Abstract

Ch'eng-kuan (738-839), the fourth patriarch of the Hua-yen school devided the introduction -- titled Hsüan-t'an -- to his commentaries on Hua-yen-ching into ten sections. These sections can be found in his predecessors' commentaries on Hua-yen-ching, but the names and the succesion of the ten sections are different in their works. Ch'eng-kuan made two significant changes in his system: 1. the tripiṭaka and the teachings are placed side by side in the second section 2. the division of doctrines is taken from the ninth section to the third, next to the tripiṭaka and teachings. Moreover, Ch'eng-kuan was the first who attempted to give reasons for the succesion of ten sections. He starts from the Buddhist teaching in general and arrives at the explication of the text of the sūtra. This must be the reason why he placed the division of doctrines right after the discussion of different branches of Buddhist teaching.