Chinese Buddhist in the context of "History of printing"

The Tao Te Ching or Dào Dé Jīng, (traditional Chinese: 道德經; simplified Chinese: 道德经; lit. 'Classic of the Way and its Virtue') often Laozi in Chinese or scholarship, is an ancient Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and dates of composition or compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates to the late 4th century BCE. While tradition places Laozi earlier, modern versions of the text could more conservatively be estimated to date back to the late Warring States period (475 – 221 BCE), not having been recovered that early.

The Tao Te Ching is central to both philosophical and religious Taoism, and has been highly influential on Chinese philosophy and religious practice in general. It is generally taken as preceding the Zhuangzi, the other core Taoist text. Terminology originating within the text has been reinterpreted and elaborated upon by Legalist thinkers, Confucianists, and particularly Chinese Buddhists, introduced to China significantly after the initial solidification of Taoist thought. One of the most translated texts in world literature, the text is well known in the West.

The Tao Te Ching or Dào Dé Jīng, (traditional Chinese: 道德經; simplified Chinese: 道德经; lit. 'Classic of the Way and its Virtue') often Laozi in Chinese and scholarship, is an ancient Chinese classic text, becoming a foundational work of Taoism. It is traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though with some several early versions recovered, the texts' authorship and dates of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated portion dates to the late 4th century BCE. While tradition places Laozi earlier, modern versions of the text could more conservatively be estimated to date back to the late Warring States period (475 – 221 BCE), not having been recovered that early.

The Tao Te Ching is central to both philosophical and religious Taoism, and has been highly influential on Chinese philosophy and religious practice in general. It is generally taken as preceding the Zhuangzi, the other core Taoist text. Terminology originating within the text has been reinterpreted and elaborated upon by Legalist thinkers, Confucianists, and particularly Chinese Buddhists, introduced to China significantly after the initial solidification of Taoist thought. One of the most translated texts in world literature, the text is well known in the West.

Daoxuan (Chinese: 道宣; pinyin: Dàoxuān; Wade–Giles: Tao-hsüan; 596–667) was an eminent Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist monk. He is perhaps best known as the patriarch of the four-part Vinaya school (Chinese: 四分律宗). Daoxuan wrote both the Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks (Xù gāosēng zhuàn 續高僧傳 ) and the Standard Design for Buddhist Temple Construction. Legends retold in his biographies also associate him to a relic of the Buddha which came to be called Daoxuan's tooth (Daoxuan foya 道宣佛牙), one of the four tooth relics enshrined in the capital of Chang'an during the Tang dynasty. He is said to have received the relic from Nezha (Chinese: 那吒; Sanskrit: Naṭa), a divinity associated with Indra.

Daoxuan wrote five commentaries on the four-part Vinaya known as the Five Great Works of Mount Zhongnan. He was also part of the translation team that assisted Xuanzang in translating sutras from Sanskrit into Chinese.

The Ziyuan (Chinese: 字苑; pinyin: Zìyuàn; Wade–Giles: Tzu-yüan; lit. 'Character Garden'; or "Essays on Chinese Characters") was a Chinese dictionary attributed to the Eastern Jin Dynasty scholar Ge Hong. The original text was lost, and the small modern Ziyuan recension has 34 headwords, mostly Chinese Buddhist loanword terminology.

The Ziyuan is notable for having the first occurrence of the Chinese borrowing ta (塔; tǎ; t'a; "tower; pagoda"). Feng (2004:205) classifies ta as a "monosyllabic phonemic loanword," and notes: