BUDDHISM IN CENTRAL ASIA AND CHINA 183provide a comprehensive framework for all Buddhist teachings laid the ground-
work for the great doctrinal syntheses of the Sui and T'ang dynasties.8.5 The Sui and T'ang Dynasties (581-907)
In 581, an avowed Buddhist-Wen-ti (r. 581-604)-succeeded in reuniting
the empire, partly through a conscious policy of promoting Buddhism com-
bined with Confucianism as a unifying ideology. Although the Sui dynasty he
founded fell in 617, the T' ang dynasty that replaced it lasted for almost three
centuries. Thus Buddhism was faced with a new situation: For the first time
since it had entered the mainstream of Chinese civilization, the empire was
united. This proved to be a mixed blessing. In the area of doctrine and medi-
tation practice, the Chinese during these centuries finally mastered the Bud-
dhist tradition and made it their own. Many of the great scholars and
meditators whose reputations were to assume legendary proportions in Chi-
nese Buddhism-Hsiian-tsang, Chih-i, Fa-tsang, Hui-neng, and Lin-chi,
among others-flourished during this time. In the institutional area, however,
because political power was concentrated in a single ruling house with au-
thority over the entire empire, the Sangha was more exposed to the whims
and preferences of a small handful of people. This was ultimately to prove
disastrous.
Although Wen-ti had enforced throughout the empire the southern prin-
ciple that monastics ne~d not kowtow to government officials, the general
pattern of relations betWeen the Sangha and the state followed the northern
tradition of volatile ups and downs. The T' ang ruling house claimed to be de-
scended from the Taoist sage Lao-tzu, so their general sentiments were not
pro-Buddhist. A few of the rulers converted to Buddhism and lavished enor-
mous donations on the Sangha, only to be followed by successors who felt
called upon to undo their predecessors' excesses and bring the religion back
in line. In the first two centuries of the dynasty, however, anti-Buddhist mea-
sures were fairly circumscribed. The religion had broad support outside of the
court, and rulers feared that excessively harsh measures would backfire.
One of the highlights of the first century of the T'ang occurred in 645,
when the pilgrim-monk Hsiian-tsang (596-664) returned from his long over-
land journey to India with a collection of more than 675 Buddhist texts. The
story of his journey fired the imagination of the Chinese people, and they
gave him a hero's welcome on his arrival at Ch'ang-an. Gaining imperial sup-
port for a translation team to render his collection of texts into Chinese, he
ultimately converted the Taoist emperor, T' ai-tsung (r. 626-49), to Buddhism.
Sadly, he lived to translate only a small portion of the texts he had brought
back. His translation team was undoubtedly the most talented ever assembled
on Chinese soil, and he himself was one of the few Chinese ever to master
Sanskrit. He and his coworkers developed a new, more accurate vocabulary