Revisiting Huairang: The Fragments of the Baolin zhuan Preserved in the Keitoku dentō shōroku and Their Implications for Tang-Song Chan Historiography

The Baolin zhuan 寶林傳 is a cornerstone in the formation of Chan historiography, yet it survives today only in two incomplete historical textual witnesses. Its tenth and final fascicle, likely covering the lives and teachings of Huineng 慧能 (638–713) and his first- and second-generation successors, is lost. Building on earlier Japanese scholarship, Shiina Kōyū 椎名宏雄 further identified and explored fragments of this missing fascicle preserved in five later works. This article examines the fragments concerning Huairang 懷讓 (d. 744) preserved in the Keitoku dentō shōroku 景德傳燈鈔錄 and investigates the influence of the Baolin zhuan ’s account on Chan historiography in the Five Dynasties and early Song periods.