On the Invention of Xuanxue 玄學 (“Dark Learning”): A Reading of Xie Lingyun’s 謝靈運 (385–433) “Bian zong lun” 辯宗論 (“Discourse on Discriminating the Ultimate Source”)

Xuanxue is generally discussed as a revolutionary philosophical school of the Wei- and Jin-dynasty periods (220 CE–420), and it is often depicted as exercising a powerful influence on the Chinese understanding of Buddhism’s originally Indian doctrines and concepts. This talk will argue, however, that this supposed Wei-Jin “school” is in fact a retrospective construction born out of later engagements with Buddhism, which created the category of xuanxue—“dark” or esoteric learning—as a tool for thinking about and parsing different kinds of thought. Through a reading of Xie Lingyun’s “Bian zong lun,” the first surviving discussion of the novel Chinese Buddhist idea of sudden enlightenment, I will suggest the shaping role this concept of xuanxue played in the interrelation of Buddhism with other traditions from the end of the Jin through the Tang (618–907).

Lucas Rambo Bender is Associate Professor on Term at Yale University. He has published a book on the Tang poet Du Fu 杜甫, written a second on “frontier poetry” (biansai shi 邊塞詩), and is currently writing a third about Xuanxue 玄學.