vol. 1), p.260.

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above mentioned biography of Tanchao and that of Huiji, who was born in 412, seven years before Tanchao, and died in 496, four years after him (379ab). In his biography Huiji is said to have been originally from Qiantang, and after his teacher Huiyi (372 ～ 444) of the Zhiyuansi died in the capital city Jiankang of the Liu Song dynasty in the year 444, he left the city and stopped at the Xianmingsi temple in Qiantang on his way to Kuaiji and elsewhere. He then became a major figure, establishing new temples and giving lectures, and was later appointed as the head of the Buddhist communities in ten cities in the area. The name of Mt. Lingyin or the temple in that mountain is not mentioned in this biography.

In the Korean edition of Huijiao's collection reproduced in the Taisho collection, the name of the mountain where Tanchao meditated and experienced a miraculous encounter is given as Mt. Lingyuan.(14) The name is given as Mt. Lingyin in three other important versions consulted by the editor of the Taisho collection, and here I tentatively followed this variant reading. The famous Lingyinsi temple, closed down during the persecution of Buddhism in Huichang period (841 ～ 846), was reestablished under the last ruler of the Wuyue kingdom and prospered during the Southern Song period.

The Universal History of Buddhism (Fozu tongji) completed by Zhipan in 1269 mentions that the temple at Mt. Lingyin is said to have been founded by an Indian monk Zhu Huili in the year 326 (339c). I am inclined to believe that this information given in a source dating from a time when the temple and its location had become a major center of Buddhism is probably a piece of later fabrication, and that at the time Tanchao is said to have visited Mt. Lingyin it was a rather obscure place, which may well have been left untouched by Buddhist missionaries active in the area. The miracle story indicates that Tanchao stayed at Mt. Lingyin for a period of time, practicing meditation. It does not mention a temple on the mountain nor any permanent residence where he might have stayed.

Tanchao is then said to have gone to Mt. Chiting, located at a distance of five days travel from Mt. Lingyin, and from there he is said to have visited the

　　   ───────────

　　   (14) See "Taisho shinshu daizokyo kando mokuroku" in

　　　　   Hobo somokuroku vol.1, p.539a.  The biography

　　　　   is found in  vol. 32,  p. 875 of the  published

　　　　   edition of the the Korean collection.

P 496
Linquansi temple to have a boat sent out onto the river and the scripture recited. I have so far not succeeded in identifying the location of Mt. Chiting; the place appears to have been associated with a dragon cult.

The characterization of Tanchao as a monk at Mt. Lingyin in the table of contents attached to Huijiao's collection appears to imply that Tanchao became a mountain monk, establishing a permanent residence at Mt. Lingyin and ending his life there. But neither the biography as a whole nor the miracle story indicates unambiguously that this was the case. If we take the miracle story about dragons as orginally a separate story that was later incorporated or transformed into this biography, it will be more natural to assume that Tanchao's stay at Mt. Lingyin was of a limited duration; he may have left behind him a new Buddhist center there, or possibly strengthened the Buddhist community that already existed there. In either case I am inclined to read the miracle story as a story about the penetration of Buddhism into local communities outside of major urban centers in South China.

This line of speculation points to a larger framework for an examination of the biographies in Huijiao's collection. When the ruling Jin dynasty lost its northern capital in Chang' an in the year 316, a large part of the Chinese aristocracy moved southward to Jiankang, or the present day Nanjing. In the South Buddhism became fashionable at the court and among members of the aristocracy. New temples were built and Buddhist communities were established in rapidly developing centers of power and wealth in south China. E. Zu04 rcher named this phenomenon "gentry Buddhism" and made it the subject of his masterful work, The Buddhist Conques t of China first published in 1957.

Both Baochang and Huijiao lived and worked under the Liang dynasty, known for its pro-Buddhist policies, particularly under the famous Emperor Wu (reign: 502 ～ 549). The first massive collections of biographies of Chinese monks were thus produced in the South, and shows a greater familiarity with the situation of Buddhism there. It might be revealing to examine Huijiao's collection with some emphasis on the biographies of monks who lived in the South, paying special attention to the manner in which these biographies reflect the gradual spread of Buddhism from urban areas to less populated rural areas and monastic centers in mountains. Such an investigation, looking closely around