Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: the Many Lives of Fazang (643-712)

The Buddhist monk Fazang (643-712), regarded today mainly as a scholastic monk, was in fact one of the greatest metaphysicians in Asia. This biographical - and hagiographical - study of Fazang seeks to explore his other contributions and in so doing to correct some major mis-presentations and misinterpretations existing in modern scholarship. It highlights and uncovers aspects of Fazang’s complicated life which have been neglected or ignored until now.
By experimenting with some methodological innovations in reading medieval Chinese monastic hagio-biography, this study reveals general features, structures and overall governing laws of medieval East Asian monastic hagio-biographic literature. In doing so it is a major contribution to the ongoing discussion among scholars of hagiography in other contexts as well.

Jinhua Chen, Ph.D. (1997), McMaster University, is Associate Professor at the University of British Columbia. He has published extensively on East Asian Buddhism, including Making and Remaking History (1999), Monks and Monarchs, Kinship and Kingship (2002), and Legend and Legitimation (2007).

"Nicht nur zum Verständnis der Entwicklung des chinesischen Buddhismus is diese vorzügliche Studie grundlegend, sondern sie vermittelt auch einen differenzierten Einblick in das China der Tang-Zeit über den Buddhismus hinaus, ja sie zeigt, wie sich die Verschmelzungen unterschiedlicher Traditionen und Interessenlage vollzogen. Hier wurden strukturelle Grundmuster eingeübt, die China bis heute prägen."
Michael von Brück, München, Theologische Literaturzeitung, 2009:134/12.

'Chen's book is an important contribution to the study of Chinese Buddhist historiography and Huayan studies in particular.'
Imre Hamar