it is a product of the times of Zhanran when issues of
self-definition came to the fore. Zhanran’s interpreta-
tions of Tiantai, which debate with the Buddhism of
the mid-eighth century (in particular, the Huayan and
Chan schools), further catalyzed much of the Tiantai
on-mountain/off-mountain (shanjia/shanwai) debates
of the Song dynasty (960–1279).
See also:China
Bibliography
Chen, Jinhua. Making and Remaking History: A Study of Tiantai
Sectarian Historiography.Tokyo: International Institute for
Buddhist Studies, 1999.
Penkower, Linda. “Making and Remaking Tradition: Chan-
jan’s Strategies toward a T’ang T’ien-t’ai Agenda.” In Tendai
daishi kenkyu,ed. Tendai Daishi KenkyuHenshuI-inkai.
Kyoto: Tendai Gakkai, 1997.
Ziporyn, Brook. Evil and/or/as the Good: Omnicentrism, Inter-
subjectivity, and Value Paradox in Tiantai Buddhist Thought.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2000.
LINDAPENKOWERZHAO LUN
Zhao lun(The Treatises of [Seng]zhao) is a collection
of writings by Shi SENGZHAO(374–414), a primary dis-
ciple of KUMARAJIVA(344–409/413). Zhao luncontains
the following documents, considered to be chapters by
some scholars and independent treatises by others:
“Wu buqian lun” (“A Treatise on the Immutability of
Things”); “Wu buzhen kong lun” (“A Treatise on the
Emptiness of the Unreal”); “Bojo wuzhi lun” (“A Trea-
tise on Prajñaas Distinguished from Ordinary Knowl-
edge”); and “Niepan wuming lun” (“A Treatise on
Nameless [Nature] of Nirvana”).
The first document dwells, for the most part, on
the mysteries of time. It exposes NAGARJUNA’s (ca. sec-
ond century C.E.) view that the dharmas are essentially
beyond definition and without definite nature. Since
all phenomena are dharmas, but dharmas themselves
cannot be created or destroyed—they are without be-
ingness or nonbeingness—the category of time is
meaningless.
The second document illuminates Nagarjuna’s
ideas about S ́UNYATA(EMPTINESS) from a different per-
spective. In this treatise Sengzhao uses a renowned
simile of a man created through magic. Since the per-
son has been created through magic, he is not a real
man, but within the frame of knowing that the man
has been created through magic, such a man does ex-
ist. The simile explains how all phenomena are both
existent and nonexistent at the same time.
The third treatise seeks to delineate prajñaparamita
(perfection of wisdom) as a different state of mind
than knowledge. Knowledge is obtained through the
investigation of things that are believed to be real. It
is marked by a struggle to reconcile beginnings and
ends, past and future, and so on. The equality of all
things can only be seen through prajñaparamita,
where the oppositions of existence and nonexistence,
future and past, and sorrow and joy are no longer rel-
evant. Similar ideas are presented in the fourth piece
in which NIRVANAis approached through the use of
core Madhyamaka terminology and epistemological
devices. Adapting the principle of the four negations
used by Buddha S ́akyamuni, Nagarjuna, and Ku-
marajva (nirvana is not a form of existence; nirvana
is not a form of nonexistence; nirvana is not both ex-
istence and nonexistence; nirvana is not neither exis-
tence nor nonexistence), Sengzhao speaks about
nirvana as being ultimately indefinable, that is, name-
less. Along with this classical treatment of the subject,
we find the beginnings of a new understanding of this
important concept, in which nirvana is equated with
the TATHAGATAGARBHA(rulaizang).See also:China; PrajñaparamitaLiteratureBibliography
Ch’en, Kenneth. Buddhism in China: A Historical Survey.Prince-
ton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1964.
Liebenthal, Walter, trans. and ed. Chao lun: The Treatises of
Seng-chao, a Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Ap-
pendices,2nd edition, vols. 1–2. Hong Kong: Hong Kong
University Press, 1968.
TANYASTORCHZHILIZhili (Siming Fazhi fashi,960–1028) reestablished the
TIANTAI SCHOOLduring China’s Northern Song dy-
nasty period by leading the Shanjia (orthodox) attack
on the Shanwai (heterodox) interpretations of Tiantai
doctrine and practice. Zhili stressed the uniqueness of
Tiantai teaching as opposed to those of the HUAYAN
SCHOOLand CHAN SCHOOL. He emphasized the doc-
trines of evil inherent in the buddha-nature, the con-ZHAO LUN