The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2546 page)

 
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see
N
RO CHOS DRUG
.

 
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(
c.
180–
c.
105 BCE).
Confucian philosopher who effected the connection between the assumptions underlying the Yin-yang school (
Tsou Yen
) and the state, thus opening the way for
Confucianism
to become the state religion. His major work is
Ch’un-ch’iu fan-lu
(Profound Meaning of the Spring and Autumn Annals). T’ien has a will and creates all things for a purpose: for humans, that purpose is to sustain order. For this reason,
t’ien-ming
(Mandate of Heaven) is conferred on the emperor who must respond to this trust with moral excellence. In this way,
t’ien-chih
(the will of heaven) is expressed in the world. It is manifest especially in the Three Bonds of yang and yin which hold society together: ruler (yang) and subject (yin), father and son, husband and wife.

 
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807–69)
. Co-founder, with his pupil
Ts’ao-shan
, of Tsao-tung. He began his temple education when young, and was soon recognized as exceptional, and was sent, eventually, to Yünyen T’an-sheng, through whom he acquired power to ‘understand the sermons of inanimate things’, i.e. to hear them silently eloquent of their undifferentiated nature. He became dharma-successor (
hassu
) of Yün-yen.

 
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Tun-huang
(Dunhuang)
.

Town in NW of Kansu province in China, a major staging post on the Silk Road trading route. Because it was the point of access to China for Buddhist missionaries travelling on the overland route from India, it became an important Buddhist centre. The major remains of this presence are in the Mo-kao (Mogao) Caves, also known as the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, the oldest Buddhist shrines in China.

 
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