The Huayan School of Chinese Buddhism

If, after a century of analysis there is a turn to synthesis, Hua-yan and Whitehead will become important resources. Especially given the radical difference of their historical contexts, their similarity is striking, but they differ on time. Whitehead is clear that relations to the future always differ in kind from those to the past, and Theravada Buddhists agree. But Hua-yan is open to a greater symmetry in enlightened experience.

Chengguan (738–839), the fourth patriarch of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism, declared the primacy of Buddhism over Confucianism and Daoism and criticised these philosophies from a Buddhist stance. In his subcommentary to the Avata?saka Sutra, he defines ten differences between Buddhism and indigenous philosophies, which are discussed in this paper. However, he also often quoted from Chinese Classics to clarify the meaning of a Buddhist tenet. On these occasions he sometimes adds that he only borrows the words but not (...) their meaning. We investigate how he places these words into a new, Buddhist context. (shrink)

This paper examines the Huayan teaching of the six characteristics as presented in the Rafter Dialogue from Fazang's Treatise on the Five Teachings. The goal is to make the teaching accessible to those with minimal training in Buddhist philosophy, and especially for those who aim to engage with the extensive question-and-answer section of the Rafter Dialogue. The method for achieving this goal is threefold: first, contextualizing Fazang's account of the characteristics with earlier Buddhist attempts to theorize the relationships between wholes (...) and their parts; second, explicating the meaning Fazang likely attributes to each of the six characteristics; third, situating the characteristics as explicated within Fazang's broader metaphysical framework. (shrink)

This paper explicates the counting ten coins metaphor as it appears in Fazang’s Treatise on the Five Teachings of Huayan. The goal is to transform Fazang’s inexact and obscure mentions of the metaphor into something that is clearer and more precise. The method for achieving this goal is threefold: first, presenting Fazang’s version of the metaphor as improving upon prior efforts by Zhiyan and Ŭisang to interpret a brief stanza in the Avataṁsaka sutra; second, providing textual evidence to support this (...) interpretation; third, contrasting this interpretation with alternatives from Francis Cook as well as Yasuo Deguchi and Katsuhiko Sano. (shrink)

This book offers an annotated translation of two of preeminent Chinese Tang dynasty monk Chengguan’s most revered masterpieces. With this book, Chengguan’s Commentaries to the Avatamsaka Sutra and The Meanings Proclaimed in the Subcommentaries Accompanying the Commentaries to the Avatamsaka Sutra are finally brought to Western audiences.

Mahayana classic "Sutra" in Chinese means the formation of a strong Hua-yen philosophy, including Dharma three views, Kegon six-phase, ten eternal combat, Kegon Samadhi view of the complex mysteries of the law, which is the Chinese people's achievements, but also China characteristics of Mahayana Buddhism. In 418 AD, Jin translated sixty volumes "Sutra" to the seventh century, by the emperor mind Dusun Zen Master Venerable Dharma three developed the concept for "Dharma," the concept of gradual deepening of the theory put (...) forward the concept of management and events, He only reasoning as things things such as science, reason over at all, something over to reason, does not say "truth Dharma", "do Dharma", "director affect Dharma", "Shishiwuai Dharma" cutting the concept. Followed for four generations has been gradually shaping Dharma said, stay away from the original text in all the simple concept of a single whole. "Dharma" concept is rigid metaphysical reason to do physical things with Dharma Dharma Realm, and even re-shaping the world beyond the "Dharma affect members' unpredictable and mysterious" Shishiwuai Dharma ", and so is no longer re- India had been ungrateful. This paper aims to explore the heart of Venerable Tai Hua-yen ancestor method to three ancestral possession, four ancestral cool Chengguan the trajectory between the interpretation of the teachings, and tried from sixty volumes of the "Sutra" "into the Dharma goods" scripture to find " Dharma Realm, "the original meaning of the word, in order to clarify the philosophical significance of Chinese monks derived differences in line with the original texts. The India "Hua-Yen Sutra" is the foundation of the Chinese Hua-Yen sect. It was very prosperous much in China since the 7th Century. This sutra is grand and huge. The various Chinese translations of it covers only one third to one half of it. Based on the translations, the Chinese patriarchs constructed the school of Hua-Yen. They interpreted the Dharma-Realm, explained how each level of the real influences each other and the relation among them. They found out that every thing is combined with phenomenon and noumonon, and sometimes these conditions help each other, but sometimes they disturb and destroy each other. Thus the Hua-Yen philosophy was established in Tang Dynasty. But semantically, the term Dharma-Realm has different meanings in Indian and Chinese versions. In the Indian sutra Dharma-Realm means the pure area, or the spiritual area, it abounds with spirituality, without limit or any boundary. Chinese scholars developed Dharma-Realm into four areas / levels: Phenomenon Dharma-Realm. Noumenon Dharma- Realm. Noumenon-phenomenon no obstacle Dharma-Realm. Phenomenon-phenomenon no obstacle Dharma-Realm. Even if this philosophical system is meaningful, it does separate the wholeness of Dharma-Realm into four areas / levels. Nowadays people have misinterpreted it as four higher lower levels. (shrink)

This chapter examines the structure and role of ambiguity in the Japanese Organ Transplant Law by looking at the Chinese Huayen Buddhist doctrine of dharmadhatu-pratityasamutpada or universal dependent “coarising”, a major interpretation of the Buddha's pratityasamutpada, dependent-coarising or interdependence. Specifically, it will examine the nature of ambiguity through the zhuban yuanming jude men or “the attribute of the complete accommodation of principal and secondary dharmas” that Fazang formulated. The interdependent and evolving Buddhist vision of reality causes ambiguity in decision making (...) and action. (shrink)

The Hwa Yen school of Mahāyāna Buddhism bloomed in China in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. Today many scholars regard its doctrines of Emptiness, Totality, and Mind-Only as the crown of Buddhist thought and as a useful and unique philosophical system and explanation of man, world, and life as intuitively experienced in Zen practice. For the first time in any Western language Garma Chang explains and exemplifies these doctrines with references to both oriental masters and Western philosophers. The Buddha's (...) mystical experience of infinity and totality provides the framework for this objective revelation of the three pervasive and interlocking concepts upon which any study of Mahāyāna philosophy must depend. Following an introductory section describing the essential differences between Judeo-Christian and Buddhist philosophy, Professor Chang provides an extensive, expertly developed section on the philosophical foundations of Hwa Yen Buddhism dealing with the core concept of True Voidness, the philosophy of Totality, and the doctrine of Mind-Only. A concluding section includes selections of Hwa Yen readings and biographies of the patriarchs, as well as a glossary and list of Chinese terms. (shrink)

This is a comparative study of the discourses on the nature of sacred language found in Indian Abhidharma texts and their counterparts by seventh century Chinese Buddhist scholars who, unlike the Indian Buddhists, questioned "the essence of the Buddha's teaching," and developed intellectual dialogues through their texts. ;In the Indian Abhidharma texts, Sa ngitiparyaya, Jnanaprasthana, Mahavibhasa, Abhidharmakosa, and Nyayanusara, the nature of the Buddha's word was either "sound," the oral component of speech, or "name," the component of language that conveys (...) meaning, or both. I show that the Sautrantikas refused to accept the category of "name," which was abstract and hypothetical to them. However, the attitude of the opposing Sarvastivadins, attested in the Mahavibhasa, for whom "name" was approved in their ontological structure, was ambivalent. In the Abhidharmakosa, both positions were introduced without commentary. Sanghabhadra, an ardent Sarvastivadin, was the only one who explicitly claimed that "name" should be the nature of the Buddha's word. ;What was mainly a linguistic debate in India became transformed in China into a religious and metaphysical one. Chiao-t'i, "the essence of the Buddha's word," was used for the first time by Hsuan-tsang for buddhavacana, "the word of the Buddha" in Sanskrit. Adding the term "essence" altered the nature of the debate. Wonch'uk was the first to view the issue from the broad perspective of its history and provenance in the Indian Buddhist texts. K'uei-chi incorporated it into Yogacara: the Buddha's teaching is what is represented in sentient beings' minds. Fa-tsang defined the essence of the Buddha's teaching as the truth appearing in the mind of the Buddha, which he equated with the truth of the Hua-yen world, tathata. This gradual but candid process of dialogue on "the Buddha's word" preluded a transition to "Chinese" Buddhism. An inquiry no longer in the category of language or of epistemological investigation claims its own identity in the Chinese discussion querying the "essence" or "substance" of the Buddha's teaching, and even "Buddhism" itself, transcending the distinction between language and meaning. (shrink)

One of the interpretive devices that Ch'eng-kuan (澄 觀) is famous for having employed to distill the essence of the vast Mahāvaipulya Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra (Tafang-kuang fo-hua-yen ching 《大方廣佛華嚴經》 was a series of variations on the contemplative theme (kuan-men 觀門) of the complete interfusion (yüan-jung 圓融) of the scripture's three chief protagonists (san-sheng 三聖) ── the Buddha Vairocana (Pi-lu-che-na 毘盧遮那) and the bodhisattvas Mañjuśrī (Wen-shu-shih-li 文殊師利) and Samantabhadra (P'u-hsien 普賢). By aligning these three powerful sacred persons with a number of philosophical (...) categories that he believed to be central to the sūtra ── categories like "cause" (yin 因 ), "fruition" (kuo 果 ), "faith" (hsin 信 ), "understanding" (chieh 解), "insight" (chih 智), "practice" (hsing 行), "principle" (li 理), etc. ── he provided a focal point at which the rich and vivid meditative and liturgical lives of Hua-yen devotees could be made to converge with their philosophical reflections. -/- Although Ch'eng-kuan invoked this device in several of his writings, his most concerted development of it is a short essay entitled San-sheng yüan-jung kuan-men, which appears to have been written relatively late in his long career. Like many important Hua-yen texts, this essay seems to have been lost in China not long after its author's death. However, it was preserved in Korea and Japan and from the latter country was reintroduced to China in the last years of nineteenth century. Neither in China nor in the West has it yet been adequately studied. -/- The core of the present article is a critical edition of the Chinese text of the essay based on a careful comparison of all available versions and presented together with a copiously annotated English translation. The edition translation are preceded by a brief interpretive introduction and followed by an appendix in which are given: a detailed discussion of the work's textual history, detailed accounts of its various editions, and descriptions of its several surviving paraphrases and commentaries. (shrink)

This dissertation is a comparative study of the metaphysics of Alfred North Whitehead and Fa-tsang , who was the third patriarch of the Chinese Hua-yen school of Buddhism. Its purpose is threefold. ;First, this dissertation will examine the notions of "actual entities" or "actual occasions" and "dharmas" or "phenomena." Whitehead and Fa-tsang express their views of metaphysics through an examination of the above notions. ;Second, this dissertation will show whether or not Hua-yen metaphysics is deterministic. Since Hua-yen Buddhism has been (...) criticized by some Whiteheadian philosophers as deterministic, one will see, in this dissertation, if Fa-tsang's philosophy is deterministic or not. ;Thirdly, from the perspective of Fa-tsang's metaphysics, this dissertation will search for an idea to contribute to Whitehead's metaphysics. Whitehead's metaphysics attempts to avoid traditional Western metaphysics which emphasizes the enduring substance that neither changes nor requires conditionedness or relatedness to something other than itself. He argues that anything real or actual entities can no longer be viewed as substance but is temporal, conditioned and relative to other entities. Every actual entity is regarded as an entity which has free determination and which is transcendent over others. Free determination is considered freedom. Freedom is, in Whitehead's metaphysics, the ontological principle that every actual entity is in its own nature free and self-determinative, belonging to itself as it is, in itself. His view of freedom reflects in some sense the traditional view of substance which is conceived as unrelated to or separated from something else. Hence, his metaphysics faces the challenge that it might be classified as a traditional metaphysics. Thus, his metaphysics is in some sense inconsistent. ;Fa-tsang attempts to reinterpret traditional Indian Buddhist thought so that it is suitable to the Chinese context. Traditional Buddhist thought is reflected in the doctrine of dependent origination, which emphasizes the interrelatedness of phenomenal things or a sentient being. Yet, although phenomenal things or sentient beings are conditioned by others, it does not mean that there are no individual things or sentient beings. For instance, just as eyes and ears have their unique functions and roles in an organic body, so every sentient being has its uniqueness or roles in society. Further, every sentient being has Buddha-nature. Buddha-nature is considered a potentiality underlying every sentient being to attain Buddhahood, enlightenment, or liberation. Liberation is a soteriological ideal of religious rather than of metaphysical consideration about sentient beings. Buddhahood is not of itself achieved by every sentient being. Instead, Buddhahood is earned by a sentient being's abandonment of self-substantiality and its embracing its relatedness with others. In other words, where an individual sentient being gets rid of individuality, self-substantiality, or self-directness toward itself, he/she experiences liberation. If Whitehead's freedom listens to Fa-tsang's view of liberation, the former would be enriched. Whitehead's traditional Western view in relation to the view of freedom reflected in separateness or unrelatedness can be avoided by Fa-tsang's practice of doctrines which includes the abandonment of self-substantiality and the embracing of relatedness. Through comparing the two metaphysics, I, as an Asian, try to find how an Asian philosophy--Fa-tsang's metaphysics--can contribute to a Western philosophy--Whitehead's metaphysics. (shrink)

The Hwa Yen school of Mahāyāna Buddhism bloomed in China in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D. Today many scholars regard its doctrines of Emptiness, Totality, and Mind-Only as the crown of Buddhist thought and as a useful and unique philosophical system and explanation of man, world, and life as intuitively experienced in Zen practice. For the first time in any Western language Garma Chang explains and exemplifies these doctrines with references to both oriental masters and Western philosophers. The Buddha's (...) mystical experience of infinity and totality provides the framework for this objective revelation of the three pervasive and interlocking concepts upon which any study of Mahāyāna philosophy must depend. Following an introductory section describing the essential differences between Judeo-Christian and Buddhist philosophy, Professor Chang provides an extensive, expertly developed section on the philosophical foundations of Hwa Yen Buddhism dealing with the core concept of True Voidness, the philosophy of Totality, and the doctrine of Mind-Only. A concluding section includes selections of Hwa Yen readings and biographies of the patriarchs, as well as a glossary and list of Chinese terms. (shrink)

Through a close analysis of Zen encounter dialogues and Huayan Buddhist philosophy, Buddhism and Postmodernity offers a new ethical paradigm for Buddhist-postmodern philosophy.

Translation of Nagarjuna's -Treatise on the Twelve Gates- as well as fazang's commentary on that treatise.

English translation and annotation of Fazang's Treatise on the Golden Lion.

Guo Cheen’s Translating Totality in Parts: Chengguan’s Commentaries and Subcommentaries to the Avatamsaka Sutra translates the first of eighty fascicles or juan of Chengguan’s A Compilation of the Commentaries and Subcommentaries to the Flower Ornament Sutra with Greatly Proper and Extensive Discourses by the Buddhas as well as the preface to his The Meanings Proclaimed in the Subcommentaries Accompanying the Commentaries to the Flower Ornament Sutra with Greatly Proper and Extensive Discourses by the Buddha. Guo Cheen translates the preface first, (...) as it explains why Chengguan wrote his commentaries. The Compilation itself is composed by combining his Commentaries to the Avatamsaka.. (shrink)

In Thomé H. Fang, Tang Junyi and Huayan Thought, King Pong Chiu discusses Thomé H. Fang and Tang Junyi, two of the most important Confucian thinkers in twentieth-century China, who appropriated aspects of the medieval Chinese Buddhist school of Huayan to develop a response to the challenges of ‘scientism’, the belief that quantitative natural science is the only valuable part of human learning and the only source of truth. -/- As Chiu argues, Fang’s and Tang’s selective appropriations of Huayan thought (...) paid heed to the hermeneutical importance of studying ancient texts in order to be more responsive to modern issues, and helped confirm the values of Confucianism under the challenge of ‘scientism’, a topic widely ignored in academia. (shrink)

The growth in interest in Whitehead and the increasing amount of materials available in English related to the Hua-Yen school of Buddhism in China mean that sooner or later there would be, or would have to be, a comparative study of the two in some depth. Although previous scholars of the Hua-Yen philosophy have made repeated references to process philosophy and have argued that this would be a means to understanding Hua-Yen thought, it is not until Steve Odin’s book that (...) we see something approaching a probing study of both. (shrink)

Kegon philosophy of idealism ideas mainly from "Sutra", "Three Realms idealism" of the proposition, and the "Mahayana Faith," "one two" doctrine. The latter is no life eternal that Tathagatagarbha of harmony with the birth and death, non-a non-different, and there are all the world "Tathagatagarbha," the show. Hua-yen said to people that use this to lay the theoretical foundation, Chi Yan , French possession , Chengguan , Zong Mi have inherited the "Mahayana Faith" point of view to carry out their (...) idealistic doctrine. Chi Yan to the "heart" into false and true heart of hearts , and from the heart to clarify the true law of the universe causes and transformation, so that all phenomena are the heart and turn, the "heart" was is the relief of the main Buddha basis. Tibetan law also emphasis on "heart" that all things and all kinds of differences are the "heart" of the show, centrifugal, more not a thing. And the size of things, the level also depends entirely on the "heart" role, not renunciation "heart" and independent existence. He also suggested that off as long as interest rates were paranoid, you can really deep understanding of the body. Chengguan the "heart" into the corresponding heart and mind are not appropriate, and that "territory taken from the heart," "death to the two", "a sub-idealism" three idealistic meaning; turn them wave as "ten heavy heart" This is adapted from law possession of "ten re-Consciousness" and even more than the legal possession of the tendency of idealism. Chengguan the one hand, advocates the "heart" is the ultimate source of law, the universe, on the one hand and pay attention to the "heart" of gnosis Bumei, with particular emphasis on the heart of the "know lonely fixed", no body of gnosis Bumei living heart, it is Kegon philosophy of idealism thinking features. Zongmi the heart is divided into Routuan heart, taking into account geographical heart, set up the heart, real heart, real heart, also known as the "really feel", its characteristics are: clean, clear spirit, lonely know. He believes that "lonely" and "knowledge" is the relationship of body, which is obviously inherited Chengguan "knowing silence Fuji" argument, but more focused than the Chengguan "know" that "know" the concept of "heart" of the essence. Zongmi sentient beings but also the main initiatives is the ultimate source of genuine feel, is to assert that the purpose of practice is also back to the source, which is bent on further development of the theory. Kegon philosophy of idealism were thinking of the Five Dynasties period Hogan Sun Life Extension the integration Zen teaching, and Lu and Wang Neo-time study has some impact. The mind-only thought of Huayan philosophy originates in the notion of "the three realms are mind only" taught in the Avatamsaka-Sutra, and in the concept of "the two gates of the one mind" expounded in the "Treatise on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana ". According to the" Treatise on the Awakening of Faith ", the Tathagatagarbha is the combination of the neither-arising-nor-extinguishing with the arising-and-extinguishing, both are neither one nor different, everything in the universe is the manifestation of the Tathagatagarbha. The Huayan-school chose this concept as the foundation of its teachings. When Zhiyan, Fazang, Chengguan, and Zongmi developed their own versions of mind-only teaching, they all adapted this concept from the " Awakening of Faith "as their basis. Zhiyan distinguished the false mind from the true mind , and explained the origin and transformations of all things in the universe as depending on the true mind , which therefore is the subject of deliverance, the basis of buddhahood. Fazang emphasized the role of the "mind", too. For him, all things as well as their differences are manifested by the "mind", nothing exists independent from it. He taught that one only has to extinguish false thoughts and the discriminating workings of the mind in order to penetrate into the substance of the true mind. Chcngguan distinguished the "corresponding mind" from the "non -corresponding mind ", developed concepts about the mind-only nature of all objects, cessation of the subject-object difference in the one mind, and the Tathagatagarbha nature as intrinsic to all beings. Furthermore, he on the one hand taught that the" mind "is the ultimate origin of all things in the universe, but on the other hand he stressed that the" mind "is free from ignorance and endowed with pure knowing, and that" knowing and stillness are one ". This concept of a non -abiding substance of mind endowed with enlightened knowing became one of the main characteristics of Huayan mind-only thought. Zongmi distinguished several forms of mind, ie the organ , the discriminating mind, the collecting mind, and the true mind, which is also called "true mind of original enlightenment". This mind is characterized by purity, brightness, and unity of knowing and stillness. Zongmi held that "stillness" and "knowing" represent a substance-function relation, a concept obviously influenced by Chcngguan's notion that "knowing and stillness are one". However Zongmi put more emphasis on the aspect of "knowing". He held that "knowing" expressed the essence of the "mind". Furthermore, he taught that the ultimate origin of all sentient beings was the true mind of original enlightenment, and the aim of Buddhist practice was to return to this origin. This represents a further development in the theory of one mind. The mind-only thought of the Huayan-school influenced the 10 century Fayan-school Chan-master Yongming Yanshou, as well as the theory of mind of Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Shouren. (shrink)

Fang Dongmei out West Indian culture, dreams, and respected exploration of Buddhism, to the heated; its "Hua Yan Zongzhe study" two thousand pages, citing the West reversed the concept of interpretation Sutra to teach; also proposed affect the harmony of China strict philosophy, a remedy flaws in the Western dualistic effect, reflecting the party's unique perspective and experience. However, the party's non-Buddhist scholars in general, less current chapter selection to find scholarly articles of the sentence, which were much quoted. This (...) article focuses on the party's referral of the Avatamsaka thought by understanding and interpretation, hope their research, to gain more understanding and attention. Thomé H. Fang was learned in Chinese, Western and Indian cultures and established his own school of thought. He is zealous in investigating and promoting Buddhism. His two-volume Huayanzong Zhexue exceeds a thousand pages, in which he borrowed the Western concept of logic and interpreted the teaching of Huayan classics; he also brought up the Huayan philosophy of complete combination free from obstacles which produced the effect of remedying the deficiency of binary opposition of the West and reflected Fang's own unique perspectives and views. Nevertheless, Fang is no ordinary Buddhist scholar. Unlike modern-day's academic papers which are common in heavy quotations of passages and lines, his writings are rare in citations. This essay focuses on introducing and discussing Fang's understanding and interpretation of Huayan thinking, with the hope that his research outcome could attract increasing understanding and attention. (shrink)

Shun Hua-yen master made ​​early Zudu Mahayana Buddhism in China laid the foundation Huayan, its far-reaching effects. The so-called , the religious standpoint, originally refers to the five different levels of self-cultivation: France has no one to turn me, health is without health door, door affair harmony, language concept Shuangjue door, and China Yan Samadhi door. Dusun master and apply it in apostasy, and its representing Theravada Buddhism, Mahayana began to teach, to teach the final Mahayana, Mahayana Dayton to teach, (...) and a ride round to teach. From a philosophical standpoint, is not just an important religious literature, which also contains a wealth of philosophical thought and rigorous rational argument. The purpose of the article itself guided by the small into the large Buddhist thought, the intention profound, worthy of attention. East side of contemporary Chinese philosophers have found the United States and西哲怀德海 is quite relevant, philosophy. And he that Dusun master using a "meta-text" , but a description of the symbolic language of religious doctrine. This text is different from the talk about the fact that the scientific material and language; Dusun is a master of using the language of the spirit and values, thus giving it will become a religious experience beyond the realm of philosophical thought. (shrink)

In general, Cao hole were due to adverse price pioneer, teacher and student has the lonely mountain in Jiangxi hole, Cao mountain pass method, named after the original out the Southern Zen Green thinking law, the by stone Xiqian, drug Mountain Wei Yan, dolomite Tan Cheng as well as adverse price. Adverse price disciples inherited the silence industry division, Great meditation. Cao Cheng Xi Qian hole Zen's management on the matter "back to each other" , and then expanded to "five (...) monarch and his" instructions from the management things, to clarify the relationship of body and not two reasonable things, affect the meaning of body management. Cao hole were based on the idea "that is the phase that is true" for the theoretical basis, "Polaroid back to each other" as the fundamental purpose, its "modifier-modified back to each other", "and with a positive bias," the purpose from the Hua-yen is a "reasonable harmony thing," "Management do not affect" regardless. "Positive" refers to the management body, "partial" refers to the events, with "Polaroid back to each other", "and with a positive bias," which actually means "do not affect management" "Management do harmony." Management Buddhism really means something reasonable harmony with the world of things not established, the two are one and two, two and a relationship, it does establish the unity of the phenomenon In order philosophy and ontology management. According to this philosophical premise, only Cao hole were "prejudiced back to each other", "and with a positive bias," the Zen purpose. Song to the future, Cao hole were Zen master most of the "Sutra" circle to teach a ride with the Hua-yen's management do not affect, the future unifying the Zen thinking, and Hua-yen's management do the same sector and Cao Tung Zen is partial parity associates from the future, and present its "and with a positive bias," the special Zen. This article will discuss the Song and Yuan times were defined hole Cao Qing, Qing In order, Ching, Zen-related behavior and other writings show, the Kegon explore the meaning of Zen, this time to highlight the characteristics of Zen Cao hole. The Caodong lineage of the Chinese Chan school takes its name from a combination of the abbreviated names of its two founders, Dongshan Liangjie and Caoshan Benji . It belongs to the Southern Chan lineage beginning with Qingyuan Xingsi , which was transmitted through Shitou Xiqian to Yaoshan Weiyan and Yunyan Tansheng, and eventually to Liangjie. Liangjie's disciple Benji continued and further developed the Chan style of his master. The Caodong school teaches the identity of phenomena and reality, ie the relative and absolute aspects of reality. This thought is expressed in Liangjie's "five ranks" stanzas, which explain the relationship of the "bent" and the "straight" . This Caodong thought originated in the Huayan school's concept of "complete harmony of absolute and relative ". This paper examines the characteristics of Huayan thought in works of important Caodong masters during the Song and Yuan dynasties: Yiqing , Qingliao , Zhengjue , and Xingxiu. (shrink)

This thesis is a translation, with notes and introduction, of the Commentary to the Hua-yan Dharma-Realm Meditation. This text is a commentary to the Dharma-Realm Meditation, which is incorporated into the former. The core text is by the first patriarch of the Hua-yan school of Buddhism in China, Du-shun (557-640); the commentary is by the fifth patriarch of the Hua-yan school, Zong-mi (780-841). The text is both philosophical and meditational in nature, and is a concise statement of the key doctrines (...) of the school. -/- The introduction to this text prepares the reader for the translation by providing the information and concepts necessary for an understanding of the text. This includes material on the translation of technical terms, a brief sketch of some Buddhist texts referred to by the authors, biographical information on the authors, historical and philosophical background to the Hua-yan school, a commentary on the literary and meditational aspects of the text, and a general summary of the text by chapters. (shrink)

The growth in interest in Whitehead and the increasing amount of materials available in English related to the Hua-Yen school of Buddhism in China mean that sooner or later there would be, or would have to be, a comparative study of the two in some depth. Although previous scholars of the Hua-Yen philosophy have made repeated references to process philosophy and have argued that this would be a means to understanding Hua-Yen thought, it is not until Steve Odin’s book that (...) we see something approaching a probing study of both. (shrink)

Modern art history practice often treats Buddhist icons or ritual objects as unique objects, focusing on their originality and uniqueness. This text investigates how the paradoxical Buddhist doctrine of ‘the one and the many’ was translated into visual language through manipulation of the relationship between copies and the original. It analyses the different tactics and strategies formulated around given socio-historical frameworks to visualise the notion of infinity, and ultimately the structure of the universe, and suggests that multiple copies of a (...) single design were more potent a vehicle than single objects in expressing ideas related to the Buddhist metaphysics. (shrink)

The Treatise on Golden Lion is one of the most familiar and the most popular treatises in Chinese Mahayana Buddhism. Fazang, who made a system out of the classical form of learning in the Chinese school called „Flower wreath“ (Huayan), allegedly wrote this short work as a description of a real event – he explained his doctrine in the emperor's palace using a golden sculpture of a lion. He explains the fundamental implications of the doctrine oh his school – the (...) doctrine of the absolute interwovenness and absolute mutual inclusiveness of all things. These, as in all schools of Mahayana Buddhism, are based on the theory of the emptiness of all things and the world. These implications, valid in all phenomenal world (there is nothing but the phenomena, beyond the phenomena there is nothing) are explained also by means of the specification of the relationship between the principle (the gold) and the phenomena (the lion). (shrink)

This essay attempts a paradigmatic comparison between the fourfold worldview of Hua-yen Buddhism and the postmodern philosophy of Jean-François Lyotard. Employing a tension between centripetal and centrifugal forces as a structural underpinning of these two philosophies, the essay illuminates the liberating nature of Hua-yen Buddhism and postmodern thought together with the shadow of skepticism involved in endorsing a vision for a poly-lingual existence. Despite human beings' desire for a totalitarian vision hidden in every aspect of our discourse, Hua-yen Buddhism and (...) postmodern thought demand us to envision the world of the 'inconceivable' in which the diversity of existence raises its own voice beyond the regulating force of our society. (shrink)

The Buddhist master Fazang is regarded as one of the greatest metaphysicians in medieval Asia.