The Conceptual Context and Living Practice of Chan-Pure Land Integration in the Tang Dynasty

Chan-Pure Land integration (chanjing ronghe 禪淨融合) constituted a defining feature of the Tang-Song transition in the sphere of Buddhist religious practice. Building upon the Chan emphasis on sudden enlightenment and the Pure Land practice of Buddha-recitation developed during the early and middle Tang period, this integration took “one mind” and principle (li 理) and phenomena (shi 事) as the foundation of the theory of mind-nature. It also identified “samādhi” as the shared goal of religious cultivation and regarded “complementary and joint forms of practice” (hubu gongxiu 互補共修) as a necessary mode of religious life. While previous scholars have often emphasized either the doctrinal synthesis (Chan-Pure Land Synthesis) or the combination of living practices (dual cultivation of Chan-Pure Land), this study argues that Chan-Pure Land Integration must be understood as a dynamic, bidirectional interaction operating across three concurrent dimensions: doctrine, cultivation, and living religious practice.