Chih Tun

Zhi Dun (314–366) was a Chinese Buddhist monk and philosopher. A Chinese author, scholar, and confidant of Chinese government officials in 350, he claimed that all who followed Buddhism would, at the end of their life, enter Nirvana. According to Kenneth Tanaka, Zhi Dun was a well-respected scholar of Neo-Daoist philosophy who became a Buddhist. Tanaka also writes that he "represents one of the earliest known Pure Land practitioners among the intellectual non ethnic Chinese". Tanaka also writes that in his works, Zhi Dun explained the metaphysical meaning of the term li (noumenon). Aside from his philosophical works, he also wrote various eulogies, one of which expresses his Pure Land faith in Amitabha and Sukhavati.