Chang-an
Chang-an
章安 (561–632) (PY Zhang’an; Jpn Shoan)
Also known as Kuan-ting or the Great Teacher Chang-an.
The second patriarch of the T'ient'ai school in China. The Biographies of the Nine Patriarchs of the T'ient'ai School , which regards Nagarjuna as the original founder of the school, counts him as the fifth patriarch. Chang-an is the name of his birthplace.
In 583 he became a disciple of T'ient'ai and learned from him the doctrine and meditational practices of the school. For the next fifteen years, he recorded and compiled T'ient'ai's lectures, including his so-called three major works, The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sutra, The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sutra, and Great Concentration and Insight.
After T'ient'ai's death he devoted himself to sustaining and developing the T'ient'ai community and wrote a biography of his teacher titled The Biography of the Great Teacher T'ient'ai Chihche of the Sui Dynasty.
The One Hundred Records of the Great Teacher T'ient'ai is his compilation of his teacher's letters and important documents concerning the T'ient'ai school.
He also wrote The Profound Meaning of the Nirvana Sutra, The Annotations on the Nirvana Sutra, The Annotations on "The Treatise on the Observation of the Mind," and other works.
