative study of a most involved topic, and for having done so in an elegant and lucid prose style. His scholarship is impeccable; his exhaustive use of the extensive Japanese secondary literature complements his facility with the extremely abstruse and difficult Chinese materials that form the basis of his study. . . . [A] splendid academic accomplishment."

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0691073732
• ISBN 13: 9780691073736
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 390