Writings
Zongmi's writings were extensive and influential. There is no certainty about the quantity of Zongmi’s writings. Zongmi’s epitaph, written by P’ei Hsiu, (787?-860) listed over ninety fascicles. Tsan-ning’s (919-1001) biography claimed over two hundred.
For modern scholars, Zongmi provides the "most valuable sources on Tang dynasty Zen. There is no other extant source even remotely as informative".
Unfortunately, many of Zongmi’s works are lost, including his Collected Writings on the Source of Ch’an (Ch’an-yüan chu-ch’üan-chi) which would provide modern scholars with an invaluable source to reconstruct Tang Dynasty Chan.
Read more about this topic: Guifeng Zongmi
Famous quotes containing the word writings:
“Accursed who brings to light of day
The writings I have cast away.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“If someday I make a dictionary of definitions wanting single words to head them, a cherished entry will be “To abridge, expand, or otherwise alter or cause to be altered for the sake of belated improvement, one’s own writings in translation.””
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“An able reader often discovers in other people’s writings perfections beyond those that the author put in or perceived, and lends them richer meanings and aspects.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)