This article focusses on the life and thought of an influential figure of the Northern line of Ch'an Buddhism, Chih-ta {alias Hou-mo-ch'en Yen, d. 713). Several works on Ch'an doctrine attributed to him have been found among Tun-huang manuscripts. These texts have been considered by Japanese scholars as posterior to the famous sudden/gradual controversy initiated by Shen-hui in 734. But Chih-ta's epitaph, ignored until now, clearly shows that his teaching on "sudden awakening" largely predates Shen-hui's attack on Northern Ch'an, and that his ideas derive from the doctrine of his master Shen-hsiu (606-706), the "founder" of the supposedly gradual Northern school. It is therefore necessary to reconsider the teleological schémas still prevalent in Ch'an historiography, according to which the early Ch'an tradition is cha-racterized by a transition from the "gradual" to the "sudden" teaching - the latter being the emblem of orthodoxy and the hallmark of Shen-hui's Southern school. Chih-ta's epitaph is also significant for giving us a hint at the relationship between Ch'an and esoteric Buddhism, as well as the importance of popular predications and the ce
