Tanjin wenji

Tanjin wenji (鐔津文集). A text by the Chan master Fori Qisong (1007–1072) written during the Song dynasty.

This is primarily a polemical work, written to counter the rising tide of criticism of Chan Buddhism from Confucian scholars. As with most other such works written by East Asian Buddhists, Qisong tries to argue for an underlying unity between Buddhist, Confucian, and Daoist teachings 三教合一.

The first three chapters comprise a work that was also circulated separately, the Fujiao pian 輔教篇, which argues for the fundamental non-conflict between Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism. Fascicle 4 deals with imperial policies and an explication of the Doctrine of the Mean 中庸. Fascicles 5–7 serve as the core of the thesis, written in forty sections 篇, treating Confucian notions such as the Four Potentialities 四端, Humaneness 仁, Filial piety 孝 , Propriety 禮, and Music 樂 from a Buddhist perspective. Later fascicles mainly deal with issues regarding Buddhism and imperial patronage, but fascicles 14 through 16 return to deal with the critiques of Buddhism by Han Yu 韓愈 and others.

Qisongʼs approach of advocating non-conflict between Buddhist and Confucianism had much influence on later treatments of the issue, such as that by the Korean monk Gihwa 己和.