The Mystique of Transmission is a close reading of a late-eighth-century Chan/Zen Buddhist hagiographical work, the Lidai fabao ji (Record of the Dharma-Jewel Through the Generations), and is its first English translation. The text is the only remaining relic of the little-known Bao Tang Chan school of Sichuan, and combines a sectarian history of Buddhism and Chan in China with an account of the eighth-century Chan master Wuzhu in Sichuan.Chinese religions scholar Wendi Adamek compares the Lidai fabao ji with other sources from the fourth through eighth centuries, chronicling changes in the doctrines and practices involved in transmitting medieval Chinese Buddhist teachings. While Adamek is concerned with familiar Chan themes like patriarchal genealogies and the ideology of sudden enlightenment, she also highlights topics that make Lidai fabao ji distinctive: formless practice, the inclusion of female practitioners, the influence of Daoist metaphysics, and connections with early Tibetan Buddhism.The Lidai fabao ji was unearthed in the early twentieth century in the Mogao caves at the Silk Road oasis of Dunhuang in northwestern China. Discovery of the Dunhuang manuscripts has been compared with the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, as these documents have radically changed our understanding of medieval China and Buddhism. A crucial volume for students and scholars, The Mystique of Transmission offers a rare glimpse of a lost world and fills an important gap in the timeline of Chinese and Buddhist history.

AcknowledgmentsPart 1. The Mystique of Transmission1. Authority and Authenticity2. Transmission and Translation3. Transmission and Lay Practice4. Material Buddhism and the Dharma Kings5. Robes and Patriarchs6 Wuzhu and Others7. The Legacy of the Lidai fabao jiPart 2. Annotated Translation of the Lidai Fabao JiSection 1. Sources and the Legend of Emperor Ming of the HanSection 2. Buddhism in ChinaSection 3. Transmission from China to India (the Fu fazang zhuan)Section 4. The First Patriarch, BodhidharmatrataSection 5. The Second Patriarch, HuikiSection 6. The Third Patriarch. SengcanSection 7. The Fourth Patriarch. DaoxinSection 8. The Fifth Patriarch. HongrenSection 9. The Sixth Patriarch. Huineng, Part 1Section 10. Dharma Master Daoan and the Scripture QuotationsSection 11. Huineng Part 2Section 12. Zhishen and Empress QuSection 13. Chan Master ZhishenSection 14. Chan Master ChujiSection 15. Chan Master WuxiangSection 16. The Venerable ShenhuiSection 17. Discourses of the Venerable WuzhuSection 18. Wuzhu and WuxiangSection 19. Du Hongjian's Arrival in ShuSection 20. Du Hongjian and the Wuzhu MeetSection 21. Cui Gan Visits the WuzhuSection 22. Dialogue with Chan Master TiwuSection 23. Dialogue with Chan Master HuiyiSection 24. Dialogue with Masters Yijing, Zhumo, and TangwenSection 25. Dialogue with Master JingzangSection 26. Dialogue with Master ZhiyiSection 27. Dialogue with Master ZhongxinSection 28. Dialogue with Dharma Master FalunSection 29. Dialogue with the Brothers Yixing and HuimingSection 30. Dialogue with Changjingjin and Liaojianxing (Female Disciples)Section 31. Excerpts and Quotations Part 1Section 32. Excerpts and Quotations Part 2Section 33. Tea GathaSection 34. Dialogue with DaoistsSection 35. Dialogue with Dharma MastersSection 36. Dialogue with Vinaya MastersSection 37. Dialogue with Treatise MastersSection 38. Trading Quotations with Masters Daoyou, Mingfa, and GuanluSection 39. Taking on Chan Disciples While Drinking TeaSection 40. Dialogue with Master XiongjunSection 41. Dialogue with Master Fayaun Accompanied by His MotherSection 42. Discourse to Lay HonorsSection 43. Portrait-Eulogy and Final SceneNotesAppendixAbbreviationsBibliographyIndex