Chūzan 仲算 (935–976) — Mid-Heian Japanese Hossō 法相 (Yogācāra) monk of Kōfuku-ji 興福寺 in Nara, and the dominant Yuima-e 維摩會 debater of his generation. He is conventionally counted among the principal Heian Hossō scholastics, alongside Shinkō 真興 (935–1004) and Seihan 清範 (962–999) — the three figures who together define the mid-Heian Kōfuku-ji Yogācāra tradition.
His sole surviving canonical work is Hossōshū xiánshèng yì lüè wèndá 法相宗賢聖義略問答 (KR6t0016, T71n2320), a multi-fascicle Yogācāra debate-record on the doctrine of the worthies and sages (xiánshèng 賢聖); only the fourth fascicle survives. The work is structured in ten gates and is a principal witness to the Yuima-e debate culture of the mid-10th century. A transmission colophon dated Genroku 6 (1693) records that the manuscript was preserved in private lay hands (the Shimo-Shimizu household, Seishi-shitei) and copied from a worn cursive autograph that bore Chūzan’s hand.
He should not be confused with Chūsan 忠算 (KR6t0018 author), a different person of similar dates, written with different characters. The two are sometimes confused in the secondary literature.
DILA Buddhist Person Authority A000314; Wikidata Q11378586.
Works:
- KR6t0016 Hossōshū xiánshèng yì lüè wèndá juàn dìsì 法相宗賢聖義略問答卷第四 (T71n2320), 1 surviving fasc. (of an originally larger work).