This project investigates the formation of Chinese Chan/Zen 禪 Buddhist historiography during the Tang-Song transition (ca. 750–1000). It focuses on how Chan historians shaped and refined hagiographies for the Chan patriarchs and early masters in the earliest extant anthologies from this period: the Baolin zhuan 寶林傳 (Chronicle of the Baolin [Monastery], ca. 801), the Shengzhou ji 聖冑集 (Collection of the Sagely Descendant, ca. 899), the Zutang ji 祖堂集 (Collection of the Patriarchal Hall, ca. 952) and the Jingde chuandeng lu 景德傳燈錄 (Jingde-Era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp, ca. 1004).
First, this study offers a critical history of these Chan historiographical works, addressing issues of compilation background, authorship, textual history, genealogical framework, content, and circulation. Second, it investigates practices of textual reuse and source criticism within these texts, shedding light on evolving trends in the perspectives and craft of Chan historians. Third, through a thematic approach, it explores the distinctive characteristics of Chan Buddhist historical writing, focusing on the role of Indian patriarchs, the idealised portrayal of Chinese Chan patriarchs and masters, as well as the use of genealogies and prophecies as historiographical tools.
In addition, the project also examines related texts such as the Keitoku dentō roku shōchō 景德傳燈錄抄註 (Annotated Record of Excerpts from the Jingde chuandeng lu, compiled after 1316), a fourteenth-century Japanese commentary on the Jingde chuandeng lu that preserves fragments from the lost tenth juan 卷 (fascicle) of the Baolin zhuan, and the Quanzhou Qianfo xinzhu zhuzushi song 泉州千佛新著諸祖師頌 (Eulogies for the Patriarchs Newly Composed by Qianfo [Deng] of Quanzhou). This latter work is a collection of thirty-eight tetrasyllabic, eight-line encomia for the Chan patriarchs and early masters composed by the Quanzhou 泉州 monk Wendeng 文僜 (892?–972), author of the Zutang ji's original preface, who based much of his work on the Baolin zhuan.
More broadly, this research underscores the significance of historical thought in the intellectual history of Chan Buddhism and contributes to the growing scholarship on the features of premodern Chinese historiography.