Chindian Myth of Mulian Rescuing His Mother – On Indic Origins of the Yulanpen Sūtra

The eminent Chinese scholar of Buddhism, Xiaohuan Zhao, once again shows his mastery of the Buddhist canon by tracing the complex movements of this important sutra from India to China. This work provides an important addition for our current understandings of traditional Buddhist religion, literature, art, and history— Thomas Michael, Beijing Normal University, China.

This is a most comprehensive attempt at solving the origin of the Yulanpen Sutra. Zhao Xiaohuan had offered us a detailed examination from every angle of this long-lasted controversy and provided a very plausible view of the Indic origin of the Yulanpen Sutra. No future study of this sutra could be done without consulting this book— Mu-chou Poo Visiting Professor Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Adjunct Professor Department of History The Chinese University of Hong Kong Website:

Xiaohuan Zhao is an Associate Professor of Chinese Literary and Theatre Studies at the University of Sydney.