The dissertation examines the life narrative of Tsongkhapa Losang Dragpa (1357-1419), the influential founder of the Ganden school of Tibetan Buddhism, primarily through the lens of the bodhisattva path to enlightenment, a topic that animates much of Indian Buddhist literature and Tsongkhapa’s own writings. Over the course of five chapters, the dissertation (1) contextualizes Tsongkhapa’s social, political, and historical circumstances, the limiting factors for that narrative; (2) explores the social nature of life narratives themselves, particularly Tibetan Buddhist ones, and the many sources on which Tsongkhapa drew in creating a self in relation to the bodhisattva ideal; (3) analyses the topic of asceticism as a constellation of practices that embody traditional ideals, which the dissertation uniquely relates to both monastic and, perhaps surprisingly, tantric discipline in the construction of a bodhisattva/would-be buddha self; (4) synthesizes several themes within Tsongkhapa’s oeuvre in relation to the bodhisattva path to enlightenment, highlighting the irreducibly social nature of embodied enlightenment; and (5) proposes that Tsongkhapa’s social activities, specifically his so-called Four Great Deeds, instantiate the ideal of the enlightened self’s acting within society, specifically his context of fifteenth-century Central Tibet. The dissertation relies primarily on Tsongkhapa’s brief intellectual autobiography, Excellent Presence, his earliest biography, Haven of Faith, a number of Tsongkhapa’s systematic writings, and a variety of primary and secondary sources that contextualize elements of the historical, sociological, religious, and theoretical analyses presented throughout the five chapters. In biographies of Tibetan Buddhist figures, emphasis on the hagiographic tends to obscure the social, political, and historical contexts in which their subjects act, which in turn tends to reinforce the Weberian notion of Buddhism as an individualist path. Emphasis on individual achievement (simultaneously including yet excluding lineages, practices, philosophical positions, and so on) tends to reinforce the inverse, Foucauldian notion that this is a deliberate attempt to obscure various power struggles that actually define religious actors and institutions. In the case of Tsongkhapa, modern scholarship has tended to present the remarkable success of his Ganden school either to his individual genius in advancing (allegedly) unique philosophical positions or to social facts (e.g., his efforts at monastic reform), political facts (e.g., Phagdru dominance over rival Sakya), and historical facts (e.g., Mongol allegiance to his successors) largely unrelated to his personal charisma, erudite scholarship, or social impact. As a sort of middle way between these extremes, it is possible to locate within these contexts the specific achievements of the individual who is—according to both general Buddhist understanding and contemporary theorists in philosophy, psychology, literary studies, and sociology—deeply socialized. As social documents, life narratives, inclusive of biography and hagiography, function as indices of tradition, just as do practices of monastic and tantric asceticism, all with goals of embodying the principles articulated in the systematic literature within the social, political, and historical contexts to be transcended. This ideal, then, proves to be fully situated within social contexts, and Tsongkhapa’s Four Great Deeds instantiate it in relation to both individual achievements of asceticism and the institutionalization of communal and educational capacities to replicate the processes engendering this ideal, buddhahood. In sum, Tsongkhapa’s life narrative expresses the expectations and ideals of Tibetan Buddhist culture in a way that proves complementary to systematic presentations and to “lived” practices of monastic and tantric asceticism.

本文以晚明天台宗的發展為主題，并試圖通過浙江這一個案的研究來探究晚明時期中國佛教發展的特點。 / 晚明佛教的復興運動是一個各種佛教發展"模式"競爭的場所。在這裡，不同的人物或派別基於他們所理解的時代需要而有意識的"修剪菩提樹"，由此而產生各種風格迥異的佛教發展模式。晚明天台宗的復興運動也正是當時各種佛教發展模式中重要的一環。 / 本文首先通過考證得出正統譜系中晚明以來的這些天台宗祖師是由幾系以不同寺院為基礎的僧團編輯而成，并在四份傳承譜系的比較中，得出晚明天台宗在幽溪傳燈之後，由高明寺發展至浙江一帶不同地域的數系傳承，而智旭的靈峰寺僧團在明末清初一直秉承"不自立宗"的宗旨，兩者並非是"念珠式"一襲相承。要理解明清以來天台宗發展的走向，須要首先理解高明寺一系百松真覺、幽溪傳燈所領導的晚明天台宗的"中興"。 / 從百松真覺的續弘台宗，到幽溪傳燈時期的鼎盛，天台宗已成為東南浙江一帶頗具影響的派別。晚明天台在發展的模式的探索上，以幽溪傳燈的思想最為代表，他認為天台宗所傳的教法是最契合如來本心的，故而在其理論構建中，處處發明天台教旨，將其置於理論建構中的最高地位。 / 由於智旭思想中多有涉及天台教學，故而他和天台宗之間的關係歷來多有爭訟。本文則通過智旭與天台一系僧團的交流，特別是在他思想探索時期與幽溪傳燈的弟子的"共締千古盟"，來說明他爲什麽會如此注重天台教學。至於爲什麽他會被塑造為天台祖師，本文則通過明清天台譜系的研究來考證智旭的靈峰寺僧團在清中前期與幽溪傳燈一系傳承的交往以及逐漸演化為天台法脈的過程，并試圖通過明清佛教的組織形式來探討這種轉變的原因。 / 智旭與幽溪傳燈在模式上諸宗融合與宗派爭鳴兩種意見的分歧也促使我們對晚明佛教的融合論作進一步的反思。由於"佛教"這一術語的模糊性，每種發展模式的僧人都將自己所認同的教學模式認為是佛教的正統代表，因而，在他們判別各宗派佛法高低以及融合他宗時，不可避免的將自身所認同的佛法置於最高或最核心的地位，於是所謂的融合也就不可避免的變為伸張一家教旨的論斷，各種模式之間，甚至各種主張融合的模式之間的矛盾和爭訟也因此不可避免。 / In this thesis, I aim to discuss the development of T’ien-t’ai school in Late Ming and try to explore, through this case study, the characteristics of Chinese Buddhism in this period. / The Late Ming Buddhist revival is like a site of contestation by different Buddhist development "models", each kind of which intentionally "prunes the bodhi tree" according to its own understanding of Buddhism and the needs of their time. / From the time of Baisong Zhenjue (百松真覺) to Youxi Chuandeng (幽溪傳燈), the T’ien-t’ai School has become an influential faction of Buddhism in southeast China. The characteristic of their model is to highlight their sectarian identity, they put their teaching of T’ien-t’ai as the hightest in their scheme of classification of doctiones and as most conforming to the heart of the teachings of Buddha. / In the study of late Ming Buddhism, there has been much dispute on the relationship between Ouyi Zhixu (蕅益智旭) and the T’ien-t’ai School. In this thesis, I try to reveal Ouyi Zhixu’s communication with the disciples of Youxi Chuandeng to illustrate why he paid so much attention to the T’ien-t’ai teaching. As for why Ouyi Zhixu is presented as the patriarch of T’ien-t’ai School, I will show, through the textual research of T’ien-t’ai lineage recrods during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, how the lineage of the Lingfeng Temple (靈峰寺) sangha in early and mid Qing was transformed to become one of the T’ien-t’ai lineages. / The different understanding of Ouyi Zhixu and Youxi Chuandeng on syncretism or sectarian identity prompts us to rethink the syncretism of Late Ming Buddhism. Because of the ambiguity of the term "Buddhism", all different development models claims that they are the orthodox representation of Buddhism. In different scheme of doctrinal classification (判教), all factions will inevitably put their own theory as the highest or the core teaching of Buddhism. / The ambiguity of the term "Buddhism" also applies to the understanding of Buddhism by the gentry from Confucianism. What they are dealing with is different models of Buddhism, but not Buddhism as a whole. Therefore, the so-called syncretism of Confucianism and Buddhism or the unity of the three teachings (三教合一), actually refers to the relationship between the gentry and the kind of Buddhism that they identitied with. Moreover, the syncretism of Confucianism and Buddhism were with complicated social and historical background. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 馬炳濤. / Thesis (Ph.D.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-147). / Abstracts also in English. / Ma Bingtao.