Tao-hsüan

Tao-hsüan (PY Daoxuan)
道宣 (596–667) (Jpn Dosen)

    (1) The founder of the Nan-shan branch of the Precepts (Ly) school in China.In 611 he entered the priesthood and studied the vinaya, or rules of monastic discipline, under Chih-shou.In 624 he went to a mountain called Chung-nan-shan to study and practice and eventually founded a school based on the precepts of The Fourfold Rules of Discipline, the vinaya text of the Dharmagupta school.The name Nan-shan derives from the name of that mountain.The Nan-shan school was the only branch of the Precepts school to survive, and later it became synonymous with the Precepts school.From 645 Tao-hsüan assisted Hsüan-tsang with his translation work.

He also authored several books on precepts, as well as a number of historical works.His works include The Essentials of "The Fourfold Rules of Discipline," which is the principal text of the Nan-shan school, and The Further Anthology of the Propagation of Light, a thirty-volume anthology of essays on Buddhism by various Chinese Buddhists.Because some of these essays are found only in this work, it is considered invaluable in the study of Chinese Buddhism.Tao-hsüan's Continued Biographies of Eminent Priests carries on from The Biographies of Eminent Priests and contains the biographies of five hundred priests active from 502 to 645.Tao-hsüan also compiled The Great T'ang Dynasty Catalog of Buddhist Scriptures, a ten-volume catalog of the Buddhist canon.
    (2)［道w］( Jpn Dosen): A priest of China who introduced the Flower Garland (Chin Hua-yen; Jpn Kegon) school to Japan. See Dosen.

Source

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