The Cosmopolitan Civilization of Sui and Tang China

I. Sui (589-618) Reunification

   A. Recreation of a centralized bureaucratic empire

         1. Sui Wendi (d. 605) Chinese-Turkic founder

         2. Han dynasty viewed as the model

         3. Similarities with Qin often noted

              a. reunification out of prolonged disunity

              b. Grand Canal project linking Yangzi, Yellow

              c. harsh, demanding, short-lived

              d . set stage for grander dynasty, the Tang

     B. Tiantai "Heavenly Platform" Buddhism

          1. Zhiyi (538-97) the founder (no Indian counterpart)

          2. Lotus Sutra the central text

               a. emptiness (sunyata)
               b. temporariness
               c. both and beyond

           3. Related to "Three-Treatise School"

               a. Kumarajiva (344-413) translated 

               b. Nagarjuna's (ca. 100-200) Madhyamika texts

     C. Politically fragmented Europe in its "middle ages"

II. Tang (618-906)

    A. Most cosmopolitan dynasty thus far

          1. Buddhism flourished during most of it

          2. Christianity, Islam, etc. entered

           3. Chinese borders extended to new limits

           4. Chang'an at its pinnacle

      B. Tang Emperors 

           1. Gaozu  (r. 618-26) a Sui general, maternal relative of the Sui

           2. Taizong (r. 629-49) murdered two brothers, deposed Gaozu

                a. New legal codes promulgated

                 b. schools, granaries established

                 c. juntian "equal field" system of land distribution

                 d. Six Ministries reorganized

                      i. Personnel
                      ii. Revenue
                      iii. Rites
                      iv. Justice
                      v. War
                      vi. public works

           3. Empress Wu Zhao (625-706?)

                  a. former concubine of Taizong, Gaozong

                   b. seized power in 660 following Gaozong's stroke

                       i. 683 Gaozong died

                       ii. Empress Wu installed sons as emperors

                       iii. 690 proclaims the Zhou dynasty

                  c. promoted Huayan "Flower Garland" Buddhism

                  d. Provincial temples built

                  e. Dayunjing "Great Cloud Sutra" preached

                  f. proclaimed herself incarnation of Maitreya

           4. Xuanzong (r. 713-56)

                  a. early diligence, then indulgence

                  b. Yang Guifei

                  c. An Lushan Rebellion (755-63)

             5. Wuzong's Persecution of Buddhism (840-46)

                   a. institutional land and wealth confiscated

                   b. only 49 monasteries, 800 monks remained

       C. New "Chinese" Forms of Buddhism

            1. Huayan "Flower Garland" Buddhism

                 a. Fazang (643-712) founder

                 b. Doctrines

                     i. emptiness

                     ii. interpenetration of all things

            2. Qingdu "Pure Land"

                  a. Amitufo = nianfo "name of the Buddha"

                   b. Guanyin = bodhisattva of mercy

                   c. Western paradise vs. hell

                    d. millenarian sense of the final age

            3. Chan (Zen) "Meditation" School

                  a. Bodhidharma the legendary founder

                  b. Northern and Southern Branches

                       i. Northern school: "gradual"

                       ii. Southern school: "sudden"

                  c. Huineng (638-713) Sixth Patriarch

                   d. zuochan "sitting in meditation"

                   e. gongan "public cases"

     D. Cultural Developments

           1. Woodblock printing --- Buddhist sutras

            2. Landscape (Shanshui "Mountain & Water")

            3. Tang poetry

                a. Li Bo (701-62)

                b. Du Fu (712-70)

     E. End of Tang

          1. Huang Chao's Rebellion

          2. Barbarian (Shatuo Turks, Khitan Mongols) incursions

          3. Changan destroyed