Doctrinal connection between panjiao schemata and human capacity for enlightenment in Jizang's and Kuiji's thought

This dissertation is an investigation of the thought of two important Chinese Buddhist thinkers from the sixth and seventh centuries, Jizang and Kuiji. I focus on their panjiao theories, which are key to their thought but which have not yet been adequately studied and understood in Western scholarship, largely because of an overly-narrow expectation of the purposes for which Buddhist texts were classified by Chinese thinkers. By viewing Jizang's and Kuiji's thoughts as two particular examples of broader processes in Chinese Buddhist history, this dissertation also contributes a new model, "disassembling and reassembling" and "drops and flow," for understanding the formation of Chinese Buddhism from a new angle which appreciates the historical diversity inherent in Chinese Buddhism.; Applying this new model, the dissertation mainly uses a doctrinal perspective on Jizang's and Kuiji's thought of panjiao and Buddha-Nature theories. It starts with brief overviews of Jizang's and Kuiji's lives and works as Buddhist thinkers, writers, and practitioners. This helps to see the direction and the scope of Jizang's and Kuiji's thought. The dissertation then turns to the hermeneutical and historical contexts of both thinkers and the theoretical background for their panjiao schemata. Finally, the dissertation considers how their panjiao schemata and theories take human capacity for enlightenment as a critical element in classifying the Buddha's teachings. By taking this element seriously, this dissertation also sheds light indirectly on a large scale issue that is central to the study of religion, that is, the possible relationship between texts and practices as theorized in a religious community.