Yung-ming Yen-shou (904~975) who lived during the period of the five dynasties and ten countries in Wu-yueeh, has always been famous for the theory of harmonizing ch'an and pure land which he detailed in his Confluence of Everything Wholesome. In his main work, The Essential Mirror, he formulated his teaching of the mind based on four schools -- Ch'an, Tien-t'ai, Hua-yen, and Fa-hsiang. His concepts and ideas reflect the intellectual climate, social environment, and changing the true face of Yung-ming Yen-shou by removing via the philological method those parts of his biography which are later additions, and subjecting the relevant records to detailed scrutiny. All relevant sources the present writer was able to locate have been arranged in synoptic manner according to date (Addendum I) and item (Addendum II). It is hoped that this arrangement of material will help to demonstrate clearly how the picture of Yung-ming Yen-shou changed due to influences of intellectual fashion and sectarian viewpoints. In other words, the present writer is trying, by way of the philological method, to show from the angle of historical change not only that every person is writing history but also that the times, the society, and history model the shape of the individual through the understanding specific to that time and space.
