A great surge of progress has been made recently in the field of Chan Buddhism (K. Sǒn; J. Zen 禪). Despite considerable development in the history of Buddhist thought since its inception in India, and more specifically, within the context of Chinese Buddhism in general, discussion concerning the place of Chan Buddhism within the larger context of East Asian Buddhism has been a few and far between. In this article, after focusing on one particularly radical group, whose beliefs consisted of worshipping one’s own future Buddha, the dharmakāya (Ch. fashen 法身) residing within oneself within the Dilun school 地論宗, I show that all three schools born of the northern region—the Huayan 華嚴, Chan 禪 and the Three Stages Movement (Sanjiejiao 三階教)—succeeded the radical group, and on top of that, the Huayan school was influenced by the Three Stages Movement and Chan Buddhism. First, I explore the areas where Chan Buddhism inherited doctrines of the Dilun school and areas against it. Thereafter, I compare the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices (Erru sixing lun 二入四行論), considered the most prestigious early Chan text, with various texts from the Three Stages Movement, and demonstrate that there are some common elements. Both Schools were heavily influenced by the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (Niepan jing 涅槃經), which emphasized the importance of perceiving the Buddha-nature, and the Three Stages Movement, which practiced the same method of contemplation. The Huayan school of Zhixiang Monastery 至相寺, located next to the holy ground of the Three Stages Movement, propagated the theory of “originally achieved Buddhahood” (jiulai chengfo 舊來成佛) and criticized both Chan Buddhism and the Three Stages Movement.
