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1 Introduction this book is about a set of crucial developments that took place within Chinese Buddhism in the Song dynasty (960–1279) that had a defining impact on the evolution of Zen Buddhism in all of east asia and that came to permanently shape conceptions about the nature of Zen and the issues it is concerned with. it is entitled How Zen Became Zen, because although Zen (in Chinese pronounced “Chan”) existed earlier, it was not until this period that it fully developed the characteristics that we now associate with it.1 By the Song dynasty, Chinese Buddhism was already ancient. having arrived in China more than eight centuries earlier, Buddhism had become thoroughly domesticated: Buddhist monasteries and pagodas had become integral features of the landscape all over the Chinese heartland, and monks and nuns were part of the street scene in all of the bustling towns and cities that emerged in the Song.2 Just as the Song dynasty in many ways ushered in a new age that was fundamentally different from what had come before, however, the Buddhism that developed in the Song was also significantly different from the Buddhism that had characterized the tang (618–907) and earlier periods. two developments in Song Buddhism are especially well known. the first is the growth of Chan Buddhism, which became the dominant form of elite monastic Buddhism in the Song.the other is the sectarian dispute that took place between the Linji and Caodong traditions of Chan in the twelfth century, involving competing approaches to enlightenment and practice known as “silent illumination” (mozhao) and kanhua Chan (literally, Chan of observing the word). neither of these developments is wholly understood, and the questions of why the Chan school prospered under the Song and why a sectarian schism in Chan happened when it did have not been fully addressed by scholars. in this book, i argue that we cannot understand the second development if we do not understand the first, and that to do either, we must place both developments in the context of a complex web of secular political, social, and economic forces. together with internal dynamics within Chan, the impact of these forces gave rise to the Chan school as we now know it, with its distinct institution, ideology, and literature. in the Song, the majority of the great monasteries of the realm came to 2 how Zen Became Zen be designated as Chan monasteries, and they became centers of learning and culture where sometimes as many as several thousand monks would be enrolled, high-ranking officials would visit, and well-known poets and philosophers would gather. Famous Chan monasteries themselves were seen as sources of great and positive power; the presence of such a monastery could make evil spirits go away, bring prosperity to an area, and even improve the climate.3 the elite Chan clergy who were in charge of the grand monasteries were famous monastics of illustrious lineages who carried with them an enormous charisma and who were recognized as a kind of living Buddhas. Such Buddhist masters were considered to be national treasures who generated significant supernatural benefits for the empire and for the local communities in which they dwelled. the Song Chan school also produced distinct forms of religious literature that became highly valued and widely read by the secular educated elite, and Chan philosophy and rhetoric deeply influenced the intellectual climate and had a substantial impact on developments in Song-dynasty Confucianism. the beginnings of Chan Buddhism can be traced back to the early tang, but only in the Song did Chan become the dominant form of elite monastic Buddhism. although it has long been noted by scholars that Chan Buddhism was highly successful in the Song, there is still a widespread perception that Chan, together with all of Chinese Buddhism, lost its true spirit after the tang dynasty and that Chan in particular had its “golden age” in the eighth and ninth centuries, surviving in later ages only on wistful memories of the great masters of the past. in this view, syncretism became the prevailing trend after the tang, rote scripture learning and mimicking of the earlier masters came to be valued, and Buddhism was infused with popular beliefs and practices. at the same time, the story goes, monks became involved with politics and began to pander to powerful patrons.4 this perceived decline seemed to make Song Buddhism unworthy of serious study.5 Recent research on Song-dynasty Buddhism carried...

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