SENGZHAO (373–414), Chinese Buddhist monk of the Eastern Jin period (317–420) and scholar of the first Chinese Mādhyamika tradition. According to the standard biography in the Gaoseng zhuan (Biographies of eminent monks), Sengzhao was born in the vicinity of Chang'an (modern Xi'an) and as a young man earned his living as a transcriber and copyist. Exposed in this way to the Chinese classics, he initially acquired a secular education. He developed a liking for the writings of Daoism, the Dao de jing and the Zhuangzi. However, his biography states that upon reading the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa Sūtra, a text expressing the Buddhist concepts of emptiness (śūnyatā) and nonduality, he was converted to Buddhism and became a monk. Although his reputation in the Buddhist community of his day was initially established as a debater, Sengzhao's mark on Chinese Buddhism and his stature as a leading Buddhist literary figure were...