Jiang Yan serves official positions in the Song, Qi and Liang dynasties, and is known for his poetical writings, of which a considerable part is related to Buddhism. A careful examination of his life and literary career reveals that Jiang‘s Buddhist reverence is shown in metaphysical and religious aspects. Metaphysically, Jiang is influenced by the popular Mahayana Buddhist scriptures and doctrine of his time, as embodied in his love of dharmakāya eternal concept in Lotus Sūtra (《法華經》) andNirvāna Sūtra (《涅槃 經》), and of getting rid of the persistent thought in Wisdom Sūtra (《般若經》), which he uses to build the realm of a great man in Wuweilun (《無為論》), handling the relationship between official life and seclusion. At the religious level, due to the special official experiences in the Song and Qi Dynasties, Jiang is exposed to the popular Zen in Jingzhou area, where he practices meditation and reads Buddhist scriptures. This feature of combining Metaphysics with Buddhist faith represents a cultural pursuit of a Chinese scholar in the Mediaeval Period.
