Shenzhao 神照 and Zongmi’s 宗密 Legitimacy as the Heze School 荷澤宗: A Critique of Hu Shi’s 胡適 Insistence and a Reconstruction of Nanyin’s 南印 Biography

Abstract

Hu Shi insisted that the true Dharma lineage of Shenzhao 神照 and Zongmi 宗密 was not the Heze School, but rather the Jingzhong School 淨衆宗. Although there are major problems with this insistence, it is still widely accepted today. The first purpose of this paper is to show that Hu Shi’s evidence is completely baseless. The second purpose is to reconstruct the biography of the master of Shenzhao and Zongmi, Nanyin 南印, by using various documents to confirm that they are the Heze school. The third purpose is to explain why Nanyin left Zhongyuan 中原 and ordered his disciples to advance to Zhongyuan, by showing that Huijian’s 慧堅 activities in Chang’an 長安 were behind it.