He wrote a number of vitally important essays on the contemporary situation of Buddhism in China, and is one of the most important figures in history in terms of providing modern scholars with a clear analysis of the development of Chan and Huayan and the general intellectual/religious climate of his times.
A meticulous scholar, Zongmi wrote extensive critical analyses of the various Chan and scholastic sects of the period, as well as numerous scriptural exegeses. He was deeply affected by Huayan thought and is famous for his work in the area of doctrinal classification: the attempt to account for the apparent disparities in the Buddhist doctrines by categorizing them according to their specific aims. Zongmi, like many later Korean monks on whom he extended his influence, was deeply interested in both the practical and doctrinal aspects of Buddhism, and was especially concerned about harmonizing the views of those that tended toward exclusivity in either direction.
Biography
Zongmi was born in 780 into the powerful and influential Ho family in Hsi-ch’ung County of present-day central Szechwan. In his early years, he studied the Confucian classics, hoping to for a career in the provincial government. When he was seventeen or eighteen, Zongmi lost his father and took up Buddhist studies. In an 811 letter to a friend, he wrote that for three years he "gave up eating meat, examined scriptures and treatises, became familiar with the virtues of meditation and sought out the acquaintance of noted monks." At the age of twenty-two, he returned to the Confucian classics and deepened his understanding, studying at the I-hsüeh yüan Confucian Academy in Sui-chou. His later writings reveal a detailed familiarity with the Confucian ''Analects'', the ''Classic of Filial Piety'' , the ''Classic of Rites'' as well as historical texts and Taoist classics such as the works of Lao tzu.
At the age of twenty-four, Zongmi met the Chan master Sui-chou Tao-yüan and trained in Zen Buddhism for two or three years, receiving Tao-yuan’s seal in 807, the year he was fully ordained as a Buddhist monk. In his autobiographical summary he states that it was the ''Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment'' which led him to enlightenment, his "mind-ground opened thoroughly…its meaning was as clear and bright as the heavens." Zongmi’s sudden awakening after reading only two or three pages of the scripture had a profound impact upon his subsequent scholarly career. He propounded the necessity of scriptural studies in Chan and was highly critical of what he saw as the antinomianism of the Hung-chou lineage derived from Mazu Daoyi which practiced "entrusting oneself to act freely according to the nature of one’s feelings". Zongmi’s Confucian moral values never left him and he spent much of his career attempting to integrate Confucian ethics with Buddhism.
In 810, at the age of thirty, Zongmi met Ling-feng, a disciple of the preeminent Buddhist scholar and Huayan exegete Ch’eng-kuan . Ling-feng gave Zongmi a copy of Ch’eng-kuan’s commentary and subcommentary on the ''Huayan Sūtra''. The two texts were to have a profound impact on Zongmi. He studied these texts and the sūtra with great intensity, declaring later that due to his assiduous efforts, finally "all remaining doubts were completely washed away." In 812 Zongmi travelled to the western capital, Chang’an, where he spent two years studying with Ch’eng-kuan, who was not only the undisputed authority on Huayan, but was also highly knowledgeable in Chan, Tientai, the Vinaya and San-lun.
Zongmi withdrew to Mount Chung-nan, southwest of Chang’an, in 816 and began his writing career, composing an annotated outline of the ''Sūtra of Perfect Enlightenment'' and a compilation of passages from four commentaries on the sūtra. For the next three years Zongmi continued his research into Buddhism, reading the entire Buddhist canon, the ''Tripitaka'', and traveling to various temples on Mount Chung-nan. He returned Chang’an in 819 and continued his studies utilizing the extensive libraries of various monasteries in the capital city. In late 819 he completed a commentary and subcommentary on the ''Diamond Sūtra''. In early 821 he returned to Ts’ao-t’ang temple beneath Kuei Peak and hence became known as Guifeng Zongmi the teaching of men and gods, 2) the teachings of the Hinayana, 3) the teaching of phenomenal appearances, 4) the teaching of the negation of phenomenal appearances and 5) the teaching that reveals the true nature of phenomena . Zongmi saw enlightenment and its opposite, delusion, as ten reciprocal steps that are not so much separate but parallel processes moving in opposite directions.
Zongmi’s classification also included the various Chan schools of the day. He provided a critique of the various practices which reveal not only the nature of Chan in Tang Dynasty, but also Zongmi’s understanding of Buddhist doctrine.
Zongmi’s critique of Northern Chan was based on its practice of removing impurities of the mind to reach enlightenment. Zongmi criticized this on the basis that the Northern school was under the misconception that impurities were "real" as opposed to "empty" and therefore this was a dualistic teaching. Zongmi, on the other hand, saw impurities of the mind as intrinsically "empty" and but a manifestation of the intrinsically pure nature of the mind. This understanding of Zongmi came from the ''Awakening of Faith'' scripture which espoused the ''tathagatagarbha doctrine'' of the intrinsically enlightened nature possessed by all beings.
His criticism of another prominent Chan lineage of the time, the Ox-head School, was also based on the tathāgatagarbha doctrine but in this case Zongmi saw their teaching as a one-sided understanding of emptiness. He claimed that the Ox-head School taught "no mind" but did not recognize the functioning of the mind, assuming that the intrinsically enlightened nature is likewise "empty" and "that there is nothing to be cognized". Zongmi went on to say, "we know that this teaching merely destroys our attachment to feelings but does not yet reveal the nature that is true and luminous".
In all, Zongmi gave critiques on seven Chan schools in his ''Prolegomenon to the Collection of Expressions of the Zen Source'' and although he promoted his own Ho-tse school as exemplifying the highest practice, his accounts of the other schools were balanced and unbiased. It is clear from his writings that in many cases he visited the various Chan monasteries he wrote about and took notes of his discussions with teachers and adapts. His work had an enduring influence on the adaptation of Indian Buddhism to the philosophy of traditional Chinese culture. The writings that remain have proved to be an invaluable source for modern scholars of the history of the development of Buddhism in China.
References & Further Readings
Broughton, J., Tsung-mi’s Zen Prolegomenon: Introduction to an Exemplary Zen Canon, in The Zen Canon: Understanding the Classic Texts, eds., S. Heine & D. S. Wright, Oxford University Press, Oxford & New York ISBN 0-19-515068-6
Gregory, Peter N., Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, University of Hawai’i Press, Kuroda Institute, ISBN 0-8248-2623-X
____________ Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity: An Annotated Translation of Tsung-mi’s Yüan jen lun with a Modern Commentary, University of Hawai’i Press, Kuroda Institute ISBN 0-8248-1764-8
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