This paper is a re-appraisal on Chan Master Gueifeng Zongmi's (圭峰宗密) analysis and critique of two Chan schools in the Chart of the Master-Disciple Succession of the Chan Teaching that Transmits the Mind Ground in China (中華傳心地禪門師資承襲圖，referred to hereafter as Chan Chart). The Chan Chart was written by Zongmi in response to the Buddhist layman Pei Xiu's 裴休 request to clarify the doctrines of four Chan schools -the Northern School (Beizong 北宗) and the Hong- zhou 洪州，Niutou 牛頭 and Heze 荷澤 lineages of the Southern School and explain the relative successes and failures of their teachings of sudden and gradual enlightenment. This text is considered an important reference for understanding the doctrines of the four schools in the Tang dynasty. Modern scholars often quote Zongmi's descriptions to present the doctrines of these four schools without any critical appraisal. Only Jiang Weiqiao says that he has doubts about the fairness of Zongmi's critique. Furthermore, John R. McRae strongly disagrees with Zongmi's critique of the "Northern School" which he argues is an imaginary school created by Shenhui's 神會 polemical writings and the Platform Sutra. Due to the limit of space in this paper,with the treatises written by the masters in their own words and encounter dialogues (語錄) of the masters, I will only examine Zongmi's analysis and critique on the Northern and Hongzhou Schools. Negation of Zongmi's contribution on Buddhist studies or making a conclusion that Zo ngmi tried to distort the facts are not the aim of this paper. Instead, this is an attempt to explore some of Zongmi's biases due to his position as a representative of the Heze School, and thus by doing so it is hoped that present scholars will make an effort to understand these different schools through their own texts and words.
