[April A-Z Blogging] [F] the Fǎxiàngzōng school

The following is in addition to the Buddhist sects presented in p90-4 of The Celestial Empire.

Period of time
Táng

Description
The Fǎxiàngzōng school (法相宗) is a minor Buddhist sect established by Xuánzàng (602-664), the great Táng Chinese monk, scholar, and traveller, and by his disciple Kuījī (632-682). The sect is also known as the Wéishízōng school (唯識宗). The sect is, like the Huáyán School (p93 of TCE), very much scholarly-oriented, but remains less famous than its rival. The Fǎxiàngzōng school does not survive the anti-Buddhist persecutions in the 9th century.

Members
Monks only, especially those interested in original Indian Mahāyāna texts, and in particular those of the Yogācāra tradition. Gaming-wise, it should be restricted to NPCs.

Requisites
- Knowledge (Religion: Buddhism) at 75% at least.
- Language (Sanskrit) at 50% at least.
- Literacy (South Asian alphabets) at 50% at least.
- Persuade at 50% at least.
- Willingness to travel.

Benefits
Members of this school have access to a variety of Indian manuscripts, whose perusal gives a 25% of adding +1D6% to the Knowledge (Religion: Buddhism) skill once per month of scholarly activities, e.g., translating Indian texts to Chinese.
Members of this school have access to sympathetic Buddhist organisations for food and shelter in Bactria, Sogdiana, Dzungaria, the Tarim Basin, Inner Manchuria, Korea, and Japan.

Obligations
Members of this school are dedicated to the spread of original Mahāyāna thought to East Asia, and are hence often found travelling west to India through Inner Asia (to gather new Indian texts), or east to Korea and Japan (to spread the Yogācāra tradition).
Members with a good knowledge of Sanskrit and Chinese (both above 90%) must devote at least 10% of their time translating Indian texts to Chinese.