translated approximately fifty-six works in 230 fasci-
cles, including Agama, AVADANA, and MAHAYANA
scriptures and treatises, tantras, and vinaya texts, par-
ticularly of the SARVASTIVADA, thus preserving one of
the most important monastic traditions. His transla-
tions of Yogacara texts and of Buddhist reasoning are
equally important.
Yijing also wrote exegetic works and the earliest ex-
tant Sanskrit-Chinese dictionary (Fanyu qianzi wen).
His two most important writings are Nanhai jigui neifa
zhuan(An Account of the Dharma Sent Back from the
Southern Seas,T 2125), which gives an account of Bud-
dhist practices, showing the Chinese perceptions of the
monastic regulations prevalent in India, and Da Tang
xiyu qiufa gaoseng zhuan(Record of Eminent Monks
Who [Traveled to] India in Search of the Dharma dur-
ing the Tang,T 2066).
See also:China; India; Pilgrimage; Silk Road
Bibliography
Chavannes, Edouard, trans. Mémoire composé à l’époque de la
grande dynastie T’ang sur les religieux éminents qui allèrent
chercher la loi dans les pays d’occident, par I-Tsing.Paris: E.
Leroux, 1894.
Takakusu Junjiro, trans. A Record of the Buddhist Religion as
Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago (A.D. 671–695)
by I-Tsing.Oxford: Clarendon, 1896.
ALEXANDERL. MAYERYINSHUN
Widely considered to be the primary successor of the
reform legacy of his teacher TAIXU(1890–1947), Yin-
shun Shengzheng (1906– ) is an influential Buddhist
scholar in modern Chinese Buddhist academe and a
key architect of the Chinese Buddhist reform move-
ment. He reformulated and added academic sophisti-
cation to the content of his late teacher’s rallying
rhetoric of “Buddhism for Human Life” (Rensheng
fojiao) and coined the new slogan “Humanistic Bud-
dhism” (Renjian fojiao) to promote his refined version
of a modern “engaged” form of Buddhism.
In his writings, Yinshun proposed various period-
ization schemes outlining Buddhist doctrinal evolu-
tion, and polemically assessed the relevance of the
different periods to modern Buddhist spirituality, as
well as to what he considered to be the central, defin-
ing tenets of Buddhism. His positions challenged
deeply cherished beliefs of Chinese Buddhists: his un-
sympathetic treatment of both the “transcendental-
ized” TATHAGATAGARBHAor buddha-nature tradition,
and the “vulgarized” popular Chinese schools like Pure
Land and Chan.
No less impassioned and idealistic than his teacher
Taixu in advancing his version of the bodhisattva path,
Yinshun’s copious works have left an indelible mark
on the academic and religious discourse of modern
Chinese Buddhist communities. Most of these works
are collected in the massive Miaoyun ji(Anthology of
the Wondrous Clouds) and the Huayu ji(Anthology of
the Flower Rains). Other stand-alone volumes contain
groundbreaking research on the Sarvastivada treatises
and the Chinese Samyuktagama.See also:China; Engaged BuddhismBibliography
Pittman, Don A. Toward a Modern Chinese Buddhism: Taixu’s
Reforms.Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001.
Qiu Minjie. Yinshun daoshi de foxue sixiang.Taipei: Fajie, 1990.WILLIAMCHUYIXUANYixuan (Linji Yixuan; Japanese, Rinzai Gigen; ?–866)
was a famous Chinese master and an emblematic fig-
ure of the putative “golden age” of the CHAN SCHOOL
of Buddhism. Early biographical sources agree on only
a few details about his life. Linji’s family name before
becoming a monk was Jing; he was born in southwest
Shandong province, studied under master Huangbo
Xiyun (died ca. 850), visited various monasteries dur-
ing his pilgrimage years, and finally taught at a
monastery “near the ford” (linji, the origin of his
name) in Hebei province, where he died. Most sources
offer May 27, 866, as the date of his death.
In Chan circles, Linji’s reputation as a forceful
teacher fond of deafening shouts and unconventional
teaching methods grew rapidly after his death. Notes
of his sermons and conversations circulated, and such
phrases as “Linji’s True Man of No Rank” achieved
wide renown. Nevertheless, almost three centuries
passed before, in 1120, Yuanjue Zongyan (ca. late
eleventh–twelfth century) compiled the Linji lu
(Record of Linji), the most important extant source forYIXUAN