The Ten Buddhist Schools of China
China possesses a history of over five thousand years. Therefore, if one tries to talk about Chinese culture without touching on Buddhism, one will be in the position of a blind man as told in the story of the Blind Men and the Elephant. Even though Buddhism had been established some twenty-five centuries ago, it was only transmitted to China during the Chin and Han Dynasties (some five hundred years after the Parinirvana of Sakyamuni Buddha).
Even though Buddhism in China had risen and fallen according to the law of constant changes during the past two thousand years, it had been well established in China. The Chinese have been open-minded in their nature and have been capable of absorbing foreign culture. Therefore when Buddhism was introduced into the well-cultured land of China, it has flourished abundantly and developed fruitfully.
The golden age of Chinese Buddhism was from the age of the Three Kingdoms to the Tang Dynasty. During this period the various Schools in Buddhism evolved their irreproachable and infallible theories based on the doctrine of Sakyamuni Buddha. Historically speaking the rise and fall of the various schools had been closely connected to the evolution of cultural thoughts and current events in China.
A student of Chinese Culture cannot simply neglect Buddhism as his progress will be handicapped like a wheel without an axis. Therefore it is the duty of a lover of Chinese culture to shoulder the responsibility of fostering the study of Buddhism so that the culture will again radiate its splendid light.
The Ten Schools of Chinese Buddhism are as follows:
1. Reality School or Abhidharma School.
2. Satysiddhi School or Cheng-se School.
3. Three Sastra School or San-lun School.
4. The Lotus School or T'ien-t'ai School.
5. The Hua-yen School or Avatamsaka School.
6. Ch'an School or Dhyana School.
7. Discipline School or Vinaya School.
8. Esoteric School or Chen-yen School.
9. Dharmalaksana School or Fa-siang School.
10. Pure-land School or Ching-t'u School.
The principles of all the above schools are based on the partial doctrine of Sakyamuni Buddha. In the beginning there were no such things as schools in Buddhism. The disciples of Buddha, however, took up what had been most beneficial and most practicable for them. Thus ten schools have evolved. This is just a general view of classification on the Buddhist Schools in China.
(Source: BDEA & Buddhanet)
The Ten Buddhist Schools of China
I would like to add some comments to this post. The golden age of Chinese Buddhism did not start in Three Kingdom but since Jin 晋 through Northern & South Dynasty (南北朝) till Tang ( 唐)。The Three Kingdom period was still considered as part of the embryonic stage or introduction stage. ( Ref : Eric Zurcher , The Buddhist Conquest of China. Kenneth Chen, Buddhism in China.). The Chinese Buddhism history is closely related to the Buddhist text translation and the establishment of the various school, except a handful, reflected this fact. Buddha’s teachings are profound and a lot of Buddhist doctrines or concepts in fact are new or unheard of in the ancient China then. For example, rebirth, karma, wisdom in the Buddhist context, emptiness, dependent origination and no-soul theory were all foreign in Chinese thought then although they all have become part of Chinese commonly accepted idea. The translation of the Buddhist text played a crucial role in the Chinese Buddhist history and we can see that in the biography of eminent monks 高僧传, first compiled by HuiJiao （彗皎）, followed by sequel as in 续高僧传， 宋高僧传, the translators have always been placed at the first category in the books. The establishment of the Chinese schools also reflected this especially in the earlier schools. SanLunZong 三论宗was developed based on the text of Zhonglun 中伦， Bailun ( 百论) and Shiermen Lun ( 十二门论) by Nargajuna and his disciple。 These text were translated by Kumarajiva during the Eastern Jing dynasty. Shengzhao, a disciple of Kumarajiva was one of the leading thinker of this school. Vinaya school was founded by Daoxuan （ 道宣） who emphasized the study and adherence to 四分律 （ Vinaya of Dharmaguptaka）. Reality School or Abhidhamma School was based on the Sarvastivada Abhidhamma text. Satysiddhi School 成实宗was based on Tattvasiddhi-Śāstra translated by Kumarajiva, Huayan school 华严宗 was founded based on the Avatamsaka Sutra. TianTai School and Chan School may be considered as Chinese Buddhist schools that were developed with a lot of Chinese element based on the teaching of the Buddha. The Pure land is more as a practice initially though today it is generally accepted as a school by itself.