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UBC Theses and Dissertations
The man in the middle: an introduction to the life and work of Gui-feng Zong-mi Ainbinder, Lori Denise
Abstract
This thesis presents a biographical study of the Tang Dynasty monk Gui-feng Zong-mi (780-841) together with an introduction to his thought. The biography contained herein draws upon original biographical and autobiographical sources to provide as complete a picture of the life of Zong-mi as possible within the scope of this thesis. Zong-mi defied categorization in both the manner in which he lived his life and his religious philosophy. He is simultaneously honored as a patriarch in both the Chan and Hua-yan Schools of Buddhism, while also being well-versed in the Confucian classics. As a model of Chinese Buddhist syncretism, he was able to create harmonious interaction between rival schools and religious systems in his writings and his practice. With a foot in both the exegetical and meditative traditions, Zong-mi was able to combine the best of both approaches to Buddhist religious life and philosophy. A native of Sichuan, Zong-mi entered Buddhism through the He-ze lineage of Southern Chan. He first experienced awakening while reading a passage from the Yuan-jue jing and pledged himself to explicating that text. After encountering the writings of the Fourth Hua-yan Patriarch, Cheng-guan, Zong-mi sought him out and changed his affiliation to Huayan. He maintained close ties with the Chan tradition, because he perceived the exegetical and meditative approaches were complementary. Zong-mi enjoyed a prosperous career and received numerous honors, including the purple robe granted by the emperor. Following his involvement in the Sweet Dew Incident of 835, he disappeared from view. Zong-mi was primarily driven by soteriological concerns. More specifically, he worked to develop a doctrinal basis for meditative practice and his major contributions to Chinese Buddhist thought lie in this area. The model which he developed drew from the Hua-yan vision of the harmonious interpenetration of principle and phenomena, and he used this as a basis for Chan meditative practice. This model, advocating sudden enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation, was based on his understanding of the tathagatagarbha doctrine of the Awakening of Faith.
Item Metadata
Title |
The man in the middle: an introduction to the life and work of Gui-feng Zong-mi
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Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
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Date Issued |
1996
|
Description |
This thesis presents a biographical study of the Tang Dynasty monk
Gui-feng Zong-mi (780-841) together with an introduction to his thought.
The biography contained herein draws upon original biographical and
autobiographical sources to provide as complete a picture of the life of
Zong-mi as possible within the scope of this thesis. Zong-mi defied
categorization in both the manner in which he lived his life and his
religious philosophy. He is simultaneously honored as a patriarch in both
the Chan and Hua-yan Schools of Buddhism, while also being well-versed
in the Confucian classics. As a model of Chinese Buddhist syncretism, he
was able to create harmonious interaction between rival schools and
religious systems in his writings and his practice. With a foot in both the
exegetical and meditative traditions, Zong-mi was able to combine the best
of both approaches to Buddhist religious life and philosophy.
A native of Sichuan, Zong-mi entered Buddhism through the He-ze
lineage of Southern Chan. He first experienced awakening while reading a
passage from the Yuan-jue jing and pledged himself to explicating that
text. After encountering the writings of the Fourth Hua-yan Patriarch,
Cheng-guan, Zong-mi sought him out and changed his affiliation to Huayan.
He maintained close ties with the Chan tradition, because he perceived
the exegetical and meditative approaches were complementary. Zong-mi
enjoyed a prosperous career and received numerous honors, including the
purple robe granted by the emperor. Following his involvement in the
Sweet Dew Incident of 835, he disappeared from view.
Zong-mi was primarily driven by soteriological concerns. More
specifically, he worked to develop a doctrinal basis for meditative practice
and his major contributions to Chinese Buddhist thought lie in this area.
The model which he developed drew from the Hua-yan vision of the
harmonious interpenetration of principle and phenomena, and he used this
as a basis for Chan meditative practice. This model, advocating sudden
enlightenment followed by gradual cultivation, was based on his
understanding of the tathagatagarbha doctrine of the Awakening of Faith.
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Extent |
8574371 bytes
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Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
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Language |
eng
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Date Available |
2009-02-06
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Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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DOI |
10.14288/1.0087081
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URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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Graduation Date |
1996-05
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Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
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Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.