Fǎzàng 法藏 (Hànyuè Fǎzàng 漢月法藏)
Late-Míng Línjì-lineage Chán master, zì Hànyuè 漢月 (“Han Moon”), hào Sānfēng 三峰 (for the Sānfēng Qīngliángyuàn 三峰清涼院 at Yúshān 虞山 in Chángshú 常熟), Yúmì 於密, Tiānshān 天山, Xuánmù 玄墓; lay surname Sū 蘇. Native of Liángxī 梁溪 (modern Wúxī 無錫, Jiāngsū). Lifedates 1573/11/11–1635/9/3 (Wànlì 1 / 10/7 – Chóngzhēn 8 / 7/22, age 63 — per the year-chart in his Sānfēng zàng héshàng yǔlù 三峰藏和尚語錄 juan 16).
Dharma-heir of Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 (DILA A002175, 1566–1642), from whom he received fù fǎ 付法 (dharma-entrustment) in 1624. Abbot at Sānfēng, Xuánmù (on Dèngwèishān 鄧尉山 near Sūzhōu), Tiānshān, and Wànfēng 萬峰 of Shèng’ēn Chánsì 聖恩禪寺 at Píngwàng 平望. Lineage-prolific: major dharma-heirs included Tuìwēng Hóngchú 退翁弘儲 (1605–1672, DILA A003667), who carried the Fǎzàng line forward through Sūzhōu Língyánsì 靈巖寺 and Yáofēng 堯峯 and a sustained sub-lineage.
Author of:
- Wǔ zōng yuán 五宗原 KR6q0167 — the 1628 theological defense of the Five Houses of Chán that triggered the major seventeenth-century Chán controversy.
- KR6q0473 《三峰藏和尚語錄》 16 juan, Jiāxīng Canon J34 B299 — his collected Chán-sermon corpus, recorded by his chief dharma-heir 弘儲 Tuìwēng Hóngchǔ 退翁弘儲 (1605–1672).
- Several shorter works and commentaries.
Historical significance centres on the controversy his Wǔ zōng yuán precipitated: his own master Mìyún Yuánwù wrote the Pì wàng jiù lüè shuō 闢妄救略說 KR6q0168 against him, and the dispute ultimately reached imperial attention when the Yōngzhèng 雍正 emperor in 1733 issued the Yùzhì jiǎn mó biàn yì lù 御製揀魔辨異錄 declaring Fǎzàng a heretic, banning his writings, and ordering the dismissal of his dharma-heirs. Fǎzàng’s and Hóngchú’s teachings circulated only in the underground or in collections printed outside imperial control until the modern canonical revival.
name: 法藏 pinyinName: Fǎzàng alternateNames: [賢首法藏, Xiánshǒu Fǎzàng, 賢首大師, 香象大師, 國一大師, 康藏, Kāngzàng] dynasty: 唐 birthDate: 643 deathDate: 712 cbdbId: dilaAuthorityId: A001435 created: 2026-04-28 updated: 2026-04-28
Fǎzàng 法藏 (Xiánshǒu Fǎzàng 賢首法藏)
Tang Buddhist scholar-monk and the third patriarch of the Huáyán 華嚴 school, traditionally regarded as the systematizer of its philosophy. Lay surname Kāng 康 (Sogdian, of Sogdian / Samarkand descent — his great-grandfather had migrated from the Kāngjū 康居 / Samarkand region into the Héxī corridor, and the family had been long resident in Cháng’ān; thus Fǎzàng is sometimes called Kāngzàng 康藏 in early sources). Born in Cháng’ān 643, died there 712 (per the Dà Sòng gāosēng zhuàn 宋高僧傳, T2061, biography in juan 5; Sòng Lián 宋濂’s Hùayán jīng pŭxián xíngyuàn pĭn shū chāo 華嚴經普賢行願品疏鈔; the Huáyán jīng zhuànjì 華嚴經傳記 [T2073] of Mìzàng 密藏; cf. Forte 1985, Hamar 2007). DILA Buddhist Person Authority A001435.
Studied under 智儼 Zhìyǎn at the Zhìxiāngsì 至相寺 on Mt. Zhōngnán from c. 660; ordained at the Tàiyuánsì 太原寺 in Cháng’ān in 670 by imperial order of Empress Wǔ Zétiān 武則天, who became his most important patron and conferred upon him the honorific title Xiánshǒu 賢首 (“Worthy Head”); he was thus subsequently known as Xiánshǒu dàshī 賢首大師, Xiángxiàng dàshī 香象大師, and (under Zhōngzōng) Guóyī dàshī 國一大師 (“Sole [Master] of the State”).
Fǎzàng was a participant in three major Tang translation enterprises: he assisted 實叉難陀 Śikṣānanda in the new (80-fascicle) translation of the [[KR6e0019|Huáyán jīng]] (T0279, 695–699); the new translation of the Laṅkāvatāra (T0672, 700–704) under Śikṣānanda; and several texts under 菩提流志 Bodhiruci (Pútíliúzhì). He also delivered famous lectures on the Huáyán at the imperial palace, of which the Jīn-shī-zǐ zhāng 金獅子章 (the Treatise on the Golden Lion, T1880) and the parable of the ten mirrors are the celebrated exposition for Wǔ Zétiān.
Doctrinal output: more than thirty works survive, the most significant being [[KR6e0008|Huāyán jīng tànxuán jì 華嚴經探玄記]] (T1733, the great commentary on the 60-fascicle Huáyán); Huāyán jīng zhǐguī 華嚴經旨歸 (T1871); Wǔ jiào zhāng 五教章 (T1866, the Treatise on the Five Teachings, the classic schematic statement of Huáyán doxography); Yóuxīn fǎjiè jì 遊心法界記 (T1877); the Huāyán fǎ pútíxīn zhāng 華嚴發菩提心章 (T1878); and the Jīnshīzǐ zhāng (T1880). Key students included Huìyuàn 慧苑 (the editor of his unfinished commentaries) and the Korean monks who carried his teaching to Hwaeom Buddhism. Fǎzàng’s “Five Teachings” doxography (Hīnayāna; Mahāyāna initial; Mahāyāna final; sudden teaching; complete / Huáyán teaching) became the canonical Huáyán curriculum and shaped East Asian Mahāyāna scholasticism for the next millennium.