Yongming Yanshou's Conception of Chan in the Zongjing lu: A Special Transmission Within the Scriptures

Yongming Yanshou ranks among the great thinkers of the Chinese and East Asian Buddhist traditions, one whose legacy has endured for more than a thousand years. Albert Welter offers new insight into the significance of Yanshou and his major work, the Zongjing lu, by showing their critical role in the contested Buddhist and intellectual territories of the Five Dynasties and early Song dynasty China. Welter gives a comprehensive study of Yanshou's life, showing how Yanshou's Buddhist identity has been and continues to be disputed. He also provides an in-depth examination of the Zongjing lu, connecting it to Chan debates ongoing at the time of its writing. This analysis includes a discussion of the seminal meaning of the term zong as the implicit truth of Chan and Buddhist teaching, and a defining notion of Chan identity. Particularly significant is an analysis of the long underappreciated significance of the Chan fragments in the Zongjing lu, which constitute some of the earliest information about the teachings of Chan's early masters. In light of Yanshou's advocacy of a morally based Chan Buddhist practice, Welter also challenges the way Buddhism, particularly Chan, has frequently been criticized in Neo-Confucianism as amoral and unprincipled. Yongming Yanshou's Conception of Chan in the Zongjing lu concludes with an annotated translation of fascicle one of the Zongjing lu, the first translation of the work into a Western language.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chapter One - Yongming Yanshou and the complexities of Chan identity Chapter Two - Revealing the Implicit Truth: Yongming Yanshou's Notion of Zong in the Zongjing lu Chapter Three - Establishing the Chan Zong: Yanshou's Notion of Chan in the Zongjing lu Chapter Four - Yanshou and Chan Lineages: An Overview of Chan Sources and Chan Patriarchs in the Zongjing lu Chapter Five - The Teachings of the Patriarchs: A Study of Chan Lineage Fragments in the Zongjing lu Chapter Six - The Buddhist School of Principle and the Early Song Intellectual Terrain Translation of the Zongjing lu, Fascicle One Abbreviations Notes Bibliography

About the Author :
Albert Welter is Professor of Religion & Culture and Coordinator of the program in East Asian Languages & cultures at the University of Winnipeg, specializing in the history of Buddhism, especially Chan, during the Five Dynasties and early Song Dynasty periods in China (roughly 900 to 1126).

Review :
"Albert Welter has produced his third consecutive outstanding book in recent years documenting the history of Chinese Chan Buddhism during its formative period. In this volume, he treats the crucial figure, Yongming Yanshou, with great skill and insight. The historical materials are compelling, the sources and citations are first-rate, and the translations are reliable and readable. This is another must-read for scholars and students of the Chan school." --Steven Heine, Professor and Director of Asian Studies, Florida International University "Albert Welter's examination of Chan through the interpretive lens of the eminent Five Dynasties scholar monk Yongming Yanshou offers a distinctive view of the tradition as grounded in scripture and textual study that contrasts sharply with the dominant narrative shaped by Song sources. This excellent study challenges our understanding of Chan history in the Tang, deepens our knowledge of intellectual currents in the Tang-Song transition, and broadens our grasp of the philosophical relationship between Buddhism and Confucianism in the Song."-- Daniel Getz, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Bradley University "In this landmark work, Welter restores Yanshou to his rightful Chan identity, redeeming him from marginalization as a non-Chan scholastic or Pure Land-Chan syncretist; and positions him as the mainstay of a Song 'Buddhist School of Principle' alongside the 'Linji Chan Mind School.' Welter also brings to light invaluable Chan materials from the extensive Zongjing lu that have long been ignored. In highlighting the existence of a 'principled' Chan, the book breaks new ground."-- Jeffrey L. Broughton, author of Zongmi on Chan "Equisite!"--Zen and Back Again:Zen Master Yanshou "Welter's work has made a great contribution by presenting Yanshou as a representative of the scholastic style of Tang Buddhism in the Five Dynasties and demonstrating that the Zongjing lu is a rich source for the study of scholastic teaching before the Song. This book provides valuable information and many insights. I hope it will inspire scholars to work on Yanshou's perspective on Chan, Huayan, Tiantai, Faxiang, and other schools in the future."--China Review International