5. The Mantra or Tantric School (Mi-tsung or Chen-yen): This is the Chinese version of Tantric Buddhism. It flourished in China for less tha  a hundred years, starting with the arrival of Subhakarasimha(637-735) from India during the reign of T'ang dynasty. Subhakarasimha translated the Mahavairochana Sutra which expounded the Tantric teachings. Two other monks who played a key role in the growth of Tantric Buddhism in China were Vajrabodhi (670-741) introduced the concept of Mandalas to the Chinese, while Amoghavajra said to have initiated three T'ang emperors into Tantricism. the Tantric school of Buddhism believed in magic, incantations, drawing of mandalas, casting of spells and elaborate and often secret rituals. The school was later replaced by Lamaism, which was a more popular version of Tantricism.

6. The Avatamsaka or Flower Adornment School (Hua-yen): This school flourished in China for about 200 years, starting from the 7th Century AD and attracted the attention of the famous Empress Wu (690-705). It was based upon the teachings of the Buddha as contained in the Avatamsaka Sutra. The followers of this school believed that the sutra contained the most complex teachings of the Buddha, not comprehensible to ordinary followers. The Avatamsaka school expounded a cosmic view of the universe containing the two principal aspects of the reality,  namely li and shih, an approach which is in some ways resembles the concept of  Purusha (spiritual) and Prakriti (physical) of Hinduism, adopted later on by the Tantric schools. It also believed that in each and every aspect the cosmic reality reflected the same relationships and balance of forces, signifying the ultimate truth of one in all and all in one. The school was founded by Tu-shun, whose commentary of Avatamsaka, known as Ha-chieh Kuan, (Contemplating the Dharmadhatu) provided the necessary background for the emergence of this school in the Buddhist world. He was followed by four patriarchs, Chihyen(602-668), Fa-tsang (exact period unknown), Chiangling(738-838) and Tsung-mi(780-841).

7. The T'ien-t'ai or White Lotus School (Fa-hua): Like the Avatamsaka school, the White Lotus School also was based upon the highest teachings of the Buddha, but compared to the former, provided a more a elaborate view of the cosmic reality. It was founded by a Chinese monk by name Chih-i (538-597) who lived in Chekiang province of China, and formed his doctrines on the basis of the Saddharma-pundarika sutra, an  ancient Buddhist text, which he believed to be the vehicle of all other truths. According to this school, Truth operated from three levels or aspects. At one extreme was the void or emptiness, the unknown or the non self, about which nothing much could be speculated except talking in terms of negation and denial. At the other extreme was temporariness that was in reality nothingness but would manifest itself temporarily or momentarily because of the activity of the senses, as some kind of an illusion or as an image on the film screen. The third level is a middle state, 'middle' for our understanding, but not necessarily middle, 'different' for our understanding but not necessarily different,  because it  unites the two and presents them together as the one Highest Truth. These three levels of truth are also not separate or different from each other. They are the aspects of the same reality, that is universal as well as ubiquitous. The school advocated the practice of concentration and insight (chih and kuan) to understand the transience of things and attain the Buddha Mind in which the above mentioned three aspects of Truth reside in perfect harmony. Chih-i said to have become very popular during his life time and caught the attention of the emperor who donated the revenues of a district for the maintenance of his monastery. The While Lotus School was introduced into Japan in the 9th century AD and  became popular as Tendai.

8. The Pure Land School (Ching t'u): This school was founded by Hui-yuan (334-416), who was originally a Taoist. It was based upon the teachings of the Mahayana school and the belief in the Bodhisattvas, the highest beings, who were next to the Buddha in the order and just a step away from salvation, but would postpone their own salvation for the sake of others. This school worshipped Amitabha and sought his grace for deliverance from this world under the notion that salvation could not be gained on ones own efforts (jiriki) but with the help of the other power (tariki), the grace of Amitabha. The school practiced devotional forms of worship and regular chanting of O-mi-to-fo (the Chinese rendering of Amitabha) as the means to salvation. It followed the teachings contained in the Smaller and Larger Sukhavati-vyuha sutras. The school was subsequently introduced into Korea and Japan where it flourished under three different names.

9. The Dhyana School (Ch'an): This was the most popular of the Chinese schools of Buddhism, which became popular in Japan and later in the west as Zen Buddhism. Chan was a "way of seeing into the nature of ones own being." (D.T.Suzuki). Though it was introduced into China by an Indian monk by name Bodhidharma, around 520 AD, Chan was essentially a product of Chinese character, which unlike the Indian, evolved out of the practical and down to earth philosophy of life. Chan rejected book learning as the basis of enlightenment, set aside all notions and theories of suffering and salvation, and relied upon day to day events, simple thinking and ordinary living as the means to enlightenment. Enlightenment descended upon one as a sudden shift in awareness, not because of elaborate study of the Buddhist sutras, exposition of the philosophies,  nor worship of the images of the Buddha but from a sudden shift in the paradigm, from an instantaneous chasm in the process of thought, from a kind of Eureka experience, characterized by a sudden opening of the mind and removal of a veil, after years of silent waiting and steady preparation. The Chan school discouraged the intellectual kind of pursuit of religion as it believed that any scholarly approach would tend to stiffen the mind and prevent it from experiencing the sudden flowering of Chan.