Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: the Many Lives of Fazang (643-712)

Jinhua Chen, Ph.D. (1997), McMaster University, is Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. He has published extensively on East Asian Buddhism, including Making and Remaking History (1999), Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship (2002), and Legend and Legitimation (2007).

• CONTENTSIntroductionPart One  A Biographical ReconstructionChapter One  Primary Sources and Secondary Studies1 Epigraphic Sources2 Textual Sources3 Modern Studies: Contributions and Limitations4 Concluding Remarks: The Nature and Structure of the Primary Sources, and the Problems of Modern StudiesChapter Two  Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn’s Biography of Fazang: A Textual Study1  Format and Contents2  Sources of Pŏpjang Hwasang Chŏn3  Values and Limitations4  Concluding RemarksChapter Three  Fazang’s Basic Biographical Data: Names, Native Land, Familial and Dharma Backgrounds1  Names2  Places of Origin and Birth3  Family Background4  “Dharma Family”5  Concluding RemarksChapter Four  The Eminent Monk Who Wasn’t?: Stories about Fazang’s Full Ordination1  From Yan Chaoyin to Zuxiu: Why Fazang’s Ordination Became an Issue2  The Fictional Nature of the “Ordination Episode”3  Fazang and Śākyamitra: Further Evidence4  Concluding RemarksChapter Five  A Man of Many Faces: Fazang’s Life Reconstructed, I1  Becoming a Buddhist Monk: 643-6702  Emergence of a Buddhist Master: 670-6903  Fazang under Empress Wu’s Reign up to 699 Chapter Six  A Man of Many Faces: Fazang’s Life Reconstructed, II1  Fazang under the Last Five Years of Empress Wu’s Reign (700-705)2  Under the Reign of Zhongzong: 705-7103  Under the Reign of Ruizong: 710-7124  Concluding RemarksPart Two:  Thematic and Hagiographical Studies Chapter Seven  Fazang the Philosopher1  Legends Regarding the Composition of the “Treatise on the Golden Lion”2  The Mirror Hall3  Concluding RemarksChapter Eight  Fazang the Technical Innovator1  A Great Secret Wrapped in a Small Package2  The Provenance of the Printed Dhāraṇī Text: Korea or China?3  The Promise of Health and Long Life in the Dhāraṇī Text4  Empress Wu and Daoist Immortality5  Fazang’s Role in Printing and Spreading Wugou Jingguang Da Tuoluoni Jing6  Fazang’s Knowledge of Mulberry Paper7  Concluding RemarksChapter Nine  Fazang the Translator1  Collaboration with Divākara and Devendraprajña2  Collaboration with Śikṣānanda and Mitrasena3  Collaboration with Yijing and Bodhiruci4  Concluding RemarksChapter Ten  Fazang the Court Politician1  Fazang and Empress Wu: 670-6902  Fazang and Empress Wu: 690-7053  Fazang’s Role in the Transition of Power: 700-7054  Fazang under the Reigns of Zhongzong (705-710) and Ruizong (710-712)5  Concluding RemarksChapter ElevenFazang’s Religious Life1  Esoteric Practices2  Daoist Practices3  Self-immolation and Relic-veneration4  Concluding RemarksChapter TwelveFazang the Wonderworker1  Miracle Stories about Fazang’s Mastery of the Avataṃsaka Teachings2  Fazang the Rain-maker and Disciplinarian3  The Magician as Warrior?: Fazang and the Suppression of a Khitan Rebellion (696-697)4  Concluding RemarksConclusionPart Three:  AppendixesBibliographyIndex

"Nicht nur zum Verständnis der Entwicklung des chinesischen Buddhismus is diese vorzügliche Studie grundlegend, sondern sie vermittelt auch einen differenzierten Einblick in das China der Tang-Zeit über den Buddhismus hinaus, ja sie zeigt, wie sich die Verschmelzungen unterschiedlicher Traditionen und Interessenlage vollzogen. Hier wurden strukturelle Grundmuster eingeübt, die China bis heute prägen."Michael von Brück, München, Theologische Literaturzeitung, 2009:134/12.'Chen's book is an important contribution to the study of Chinese Buddhist historiography and Huayan studies in particular.'Imre Hamar