The issue of sinification the manner and extent to which Buddhism and Chinese culture were transformed through their mutual encounter and dialogue has dominated the study of Chinese Buddhism for much of the past century Robert Sharf opens this important and far reaching book by raising a host of historical and hermeneutical problems with the encounter paradigm and the master narrative on which it is based Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism is among other things an extended reflection on the theoretical foundations and conceptual categories that undergird the study of medieval Chinese Buddhism Sharf draws his argument in part from a meticulous historical philological and philosophical analysis of the Treasure Store Treatise Pao tsang lun an eighth century Buddho Taoist work apocryphally attributed to the fifth century master Seng chao 374 414 In the process of coming to terms with this recondite text Sharf ventures into all manner of subjects bearing on our understanding of medieval Chinese Buddhism from the evolution of T ang gentry Taoism to the pivotal role of image veneration and the problematic status of Chinese Tantra The volume includes a complete annotated translation of the Treasure Store Treatise accompanied by the detailed exegesis of dozens of key terms and concepts