Summary Like all the developed religions of the world, Chinese Buddhism has its own central philosophy as the guideline for religious practices and for salvation. This philosophy was established as a consequence of the Chinese，criticisms of Mahayana doctrines originated in India, viz.，Sunyatavada and Vijnanavada. Under the inspiration of Mahayana doctrines of compassion and wisdom，the Chinese Buddhist leaders, took the concepts of Tathagata-garbha and the Buddha-nature，and furtherly identified them with the Mind，and related it as the Absolute. In this view，the Mind has two aspects：transcendental and phenomenal，thus the source of whole universe.
Although the classification of Indian Buddhist ideas had a long history in China, but the systematic criticisms of Indian Mahayana philosophy became meaningful only from the VIIIth Century A.D. The formation of the philosophy of Mind was started by Chengguan (738 ~ 839)，completed by Zongmi (708 ~ 841) and Yanshou (904 ~ 976). Yanshou was a monk of Ch'an school，and the School became the mainstream of Buddhism in China, henceforth this philosophy represents Chinese Buddhism as a whole.
