The symbiotic relationship between state and religion has been one of the more enduring and fascinating themes in Chinese history. This dissertation is concerned with one such topic, the San-chieh-chiao, an extremely popular and influential school of Chinese Buddhism whose history was nonetheless plagued by persistent political persecution. The focus of this study is the way in which the religious doctrine of the San-chieh-chiao reflects the historical setting of the school and is an attempt to come to grips with the religious needs of sentient beings living in that setting.
The dissertation is primarily concerned with two areas of inquiry: (1) a description of the sources and nature of the San-chieh-chiao belief in mo-fa, the doctrine of the Final Stage of the Buddhist teachings, a period in which man's capacity for realization of enlightenment was at its lowest ebb, and (2) presenting the San-chieh-chiao solution to that dilemma, the practice of the Inexhaustible Storehouse, the practice which allowed realization of the potential for complete enlightenment, a potential believed universal to all sentient beings. The investigation presents both the historical factors of these teachings as well as their soteriological significance.
This study shows that the San-chieh-chiao embodies the two main currents of Sui-T'ang Buddhism, the orientation towards practice of the Pure Land and Zen schools as well as the syncretic and sophisticated universalism of the Hua-yen and T'ien-t'ai schools. In this way the San-chieh-chiao embodied the traditional Buddhist concern for salvation coupled with an acute sense of the need to reformulate the teachings to meet the actual needs of the practitioner.
