In this article, after focusing on one particularly radical group, whose beliefs consisted of worshipping one’s own future Buddha (法身) residing within oneself (the Dilun school 地論宗), I show that all three schools born of the northern region—the Huayan 華嚴, Chan 禪 and the Three Stages Movement 三階教—succeeded the radical group…

I compare the Treatise on the Two Entrances and Four Practices (二入四行論), considered the most prestigious early Chan text, with various texts from the Three Stages Movement, and demonstrate that there are some common elements. Both Schools were heavily influenced by the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇasūtra (涅槃經), which emphasized the importance of perceiving the Buddha-nature, and the Three Stages Movement practiced the same method of contemplation. The Huayan school of Zhixiang Monastery 至相寺, located next to the holy ground of the Three Stages Movement, propagated the theory of “originally achieved Buddhahood” (舊來成佛) and criticized both Chan Buddhism and the Three Stages Movement.