Doctrinal Contexts and Religious Attitudes

Abstract This chapter studies the Hongzhou school's teachings. The first part surveys the religious and intellectual milieus of Tang Buddhism, which formed the backdrop for the development of the Hongzhou school's doctrines and its approaches to spiritual cultivation. The second part offers an analysis of the Hongzhou school's attitudes in four key areas of medieval religious life: monastic mores and ideals, meditative praxis, canonicity and religious authority, and the use of scriptures. The exploration of their basic doctrinal and ethical frameworks shows that Mazu and his disciples were engaged in the creative reformulation of age-old monastic ideals and outlooks, which helped situate the Hongzhou school within a larger nexus of canonically inspired traditions of contemplative monasticism.