Start here
Reading guides to the texts, traditions and people in this library.
Start Here: Reading the Chinese Buddhist Canon
Find your first Buddhist text, learn how the Chinese canon is arranged, and build a reading practice with sutras, teachers, and commentaries.
The Eight Schools of Chinese Buddhism
Explore eight Buddhist traditions through their great teachers, foundational texts, and a practical first reading for each school.
Esoteric Buddhism in Tang Chang'an: Amoghavajra, Huiguo and the Road to Kūkai
Meet the teachers of Tang esoteric Buddhism and explore their scriptures, from Amoghavajra’s Chang’an to Huiguo’s transmission to Kūkai.
The Heart Sutra: Text, Translators and How to Read It
Explore the Heart Sutra through Xuanzang's Chinese text, its Sanskrit mantra, and a gentle passage-by-passage introduction to wisdom and emptiness.
Chan Buddhism: From Bodhidharma to the Platform Sutra and the Lamp Records
Meet the early Chan teachers, read the Dunhuang Platform Sutra, and follow the five houses through the Record of the Transmission of the Lamp.
Pure Land Buddhism: Amitābha, the Three Sutras and the Practice of Recollection
Read the three Pure Land sutras and meet Huiyuan, Tanluan, Daochuo, and Shandao through Amitābha's vows and the practice of recollection.
Tiantai and Huayan: Two Great Systems of Chinese Buddhist Thought
Meet Zhiyi, Fazang and Zongmi through calming and insight, the golden lion, and Chinese Buddhism’s teachings on an interconnected world.
Mind-Only and the Middle Way: Yogācāra and Madhyamaka in China
Read Kumārajīva, Jizang, Xuanzang and Kuiji through the Three Treatises, the Thirty Verses, and the hundred dharmas.
The Vinaya in China: Monastic Discipline and the Dharmaguptaka Rule
Explore the Four-Part Vinaya, Daoxuan’s work on Mount Zhongnan, and the bodhisattva precepts of the Brahmā’s Net Sutra.