The Chinese Buddhist monk Tao-hsüan (596-667) was an important Buddhist scholar and the founder of the Disciplinary school, Lü-tsung, of Chinese Buddhism.

Tao-hsüan was born in southeast China 7 years after the unification of China by the Sui dynasty, an event which brought to a close nearly 4 centuries of political division. At least several generations of his ancestors had served as officials in the southern Chinese dynasties; nothing is known about his father. His family must have been well-to-do, because as a boy he received a classical education in the Confucian canon, a privilege of the wealthy and leisured class.

There is evidence that the family's fortunes slumped under the Sui regime (581-617). Perhaps despairing of secular success, Tao-hsüan turned toward Buddhism, which was widespread and well supported in China at that time. When he was 15 he began to study the...