The Huayan School of Chinese Buddhism

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

Names name, but there are no individuals who are named by names. This is the key to an elegant and ideologically parsimonious strategy for analyzing the Buddhist catuṣkoṭi. The strategy is ideologically parsimonious, because it appeals to no analytic resources beyond those of standard predicate logic. The strategy is elegant, because it is, in effect, an application of Bertrand Russell's theory of definite descriptions to Buddhist contexts. The strategy imposes some minor adjustments upon Russell's theory. Attention to familiar catuṣkoṭi from (...) Vacchagotta and Nagarjuna as well as more obscure catuṣkoṭi from Khema, Zhi Yi, and Fa Zang motivates the adjustments. The result is a principled structural distinction between affirmative and negative catuṣkoṭi, as well as analyses for each that compare favorably to more recent efforts from Tillemans, Westerhoff, and Priest. (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)

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)

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)

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.

This essay considers an ethical paradigm that can be drawn from Buddhist and postmodern philosophy. Ethics is a practical branch of philosophy and an ethical paradigm is closely connected to the fundamental structure and tenets of a philosophical system. That ethics is a practical branch of philosophy also indicates that meaning and value of a certain ethical paradigm is directly related to the environments in which the paradigm is understood and practiced. In considering an ethical paradigm based on Buddhist and (...) postmodern philosophy, and doing so in the context of the 21st century in which we live, we will examine a paradigm I call an "ethics of tension." I will first outline the concept, and discuss how this paradigm can be a form of ethics that can be envisioned in Buddhist and postmodern philosophy. Finally, I will consider the meaning of ethics and the ethical that the ethics of tension would like to underline as an ethical discourse and for an ethical life. (shrink)

Although there are various studies comparing Greek and Indian philosophy and religion, and Chinese and Western philosophy and religion, Brahman and Dao: Comparatives Studies in Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion is a first of its kind that brings together Indian and Chinese philosophies and religions. Brahman and Dao helps close the gap on a much needed examination on the rich history of Buddhist transmission to China, and the many generations of Indian Buddhist missionaries to China and Chinese Buddhist pilgrims (...) to India, including the legendary Bodhidharma, and Faxian and Xuanzang. (shrink)

Huayan Buddhist philosophers and John Dewey share a perspective on emptiness or dependent origination. This article compares Dewey's local, contextual, and relational metaphysics with Huayan thinkers’ use of the metaphor of Indra's jewel net to extend their relational metaphysics to an infinite extent. Huayan thinkers base their ethics of compassion on the recognition of the infinite relatedness of all things. Dewey prefers constructing social institutions that foster experiences that are reliably aesthetically unified. This dispute is significant because pragmatism and Buddhism (...) both provide promising ethical positions based on the understanding of persons as temporally limited and relational. (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)

Spinoza, as a monist and a rationalist, seems unlikely to have occasion to confront any form of the solipsism problem. However, a close examination of his epistemology reveals that he does in fact confront a very radical form of this problem, and offers an equally radical solution to it, derived from the very epistemological premises that make it a potential problem for him. In particular, we find that the conception of the mind as the “idea of the body,” premised on (...) the strict identity of mental modes (“ideas”) and extended modes (“bodies”) forecloses any possibility of awareness extending “beyond” the confines of the finite body, or of any idea being able to be about anything other than its own bodily mode: ideas can only be ideas “of” the body of which they are the idea, and hence the mind, as the idea of the body, cannot have any ideas “of” anything outside of the body. The solution comes from the “Common Notions” which establish the existence of the world outside the body not by “reaching” that world, but merely by establishing immanently the nature of the finite body qua finite body. This manner of instantiating an infinite externality of the body within the body itself, though highly exceptional in European intellectual history, bears interesting similarities to the solutions to distinct but parallel problems concerning the relation of the finite to the infinite found in Chinese thought, in particular in the Zhuangzi and in the Huayan and Tiantai schools of Buddhism. (shrink)

This dissertation explores diverse facets of the Chinese Huayan tradition by analyzing the thought of the lay exegete Li Tongxuan (635–730). -/- Although Li's ideas have been considered idiosyncratic and even heterodox from the standpoint of the "orthodox" five Huayan patriarchs, we should not restrict our perspective to this narrow framework. As a lay scholar who had a strong practical orientation, Li had a solid literary background in indigenous Chinese philosophy and applied this knowledge to the explication of the newly (...) translated eighty-fascicle Flower Garland Sūtra ( Dafangguang fo huayan jing, Avatamsaka-sūtra ). Thus his exegesis is characterized by practicality and concreteness on the one hand and marked by originality and intuitiveness on the other hand. (shrink)

This paper elaborates upon various responses to the Problem of the One over the Many, in the service of two central goals. The first is to situate Huayan's mereology within the context of Buddhism's historical development, showing its continuity with a broader tradition of philosophizing about part-whole relations. The second goal is to highlight the way in which Huayan's mereology combines the virtues of the Nyāya-Vaisheshika and Indian Buddhist solutions to the Problem of the One over the Many while avoiding (...) their vices. (shrink)

This is an attempt to explain, in a way familiar to contemporary ways of thinking about mereology, why someone might accept some prima facie puzzling remarks by Fazang, such as his claims that the eye of a lion is its ear and that a rafter of a building is identical to the building itself. These claims are corollaries of the Huayan Buddhist thesis that everything is part of everything else, and it is intended here to show that there is a (...) rational basis for this thesis that involves a nonstandard notion of parthood and, importantly, that does not violate the principle of noncontradiction. (shrink)

This article deals with Li Tongxuan's explication of the Avata asaka-s tra in terms of the Sinification of Buddhism. While the affirmation of the present human condition is shared by other Chinese Huayan masters as well, this attitude is most evident in Li Tongxuan's explication of the scripture where the Chinese symbolisms such as yin-yang and five phases are amply employed. For him, every scriptural description on ordinary objects and names, especially directions, had profound religious implications. In order to reveal (...) these meanings in a lively and concrete language, the lay exegete Li Tongxuan freely alluded to the non-Buddhist ideas when elucidating or justifying the scriptural phrases. Although his interpretation sometimes resulted in a forced one, his intuitive adoption of the indigenous philosophy served to illumine the vision that an ordinary human condition is the foundation of the ultimate realization. (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)

This study deals with the tensions between old and new Yogācāra, as seen in the Huayan sources, which, in turn, reflect discontinuity between Indian Yogācāra and its reception in China. Its particular focus is on the concept of karmic appearance , as developed in the Awakening of Faith and further elaborated on by many Huayanmasters. This concept illustrates the sudden arising of deluded thoughts and provides us with a paradigm for the approach to the problem of delusion, a problem that (...) is deeply rooted in Tathāgatagarbha Thought and addresses the origin of deluded thoughts against the backdrop of the pure mind. This Huayan solution resembles the concept of free will, as developed in mainstream Christian theology after Augustine attempted to solve the problem of evil, and the concept of playfulness found in Indian Vedānta theology to explain the creation of the illusory world. (shrink)

In Plato's Parmenides , Socrates proposes a 'Day' analogy to express one possible model of part/whole relations. His analogy is swiftly rejected and replaced with another analogy, that of the 'Sail'. In this paper, it is argued that there is a profound difference between these two analogies and that the 'Day' represents a distinct way to think about part/whole relations. This way of thinking, I argue, is the standard way of thinking in East Asian Buddhism. Plato's 'Day' analogy can then (...) be used to illuminate the meaning of an opaque but very important concept in East Asian Buddhism: li , which in this paper is developed as a modal concept of 'Wholeness'. (shrink)

In his _Treatise on the Golden Lion_, Fazang says that wholes are _in_ each of their parts and that each part of a whole _is_ every other part of the whole. In this paper, I offer an interpretation of these remarks according to which they are not obviously false, and I use this interpretation in order to rigorously reconstruct Fazang's arguments for his claims. On the interpretation I favor, Fazang means that the presence of a whole's part suffices for the (...) presence of the whole and that the presence of any such part is both necessary and sufficient for the presence of any other part. I also argue that this interpretation is more plausible than its extant competitors. (shrink)

The doctrine of sunyata, or emptiness, is the cornerstone of Buddhist metaphysics. This article explores the doctrine as elaborated by Nagarjuna, as it developed in Mahayana Buddhism and extended into Chinese Hua-Yen teachings. It is the key to understanding the relationship between the discontinuous and continuous aspects of reality, the inter-penetration and identity of “emptiness” and phenomena, the cosmic permeation of Buddhahood, and the role of the Bodhisattva.

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)

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

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

This book is the first comprehensive treatment of the Huayan school of East Asian Buddhism in a Western language.

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)

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.

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 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)