Zongmi’s Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity: Rhetorical Characteristics and Their Implications

Abstract

Zongmi 宗密 (780–841) is a pivotal figure in understanding the characteristics of East Asian Buddhist philosophy, especially that of Huayan and Chan. And it is in the Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity (Yuanren lun 原⼈論) that Zongmi developed his integrated and universal system of philosophy that incudes Confucianism and Taoism in addition to the five schools of Teaching and Chan. This paper probes the rhetorical characteristics of the Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity focusing on the six categories of panjiao 判敎, the chiastic structure from shallow to deep, and the unique terminology Zongmi coined in the matrix of inclusive reconciliation.BR Zongmi devises a two-layered chiastic structure in the Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity. On one layer, he writes the panjiao in a forward order and then in reverse. At the same time, he makes a chiastic contrast “from shallow to deep.” At the center of the chiastic structure, he deliberately places his own terms such as the One True Numinosity (yizhen lingxing 一眞靈性), which he adopted from Buddhist elemental concepts and transformed them into more universal notions in East Asian philosophy, a recurring occurrence in the history of East Asian Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism This experimental application of rhetorical criticism of East Asian Buddhist texts proves that the method can contribute enormously to our understanding of the broader picture and the depth of the text.