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Chi-tsang
Chi-tsang (549–623). The greatest systematizer of the San-lun school in China, and ironically, its last great master. The son of a Parthian father (who joined the Buddhist order not long after his birth) and a Chinese mother, he became a monk sometime between the ages of 7 and 13, and began the study of San-lun (or Madhyamaka) doctrine immediately under Fa-lang (507–81). Living through the turbulent period when China was reunited under the Sui dynasty, which then gave way to the T'ang dynasty, Chi-tsang worked to preserve the corpus of Buddhist literature against the depredations of the times. A prolific commentator and lecturer, he was invited to give talks at the court of the Sui emperor and honoured as a National Teacher. During his lifetime, Chih-i of the T'ien-t'ai school was gaining notice for his doctrinal elaborations that brought the Two Truths of San-lun, seen as separate from each other, into the greater synthetic vision of his Three Truths. Perhaps in response to this, Chi-tsang formulated a deeper articulation of the traditional Two Truths in such a way that they interacted through three levels of dialectical critique, and in the final analysis achieved a similar kind of synthesis. However, after Chi-tsang's death no further masters arose to keep the San-lun tradition alive, and its place at the forefront of Buddhist scholarship was taken by the T'ien-t'ai and Hua-yen schools.
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Cite this article
DAMIEN KEOWN. "Chi-tsang." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. DAMIEN KEOWN. "Chi-tsang." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-Chitsang.html DAMIEN KEOWN. "Chi-tsang." A Dictionary of Buddhism. 2004. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O108-Chitsang.html |
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Chi-tsang
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Cite this article
JOHN BOWKER. "Chi-tsang." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Chi-tsang." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Chitsang.html JOHN BOWKER. "Chi-tsang." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Chitsang.html |
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