| This dissertation is a historical, doctrinal and textual study on the process of Ch'an-Pure Land syncretism in China. The process was rooted in pre-T'ang Buddhism, culminated at the end of T'ang and has remained a predominant feature throughout post-T'ang Buddhism. It produced a unique form in Chinese Buddhism which reflected the Chinese characteristic of harmonization, and represented a Sinicized implementation of Mahayana doctrines and an outcome of some circumstantial historical and social factors. It stood for an egalitarian approach to liberation which especially appealed to the masses. The instrumental figure responsible for Ch'an-Pure Land syncretism is Yung-ming Yen-shou (904-975), a Ch'an patriarch and Pure Land practitioner.;Chapter three examines the socio-political background of Yung-ming's life, which contributed to his advocacy of an egalitarian approach to human liberation. Chapter four is devoted to Yung-ming's life and religious practices. Chapter five investigates Yung-ming's thought. Chapter six assesses the influence of Ch'an-Pure Land syncretism on Chinese Buddhism. The conclusion is that due to its harmonizing, inclusive, practical and egalitarian nature, Ch'an-Pure Land syncretism contributed to the survival of Chinese Buddhism and in the popularizing of lay Buddhism.;A partial translation of Yung-ming's Wan-shan tung-kuei chi is attached as an appendix.;Chapter one examines (1) the meaning of religious syncretism, (2) the Chinese characteristics of reconciling and harmonizing, and (3) the syncretic tendency within Buddhism itself. Chapter two contextualizes the Ch'an-Pure Land syncretic thought within the larger framework of Mahayana thought in the light of the Buddha nature (Buddha-gotra) doctrine. It then deals with the interactions between Ch'an and Pure Land Schools in the pre-T'ang period. To both traditions which served as a doctrinal basis and made the syncretism possible in theory and in practice. |
