A missing Buddhist biography : Li Yong 李邕 (678-747) and his stele inscription for Daoxuan 道宣 (596-667)

The first recorded biography of Daoxuan (596-667) - regarded as the de facto founder of the Vinaya 'school' in China - was a stele inscription composed by the scholar-official Li Yong (678-747). No longer extant, this inscription was the main biographical source on Daoxuan until the Song Dynasty as well as Zanning's (919-1001) primary source for his entry on Daoxuan in the Song gaoseng zhuan (Biographies of Eminent Monks [Compiled] under the Song Dynasty). This paper investigates how Li Yong engaged with a monastic community headed by Daoxuan's disciples in the prefecture of Zizhou, Henan Circuit. We argue that this group of monks commissioned Li Yong to compose a number of stele inscriptions for Daoxuan himself and several of his disciples and associates