The Sociology of Philosophies

ple (Ch’en, 1964: 265–266, 299–300). The famous Hua-tu temple in Chang-an during the T’ang dynasty was fabulously wealthy; it ma ...

the wealth of the church made it a target for periodic persecutions and confiscations. This too had its European parallels: the ...

unstable struggle; so did families of Taoist aristocrats, who fomented palace coups by occult prophecies and revelations. Buddhi ...

of civil service examinations alongside the Confucian texts; but this policy lapsed with the crisis of the empire in 755 (Needha ...

Principal Chinese Buddhist Monasteries *  Buddhist monastery ô  Ch’an (Zen) monastery 282 • (^) Intellectual Communities: Asia ...

capital under court patronage, but also in a few large, well-endowed mountain centers. For centuries the core of the Buddhist co ...

FIGURE 6.1. TAOIST CHURCH AND IMPORTED BUDDHIST SCHOOLS, 300–500 284 • (^) Intellectual Communities: Asian Paths ...

The T’ien-t’ai Hierarchy The official organizer of T’ien-t’ai was Chih-I (538–597), who established the great Mount T’ien-t’ai m ...

laristic concrete and abstract philosophical doctrines. The whole took an idealist turn with the assertion that all 3,000 worlds ...

FIGURE 6.2. T’IEN-T’AI, YOGACARA, HUA-YEN, 500–800 ...

nections with the other main developments of the mid-600s: on one side debating with and training monks from the meditation scho ...

ence of metaphysical levels is the ultimate reality. Fa-tsang described this in a number of famous metaphors. Reality is a hall ...

sciousness-Only, Ch’an, and finally Hua-yen itself as the highest stage of enlightenment. Tsung-mi, broadening the synthesis eve ...

220 in Figures 6.2 and 6.3); the notable lineages start only after this time (Dumoulin, 1988: 98; McRae, 1986: 30). Several thin ...

the practice began of selling these certificates to raise revenue. Ordination carried economic advantages such as exemption from ...

1986: 245). Moreover, the issue of sudden enlightenment was a long-standing one; when it was raised by Tao Sheng 300 years befor ...

FIGURE 6.3. CASCADE OF CH’AN (ZEN) SCHOOLS, 635–935 ...

most of the leading monks (especially the famous intellectuals) lived, radical Ch’an moved into self-supporting monasteries, usu ...

long-lasting effects. In the early and mid-700s, tantric Buddhist masters made a showing at court with their elaborate magical a ...

estates. The difference is that the Taoist gentry owned their own property; the Ch’an monks owned theirs collectively, and hence ...