The Hongzhou School of Chan Buddhism in Eighth- through Tenth-Century China

A comprehensive study of the Hongzhou school of Chan Buddhism, long regarded as the Golden Age of this tradition, using many previously ignored texts, including stele inscriptions. This book provides a wide-ranging examination of the Hongzhou school of Chan Buddhism-the precursor to Zen Buddhism-under Mazu Daoyi (709–788) and his successors in eighth- through tenth-century China, which was credited with creating a Golden Age or classical tradition. Jinhua Jia uses stele inscriptions and other pr