A review on the Shouzhen’s (守真) religion identity of the Eight Patriarch of the Huayan School

Abstract

AbstractShouzhen of Kaibaosi (開寶寺) in Dongjing (東京) (Luoyang (洛陽)), has been recorded in a number of documents. Based on the few surviving documents, some scholar suggests that Shouzhen was the eighth patriarch of the Huayan School, while others suggest that Shouzhen was a monk who practiced Tantric Buddhism at the Song Dynasty. There are still many questions about his sectarian identity. Based on a comparative study of Shouzhen’s historical documents, this paper captures the clues of different sectarian identities found in different materials, adds the research method of socio-religion, and analyses the cultural-religious and social factors behind this issue. To conclude, we might confidently think that at the time of Shouzhen and Zanning (贊寧), Shouzhen’s identity of the Eighth Patriarch of the Huayan School is still unknown. Until the appearance of Jingyuan (净源) who regards Shouzhen’s doctrines as important and pay attention to Qixinlun (起信論), Shouzhen is brought into the transmission system and endowed with the identity of the Eighth Patriarch. And then this heritage has been handed down to this day, known to the world.

Keywords

• Shouzhen
• Zanning
• Huayanzong Fozuzhuan
• inheritage
• Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, History and Political Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology College of Arts and Social Science, Kumasi, Ghana
• Buddhism