The Awakening of the Hinterland: The Formation of Regional Vinaya Traditions in Tang China

This volume explores the establishment of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya tradition in Tang China (618–907). By conceptualizing vinaya patriarchates as interrelated mobile monastic–secular social networks, this study outlines the patterns of the tradition’s regional dissemination

---

This volume explores the dissemination of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya tradition in Tang China (618–907) in the context of the dispersal of the state bureaucracy throughout the empire and the changing centre–periphery dynamics.

The tradition’s development in China during the Tang Dynasty has traditionally been associated with northern China, particularly the capital city of Chang’an, where Daoxuan (596–667), the de facto founder of the “vinaya school” in China, resided.

This book explores the dissemination of Daoxuan’s followers and the subsequent growth of interrelated regional vinaya movements across the Tang regional landscape.