This study of Tsung-mi is part of the Studies in East Asian Buddhism series. Author Peter Gregory makes extensive use of Japanese secondary sources, which complements his work on the complex Chinese materials that form the basis of the study.

¿A superb book ... one clearly designed for practical use.¿ ¿Buddhist Studies Review 14 (1997) ¿Gregory¿s work serves as a model for future scholars wishing to present translations of key East Asian Buddhist texts to a broader audience.¿ ¿Philosophy East and West 48 (1998) ¿Ein wertvoller Beitrag als vollstSndige ¿bersetzung, als Erkenntnisquelle Yber den chinesischen Buddhismus fYr Interessierte und als Lehrmaterial fYr diejenigen, die ihn lehren mYssen.¿ ¿Monumenta Serica 45 (1997) ¿Peter Gregory¿s is a name that I as a layman (vis-a-vis academia) am always happy to see attached to a text as I feel confident that the work will be of genuine interest and that my understanding will be limited only by my knowledge, rather than by my ability to penetrate a forest of jargon, obscure theorizing and convoluted writing.¿ ¿Buddhism Now, November 1996 ¿Gregory¿s translation is a truly remarkable accomplishment reflecting his superb command of literary Chinese and his thorough familiarity with the relevant scholarly literature on Chinese thought in Western languages.¿ ¿Stanley Weinstein, professor of Buddhist Studies, Yale University

The issue of sinification—the manner and extent to which Buddhism and Chinese culture were transformed through their mutual encounter and dialogue—has dominated the study of Chinese Buddhism for much of the past century. Robert Sharf opens this important and far-reaching book by raising a host of historical and hermeneutical problems with the encounter paradigm and the master narrative on which it is based. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism is, among other things, an extended reflection on the theoretical foundations and conceptual categories that undergird the study of medieval Chinese Buddhism. Sharf draws his argument in part from a meticulous historical, philological, and philosophical analysis of the Treasure Store Treatise (Pao-tsang lun), an eighth-century Buddho-Taoist work apocryphally attributed to the fifth-century master Seng-chao (374–414). In the process of coming to terms with this recondite text, Sharf ventures into all manner of subjects bearing on our understanding of medieval Chinese Buddhism, from the evolution of T’ang "gentry Taoism" to the pivotal role of image veneration and the problematic status of Chinese Tantra. The volume includes a complete annotated translation of the Treasure Store Treatise, accompanied by the detailed exegesis of dozens of key terms and concepts.