Introduction -- The context of seventeenth-century China -- Reenvisioning Buddhism in the late Ming -- The Literati and Chan Buddhism -- The rise of Chan Buddhism -- The principle of Chan -- Clashes among enlightened minds -- The divergence of interpretation -- The Yongzheng Emperor and imperial intervention -- Lineage matters -- The debate about Tianhuang Daowu and Tianwang Daowu in the late Ming -- The lawsuit about Feiyin Tongrong's Wudeng yantong in the early Qing -- The aftermath -- Critical analysis -- Explaining the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism -- The pattern of Buddhist revival in the past -- Concluding remarks.

"Enlightenment in Dispute is the first comprehensive study of the revival of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth-century China. Focusing on the evolution of a series of controversies about Chan enlightenment, Jiang Wu describes the process by which Chan reemerged as the most prominent Buddhist establishment of the time. He argues that the revival of Chan Buddhism depended upon reinventions of previous Chan ideals, which had been largely lost after the Song dynasty." "Wu investigates the development of Chan Buddhism in the seventeenth century, focusing on controversies involving issues such as correct practice and lines of lineage. In this way, he shows how the Chan revival reshaped Chinese Buddhism in late imperial China. Situating these controversies alongside major events of the fateful Ming-Qing transition, Wu shows how the rise and fall of Chan Buddhism was conditioned by social changes in the seventeenth century." "Examining the role of textual practice and the implication of dharma transmission in rebuilding Chan institutions, Wu argues that the Chan revival was actively coordinated to coincide with the transformation of Chinese culture and society. His study concludes by bringing the Chan revival to a larger historical context and reflecting on its legacies, ultimately establishing a general pattern of past Buddhist revivals."--BOOK JACKET.

This dissertation investigates the transformation of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth-century China through the lens of a series of controversies motivated by the claim of orthodoxy. The particular case examined here is the Huangbo lineage within the Linji school. Because the third Huangbo master Yinyuan Longqi emigrated to Japan in 1654, this lineage spread throughout Japan and led to the establishment of the Obaku (Huangbo) school in Japan. In this study, I focus on three Huangbo masters: Miyun Yuanwu (1566-1642), Feiyin Tongrong (1593-1662) and Yinyuan Longqi (1592-1673). All three masters had been abbots of Mount Huangbo in Fuqing, Fujian province and were bonded by the relationship of dharma transmission. My study suggests that Chan Buddhism in seventeenth-century China was a systematic reconstruction and reinvention of a Chan ideal that was characterized by the performance of encounter dialogue and a hierarchy of dharma transmission. Motivated by the Linji school’s forceful claim of orthodoxy (Linji zhengzong), the Huangbo masters engaged in three major controversies in seventeenth-century China.
The controversy between Master Miyun Yuanwu and his disciple Hanyue Fazang, taking place around 1635, concerns the authenticity of the Chan enlightenment experience. Interestingly, this controversy was finally judged by the Yongzheng Emperor a hundred years later. The second controversy, about the legitimacy of dharma transmission, led to a lawsuit in which Feiyin Tongrong, the second Huangbo master, lost the case and his book Wudeng yantong was ordered to be burnt in 1654. In addition, the Huangbo master’s orthodox position also propelled them to play a leading role in anti-Christian polemics. As a result, Miyun Yuanwu and Feiyin Tongrong organized an anti-Christian campaign from 1634 to 1640.
I conclude that significant transformations of Chan Buddhism took place in seventeenth-century China. Chan Buddhists revitalized ancient Chan ideals embodied in the lively performance of encounter dialogue and the practice o f dharma transmission. The result of this re-invention was the emergence of a new orthodoxy within Chinese Buddhism. The establishment o f the Japanese Obaku school through emigration and overseas missionary work of the third Huangbo master Yinyuan Longqi was a direct result of the transformation of Chan Buddhism in seventeenth-century China.

Local access dig.pdf. [Wu Jiang-Chan Buddhism Thesis.pdf]

" ... the pages 10-21 deal with Feiyin Tongrong's refutation (in Poxie ji) of Ricci's Tianzhu shiyi ... includes two colour-pictures, of the abbot Miyun Yuanwu and of Feiyin Tongrong (courtesy of Manpukuji, Uji, Japan). Jiang is the author of a dissertation (Harvard) on the formation of a Chan denomination, the early Huangbo (Obaku) School in China .... the article refers, among other literature, to Zhou Erfang, "Ba Tiantong Miyun chanshi Biantian shuo" (Postface to [the anti-Christian] Biantian shuo of the Chan master Miyun of the Tiantong monastery) in Wenxian 82 (1999.4), pp. 285-287 (on an edition older than and slightly different from that included in Poxie ji and kept in the Shanghai Library)" --Ad Dudink.