There is a long-standing and deep-rooted tension between what could be characterized as meditative practice and textual study that runs through the Buddhist tradition. It emerges with the early communities, is manifested in different forms throughout the history of the tradition, and is very much alive today. This paper examines some of the ways in which this tension plays out in Zongmi’s most ambitious, original, and systematically articulated work, Comprehensive Preface to the Collected Writings on the Source of Chan (禪源諸詮集都序), which was written in 833. This work is most famous for its multifaceted attempt to reconcile the doctrinal teachings of the different “philosophical” schools (such as Huayan) with the different traditions of Chan prevalent in his day, as instantiated in the divide between textualists and meditators. The paper interrogates this issue by offering a close reading of a critical passage at the beginning of the Preface, where Zongmi lays out his main, overarching reason for composing the text. This passage is of special interest because in it Zongmi gives an account of what might be called an “enlightenment experience” that he had, which provides the basis on which he claims unique authority to be able to resolve the central problem that the text addresses: to bridge the gap between textualists and meditators so as to make the tradition whole again.
