E-Book (PDF) Availability: Published ISBN: 978-90-04-49237-0 Publication: 15 Nov 2021
Hardback Availability: Published ISBN: 978-90-04-12902-3 Publication: 30 Jun 2003
Michael W. Meister, M. A. Dhaky and Krishna Deva (ed.): Encyclopaedia of Indian temple architecture: North India: Foundations of North Indian style c. 250 b.c.–a.d. 1100. I: xvii, 422 pp. 158 figures, 15 maps; II: viii, 778 plates.
New Delhi: American Institute of Indian Studies, and Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009
Kashmiri Temples: a Typological and Aedicular Analysis
Adam Hardy
2019, Indology’s Pulse: Arts in Context (Essays Presented to Doris Meth Srinivasan in Admiration of Her Scholarly Research) edited by Corinna Wessels-Mevissen and Gerd J. R. Mevissen
Chakshudana or Opening the Eyes Seeing South Asian Art Anew Edited by Pika Ghosh and Pushkar Sohoni First published 2024 ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 20783- 4 (hbk) ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 27121- 7 (pbk) ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 29147- 3 (ebk)
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Constructing Community: Tamil Merchant Temples in India and China, 850-1281
This dissertation studies premodern temple architecture, freestanding sculpted stones, and Tamil language inscriptions patronized by south Indian merchants in south India and China. Between the ninth and thirteenth centuries, Indian Ocean trade was at its apex, connecting populations on European and Asian continents through complex interlocking networks. Southern India’s Tamil region, in particular, has been described as the fulcrum of the Indian Ocean circuit; however, knowledge of intra-Asian contact and exchange from this period has been derived mostly from Arabic and Chinese sources, which are abundant in comparison with the subcontinent’s dearth of written history. My project redresses this lacuna by investigating the material culture of Tamil merchants, and aims to recover their history through visual evidence, authored by individuals who left few written traces of their voyages across the Indian Ocean.
The arguments of my dissertation are based primarily on unpublished and unstudied monuments and inscriptions, weaving together threads from multiple disciplines–art history, literature, epigraphy, and social theory–and from across cultures, the interconnected region of the eastern Indian Ocean and the South China Seas, spanning the Sanskritic, Tamil, Malay, and Sinocentric realms. My dissertation challenges traditional narratives of Indian art history that have long attributed the majority of monumental architecture to royal patrons, focusing instead on the artistic production of cosmopolitan merchants who navigated both elite and non-elite realms of society. I argue that by constructing monuments throughout the Indian Ocean trade circuit, merchants with ties to southern India’s Tamil region formulated a coherent group identity in the absence of a central authority.
Similar impulses also are visible in merchants’ literary production, illustrated through several newly translated panegyric texts, which preface mercantile donations appearing on temple walls in the modern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. Moreover, my work analyzes the complex processes of translation visible in literary and material culture commissioned by merchants, resulting from inter-regional and intercultural encounters among artisans, patrons, and local communities. Rather than identifying a monolithic source for merchants’ artistic innovations, in each chapter I demonstrate the multiple ways in which merchants employed visual codes from different social realms (courtly, mercantile, and agrarian) to create their built environments. In Chapter Four, I provide a detailed reconstruction and historical chronology of a late thirteenth century temple in Quanzhou, coastal Fujian Province, and southeastern China, which both echoes and transforms architectural forms of contemporaneous temples in India’s Tamil region.
Piecing together over 300 carvings discovered in the region in light of archaeological and art historical evidence, I develop a chronology of the temple’s history, and propose that Ming forces destroyed the temple scarcely a century after its creation. In Chapter Three, I interpret stone temples patronized by the largest south Indian merchant association, the Ainnurruvar, as being integral to their self-fashioning in India and abroad. While the temples do not project a merchant identity per se, I show that they employ an artistic vocabulary deeply entrenched in the visual language of the Tamil region. Chapter Two looks at other forms through which merchants created a shared mercantile culture, including literary expressions and freestanding sculptural stones. These texts demonstrate that merchants engaged in both elite and non-elite artistic production. Chapter One analyzes the distribution, content, and context of Tamil merchant sponsored inscriptions within the Indian Ocean circuit, focusing on the modern regions of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh. An appendix offers new translations of important Tamil language mercantile inscriptions discovered throughout south India.
“Infinite Sequences in the Constructive Geometry Of Tenth-Century Hindu Temple Superstructures.”
The Construction Geometry of Early Javanese Temples
David Beynon, Deakin University
Sambit Datta, Curtin University
Papers presented to the 30th Annual Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, July 2-5, 2013. http://www.griffith.edu.au/conference/sahanz-2013/
Archive: The University of Pennsylvania houses a photographic archive of Indian art and architecture (now over 100,000 photographs) as part of the W. Norman Brown South Asia Reference Room on the fifth floor west end of Van Pelt library. To gain access, contact the South Asia bibliographer, David Nelson, or his staff. This Archive should be an integral part of your work this semester.
Intention: This seminar will both introduce you in the remarkable variety of India’s architectural accomplishments and encourage you to discuss the broader issues of how architecture can be designed to express meaning. In the past I have sometimes asked students to divide into groups to work together to frame one area of India’s architecture. Categories have been: Early Indian architecture; South Indian architecture; North Indian architecture; early Islamic architecture in India.
This year, I propose to organize readings around a variety of approaches and methodologies: issues of construction, translation of architectural forms into new materials, architectural symbolism, typology and chronology, and praxis (the use and survival of buildings over time).
I will ask you to work collectively, but on different aspects or examples of the general area, reporting in class on the literature, issues, ideas, and substance appropriate to each.
Books: Four books have been ordered by the Penn Book Center (130 S. 34th St.):
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, Essays in Early Indian Architecture, ed. Michael W. Meister, Oxford University Press, 1993. (This may now be out of print, but is available in the Fine Arts Library reserve.)
Richard H. Davis, Lives of Indian Images, Princeton, 1997 (Princeton University Press paperback).
James C. Harle, The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent (Pelican History of Art). New York, 1986.
George Michell, The Hindu Temple: An Introduction to Its Meaning and Forms, New York, 1977 (Chicago University Press paperback).
Other books of interest will be placed on Reserve in the Fischer Fine Arts Library and the South Asia Reading Room in Van Pelt, near the photo archive.
Course assignments: In addition to participation in class discussion, students will be asked to prepareshort reports on reading for presentation in class and to choose an area for research leading to a final presentation and paper.
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Brief Bibliography of General Surveys:
Batley, Claude. The Design Development of Indian Architecture, 3rd rev. enl. ed., London, 1973.
Brown, Percy. Indian Architecture, vol. 1. Buddhist and Hindu periods, vol. 2. Islamic period, 5th ed., Bombay, 1965-68.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. The Arts and Crafts of India and Ceylon. London, 1913.
Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. History of Indian and Indonesian Art. New York, 1927.
Fergusson, James. History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, London, 1876; rev. and ed. by James Burgess, 2 vol., London, 1910.
Herdeg, Klaus. Formal Structure in Indian Architecture, preface by Balkrishna Doshi, New York: Rizzoli, 1990 (1978).
Mayamata. An Indian Treatise on Housing, Architecture, and Iconography, trans. by Bruno Dagens, Delhi, 1985.
Pereira, José. Elements of Indian Architecture, Delhi, 1987.
Tadgell, Christopher. The History of Architecture in India: From the Dawn of Civilization to the End of the Raj, London: Architecture Design and Technology Press, 1990.
Volwahsen, Andreas. Living Architecture: Indian and Living Architecture: Islamic Indian, New York, 1969-70.
Purusha Sukta (Text, Transliteration, Translation and Commentary)
AUTHOR: S.K. RAMACHANDRA RAO PUBLISHER: SRI AUROBINDO KAPALI SASTRY INSTITUTE OF VEDIC CULTURE LANGUAGE: SANSKRIT TEXT WITH TRANSLITERATION AND ENGLISH TRANSLATION EDITION: 2014 ISBN: 8179940462 PAGES: 96
The work presented here advances a hypothetical reconstruction of the planning and programming of the building site, the executive process, the construction and decoration, and ultimately the deconsecration and abandonment of an ancient Buddhist stupa. The chronological context is that of the mid-first to the early fourth century CE. The geographical context is the fertile and rich Swat valley, at the foot of the Karakoram-Hindukush, to the north of the ancient region of Gandhara (today in Pakistan). The study is based on archaeological excavation data conducted over several seasons, including the most recent seasons from 2011 to 2014. During the latter excavations, conducted by the Author, new data that allowed additions to be made to Domenico Faccenna’s previous studies were brought to light. Among these new insights, there are some of great importance that indicate the existence of a large central niche at the top of the stupa’s upper staircase, the key to the stupa’s figurative frieze. This frieze, which represents one of the highest moments of Gandharan Buddhist art, still imitated centuries later by celebrated artists in inner Asia (at Miran), is the product of a sculptural school guided with a sure hand by an anonymous Master, to whom the responsibility for the entire project should be attributed, architect, master builder and workshop master all in one. The existence of this so-called ‘Master of Saidu’, admirably intuited and elaborated by Faccenna, finds in this volume, if possible, further support, demonstrating the capacity of the archaeological school inaugurated by Faccenna himself to answer with ongoing excavation data the many questions that the enigma of Gandhara art still poses to scholars all over the world.
This book is the first volume of a new book series, Marco Polo: Studies in Global Europe-Asia Connections.
The book series, sponsored by the Department of Asian and North African Studies through the Marco Polo Research Centre for Global Europe-Asia Connections, is designed to publish up-to-date research that is supported by the Centre. In dialogue with the intellectual tradition of the Centre, our research interests are vast, spanning manifold spaces (from Japan to the Mediterranean Sea), times (from Neolithic times to today, and possibly the future), and themes (from modern geopolitics to religious identities to climate change to archaeological sites), with particular attention to trans-Eurasian interactions. This emphasis on intercultural contact and exchange, especially at the crossroads of the ostensible European-Asian divide, is evoked through the title of the series: indeed, Marco Polo travelled all the way from Venice to Beijing at the end of the 13th century, engaging with many different political contexts, nations, and civilisations along the land and sea routes later jointly known as the Silk Road (or, better, Silk Roads). This concept, with its underlying reference to the exchange of things and ideas across societies, is a historical phenomenon of great significance associated with a distant past; however, the spectre of the Silk Road(s) has never rested. The People’s Republic of China announced the ‘Silk Road Economic Belt’ (now known as the ‘Belt and Road Initiative’) in 2013. In other words, the distant historical traditions of the Silk Road(s) continue to penetrate discursive reality in our own day and age. Globalisation – with its various and contradictory connotations – is an overarching motif that links the Silk Roads of the past and the present. Inspired by the famous Venetian merchant, our book series prioritises studies that are inquisitive, bold, and dynamic, with a preference for transcultural and interdisciplinary studies. We welcome manuscripts that are grounded in rigorous scholarship and speak to international academic conversations within and across diverse disciplines, including history, international relations, economics, environmental studies, literature, languages, archaeology, art history, philosophy, religion, anthropology, geography, music, social sciences, and the digital humanities. The books in this series will focus on specific research topics but will range from single-authored monographs to edited volumes with multiple authors, each contributing a chapter to an organically conceived whole.
Buddhist Architecture in the Swat Valley, Pakistan. Stupas, Viharas, a Dwelling Unit Domenico Faccenna, Piero Spagnesi
(BraDypUS Communicating Cultural Heritage, Bologna 2015)
The volume reports an accurate survey of the sacred Buddhist Gandharan architecture in the Swat Valley, carryed out by one of the main experts in the past culture of that territory, Domenico Faccenna, in association with Piero Spagnesi.
The work presents typological classification (stupas, viharas, columns, minor complementary structures) and accurate description of the monuments, and the various complexes to which they belong (sacred areas, monasteries, groups of dwelling units for monks, water supply and defence systems). The analysis is intended to touch upon numerous aspects: construction techniques, materials, measures, plasters, proportions, pictorial decorations and gilding, taking into consideration the architecture as a whole, in its spaces, volumes and relative design themes.
Buddhist Architecture in the Swat Valley, Pakistan. Stupas, Viharas, a Dwelling Unit, by Domenico Faccenna and Piero Spagnesi, with the collaboration of Luca M. Olivieri and foreword by Marco Mancini and Adriano Rossi. ACT-FIELD SCHOOL PROJECT Reports and Memoirs (series), special volume.
2nd digital edition, originally published in 2014 in Pakistan (Sang e-Meel). The content remains unvaried.
This stupa was located in Saidu Sharif, Pakistan and is among a unique group of Gandharan stupas that boasts an impressive visual arts programme. Given the wealthy Greco-Bactrian artistic tradition in the region, it is important to note that this stupa represents one of the earliest attestations of the stupa with columns (Filigenzi, 130). This canonical type was amalgamated into Buddhist architectural forms through the “mandalic concept of ritual space” (Filigenzi,130). Overall, this stupa superstructure consisted of “five tiers with the first a square plinth, the second a circular plinth, the third and four the two circular drums, and the fifth a dome; it is surmounted by a solid harmika and an exceedingly tall multi-tiered yasti-chattra.” (Le, 175) Attuned to the Hellenistic connection, it is likely that the two circular drums were decorated with both Corinthian pilasters and narrative reliefs panels that depicted scenes from the Buddha’s life (Filigenzi, 113). In contrast to traditional Indian stupas, it appears that here the Gandharan architects have “consciously proportioned their harmikas to be of an equal height as the stupa body” (Le, 175). All together the stupa’s total height measured approximately 27m. The building material are believed to be soapstone ashlar and in line with Gandharan building practice, the stupa was coated in fine plaster to “shield it from water penetration and give it a smooth appearance” (Le, 175) What is noticeable at Saidu Sharif is the emergence of the square-based stupa. This type was originally remarked upon at Piprahwa, as we have seen earlier, however the additions of columns, the emphasis on verticality and the reduction in size of the dome are all indicative of Asokan, Mathuran and Greco-Roman architectural features. (Le, 176). Overall, Saidu Sharif is an example of the early Gandharan stupa type.
Le, Huu Phuoc. Buddhist architecture. Lakeville, MN: Grafikol, 2010. Print.
“Orientalised Hellenism versus Hellenised Orient:Reversing the Perspective on Gandharan Art Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia,”
The cultural context in which the term “Gandhāra” is used initially refers to Vedic geography and then to the administrative limits of the homonymous Achaemenid satrapy.
The most reliable information referring to the Middle Holocene period, in which the Gandhāran region must have met a climatically optimal phase during which domesticated rice was introduced to Kashmir and Swat through the trans-Himalayan corridors (early 2nd millennium BCE or earlier). Toward the end of the 2nd millennium, northern Gandhāra features a rather coherent settlement phenomenon marked by large graveyards, mainly with inhumations, which were labeled by previous scholarship as the “Gandhāra Grave Culture” (1200–900 BCE). In this phase among the major cultural markers, the introduction of iron technology is noteworthy.
The historic phases in Gandhāra are marked by an initial urban phase in Gandhāra (500–150 BCE), sometimes referred to as a “second urbanization,” on the evidence mainly from Peshawar, Charsadda I, Barikot, and Bhir Mound (Taxila I). Mature urban phases (150 BCE–350 CE) are defined based on the restructuring of old cities, and new urban foundations during the phases of contact historically defined by the Indo-Greek and Śaka dynasties, followed by the Kushans (Peshawar, Charsadda II, Barikot, Sirkap, or Taxila III). The artistic phenomenon known as the Buddhist “art of Gandhāra” started toward the end of the 1st century BCE and lasted until the 4th century CE. The beginning of this art is best attested in that period in Swat, where schist of exceptional quality is largely available. At the beginning of the 1st century CE, the iconic and figurative symbols of Indian Buddhism acquire a narrative form, which is the major feature of the Buddhist art of Gandhāra. The subsequent art and architecture of Buddhist Gandhāra feature large sanctuaries richly decorated, and monasteries, documented in several “provinces” of Gandhāra throughout the Kushan period, from the late 1st century CE to mid/end-3rd century CE. In this period Buddhist sanctuaries and urban centers developed together, as proved both in Peshawar valley, in Swat, and at Taxila.
After the urban crisis (post-300 CE)—which went hand in hand with the crisis of the centralized Kushan rule—stratigraphic excavations have so far registered a significant thinning of the archaeological deposits, with a few exceptions. Besides coins deposited in coeval phases of Buddhist sanctuaries and literary and epigraphic sources, archaeological evidence for the so-called Hunnic or “Huna” phases (c. 5th–7th century CE) are very scarce.
Around the mid-6th century, Buddhist monasteries entered a period of crisis, the effects of which were dramatically visible in the first half of the 7th century, especially in the northern regions of Gandhāra. It is after this phase (early 7th century) that literary sources and archaeology report the existence of several Brahmanical temples in and around Gandhāra. These temples were first supported by the Turki-Śāhi (whose capital was in Kabulistan; end-7th/early 8th century) and then by the Hindu-Śāhi (9th–10th century).
The Spatial Composition of Buddhist Temples in Central Asia, Part 1: The Transformation of Stupas
Yuuka Nakamura1 and Shigeyuki Okazaki1
1 Department of Architecture, Mukogawa Women’s University, Nishinomiya, Japan Corresponding author: Yuuka Nakamura, Department of Architecture, Mukogawa Women’s University, 1-13 Tozaki-cho,
Garab Dorje (1st century), founder of Dzogchen (Great Perfection) tradition.
Kumāralāta (3rd century), Kumāralāta was the founder of Sautrāntika school of Buddhism.
Vasubandhu (4th century), Vasubandhu is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the Gandharan Buddhist philosophical tradition. In Jōdo Shinshū, he is considered the Second Patriarch; in Chan Buddhism, he is the 21st Patriarch. His Abhidharmakośakārikā(“Commentary on the Treasury of the Abhidharma”) is widely used in Tibetan and East Asian Buddhism.
Asaṅga (4th century), he was “one of the most important spiritual figures” of Mahayana Buddhism and the “founder of the Yogacharaschool”.
Padmasambhāva (8th century), he is considered the Second Buddha by the Nyingma school, the oldest Buddhist school in Tibet known as “the ancient one”.
This revelatory exhibition of Buddhist art from Gandhara—an ancient kingdom whose center was the present-day Peshawar valley in northwest Pakistan—nearly didn’t happen. Slated to open at New York’s Asia Society last spring, the show was delayed for six months when loans from museums in Karachi and Lahore were jeopardized by (among other things) a flood, the dissolution of the Pakistani Ministry of Culture by constitutional amendment, and deteriorating diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Pakistan. That it opened at all was a testament to the persistence and vision of Asia Society’s director, Melissa Chiu, and her counterparts and associates in Pakistan.
Gandhara, which is was first mentioned as a geographic region in the Rig Veda, around the ninth century B.C.E. was of considerable strategic and commercial importance in the ancient world. Its fertile valleys, warm climate, and above all, its central position on the busy trade routes between Asia and the Mediterranean made it valuable property. As a consequence, it suffered numerous conquests, coming under the rule of the Persians with the reign of Darius I in the sixth century B.C.E., the Greeks under Alexander the Great, and the Indian Mauryans, who introduced Buddhism to the region in the middle of the third century B.C.E. Subsequent invaders included Graeco-Bactrians from Afghanistan, Scythians from central Asia, and Parthians from Iran. Each conqueror left an imprint on the culture; the result was a cosmopolitan, multiethnic society with a sculptural tradition that mixed local styles and subjects with borrowings from Indian, Persian, and Hellenistic art.
In the mid-first century C.E., the Kushans, a nomadic tribe from Central Asia, gained control of Gandhara. Kanishka I, the third emperor of the Kushan dynasty, was a strong supporter of Buddhism who ruled from centers in Gandhara and Mathura in northern India. Buddhist art flourished in both places for the next several centuries—in Mathura, as streamlined, Indian-influenced carvings in pink sandstone; in Gandhara, as cruder, but more stylistically varied sculptures in hard gray schist or terracotta.
The first part of the exhibition traced some of the cultural influences at work in Gandharan art through a selection of sculptures incorporating Indian and Greco-Roman motifs. The earliest of these are marked by startling disjunctions and surprise appearances. The curling acanthus leaves on a Roman-style Corinthian capital shelter a tiny, seated buddha. Along the edge of a stele—pillar—carved with chapters from the Buddha’s career (including an episode in which he sternly reminds a barking dog of its previous life) are numerous pairs of cavorting Greek erotes—love gods. And a half column, used to demarcate a scene on a narrative relief, is similar to a type found in Iran, while the buxom female figure leaning against it is an Indianyakshini, or tree spirit.
The Kushan period saw several extraordinary developments in Buddhist iconography, including the depiction of the Buddha in human form (before that he was represented by symbols such as a footprint), as well as a renewed interest in stories of his life and the appearance of an ever-expanding cast of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and celestial deities. These artistic innovations coincided with, and reflected, the evolution of Mahayana Buddhist ideas, among them the emphasis on forging an individual relationship with the deity, the concept of the bodhisattva who reaches enlightenment but foregoes nirvana in order to help others, and the notion of multiple here-and now buddhas accessible to the practitioner through meditation and visualization.
As in India, the earliest figural images of the Buddha in Gandharan art most often appeared as part of the carved decorations on stupas—Buddhist reliquaries—and the next section of the show features a variety of architectural details from such monuments. Here, in lively reliefs depicting popular scenes from the life of the Buddha, the Gandharan artists can be seen beginning to consolidate their various influences.
In one particularly charming image Maya, Prince Siddhartha’s mother, smiles as she dreams of her unborn son in the form of an elephant encircled by a halo. Another relief depicts a phalanx of hair-raisingly realistic demons sent by Mara to distract Siddhartha from his meditations. Through such pictures, practitioners could follow the story of the Buddha and his spiritual journey and, by adhering to the same path of renunciation, meditation, and wisdom, likewise achieve enlightenment.
A range of types populates the show’s third section, which is devoted to images of buddhas and bodhisattvas. A muscular second-century bodhisattva in one corner conforms to western ideals of masculine beauty, while across the room, a less buff but dashingly bejeweled and mustached Maitreya, the future Buddha, represents the full flowering of the Gandharan figural style, in which idealized, film starlooks are allied with a naturalistic treatment of the body and its enveloping draperies.
A highlight of the show is the so-called Mohammed Nari stele, which depicts a buddha sitting on a huge lotus surrounded by smaller bodhisattvas and worshippers. It may represent the Sukhavati paradise of Amitabha Buddha, or an unidentified buddha giving a teaching. In either case, as a representation of an enlightened being and his sphere of influence, it reflects a growing emphasis on the Mahayana doctrine of a transcendent buddhanature.
In Gandharan Buddhist art, dating is uncertain, messages are mixed, influences come and go, and works range from clumsy to sublime and from suave to kitschy. Looking at this show, which is full of gaps and cross-pollination, can be a little like trying to listen to a garbled radio transmission. But the overall impression is of vivid life and of a system of thought in development—one that would demand new visual languages and find one of them in Gandhara’s syncretic art.
Anne Doran is a writer and editor for the visual arts. She lives in New York City.
Early Gandhāran art: artists and working processes at Saidu Sharif I
Luca M. Olivieri
DOI: 10.32028/9781803274737-05
In Gandhāran Art in Its Buddhist Context (Archaeopress 2023): 60–76
Gandhara: Tecnologia, produzione e conservazione. Indagini preliminari su sculture in pietra e in stucco del Museo Nazionale d’Arte Orientale ‘Giuseppe Tucci’.
Authors Simona Pannuzi, Paola Biocca, Maurizio Coladonato, Barbara Di Odoardo, Stefano Ferrari, Laura Giuliano, Giuseppe Guida, Giovanna Iacono, Tommaso Leti Messina, Edoardo Loliva, Bruno Mazzone, Luca Maria Olivieri, Maria Gigliola Patrizi, Maurizio Pellegrini, Maurizio Piersanti, Paolo Salonia, Giancarlo Sidoti, Fabio Talarico, Mauro Torre, Massimo Vidale, Gianluca Vignaroli
THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHIST STUPA ARCHITECTURE: RITUAL AND REPRESENTATION
This online exhibition seeks to showcase the development of the stupa throughout India, Gandhara and Indonesia. Historically, the stupa was a “Buddhist monument…generally of a pyramidal or dome-like form and [was] erected over sacred relics of the great Buddha or on spots consecrated as the scene of his acts” (Goswamy, 1) The purpose of the structure itself was twofold: it was meant to express metaphysical notions and perform a votive function. As such, the combination of the architectural form in addition to the stupa’s decorative programme was meant to work in tandem to satisfy physical and metaphysical indigence (Snodgrass, 2-3). This came from the traditional Indian conceptualization of architecture and formed the basis from which the stupa began to embody symbolic meaning (Snodgrass,1) Although the stupa took its canonical shape in India, many stupas in neighbouring countries borrowed from its classical form. Yet, instead of repeating what had been established in India, they each adapted a unique and nuanced style that reflected their singular conceptualizations of Buddhist stylistic traditions. Overall, scholars have noticed that the “architectural evolution of the Buddhist stupa in India and Asian countries…reflected the sectarian development in Buddhism itself” (Le, 141). As such, in this exhibition I have aimed to analyze a myriad of stupas and contextualize their plan and architectural features within the larger corpus of Buddhist stupa architecture.
This exhibition is comprised of five Indian stupas, one Indonesian stupa and four Gandharan Stupas. Piphrawa, Sanchi and Bharhut act as the foundational blocks of the exhibition as they provide a traditional overview of the early Indian stupa. This is followed by an analysis of Amaravati and Kesariya. By showcasing the origins and the architectural developments produced under various phases of Buddhism, a clearer picture begins to emerge that underlines the stylistic tendencies that punctuated the construction of later stupas. Overall, it is notable that Piprahwa, Sanchi, Bharhut and Amaravati seemed to have originally existed as tumuli and were later enlarged with bricks or slabs of stone (Pant, 85). These four Indian stupas were all “built on a solid stone base” (Pant,84) and “possessed a hemispherical dome of moderate height having a truncated top with a harmika and a parasol fitted in a post in the middle of the Harmika.” (Pant, 84). However, as I aim to showcase, it is evident that the format of the “stupa itself was in a process of structural evolution” (Pant, 86). Although these structures share an indissoluble lineage, each architect based their work off of the foundation of his predecessors in order to develop and refine their own structural creations. Yet, this was not the only factor that contributed to the development of the structure. Scholars have noticed that particular phases of Buddhism had a large amount of influence on the stylistic and architectural tendencies of these structures. Whereas the Hinayana phase of Buddhism (circa 300 BCE to circa 100 CE) was overtly interested in the “eight-fold path for the laity” and the subsequent “achievement of Nirvana” (Pant, 81) it was nevertheless characterized by a staunch opposition to image worship. As such, Indian stupas erected or renovated amidst this period (Piphrawa, Sanchi, Bharhut) were salient indications of this phenomenon. Conversely, stupas such as Amaravati became embodiments of the Mahayanist influence. This type of Buddhism emerged in the 1st century CE and became popular as a result of its greater appeal to common people (Pant,83). Under Mahayana Buddhism, Buddhist art and ornamentation developed significantly (Pant, 83). As such “sculptural technique and forms bec[ame] more pronounced.” (Pant, 81) and this played an important role in assessing the difference between earlier and later stupas.
Between the 4th Century BCE and the 7th Century CE “the circular base [of the stupa] became square in plan, the drum was elongated and the low hemisphere of the age of Asoka was transformed into a lofty ornamental tower, decorated with mouldings and figures” (Pant, 86-87). This was sustained until Buddhism noticed a considerable decline in the 7th century CE. From this point on, the stupa shared striking resemblance and architectural proportion to the later temple. (Pant, 87). This exhibition has worked to highlight the notable steps of this gradual transition. Whereas Piphrawa has been described as rather archaic, Bhamala and Kanishka are overt indications of the movement towards elongation that has been punctuated by the presence of the four cardinal points. More than this, the Gandharan stupas highlighted in this exhibition work together to showcase the fascinating cross-cultural influences that manifested themselves as stylistic features on the stupas at Taxila and Saidu Sharif. The architectural proportions showcased in Gandhara were informed by both the Indian architectural tradition and Greco-Persian stylistic practices. At Gandhara, we notice acanthus leaf carvings, narrative relief panels along with Bodhisattva and the Buddha figures. (Pant, 91).
Although the gradual development of the stupa appears throughout this project as a rather linear process, we cannot neglect the degree of nuance that ran its course in each construction. The specific architectural detailings and stylistic programmes that showcase the development of stupa architecture over this period was likely the result of “social, economic, political, religious, philosophical and external influences” (Pant, 160). Buddhist philosophy was paramount to the observable stylistic nuances seen on these structures and this was likely compounded by regional and folk traditions. (Pant, 92). In one of the most poignant summations of this process, S. K. Saraswai contends that stupas were “driven by a tendency towards height and elongation, the Stupa ultimately attained a spire-like shape, in which the original hemispherical dome loses its importance, being reduced to insignificance between the lofty basement and the drum on the one hand, and on the other, the tapering series of the Chatravali transformed into a high and conical architecture motif” (Pant, 92). As this exhibition aims to show, the stupas at Kesariya, Dharmarajika, Borobodur, Saidu Sharif, Kanishka and others outlined in this exhibition, are salient exemplars of the gradual evolution from the architectural structures erected at Piphrawa and Sanchi. This was informed by an array of sectarian and social influences.
Works Cited
Goswamy, Brijinder Nath. “The Stupa – Some Uninformed Questions about Terminological Equivalents.” The Stupa: Its Religious, Historical and Architectural Significance . Wiesbaden: Frank Steiner Verlag, 1980. 1-12. Print.
Le, Huu Phuoc. Buddhist architecture. Lakeville: Grafikol, 2010.
Pant, Sushila. The Origins and Development of Stupa Architecture in India. Varanasi: harata Manisha, 1976.
Snodgrass, Adrian. The symbolism of the stupa. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1992. Print.
Further Reading
Faccenna, Domenico. “Columns at Dharmarajika (Taxila).” East and West, vol. 57, no. 1/4, 2007, pp. 127–173., http://www.jstor.org/stable/29757726.
Filigenzi, Anna, “Orientalised Hellenism versus Hellenised Orient:Reversing the Perspective on Gandharan Art Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia,” 18, 111-141 (2012), DOI:https://doi.org/10.1163/157005712X638663
FOGELIN, LARS. “Ritual and Presentation in Early Buddhist Religious Architecture.” Asian Perspectives, vol. 42, no. 1, 2003, pp. 129–154., http://www.jstor.org/stable/42929208.
Lawler, A. “Huge statue suggests early rise for Buddhism.” Science Vol 353.No. 6297 (2016): 336. JSTOR. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Macdonell, A. A. “THE BUDDHIST AND HINDU ARCHITECTURE OF INDIA.” Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, vol. 57, no. 2938, 1909, pp. 363–364., http://www.jstor.org/stable/41338530.
Srivastava, K. M. ” Archaeological Excavations at Piprahwa and Ganwaria and the Identification of Kapilavastu,.” The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies Vol. 3.No.1 (1980): 103-11. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
Stratton, Eric. The Evolution of Indian Stupa Architecture in East Asia. New Delhi: Vedams, 2002. Print.
Trainor, Kevin. Relics, ritual, and representation in Buddhism: rematerialising the Sri Lankan Theravada tradition. Cambridge: Cambridge U Press, 2007. Print.
The Saidu Sharif Stupa, known as Saidu Sharif I during excavations, holds great significance as a Buddhist sacred site situated near the city of Saidu Sharif in the Swat District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is nestled at the foothills that separate the Saidu River valley from the Jambil River valley. The sacred area encompasses two terraces constructed on the hill’s slope, accessed through a rock cut on the northern side. These terraces include a prominent stupa, surrounded by smaller monuments, as well as a monastery.
The Italian Archaeological Mission initiated excavations at the site in 1963, with the project spanning until 1982, interrupted between 1966 and 1977. The initial excavation campaign focused on the lower terrace, uncovering the main stupa, while the second campaign revealed the upper terrace, housing the monastery.
The lower terrace, referred to as the “Terrace of the Stupas,” features a larger main stupa, encompassed by various minor monuments such as stupas, viharas, and columns. The structure of the main stupa, with its square base and a stairway on the northern side, has been preserved up to the first cylindrical body. Fragments of the harmikā (the square railing around the stupa’s dome) and the umbrellas that once adorned the stupa have been found near the site. One of the cylindrical bodies of the stupa was adorned with a frieze carved in green schist, while the top corners of the rectangular body were adorned with four columns on pedestals, each topped with a crouched lion figure.
Archaeologists have divided the lifespan of the Saidu Sharif I sanctuary into three periods. In the first period, from approximately 25 BCE to the end of the 1st century CE, the monuments were arranged symmetrically. Over time, the Terrace of the Stupas became more crowded, leading to its expansion during the second and third periods, which occurred between the 2nd-3rd century CE and 4th-5th century CE, respectively. These three construction periods are also evident on the upper terrace, where the monastery underwent expansions followed by a reduction to its original dimensions during the third period, indicating the decline of the entire sacred area.
2,000-Year-Old Buddhist Temple Unearthed in Pakistan The structure is one of the oldest of its kind in the Gandhara region
Ruins of a 2,000-year-old Buddhist temple, one of the oldest discovered in Pakistan’s Gandhara region.Missione Archeologica italiana in Pakistan ISMEO/UNIVERSITA’ CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA
Archaeologists in northwest Pakistan’s Swat Valley have unearthed a roughly 2,000-year-old Buddhist temple that could be one of the oldest in the country, reports the Hindustan Times.
Located in the town of Barikot, the structure likely dates to the second century B.C.E., according to a statement. It was built atop an earlier Buddhist temple dated to as early as the third century B.C.E.—within a few hundred years of the death of Buddhism’s founder, Siddhartha Gautama, between 563 and 483B.C.E., reports Tom Metcalfe for Live Science.
Luca Maria Olivieri, an archaeologist at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, led the dig in partnership with the International Association for Mediterranean and Oriental Studies (ISMEO). The excavation site is in the historical region of Gandhara, which Encyclopedia Britannica describes as “a trade crossroads and cultural meeting place between India, Central Asia and the Middle East.” Hindu, Buddhist and Indo-Greek rulers seized control of Gandhara at different points throughout the first millennium B.C.E., notes Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA).
The temple’s ruins stand around ten feet tall; they consist of a ceremonial platform that was once topped by a stupa, or dome often found on Buddhist shrines. At its peak, the temple boasted a smaller stupa at the front, a room or cell for monks, the podium of a column or pillar, a staircase, vestibule rooms, and a public courtyard that overlooked a road.
“The discovery of a great religious monument created at the time of the Indo-Greek kingdom testifies that this was an important and ancient center for cult and pilgrimage,” says Olivieri in the statement. “At that time, Swat already was a sacred land for Buddhism.”
The acropolis in Barikot, Pakistan, where archaeologists began digging last year. Missione Archeologica italiana in Pakistan ISMEO/UNIVERSITA’ CA’ FOSCARI VENEZIA
In addition to the temple, the team unearthed coins, jewelry, statues, seals, pottery fragments and other ancient artifacts. Per the statement, the temple was likely abandoned in the third century C.E. following an earthquake.
Barikot appears in classical Greek and Latin texts as “Bazira” or “Beira.” Previous research suggests the town was active as early as 327 B.C.E., around the time that Alexander the Greatinvaded modern-day Pakistan and India. Because Barikot’s microclimate supports the harvest of grain and rice twice each year, the Macedonian leader relied on the town as a “breadbasket” of sorts, according to the statement.
Shortly after his death in 323, Alexander’s conquered territories were divided up among his generals. Around this time, Gandhara reverted back to Indian rule under the Mauryan Empire, which lasted from about 321 to 185 B.C.E.
Italian archaeologists have been digging in the Swat Valley since 1955. Since then, excavations in Barikot have revealed two other Buddhist sanctuaries along a road that connected the city center to the gates. The finds led the researchers to speculate that that they’d found a “street of temples,” the statement notes.
According to Live Science, Buddhism had gained traction in Gandhara by the reign of Menander I, around 150 B.C.E., but may have been practiced solely by the elite. Swat eventually emerged as a sacred Buddhist center under the Kushan Empire (30 to 400 C.E.), which stretched from Afghanistan to Pakistan and into northern India. At the time, Gandhara was known for its Greco-Buddhiststyle of art, which rendered Buddhist subjects with Greek techniques.
Shingardar Stupa Swat — A Buddhist Marvel of the Ancient Gandhara Civilization
Once rising almost as high as the Pantheon in Rome, the large stupa of Amluk Dara in the Swat valley, Pakistan, is still an imposing building. Yet it is was only one among many such Buddhist structures built in Udyāna, a garden kingdom of the Silk Road.
Owing to its position connecting North India through mountainous Central Asia with the kingdoms and empires beyond, this was a strategic area. It often formed the borders of larger empires, with rulers based in India failing to expand north from here over the mountains and rulers from north of the mountains failing to expand further south from here into the Indian plains. However, one of the early invaders came from much further afield. Alexander the Great (r. 336–323 BC) fought famous battles here during his central Asian campaigns. His army marched east from Alexander on the Caucasus (Bagram)—the city he had founded in the kingdom of Kapisa—and fought many battles to gain control of the region. Some of these were in the Swat valley and culminated with Alexander’s successful siege of Aornos, a seemingly impregnable steep-sided mountain with a flat top watered by a spring where locals had taken refuge. Identifying the site of this ancient battle has occupied scholars for well over a century, but two places stand out as the most probable candidates. Pir Sar, a mountain rising west of the Indus valley, was selected by the archaeologist Aurel Stein (1862–1943) after his survey of the region in 1926. However, although this is not rejected by all, the consensus now veers toward Mount Ilam, the summit of which is a day’s walk from the Amluk Dara Stupa (Stein 1929; Rienjang 2012; Olivieri 2015).
Legend tells of a serpent king, the Apalala, who lived in a lake high in the peaks of the Hindu Kush. Every year he demanded an annual offering of grain from the people living in the valley of the Swat river, which flowed from the lake. The valley was fertile, hence its name — Udyāna, the garden. But one year the people refused to give the offering and Apalala flooded their lands in revenge. The people duly asked help of Buddha. He came to the valley, converted Apalala and left his footprint on a rock as a sign of his visit.
The footprint survives (now in the local museum), the Swat River still floods, and for many centuries the valley kingdom remained a centre of Buddhism. The location of Amluk Dara and its central stupa was dependent on the landscape. The fecundity of the Swat valley is well captured by the description of the Aurel Stein: “The deep-cut lane along which we travelled was lined with fine hedges showing primrose-like flowers in full bloom, and the trees hanging low with their branches, though still bare of leaves, helped someone to recall Devon lanes. Bluebell-like flowers and other messengers of spring, spread brightness over the little terraced fields.” (Stein 1919: 32-5) And the Italian archaeologists working there since 1956 have noted that “the entire complex blended in with the surrounding nature. From this it drew its charm, importance and beauty—all elements that are believed to have been taken into consideration both in the original plans and subsequent extension.” (Faccenna and Spagnesi 2014: 550)
Gregory Schopen has argued that monasteries were very closely linked to the Indian ideal of a garden containing an arbor or pleasure grove, evidenced by the shared lexicon in the first century AD. He writes that “Buddhist monks . . . attempted to assimilate their establishments to the garden, or actually saw them as belonging to that cultural category.” (Schopen 2006: 489). The framing of views from within the garden or monastery was an important element in its siting, a point noted by many later travelers. So Stein writes of another site in the Lower Swat that it “proved a pleasing example of the care in which these old Buddhist monks knew how to select sacred spots and place their monastic establishments by them. A glorious view down the fertile valley to Thāna, picturesque rocky spurs around, clumps of firs and cedars higher up, and the rare boon of a spring close by—all combined to give charm to the spot. Even those who do not seek future bliss in Nirvāṇa could fully enjoy it.” (Stein 1929: 17-18). Rock-cut or other seats were often placed at points giving a particular view.
During its heyday, monks and merchants carried news of Udyāna’s Buddhist sights and temples along the Silk Road to China and the mountain valley became part of the itinerary for pilgrim monks en route to India. The first to leave a record was Faxian, who arrived in about 403. He stayed for several months visiting the Buddha footprint along with the rock on which he dried his clothes, and the place where he converted ‘the wicked serpent.’ He noted that there were 400 Buddhist monasteries.
Other pilgrims followed, including Xuanzang in 630 and the Korean monk, Hyecho, around 727. By their time Buddhism was in decline in the plains below Swat, but the valley provided an enclave. Indeed, recent archaeological work by Dr Luca Olivieri and his colleagues of the Italian Archaeological Mission has shown that rebuilding of Buddhist shrines and temples continued into the tenth centuries, long after Buddhism had disappeared in its Indian homeland.
Thanks to Luca Olivieri for his generous responses to my many queries and ready supply of excellent photographs for the book.
References and Further Reading Faccenna, Domenico, and Piero Spagnesi. 2014. Buddhist Architecture in the Swat Valley, Pakistan: Stupas, Viharas, a Dwelling Unit. Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications. Olivieri, Luca M. 1996. “Notes on the Problematic Sequence of Alexander’s Itinerary in Swat. A Geo-Historical Approach.” East and West 46.1-2:45–78. ———. 2014. The Last Phases of the Urban Site of bir-Kot-Ghwandai (Barikot): The Buddhist Sites of Gumbat and Amluk-Dara (Barikot). Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications. ———. 2015. “‘Frontier Archaeology’: Sir Aurel Stein, Swat and the Indian Aornus.” South Asian Studies 31 (1): 58–70. Olivieri, L. M. and Vidale, M. 2006. “Archaeology and Settlement History in a Test Area of the Swat Valley. Preliminary Report on the AMSV Project (1st Phase). East and West 54.1–3”73–150. Rienjang, Wannaporn. 2012. “Aurel Stein’s Work in the North-West Frontier Province, Pakistan.” In H. Wang ed. Sir Aurel Stein: Colleagues and Collections.British Museum Research Publication 194. London: British Museum: 1–10. . Schopen, Gregory. 2006. “The Buddhist ‘Monastery’ and the Indian Garden: Aesthetics, Assimilations, and the Siting of Monastic Establishments.” Journal of the American Oriental Society 126 (4): 487–505. Stein, M. Aurel. 1929. On Alexander’s Track to the Indus: Personal Narrative of Explorations on the North-West Frontier of India. London: Macmillan. http://archive.org/stream/onalexanderstrac035425mbp/onalexanderstrac035425mbp_djvu.txt.
“Aspects of the Architecture of the Buddhist Sacred Areas in Swat.”
Jambil River, a tributary of the Swat River, meanders through a picturesque valley rich in natural landscapes. This valley is not only a treat for the eyes but also holds significant historical importance, with numerous Buddhist remains and carvings discovered in the past. On the eastern side of the Jambil River, an excavation at Panr has unveiled a stupa and monastery dating back to the 1st to 5th century AD.
Brief Description of the Structure:
The site at Panr spans three distinct terraces, each offering a unique glimpse into the past.
On the lower terrace, the remnants of a monastery have been found. This area was divided into a dining hall and living quarters, though only the foundations of the base platforms remain visible today.
The middle terrace, often referred to as the “Sacred Area,” is home to the remains of the main stupa. This stupa, with its square base and a mound that once topped the drum, stands as a testament to the architectural prowess of its time. On all four sides of the main stupa, one can observe the foundations of standalone columns. Additionally, scattered throughout this terrace, one can find the foundations of small votive stupas.
Unfortunately, the main stupa has suffered significant damage due to the illegal excavations carried out by treasure hunters. Despite the damage, the site still exudes a sense of grandeur and provides valuable insights into ancient Buddhist architecture.
Moving to the upper terrace, one encounters the remains of the monks’ cells. These cells, constructed with walls made of small diaper masonry, offer a glimpse into the early Kushan period, dating back to the 1st to 2nd century AD.
List of Architectural Spatial Components:
The monastery and stupa at Panr showcase various architectural spatial components that highlight the ingenuity of the builders:
Square Base: The main stupa sits atop a square base, providing a stable foundation for the structure.
Mound: The stupa features a mound on top of the drum, adding height and prominence to the monument.
Drum: The drum of the stupa serves as a transition between the base and the mound, often adorned with intricate carvings or designs.
Stairway: A stairway, leading to the top of the podium or the base of the stupa, allows access for religious rituals and circumambulation.
Free-standing Columns: Standalone columns, positioned around the main stupa, serve as decorative elements and symbolize architectural elegance.
Bastion: A bastion, strategically placed within the structure, offers additional support and stability to the stupa.
Square Pillar: Square pillars can be seen within the monastery and stupa complex, providing architectural variety.
Octagonal Plan: Some elements of the structure, such as the base or the drum, may follow an octagonal plan, adding geometric beauty to the design.
Corridor and Double Corridor: Corridors, both single and double, create pathways within the monastery complex, facilitating movement and providing a tranquil ambiance.
Overall, the stupa and monastery at Panr offer a captivating glimpse into the architectural brilliance and spiritual heritage of the region, inviting visitors and scholars to delve deeper into its history and cultural significance.
On the front remains of Main Stupa, on a lower terrace monastery in the background Jumbail Valley
Google Earth Image
Religious Architecture of Gandhara – Pakistan, Buddhist Stupas and Monasteries
Khan, Ansar Zahid. Pakistan Historical Society.
Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society; Karachi Vol. 62, Iss. 4, (Oct-Dec 2014): 111-112.
The Global Connections of Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the Third International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 18th-19th March, 2019
Archaeopress archaeology
Editors Wannaporn Rienjang, Peter Stewart Edition illustrated Publisher Classical Art Research Centre, 2020 ISBN 1789696968, 9781789696967 Length 264 pages
De-fragmenting Gandhāran art: advancing analysis through digital imaging and visualization
Ian Haynes, Iwan Peverett, Wannaporn Rienjang with contributions by Luca M. Olivieri
Buddhism in Pakistan took root some 2,300 years ago under the Mauryan king Ashoka who sent missionaries to the Kashmira-Gandhara region of North West Pakistan extending into Afghanistan, following the Third Buddhist council in Pataliputra (modern India).
Majjhantika, a monk from Varanasi was the first Buddhist to preach in Kashmir and Gandhara.
Buddhist sites in Sindh are numerous but ill preserved in various stages of deterioration.
Sites at Brahmanabad (Mansura Sanghar district) include a Buddhist stupa at Mohenjo-daro; Sirah-ji-takri near Rohri, Sukkur, Kahu-Jo-Daro at Mirpur Khas, Nawabshah, Sudheran-Jo-Thul near Hyderabad, Thul Mir Rukan stupa, Thul Hairo Khan Stupa, Bhaleel-Shah-Thul square stupas (5th-7th century A.D) at Dadu, and Kot-Bambhan-Thul buddhist tower near Tando Muhammad Khan.
List of Buddhist Stupas in Pakistan
This is a list of historical Buddhist Stupas in Pakistan.
Sikri stupa
The Sikri stupa is a work of Buddhist art dated to 3rd-4th century from the Kushan period in Gandahara, consisting of 13 narrative panels that tell the story of Buddha. Modern restoration accounts for their order in the Lahore Museum. The restoration began while Harold Arthur Deane was still assigned to the North-West Frontier Province in what was then British India. Three photos taken around 1890 show the order of the panels in the earliest restoration.
Amluk-Dara stupa
Amluk-Dara stupa is located in Swat valley of Pakistan. It is a part of Gandhara civilization at Amluk-Dara. The stupa is believed to have been built in the third century. The stupa was first discovered by a Hungarian-British archaeologist Sir Aurel Stein in 1926. It was later studied by Domenico Faccena in the 60s and 70s.
Mohra Muradu
Mohra Muradu is the place of an ancient Buddhist stupa and monastery near the ruins of Taxila built by the Kushans. The ancient monastery is located in a valley and has views of the surrounding mountains. The monks could meditate in all stillness at this place but were near enough to the city of Sirsukh to go for begging as it is only around 1.5 km away.
Thul Hairo Khan
The Thul Hairo Khan is a Buddhist Stupa, built possibly between the 5th to 7th century CE near the modern-day town of Johi, in Sindh, Pakistan. It is constructed with baked and unbaked bricks fixed with a material made from mud mixed water. The stupa is 50 feet high and 30 feet wide in size. The stair from the north side of stupa leads to its top. The stupa has an arched tunnel at ground level which crosses from north to south. It is believed that stupas like Hairo Khan were built in Sindh between 5th to 7th centuries CE. Thul of Hairo Khan appears to be series of discovered in other regions of Sindh.
Sudheran-Jo-Thul
Sudheran-Jo-Thul is a Buddhist stupa which is situated near Tando Muhammad Khan city of Tando Muhammad Khan District, Sindh, Pakistan. The stupa is close to Badin city as well. This Buddhist monument in Sindh is located at the mound which shows the remains of an ancient big city. It is located towards South of Hyderabad city. Locally it is famous as Tower of Sudheran. According to some accounts this stupa is believed to be cinerary.
Sphola Stupa
Sphola Stupa is a Buddhist monument located in the Khyber Pass, Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. The monument located about 25 kilometers from Jamrūd is on a high rocky ledge and consists of a stone mound supported by a tiered base. Large sections of the stone have fallen away, particularly to the right of the mound. A man is standing on the top of the mound, and another man is standing on a pile of rubble to the right. There is a valley beyond with steep mountains rising behind it.
Nemogram stupa is located 45 km west of Saidu Sharif and 22 km from Birkot, on the right bank of Swat river in Pakistan.This site was discovered in 1966 and excavated in 1967–68.Swat is rich in historical landmarks as well as natural beauty. In every direction, these are tangled in the wide valley. Aurel Stein, a British archaeologist, and Tucci, who was followed by other Italians, worked tirelessly to document and preserve these monuments.
Mankiala stupa
The Mankiala Stupa is a 2nd-century Buddhist stupa near the village of Tope Mankiala, in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The stupa was built by the Kushans and is said to commemorate the spot, where according to the Jataka tales, an incarnation of the Buddha called Prince Sattva sacrificed himself to feed seven hungry tiger cubs.
Barikot
Barikot is a town located in the middle course of the Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It is located about 20 km (12 mi) away from Mingora and the Butkara Stupa. It is the entrance town to the central Swat Valley with a population of approximately 25,000 people. Barikot is the location of an ancient citadel captured by Alexander the Great, with Chalcolithic remains dating back to c. 1700 BCE, and an early-historic period town dating back to c. 500 BCE. The Italian Archaeological Mission founded by Giuseppe Tucci has been excavating ruins of the ancient town of Bazira under Barikot since 1984.
Mankiala
Mankiala is a village in the Potohar plateau, Punjab near Rawalpindi, Pakistan, known for the nearby Mankiala stupa – a Buddhist stupa located at the site where, according to legend, Buddha sacrificed some of his body parts to feed seven hungry tiger cubs.
Kunala Stupa
Kunala Stupa is a Kushan-era Buddhist stupa and monastery complex to the south-east of Taxila, on a hill about 200 meters just south of Sirkap, Punjab, Pakistan, thought to date to the 2nd century CE. It is located on a hill overlooking the ancient Indo-Greek city of Sirkap.
Kanishka Stupa
The Kanishka Stupa was a monumental stupa established by the Kushan king Kanishka during the 2nd century CE in today’s Shaji-ki-Dheri on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan.
Kalawan
Kalawan is the name of an archaeological site in the area of Taxila in Pakistan, where it is one of the largest Buddhist establishment. It is located about 2 km from the Dharmarajika stupa.
Gumbat Stupa
Gumbat Stupa is a 2nd-century Buddhist stupa located in Swat valley in Pakistan. It is situated about 9 kilometres south of Birkot in the Kandag Valley of Gandhara.
Dharmarajika Stupa
The Dharmarajika Stupa, also referred to as the Great Stupa of Taxila, is a Buddhist stupa near Taxila, Pakistan. It dates from the 2nd century CE, and was built by the Kushans to house small bone fragments of the Buddha. The stupa, along with the large monastic complex that later developed around it, forms part of the Ruins of Taxila – which were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980.
Butkara Stupa
The Butkara Stupa is an important Buddhist stupa near Mingora, in the area of Swat, Pakistan. It may have been built by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, but it is generally dated slightly later to the 2nd century BCE.
Thul Mir Rukan
The Thul Mir Rukan is a Buddhist stupa, built possibly between the 6th to 11th century CE, near the modern cities of Kazi Ahmed and Daulatpur in the Sindh province of Pakistan. This monument has domed ceiling and it is 60 feet high, constructed with baked bricks. Details indicate the site being a religious Buddhist center since antiquity. Many evidences were explored from this site are related to Gautama Buddha.
The Origin and Development of Cross-planned Stupa: New Perceptions based on Recent Discoveries from Bhamala
December 2017 Authors: Shakirullah Khan Hazara University Abdul Hameed Hazara University Abdul Samad Veterinary Research Institute, Pakistan Jonathan Mark Kenoyer University of Wisconsin–Madison
An Infinity of Stupas: Design and Architecture of Chinese Buddhist Temples and Pagodas
Key Terms
Mount Wutai in Shanxi province was recognized as the earthly abode of the bodhisattva Mañjusri
Gates
Palaces
Halls
Pillars
Pagodas
Stupa
Bilateral Symmetry
Cosmograms
Chinese Cosmology
Heaven and Earth
futu 浮圖, fotu 佛圖, or ta 塔
11 Headed Guanyin
Square and Circle
Yin and Yang
Horizontal and Vertical
Nan Wang
Research of Chinese Buddhist Temples Space Design
Source: Research of Chinese Buddhist Temples Space Design
Source: Research of Chinese Buddhist Temples Space Design
Source: Research of Chinese Buddhist Temples Space Design
Source: Research of Chinese Buddhist Temples Space Design
Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Source: Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda
Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Source: Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Research on Order Aesthetics of Traditional Chinese Architecture from the Perspective of Design Geometry
Source: Research on Order Aesthetics of Traditional Chinese Architecture from the Perspective of Design Geometry
Source: Research on Order Aesthetics of Traditional Chinese Architecture from the Perspective of Design Geometry
Source: Research on Order Aesthetics of Traditional Chinese Architecture from the Perspective of Design Geometry
Source: Research on Order Aesthetics of Traditional Chinese Architecture from the Perspective of Design Geometry
Source: Research on Order Aesthetics of Traditional Chinese Architecture from the Perspective of Design Geometry
Source: Research on Order Aesthetics of Traditional Chinese Architecture from the Perspective of Design Geometry
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GEOMETRY AND ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATION IN PREMODERN CHINA
By XIUYUAN WU A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2020
Modernization of traditional Chinese Buddhist temples
by Rui Wang A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Architecture Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2019
The Chinese Buddhist monastery or temple is fashioned after the imperial palaces and bears very little resemblance to the temples in India or other Buddhist countries. Generally there are three groups of buildings separated by courtyards. The monastery, like other Chinese structures, normally faces south.[ Phor Kark See Monastery Ordination Hall, Singapore ]Entering the front hall, one is confronted by four huge images, usually made from wood, two on each side. These are the Four Heavenly Kings or Devas, the Guardians of the Four Directions and the hall is named after them as the ‘Si-Tien Wang Tien’. In this hall, one is greeted at the entrance, by the lovable and kindly Buddha-to-be, Maitreya Buddha, known to the Chinese as the ‘Laughing Buddha’ or ‘Ta-pao Mi-Lei-Fwo, with his fat paunch, looking joyously towards the entrance. Directly behind Mi-Lei-Fwo, often separated by a wall, is the great deva Wei-to, the Projector of Buddhist temples and the Faith. He is depicted clad in full armour and holding either a gnarled staff or a sceptre-shaped weapon resting on the ground. Wei-To, who is a general under the Four Heavenly Kings, is also accorded the title of ‘Protector of Buddhist Books’. He is always facing the Great Hall known as the ‘Ta-Hung-Pau-Tien’ which is separated from the front hall by a wall or a courtyard.
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In the Great Hall the main altar is found and on it is the image of Sakyamuni Buddha and his twoforemost disciples, Mahakasyapa and Ananda, or other Buddhas of the past eras. The arrangment and choice of personages in this altar varies from temple to temple. Most of the time Sakyamuni Buddha is depicted in an attitude of comtemplation with his disciples flanking him. Temples dedicated to Amitabha Buddha have his image at the centre, Sakyamuni Buddha and Bahaisajyagura, better known to the Chinese as ‘Yao-Shih-Fwo’, are each accompanied by two disciples. To the right and left of the main altar one usually finds the two Great Bodhisattvas, Manjusri (Wen-Shu-Shih-Li) and Samantabhadra (Pu-Hsien). The placement of personage are not really fixed so that one may often find Sakyamuni Buddha being flanked by Amitabha (O-Mi-Two-Fwo) and Yao-Shin-Fwo (Medicine Buddha), the two great Buddhas of past eras. At other times a single Buddha is seen seated between his two Bodhisattvas, Sakyamuni (Shih-Jia-Mo-Ni-Fwo) between Manjusri and Samantabhadra or Amitabha Buddha with Avalokitesvara (Kuan Yin) and Mahasthamaprata (Ta-Shih-Chih). Temples dedicated to Kuan Shih Yin P’usa will have her flanked by Wen-shu-Shih-Li and P’u-Hsien.On the east and west walls of this Great Hall are often arranged the figures of the Eighteen Arhats (Lohas) who are represented as possessing various kinds of supernatural powers. Along the north wall can be found the images of Jan-teng Fwo or Dipankara, the ancient Buddha who predicted Sakyamuni’s Buddhahood, and popular Bodhisattvas such as Kun Yin, Wen-shu, Pu-Hsien and Ti-stsang (Ksi-tigarbha), or other Bodhisattvas. Very often, an image of Kuan Ti, the Protector of Buddhism, can also be found in this hall. It is here at the Ta-Hung-Pau-Tien that devout Buddhist offer their prayers and offerings of flowers, fruits and other gifts which are placed on the table in front of the main altar. Very often, behind the central images of this hall and facing northwards, is placed the images of Kuan-Yin P’usa. The third, of Back Hall, is usually divided into several smaller halls (Tien) or rooms. The central hall is generally the altar of a Buddha or a Bodhisattva, the right housing the funerary tablet of the temple founder, while the left may be the Teaching or Meditation Hall. On the side or behind these main buildings are the living quarters, the dining area and the kitchen.
Mount Wutai: Visions of a Sacred Buddhist Mountain,
WEN-SHING CHOU,
Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. 240 pp. $65. ISBN 9780691178646
Building a sacred mountain: The buddhist architecture of China’s Mount Wutai
The development of Chinese Buddhist architecture can be traced back to the introduction of Buddhism. The main Buddhist architectural items include temples, pagodas, and grottos. Buddhist architecture is regarded as a great art treasure where Chinese calligraphy, sculpture and Chinese painting combine. Being the spiritual symbols of Buddhism, they are not only monastic holy places, but also serve as sacred land that can purify souls.
The Buddhist temple is the holy place where Buddhist doctrine is maintained. Differing from other religions’ temples, Chinese Buddhist temples have many characteristics of their own. For example, similar to Chinese palaces and dwelling houses, they are comprised of a number of small yards. The oldest temple in China – White Horse Temple is a typical example of this.
The architectural styles of Buddhist temples in China were mainly formed in three periods: Han Dynasty (206BC-220), Northern and Southern Dynasties (386-589), and Tang Dynasty (618-907). The first period sees the retention of Indian styles. In the second period, wooden framework was added to the original styles. In the third period, the styles of Buddhist temples were totally Sinicized and the pavilion-like pagoda, which is unique to China, became popular.
Pagoda
As the symbol of Buddhism where people climb to have a bird’s-eye-view, it is often erected in temples. Pagodas can be made of stone, wood, colored glaze or metal. Pagodas have an odd number of layers. Seven-layer and Nine-layer pagodas are commonly built. The shape of cross-section is rectangular, eight-sided or even circular. Initially, the pagoda served as the central axis alongside which rows of halls and monks’ rooms spread out. Later, pagodas were built near the main palace hall.
It is another type of Buddhist architecture, which is often chiseled into cliffs. In the 3rd century, Chinese Buddhists began to build grottoes and Xinjiang is the first area where grottoes were hewn. Grottoes are decorated with painted sculptures, carvings and frescos. Craftsmen revealed real life pictures and their understanding of society in these art works, which gave them great historical and cultural value. The four famous grottoes in China are: Mogao Caves, Longmen Grottoes, Yungang Grottoes and Maiji Caves. They are well preserved and attract many visitors from home and abroad.
1. Feihong Pagoda in Hongdong County Shanxi Province 2. Songyue Pagoda in Dengfeng City 3. Qianxun Pagoda in Dali City 4. Yingxian Wooden Pagoda in Shanxi Province 5. Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an City 6. Leifeng Pagoda in Hangzhou City 7. Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou City 8. Six Harmonies Pagoda in Hangzhou City 9. Bao’en Temple Pagoda in Suzhou City 10. Iron Pagoda in Kaifeng City
“The Creation of “Sacred Place” through the “Sense of Place” of the Daci’en Wooden Buddhist Temple, Xi’an, China”
As the earliest full-size towering pagoda extant in China, the pagoda at Songyuesi 嵩岳寺 in Dengfeng, Henan (ca. 523 CE) is one of the most important objects we have for understanding the creation of Buddhist sacred space in Asia. Yet the plan of this structure, incorporating both dodecagon and octagon, is mysterious in its complexity－doubly so because it may be the only surviving example of its kind. By focusing on the geometry used in its creation, in this paper describe one possibility for determining the interior and exterior dimensions of the Songyuesi Pagoda plan, effectively encoding the structure with the potential for replication and regeneration important in the Buddhist sūtras as well as Indic temple designs of the period. I also show how the same technique could have been used to create cosmological diagrams prior to the influence of Buddhist theology on Chinese society. Thus, similarities in the use of geometry to describe the structure of, and potentially control, the cosmos in South and East Asia the may have facilitated the rapid spread of Buddhism across this vast region.
LIGHT IN SACRED ARCHITECTURE: BUDDHIST AND HINDU TEMPLES
ZHANG Dongxu1, a, LIU Daping2,b, WEI Xinru 3,d and XIAO Meng 4,c 1 Department of Architecture, NEU, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110004, China 2 School of Architecture, HIT, Harbin, Heilongjiang, 150006, China 3 Liaoning Urban and Rural Construction and Planning Design Institute, LURDI, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110004, China 4 School of Management, SUT, Shenyang, Liaoning, 110178, China aDongxu75@163.com, bldp_abc@sina.com, c1090923309@qq.com,dxiaototo80@163.com
Buddhism was introduced into China mainly during Eastern Han Dynasty (25 – 220) via the South China Sea and Western Region. The Buddhist temple was adapted to Chinese tastes when it arrived in China. Its general layout follows Chinese traditional type – courtyard with dome-shaped structure called a stupa as its principal part. A lecture hall, refectory, sutra depository and monks’ rooms are distributed along the central axis. Unlike the paintings and decorations in Christian churches which present a heavenly afterlife, Chinese Buddhist temples reveal an atmosphere closer to worldly life.
Figures of Buddha and the bones of Buddha’s relics are worshipped in the temples which were called Futu, Lanruo, Chanlin, Daochang, Jialan and Zhaoti in different dialects of Chinese.
The general development of Chinese Buddhist temples went through the following periods:
Eastern Han Dynasty – Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 – 420): Buddhism was introduced to China during this period. The early Chinese Buddhist temples followed Indian style, which set the stupa as its center. They once had a traditional Chinese name – Ci (ancestral temple) and the number was very limited. White Horse Temple in Luoyang is a typical example of this period.
Northern and Southern Dynasties (386 – 589) to Five Dynasties (907 – 960): Buddhism was at its height of splendor and power during this period. In the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907), a lot of Buddhist doctrines were translated and the main Buddhist sects were formed and developed. Many more Buddhist temples were built with larger dimensions. Walls of the courtyard were decorated with exquisite embossment. A niche was placed in the middle of the north wall. A Buddhist pylon stood in the centre of the temple. The Big Wild Goose Pagoda in Xi’an was built in this period.
Song Dynasty (960 – 1279) – late Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911): The social position of Buddhism overall was weakened in the Song Dynasty but Zen, a major sect of Chinese Buddhism, began to flourish in this period. The layout of temples changed little by little. Xiangguo Temple in Kaifeng City is an example of this period.
Temple Layout
The layout of Buddhist temples has been long established. Generally speaking, the mountain gate (front gate) is the entrance part. The Bell Tower and Drum Tower stand on the two sides inside the mountain gate. The Hall of Heavenly Kings, where sculptures of Four Heavenly Kings stand on the two sides with two in a group and Maitreya (the fat laughing Buddha) laid in the middle altar, is the first main hall. Next follows the Grand Hall where the sculpture of Sakyamuni sits.
Bodhisattva Hall worships the main Bodhisattva of a temple, the enlightened being who seeks to enlighten others, is located behind. Next is the lecture hall, the place where Buddhist doctrines are delivered. Sutra Depository, where Buddhist books, sutras and scriptures are stored is situated at the back. Refectories, monks’ rooms and other attached architecture are distributed along the central axis. Buddhism advocates that people act with leniency. An area where captive animals are freed to show the charity of human souls and to accumulate merit for the afterlife can be found in most Buddhist temples. Generally speaking, this is the common layout of Chinese Buddhist temples.
Buddhism is a religion that respects the environment. Most Buddhists aim to transcend worldly, material desires and establish a close relationship with nature. Disciples could establish and sustain a calm and joyful mind, especially during the Buddha’s lifetime when they frequently resided in very primary and unfinished thatched homes. They were at ease wherever they lived, whether in a suburban neighbourhood, a forest, by the water, in a chilly cave, or under a tree. However, as the number of Buddhist adherents increased, King Bimbisara and a follower of Sudatta suggested that a monastery be constructed, allowing practitioners to congregate in one location and engage in a more organized practice. The Buddha approved for followers to donate to monasteries after giving the idea careful thought and subsequent wholehearted agreement. The Megara-matr-Prasada Lecture Hall, the Bamboo Grove, and the Jetavana Monastery—all of which bear the donor’s Sanskrit name—were built as a result. This marked the start of Indian Buddhist architecture.
The hub of cultural activities is frequently a Buddhist temple. From a contemporary perspective, temples can be compared to museums because they house priceless and unique works of art and are, in and of themselves, stunning works of art. They combine architecture, sculpture, painting, and calligraphy-like art museums do. One can find peace and tranquillity in temples because they provide a harmonious environment and a spiritual atmosphere. They are helpful locations for people in distress to unload their burdens, calm their minds, and find peace.
Stupas were the primary type of architectural construction in early China. The hall (or shrine) started to take centre stage in the Sui and Tang dynasties. A stupa, also known as a pagoda, is sometimes referred to as the “high rise” of Buddhist architecture because of its tall, narrow shape that extends upward, sometimes with enormous height. India is where the idea and physical form of the Chinese stupa was developed. A stupa serves as a shrine for the Buddha’s relics, where visitors can then make offerings to the Buddha. The stupa has undergone significant changes in China, where it originally had a relatively straightforward design. These changes and advancements show off the nation’s artistic and architectural prowess. Stupas are built in different sizes, proportions, colours, and imaginative designs while retaining a generally recognizable shape. Although stupas can be found near water, in cities, mountains, or the countryside, they were all built to blend in with and enhance their surroundings. One of the most well-liked styles of architecture in China is the stupa.
Every region’s Buddhist architecture has a distinctive personality due to its varied cultural and natural environments. India and Ceylon share a close architectural resemblance. Similar architecture can be found in Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia, where wood is incorporated into the design of the buildings. The stupas in Java are similar to those in Tibet, which are made of stone and symbolize the nine-layered Mandala (a symbolical circular figure representing the universe and the divine cosmology of various religions: used in meditation and rituals). Large monasteries in Tibet are frequently built on hillsides and resemble European architecture in terms of how the structures are linked to one another to create a kind of street-style arrangement.
It is common practice in China to construct Buddhist temples in the emperor’s palace style, known as “palace architecture.” The main gate and main hall are in the centre, and other facilities, such as the celestial and the abbot’s quarters, are lined up on either side. This layout was created with symmetry in mind. There is a ceremonial bell on one side and a ceremonial drum on the other. A guesthousefor lay visitors and the Yun Shui Hall, where staying monastics can be accommodated, will be located behind this symmetrical line of buildings.
Wood and tile, with the roof tiles painted a particular colour, were used to construct the temple’s ancillary buildings. China has very few palace-style temples that have survived from the early ages because wood is a complex material to preserve over long periods. However, it is a blessing that the Tang-era wooden construction of Fo Guang Temple is still standing. Fo Guang Temple’s main palace-style hall is still remarkably sturdy and pristine, giving us an impression of the era’s opulence. This still-standing temple still features exquisite Tang Dynasty artwork, which includes sculpture, paintings, and murals. This allows us to realize that this period was the pinnacle of Chinese artistic expression. This temple, designated a national treasure, serves as a reminder of China’s glorious period of art and architecture.
The modifications of structure, decoration, and construction techniques that change and evolve through various eras can be seen in Fo Guang Temple and the other temples that have endured through the years—although there are not many. Additionally, they act as the tangible visual memory of a particular time and place, enabling us to study the architectural and cultural history of the area. Despite China’s 5,000-year history, very little of its architecture has been preserved, as was already mentioned. The reason we do not have more standing temples from the early ages to study today is not just because they were built with wood, which is highly flammable and prone to decay. There are other explanations for why there are not many temples left. For instance, some dynasties that gained power around the 16th century mandated the destruction of the essential structures built by the previous dynasty. Alternatively, temples were damaged or even destroyed during various wars and acts of aggression. Regardless of the building materials employed — wood, stone, clay, etc. – Human rivalry made it almost impossible for many temples to endure. Buddhist cave temples, fortunately, were largely safe from human vandalism and weather damage. They are well-preserved and enable the viewing of conventional architecture and historical art. It is common for contemporary Buddhist temples to copy older designs. For instance, the main shrines of Taiwan’s Fo Guang Shan, the Hsi Lai Temple in the United States, and the Nan Tien Temple in Australia were all modelled after early Chinese architectural styles. The Chinese culture has been introduced and disseminated throughout the world by several Buddhist temples today, in addition to honouring and preserving it.
The rock cave, or cave temple, and all of the art it contains is the most critical link in Chinese Buddhist art and architecture history. A cave temple is a chamber of varying sizes carved out of a single block of rock, sometimes right up against a cliff face. Many are rather large. Ornate statues, sculptures, and vibrant paintings of the Buddha, bodhisattvas, arhats, and sutras can be found inside the rock caves. 366 C.E. saw the beginning of this artistic practice. E. until the 15th century, it was started by a monk by the name of Le Zun. In some places, enormous carved statues and countless cave temples cover mountainsides. The Dung Huang cave is the most well-known for its magnificent and opulent mural among the numerous cave temples. Longmen Caves in Luoyang, Yungang Caves in Datong, and the Thousand Buddhas Cave in Jinang are a few other well-known caves in China. Due to its enormous size, Yungang Cave is particularly well-known.
The construction of cave temples took place over a long period, spanning several dynasties. Unlike wooden temples, which deteriorate due to exposure to the elements, cave temples are protected by solid rock and thus continue to stand as impressive and imposing reminders of how Buddhism once flourished throughout China. The world has been awed by the beauty and grandeur of the Buddhist artwork found in the caves, which has managed to capture the essence and specifics of the teachings for the enjoyment of all who visit. In the opinion of both artists and archaeologists, this kind of Buddhist architecture is particularly vibrant, lovely, and indicative of how Buddhist art has changed and evolved. They are priceless works of art that have an important place in China’s history of culture, art, and architecture.
The design of secular buildings, especially imperial palaces, has long influenced Chinese temple architecture. This custom is upheld in Nan Tien by the structures and colours used throughout. From a distance, grandiose roofs signify status: the higher the rank, the higher the height and slope. Consequently, the Main Shrine has the tallest and most impressive roof. The emperor in dynastic China only wore yellow items. The yellow temple walls and terracotta roof tiles are significant symbols. Traditional fire protection measures include small mythical creatures lining the roof hips. Back when the entire building would have been made of wood, the fire was a real threat. Even though the roof framing on Nan Tien is mainly made of steel, the painted end beams that extend under the eaves give the impression that the building is made of wood.
Associated with the emperor is the colour red, which is also considered lucky. It was applied to imperial columns, beams, and lintels like at Nan Tien. Palace balustrades were typically made of white marble carved; Nan Tien’s concretebalustrades are made similarly and are painted white.
The prominently raised podium for Buddha or Bodhisattva statues found at the back of each shrine is another feature reminiscent of imperial architecture; it is similar to the throne that the emperor was seated upon in royal audience halls.
As in conventional palace design, Nan Tien’s courtyard plan of less important buildings rising to the most important is directed by axial geometry reflecting an established hierarchy. The Main Shrine serves as the head, the surrounding buildings serve as the arms, and the courtyard serves as the lap in a seated Buddha’s arrangement in the courtyard.
A Buddhist’s journey along the Middle Path to enlightenment is analogous to the progression through the complex, which includes climbing stairs to the Front Shrine, more stairs to the courtyard, and continuing along a central walk to a final set of stairs before the Main Shrine.
Temple compounds typically include a meditation hall, sutra library, and lodging for monks in addition to the shrines dedicated to specific Buddhas or Bodhisattvas. In addition to these, Nan Tien includes other amenities required for day-to-day operation: a museum, a conference room with cutting-edge technology for conferences and simultaneous translation, an auditorium that is well-equipped for large gatherings, a dining hall that serves the general public vegetarian buffet lunches, and Pilgrim Lodge, which provides lodging for both visitors and participants in retreats or celebrations held at Nan Tien.
Buddhism is a religion that honours nature. Most Buddhist practitioners seek to transcend worldly, material desires, and try to develop a close kindship with nature. Especially during the time of the Buddha, disciples often lived in very simple and crude thatched houses, and were able to develop and maintain a peaceful and joyful mind. Whether dwelling in a suburban area, a forest, by the waterside, in a freezing cave, or under a tree, they were always comfortable in their living situation. However, as Buddhist disciples grew in number, it was proposed by King Bimbisara and a follower named Sudatta that a monastery be built that would allow practitioners to gather in a common place and practice in a more organised manner. After the Buddha deeply considered and then wholeheartedly agreed with this idea, he gave his assent for devotees to make donations of monasteries. As a result, the Jetavana Monastery, the Bamboo Grove, and the Mrgara-matr-prasada (Sanskrit name of the donor) Lecture Hall were constructed. This was the beginning of Buddhist architecture in India.
In China, in 67 C.E., there was debate between Taoists and two Buddhist monks from India named Ksayapa-matanga and Gobharana. Due to this lively dialogue, the emperor’s interest and belief in Buddhism was ignited. Although Taoism was quite popular at this time, the emperor accepted and honoured Buddhism, ordering the construction of a monastery outside the city for Bhiksus (monk: male member of the Sangha), and a monastery inside the city for Bhiksunis (nun: female member of the Sangha). This was the birth of Chinese Buddhist architecture.
b) Types and Styles of Buddhist Architecture
Buddhist temples are often the center of cultural activities. From a modern viewpoint, temples can be compared to museums, for they contain precious and spectacular art forms, and in fact, are beautiful art forms themselves. Like art museums, they are a combination of architecture, sculpture, painting, and calligraphy. Temples offer a harmonised environment and a spiritual atmosphere that allows one to become serene and tranquil. They are valuable places for distressed persons to lay down their burdens, soothe their minds, and achieve a sense of calm.
In the early period of China, stupas were the main architectural structures being built. It was not until the Sui and Tang Dynasties that the hall (or shrine) became the focus. A stupa, sometimes referred to as a pagoda, can be considered the “high rise” of Buddhist architecture due to its tall, narrow shape that reaches toward the sky – sometimes with immense height. The concept and form of the Chinese stupa originated in India. The purpose of a stupa is to provide a place to enshrine the Buddha’s relics, where people can then come and make offerings to the Buddha. Beginning with a relatively simple style, the stupa has been transformed in China, with improvements and innovations that demonstrate the country’s artistic and architectural abilities. While maintaining a relatively consistent shape, stupas are constructed in a variety of sizes, proportions, colours, and creative designs. Although you can find stupas by waterfronts, in the cities, in the mountains, or in the country, they are all constructed to harmonise with and beautify the environment. The stupa is indeed one of the most popular types of architecture in China.
The Buddhist architecture of every region has its own unique character due to differing cultural and environmental factors. Close in proximity, Ceylon’s architecture is similar to India’s architecture. Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia also share a similar style, with structures that incorporate the use of wood into their design. Java’s stupas resemble those of Tibet, which are made of stone and represent the nine-layered Mandala (symbolic circular figure that represents the universe and the divine cosmology of various religions: used in meditation and rituals). Tibet’s large monasteries are typically constructed on hillsides and are similar in style to European architecture in which the buildings are connected to each other, forming a type of street-style arrangement.
Buddhist temples in China are commonly built in the emperor’s palace style, categorising them as “palace architecture.” This layout is designed with symmetry in mind, with the main gate and main hall in the center, and other facilities – including the celestial and the abbot’s quarters – lined up on either side. On one side a ceremonial drum is placed, and on the other, a ceremonial bell. Behind this symmetrical line of structures will be a guesthouse for lay visitors and the Yun Shui Hall for visiting monastics to reside during their stay.
The materials used in constructing the temples associated facilities include wood and tile, with the roof tiles painted a certain colour. Because wood is a difficult material to preserve over long periods of time, China has very few palace-style temples that have survived from the early ages. We are fortunate, however, that Fo Guang Temple, built out of wood during the Tang Dynasty, still stands. The main palace-style hall of Fo Guang Temple is still relatively pristine in appearance and sturdiness, and gives us a sense of the grandeur of this time. The exquisite art of the Tang Dynasty, including sculpture, paintings, and murals, is still displayed today in this surviving temple, and allows us to understand that this era was China’s high point of artistic expression. This temple became a national treasure and reminds us of China’s golden age of art and architecture.
Fo Guang Temple and the other temples that have persevered through the passage of time – although there are not very many – reveal the modifications of structure, decoration, and construction methods that change and evolve through different eras. They also serve as the visual, material memory of a certain age and area, helping us to study the region’s architectural and cultural history. However, as mentioned above, despite the fact that China has 5,000 years of history, preserved architecture is very limited. It is not simply due to the use of wood, which is highly susceptible to fire and decay, that prevents us from having more standing temples from the early ages to study today. Other reasons exist for the rarity of remaining temples. For instance, around the 16th century, some dynasties that rose to power ordered the demolition of the previous dynasty’s major architecture. Or, temples were harmed or even destroyed in various bouts of war and aggression. Regardless of the materials used in construction – wood, stone, clay, etc. – it was nearly impossible for an abundance of temples to survive due to human rivalry. Fortunately, Buddhist cave temples were relatively immune to weather destruction, and for the most part they also escaped human desecration. They are well preserved and make it possible to witness traditional architecture and ancient art.
Modern Buddhist temples often imitate ancient architecture. For example, the main shrines of Taiwan’s Fo Guang Shan, the United State’s Hsi Lai Temple, and Australia’s Nan Tien Temple are all designed based on Chinese architecture from the early ages. Many Buddhist temples today not only honour and preserve the Chinese culture, they have introduced and spread Chinese culture around the globe.
c) Cave Temples
In the history of Chinese Buddhist art and architecture, the most important link is the rock cave, or cave temple, and all of the art contained within. Cave temples are cavities of various sizes that are chiseled directly out of solid rock, sometimes directly on the face of sheer cliffs. Many are quite enormous. Within the rock caves, there are ornately carved statues, sculptures, and colourful paintings of the Buddha, bodhisattvas, arhats, and sutras. This artistic practice was started in 366 C.E. by a monastic named Le Zun, and continued until the 15th century. In some places, entire mountainsides are decorated with innumerable cave temples and gigantic carved statues. Among these countless cave temples, Dung Huang cave is the most famous for its impressive and grandiose mural. Other well-known caves in China include Longmen Caves in Louyang, Yungang Caves in Datong, and the Thousand Buddhas Cave in Jinang. Yungang Cave is especially well known for its grand size.
The creation of cave temples occurred over thousands of years, spanning several dynasties, and, unlike wooden temples that suffer dilapidation from the elements, are sheltered by massive rock and therefore remain standing as remarkable and majestic testimonials to Buddhism flourishing throughout China. The magnificence and grandeur of Buddhist art within the caves has awed the world and has captured the essence and detail of the teachings for all visitors to behold. In the eyes of artists and archaeologists, this type of Buddhist architecture is especially full of life, beauty, and evidence of the transformation and evolution of Buddhist art throughout time. They are treasures that hold an important place in China’s cultural, artistic, and architectural history.
-From the booklet, Building Connections: Buddhism & Architecture published by Buddha’s Light International Association, Hacienda Heights, USA.
Significance of architectural elements and layout of Nan Tien Temple
Chinese temple architecture has long been influenced by secular building design, especially that of imperial palaces. Structures and colours used throughout Nan Tien perpetuate this tradition. Grandiose roofs, visible from afar, indicate status: The greater the height and slope, the higher the rank. The Main Shrine thus has the most lofty and impressive roof. In dynastic China the colour yellow was used exclusively by the emperor. Hence, terracotta yellow roof tiles are symbols of importance, as are the yellow temple walls. Small mythical creatures lining the roof hips are traditional guardians against fire, a real danger in the days when the entire structure would have been built of wood. While much of Nan Tien’s roof framing is largely made of steel, it mimics timber construction with painted end beams extending under the eaves.
Red is another auspicious colour associated with the emperor. It was used to cover imperial columns, beams, and lintels, as is also the case at Nan Tien. Palace balustrades were typically carved white marble; Nan Tien’s concrete balustrades are fashioned in a similar manner and painted white.
Another element reminiscent of imperial design is the prominent raised podium used for Buddha or Bodhisattva statuary located at the rear of each shrine; it is akin to that upon which the emperor was enthroned in royal audience halls.
As in traditional palace layout, axial geometry reflecting an established hierarchy directs Nan Tien’s courtyard plan of lesser buildings leading up to the most significant. The courtyard arrangement furthermore implies a seated Buddha with the Main Shrine as the head, the surrounding buildings as the arms, and the courtyard as the lap.
The path of progression through the complex – ascending stairs to the Front Shrine, more stairs to the courtyard, continuing along a central walk to a final set of stairs before the Main Shrine – is similar to a Buddhist’s journey along the Middle Path to enlightenment.
In addition to the shrines dedicated to particular Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, temple compounds usually include a meditation hall, sutra library, and residence for monastics. Nan Tien incorporates these plus other facilities necessary for day-to-day function: A museum, conference room with advanced technology for conferences and simultaneous translation, auditorium which is well equipped for large gatherings, dining hall which provides vegetarian buffet lunches to the public and Pilgrim Lodge which offers accommodation for visitors as well as participants for retreats or celebrations held at Nan Tien.
-From the book, Entry Into the Profound: a first step to understanding Buddhism published by International Buddhist Association of Australia Incorporated.
Top 10 Buddhist Temples and Monasteries in China 2024
The Buddhism was introduced to China during the Christian era, gaining a foothold during the Western Han and Eastern Han Dynasties (202 BC – 220 AD). Rooted in the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, this profound philosophy found resonance across diverse realms of Chinese society. As Buddhism flourished, it became a pervasive influence, leaving an indelible mark on Chinese philosophy, literature, art, politics, medicine, and material culture.
Geographically, Buddhism is traditionally categorized into Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Theravada Buddhism. Doctrinally, Buddhism is classified into Mahayana Buddhism and Theravada Buddhism. In terms of practice, Buddhism is further divided into Exoteric Buddhism (Mahayana) and Esoteric Buddhism (Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism). Within Exoteric Buddhism, there are ten major schools including Chan (Zen), Pure Land, Tiantai, and Huayan.
The subsequent centuries witnessed the construction of numerous temples and monasteries, becoming sanctuaries where Buddhist teachings thrived with spiritual messages. Thus, to explore the top 10 Buddhist temples and monasteries in China becomes a journey through time. Also, more Buddhist destinations have been devotees’ top choices such as Top 10 Buddhist Grottoes & Caves in China and Four Sacred Buddhist Mountains in China ,etc.
1. Shaolin Temple (Zhengzhou) – China’s Premier Monastery and Birthplace of Martial Arts Mastery
Type: Chinese Buddhist Temple, Zen Buddhist Temple, UNESCO Cultural Heritage
History: over 1500 years
Recommended Visiting Time: 3~4 hours
Location: Songshan Mountain, Dengfeng, Zhengzhou
Highlights: Arhat Hall, Forest of Steles, Tripitaka Sutra Pavilion, Kungfu Show
Originally established in 495 during the Northern Wei Dynasty, Shaolin Temple perches majestically on Wuru Peak of Mount Songshan. Commissioned by Xiaowen Emperor to house the revered Indian monk Buddhabhadra, this sacred site became a cradle of spiritual wisdom. Just 32 years later, the venerable Indian monk Bodhidharma arrived, bringing with him the teachings of Zen Buddhism. Bodhidharma, now revered as the ancestor court of Zen Buddhism, transformed Shaolin Temple into the ancestral haven of Zen. This tale of spiritual evolution intertwines seamlessly with the roots of Chinese Martial Arts, as Shaolin Temple emerged as the birthplace of Chinese Martial. Spanning over 1500 years, Shaolin Temple has evolved into a globally renowned Buddhist sanctuary. Its architectural gems include the grand Daxiong Hall, the tranquil Chuzu Temple—home to the oldest wooden structure in Henan Province—and the revered Arhat Hall, where enlightened monks find eternal peace.
Venture into the Forest of Steles, where 248 brick pagodas stand sentinel, housing the ashes of eminent monks. This sacred grove represents the largest surviving collection of steles in China, a testament to the profound spiritual legacy of Shaolin Temple. Amidst this historical backdrop, the temple’s dazzling Kung Fu Show has become a magnet for visitors worldwide, adding a vibrant chapter to Shaolin’s narrative that echoes through the ages. After immersing themselves in the serene aura of the Shaolin Temple, many visitors often choose to extend their exploration to iconic sites like the Longmen Grottoes and White Horse Temple. This seamless transition allows them to delve even deeper into the rich tapestry of Buddhist culture, unlocking a more multifaceted experience.
2. White Horse Temple (Luoyang) – Trailblazing Sanctum of Chinese Buddhism’s Genesis
In the year 64 AD during the Han Dynasty, a captivating tale unfolded that would shape the destiny of White Horse Temple . Legend has it that the emperor, in a visionary slumber, witnessed a golden figure believed to be Buddha soaring to his palace. Fueled by this celestial encounter, the emperor dispatched envoys on a three-year odyssey to the enigmatic western regions in pursuit of sacred Buddhist scriptures. The culmination of this journey saw the arrival of two revered Indian monks, Kasyapamatanga and Dharmaratna, astride white horses laden with precious Buddhist statues and scriptures. In 68 AD, inspired by a fervor for Buddhism, the emperor conceived the idea of a temple dedicated to the teachings of the enlightened one. Thus, White Horse Temple emerged—the inaugural beacon of Chinese Buddhism. Within its sacred precincts, the two monks embarked on the monumental task of translating the Forty-two Chapters Buddhist Sutras, giving birth to the first Chinese Buddhist scripture. A pilgrimage of western monks followed, converging upon White Horse Temple to impart sermons and translate scriptures. In the next 150 years, 395 scriptures were translated to Chinese. As a result, the temple became the first Ashram for translating scripture.
Stepping into the temple, one encounters the architectural symmetry typical of Chinese tradition. Amidst the echoes of bygone eras, remnants of precious statues bear witness to the temple’s resilience through times of destruction. Guarding the entrance are stone horses, silent sentinels to the tales that unfold within. Traverse the halls in sequence, and you’ll stumble upon the tombs of the pioneering Indian monks. The journey culminates in the Cool and Clear Terrace—an erstwhile palace of translating scriptures, resonating with the wisdom of ages. Outside the temple is tiered with Qiyun Pagoda (oldest pagoda in China) and foreign temple, including Indian Temple, Thailand Temple and Burmese Temple, showing the cultural exchange and harmonious interplay between China and the world. Following a visit to the White Horse Temple, many travelers opt for an enriching detour to the legendary Shaolin Temple . Here, they can immerse themselves in the authentic world of Chinese martial arts.
3. Jokhang Temple (Lhasa) – Spiritual Center of Tibetan Buddhism Enshrining Shakyamuni Buddha’s Presence
Type: Tibetan Buddhist Temple, UNESCO Cultural Heritage
Highlights: Life-size Statue of Sakyamuni, Gold Roof
Jokhang Temple stands as the beating spiritual heart of Tibet, a hallowed pilgrimage site for devoted Buddhists. Its origins weave a tale back to the 7th century when the visionary Tibetan King Songtsan Gampo issued a decree to construct the temple, a sanctuary intended to cradle the sacred statue of Shakyamuni, a precious gift from Nepal. Initially dubbed Rasa, it is whispered that the name Lhasa itself found its inspiration in this revered artifact. Soon after, the enchanting saga expanded as the Wencheng Princess journeyed from China, gracing Jokhang with a life-sized statue of the 12-year-old Jowa Sakyamuni. This gift not only bestowed the temple with its identity, Jokhang, meaning the “house of Buddha,” but also infused it with an unparalleled spiritual vigor.
The architectural symphony of Jokhang Temple resonates with the sacred geometry of the Manda, a design that captivates the beholder from the very first glance. The crowning jewel is the resplendent Gold Roof, a beacon that guides one’s gaze to the panoramic vistas of Barkhor Street and the majestic Potala Palace. Venture within, and you’ll encounter a celestial congregation of Buddha statues, each cradled within its own chapel. The ethereal allure extends to the hanging Thangkas, inviting admiration from all who behold them. Beyond the temple’s confines, Jokhang Temple Square pulses with an unceasing rhythm of devout pilgrims, who prostrate themselves day and night. These fervent seekers traverse vast distances, arriving from the far reaches of the countryside annually, driven by an unwavering belief that their sincere devotion will usher happiness, safety, and well-being into the lives of their cherished families. Many travelers are drawn to embark on a classic journey through Lhasa. The spiritual ambiance of the sacred site sets the perfect tone for an immersive experience, making it a natural segue into the enchanting wonders that await in the heart of Tibet’s capital.
4. Lingyin Temple (Hangzhou) – Tranquil Retreat Amidst Lush Forests Eminent in Southeastern China
Highlights: Hall of Heavenly Kings, Palace of Medicine Buddha, Statues in the Grand Hall, Feilai Peak
Lingyin Temple, founded in 326 AD by an Indian monk enchanted by the ethereal peaks of Hangzhou, unveils a rich tapestry of history and spirituality. Picture this: an awe-inspiring temple nestled between the foliage-draped Feilai Peak and the majestic Begao Peak, aptly named “Linyin,” translating to the soul’s retreat. During the Northern and Southern Dynasty, the temple flourished, its growth fueled by the benevolence of Liangwu Emperor, endowing it with vast lands. At its zenith, Lingyin Temple was a vibrant community, boasting a staggering population of 3,000 monks. In the Song Dynasty, the revered Feilai Peak earned acclaim as one of the five Jiangnan Zen Buddhist Mountains in Jiangnan, a testament to Lingyin Temple‘s esteemed status.
Embarking on a journey to this ancient sanctuary, one unravels a tapestry of natural wonders and cultural marvels. Picture the Hall of Heavenly Kings, standing proudly as the first structure along Lingyin Temple’s axis, housing the divine Future Buddha. Within the Grand Hall of Great Sage, a captivating statue of Sakyamuni, perched on a lotus flower, emanates a palpable energy. Behind this masterful creation, a cluster of tridimensional statues, featuring Bodhisattva and 150 smaller figures, awaits discovery. The Palace of Medicine Buddha beckons worshipers seeking solace from ailments, a revered sanctuary for healing. And who could overlook the mesmerizing Feilai Peak? Venture into the grottoes within, and a treasure trove of Buddhist carvings unfolds, each chiseled masterpiece narrating tales of devotion and artistry. Following Lingyin Temple, tourists often opt to explore the allure of Hangzhou’s West Lake and Wuzhen Water Town, immersing themselves in the cultural wonders of Jiangnan (江南).
5. Dacien Monastery (Xi’an) – Boasting Great Wild Goose Pagoda and the Pinnacle of Xuanzang’s Legacy
Type: Ancient Buddhist Marvel, Tang Dynasty Legacy, UNESCO Cultural Heritage
Embark on a journey through time in the heart of Xi’an, where the Great Ci’en Temple stands as a living testament to over 1300 years of captivating history. Picture the scene during the Tang Dynasty, when this cultural oasis was brought to life, now revered as a UNESCO Cultural Heritage site that whispers tales of ancient Buddhist wonders.
The towering Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, a majestic silhouette against the Xi’an skyline, is the crown jewel of the temple. Imagine the celestial aura surrounding this architectural marvel, a tangible link to the spiritual legacy of the Tang Dynasty. Venture into the pagoda’s embrace, conceived to safeguard the sacred Buddhist scriptures that traversed the vast expanse from India with the fearless Xuanzang. Delve into the narrative of Xuanzang’s extraordinary odyssey as relics and artifacts unfold the chapters of his incredible journey. Traverse the temple grounds, where the echoes of Tang Dynasty architecture whisper secrets of a bygone era. As the sun sets, surrender to the allure of nightly cultural performances that weave a spellbinding tapestry, transforming the temple into an ethereal realm resonating with the spiritual essence of its ancient Buddhist origins. Following a visit to the majestic Giant Wild Goose Pagoda, it’s common for tourists to venture towards the globally acclaimed Terracotta Army and the ancient city walls. This natural progression allows them to delve further into history, seamlessly connecting the tranquility of the temple to the historical wonders.
6. Famen Temple (Baoji) – Custodian of Buddha’s Relics and Global Center of Spiritual Confluence
@法门寺 (famensi.com)
Type: Chinese Buddhist Temple, Imperial Temple
History: over 1700 years
Recommended Visiting Time: 2~4 hours
Location: Famen Town, Fufeng County, Baoji
Highlights: Sarira of Sakyamuni, Underground Palace, Famen Museum
Step into the captivating tale of Famen Temple, a sacred sanctuary with roots tracing back to the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Imagine the ebb and flow of its history as it stood resilient through reconstruction, evolving into an imperial templeduring the grandeur of the Tang Dynasty. Yet, the winds of change blew after the Ming and Qing Dynasties, casting a shadow over this once-majestic temple.
Fast forward to 1987, a pivotal year that unveiled the hidden treasures of Famen Temple’s Underground Palace. Picture the moment when over 2000 cultural relics, adorned with the splendor of the Tang Dynasty, emerged into the light. Buddha’s relics, glistening gold and silver artifacts, vibrant colored glaze, delicate ceramics, silk weaving tales of antiquity, and the enigmatic Finger Sarira of Sakyamuni – a discovery that resonated with the divine. Among the findings were four sarira, three deemed as duplicate relics, standing as guardians to the true relic – the sacred finger bone of Sakyamuni. This revelation transformed Famen Temple into a revered pilgrimage site, earning UNESCO’s acclaim as the ninth wonder of the world. Today, Famen Temple unfolds its narrative across three chapters – the Old Famen Pagoda, the Namaste Dagoba, and the Famen Temple Museum. Picture the ancient secrets housed within the Old Famen Pagoda, where the Underground Palace cradles the cherished duplicate relics. The Namaste Dagoba, a modern marvel shaped like folding hands, designed by the renowned architect Mr. Li Zuyuan, cradles the revered sarira of Sakyamuni since its construction in 2009. As you venture into the Famen Temple Museum, immerse yourself in valuable treasures, from the resplendent Gilded Bronze Buddha to the intricate Mystic Color Ceramics.
Tips : The Finger Sarira of Sakyamuni was only displayed in weekends, the lunar 1 st and 15th day of every month, and some special festivals usually. If you want to pay homage to the sarira, make sure you visit in the right day.
7. South Puto Temple (Xiamen) – Globally Revered Buddhist Academy, Nurturing Devotees and Facilitating Cross-Cultural Exchange
Type: Chinese Buddhist Temple, Buddhist Academy, Cultural Heritage Site
History: over 1000 years
Recommended Visiting Time: 2~3 hours
Location: Xiamen, Fujian Province
Highlights: Grand Hall of Buddha, Lotus Pond, Buddhist Scriptures Repository, Cultural Exchange Center
Established more than a millennium ago, South Puto Temple stands as a beacon of Buddhist spirituality, nestled in the coastal city of Xiamen, Fujian Province. The temple’s origins trace back to the Tang Dynasty, making it a venerable site of over 1000 years.The heart of South Puto Temple lies in its Grand Hall of Buddha, an architectural masterpiece that echoes with ancient chants and serenity. Adorned with intricate carvings and vibrant murals, the hall houses majestic statues of Buddhist deities, creating a sacred atmosphere for worship and meditation. As you stroll through the temple grounds, you’ll encounter the tranquil Lotus Pond, where delicate lotus flowers bloom in a serene aquatic dance. This scenic spot provides a perfect setting for contemplation and spiritual reflection
South Puto Temple takes pride in its Buddhist Scriptures Repository, a treasure trove of ancient texts and teachings. The repository is a testament to the temple’s commitment to preserving and disseminating Buddhist knowledge, attracting scholars and devotees alike. The temple serves as a hub for cultural exchange, welcoming visitors from around the world to explore the richness of Chinese Buddhism. The Cultural Exchange Center within the temple premises offers programs and activities that promote understanding and harmony among diverse communities. South Puto Temple, with its rich history and cultural significance, has garnered recognition as a prominent Buddhist academy. It continues to be a magnet for overseas followers seeking spiritual enlightenment and a deeper understanding of Buddhist teachings. The temple’s reputation extends far beyond its physical boundaries, making it a revered destination for those in search of tranquility and wisdom. After a serene visit to the South Putuo Temple, many travelers choose to extend their journey to the enchanting Tulou with its mesmerizing nightscapes and the charming island of Gulangyu for both cultural and scenic delights.
8. Hanging Temple (Datong) – Architectural Marvel Perched on a Cliff, an Enchanting Fusion of Three Religions
Type: Chinese Buddhist Temple, Taoist Temple, Confucian Temple
History: over 1500 years
Recommended Visiting Time: 2~4 hours 2 ~ 3 hours
Location: Hengshan Mountain, Hunyuan County, Datong
Highlights: Southern Pavilion, Northern Pavilion and Changxian Bridge
Perched daringly on a cliff, Hanging Temple lives up to its name, suspended a jaw-dropping 50 meters above the ground. Imagine the audacity of a temple clinging to the rock face without any visible crutches, a marvel that even earned it a spot on Time magazine’s list of the world’s top ten most bizarrely precarious structures. The temple’s saga unfolds like a gripping tale – a fearless feat of construction, defying gravity and leaving visitors awe-struck. Delve into the secrets of the Hanging Temple, where architectural ingenuity meets ancient mysticism. It was constructed without any supportive structures, Which adds an element of suspense to the narrative, eventually leading to the incorporation of pillars as a testament to the collective hesitation of those daring to step into this cliffside sanctuary. Behind the scenes, hidden upholders within the bedrock reveal a dance with mechanics, turning the temple into a masterpiece of engineering artistry. As the story unfolds, it becomes evident that the Hanging Temple is not merely a physical marvel but a harmonious convergence of China’s three venerable traditions – Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.
Navigate the intricacies of the Hanging Temple’s main structures – the Southern Pavilion, Northern Pavilion, and Changxian Bridge – each telling a unique chapter in this cliffside chronicle. Picture the Southern Pavilion, a three-story spectacle housing Chunyang Palace, Sanguan Hall, Sangong Palace, and Leiyin Hall. In the grandeur of Sangong Palace, witness the temple’s largest hall, while the towering sculpture within Sanguan Hall stands as a silent guardian of its history. Traverse to the Northern Pavilion, where Wufo Hall, Guanyin Hall, and Sanjiao Hall unfold their tales. Here, statues of the founders of three religions – Shakyamuni, Laozi, and Confucius – find a sacred abode in the venerable Sanjiao Hall. Adorned with intricate carvings and a myriad of statues, the Hanging Temple invites explorers to unravel its rich tapestry of stories, where the line between architectural marvel and spiritual pilgrimage blurs into a captivating narrative.
Highlights: Five Halls, Dhammapala Weituo’s Statue, Teahouse, Vegetarian Restaurant
Embark on a journey through time at Wenshu Monastery, a spiritual haven that traces its roots back to the Sui Dynasty (605 ~ 617). With long history and strong Buddhist influence, Wenshu Monastery is one of the Four Chinese Zen Buddhist Monasteries. Though it located in the busy downtown area of Chengdu, Wenshu Monastery enjoys a tranquil atmosphere fabulously. Initially a modest courtyard, the monastery underwent a captivating transformation during the Song Dynasty, when it donned the name Xinxiang Temple, only to face the ravages of war. In a mystical twist during the Qing Dynasty, whispers of the Manjusri Bodhisattva’s ethereal presence, cloaked in red light, sparked a resurrection. The temple, now reborn, earned the name Wenshu Monastery, paying homage to the revered Manjusri.
Nestled amidst the hustle and bustle of Chengdu‘s downtown, Wenshu Monastery defies its urban surroundings, cocooning visitors in a serenity that feels almost otherworldly. Picture the main structures, traditional Chinese palaces adorned with the elegance of the Qing Dynasty, their upturned eaves reaching towards the heavens. Here, the axis from gate to Sutra Mansionunfolds like a sacred thread weaving through the tapestry of history. Within these ancient walls, a treasure trove of Buddhist scriptures, paintings, and calligraphy awaits, whispering stories of enlightenment to those who listen.
Beyond the quiet contemplation, Wenshu Monastery reveals itself as a haven for the soul. The revered Teahouse, a bastion of old-school charm, beckons with the aroma of Chinese tea and the allure of traditional folk shows. Step into the nearby Vegetarian Restaurant, where culinary excellence fuses with spirituality, offering a feast of delectable vegetarian dishes. Take a leisurely stroll through the monastery’s hallowed grounds, where every step unveils a chapter of the past. After immersing in the cultural ambiance, visitors often embark on a classic Chengdu tour, exploring attractions like the Panda Base. Moreover, they may opt for a deeper Sichuan experience, venturing to renowned sites such as the Leshan Giant Buddha, Mount Emei, and Jiuzhaigou. This flexible transition caters to diverse preferences, ensuring an enriching journey through the cultural and natural wonders of the region.
10. Foding Palace (Nanjing) – Reverent Abode of Buddha’s Relics with Architectural Grandeur
@牛首山风景区 (niushoushan.net)
Type: Fodin Temple – Ming Dynasty’s Architectural Marvel
History: Over 1200 years
Recommended Visiting Time: 3~4 hours
Location: Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
Highlights: Buddha’s Relic Pagoda, Hall of Heavenly Kings’ Majesty, Ming Dynasty Architectural Splendor, Linggu Pagoda’s Towering Presence
Step into the enchanting tapestry of Nanjing‘s Foding Temple, a resilient architectural masterpiece that has weathered the sands of time for over 1200 years. Here, the grandeur of the Ming Dynasty unfolds like a captivating saga, each stone whispering tales of an era long past. Picture the Buddha’s Relic Pagoda, a sacred space where the air itself seems to shimmer with the divine presence of relics. Immerse yourself in the hallowed ambiance, where the convergence of the sacred and architectural beauty dances through the corridors of time.
As you traverse the temple grounds, be transported to the majestic Hall of Heavenly Kings, where colossal statues stand as sentinels guarding the spiritual sanctuary. It’s not just a hall; it’s a living tableau of devotion and reverence, where the echo of centuries-old prayers reverberates through the air. The temple, a living embodiment of Ming Dynasty opulence, invites exploration into its labyrinth of intricate designs and historical significance. But the journey doesn’t end there; adjacent to the temple rises the towering Linggu Pagoda, a stoic symbol of endurance that pierces the sky, a silent witness to the passage of centuries. Foding Temple beckons you into a time-traveling odyssey, where the legacy of the Ming Dynasty isn’t confined to dusty history books but resonates through the very stones that have stood witness to centuries of stories. Having explored the serenity of Foding Temple, many travelers opt for more highlights of Nanjing including the Confucius Temple Nanjing, the picturesque Qinhuai River. This curated experience allows visitors to feel the essence of “misty rain in the south of the Yangtze”(烟雨江南).
Secular Dimensions of the Ashoka Stupa from the Changgan Monastery of the Song Dynasty.
Of Palaces and Pagodas: Palatial Symbolism in the Buddhist Architecture of Early Medieval China
Tracy Miller
Front. Hist. China 2015, 10(2): 222–263 DOI 10.3868/s020-004-015-0014-1
“Naturalizing Buddhist Cosmology in the Temple Architecture of China: The Case of the Yicihui Pillar,”
Tracy Miller,
In The University of Chicago Oriental Institute Seminars, no. 9,
edited by Deena Ragavan, 17−39. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
“The Mapping of Sacred Space: Images of Buddhist Cosmographies in Medieval China.”
Wong, Dorothy.
In The Journey of Maps and Images on the Silk Road, edited by Philippe Forêt and Andreas Kaplony, 51–79. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2008.
Towards an Effective Architectural Form: The Composition of Squareness and Roundness Based on Scale Proportion—Evidence from the Yingxian Wooden Pagoda.
The sum of the rules, squares and circles of heaven and earth: a study on the compositional proportions of ancient Chinese capitals, building groups and individual buildings
(text version, illustration version)
Wang Nan’s book on the history and theory of ancient architecture, planning, design and protection of ancient buildings
Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought: Chapters Three, Four, and Five of the Huainanzi
SUNY series in Chinese philosophy and culture Author John S. Major Edition illustrated Publisher SUNY Press, 1993 ISBN 0791415856, 9780791415856 Length 388 pages
Revisiting the Squinch: From Squaring the Circle to Circling the Square.
“Squaring the circle,” constructing a square that has the same area in a given circle using compass and straightedge, has long been a subject for intellectual investigations among mathematicians and philosophers from antiquity to the pre-modern era. The search for this unattainable ideal articulation found its way into Persian architecture with a different approach: circling the square. This architectonic approach, complementing the philosophical view, started from the square at hand, the chamber, to the circle of the vault. The transformation of the cubic to the domical space is mediated through the squinch, intermediary structural element that unifies the two structures. The two seemingly opposite directions of transforming of one form to another (i.e., square to circle or vice versa) allude to the metaphysical and material attributes involved in this process. This paper discusses the mutual relationship between the intellectual and material transformations and the intermediary role of the squinch.
References
Al–Būzjānī, Abū’l–Wafā Muhammad. 1971. The Arithmetic of Abu Al-Wafa’ al-Buzjani. Introduction and Commentary by A. S. Saidan. Amman: Jamiyat Umal al-Matabi al-Taawinia. (In Arabic)
Ardalan N., Bakhtiar L. (1973) The Sense of Unity: The Sufi Tradition in Persian Architecture. University of Chicago Press, ChicagoGoogle Scholar
Ashrafi, A. and M. R. Ahmadi, M. R. 2005. Al-Kashi’s Method for Calculations of Arches. Ayeneh Miras 3: 61-77.
Blunt W. (1966) Isfahan: Pearl of Persia. Paul Elck Productions, New YorkGoogle Scholar
Buzurgmihri, Z. 1992. Hindisa dar Mimari (Geometry in Persian Architecture). Tehran: Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization. (In Farsi)
Dold-Samplonius, Yvonne. 2002. Calculation of Arches and Domes in 15th Century Samarkand. Nexus II: Architecture and Mathematics, Kim Williams, ed. Pisa: Pacini Editore.
Galdieri, E. 1984. Masgid-i Gum’a. Vol 3, Research and Restoration Activites, 1973-1978, New Observations, 1979-1982. Rome: IsMeo.
Grabar, O. 1990. The Great Mosque of Isfahan. London: I B Tauris & Co. Ltd.
Haji Ghasemi, K. 2001. Ganjnameh, Masajid-i Isfahan. Tehran: Shahid Beheshti University Press and Rowzaneh Press.
Jabal Ameli A. (1995) Esfehan Masgid-I Gum’a. Iranian Cultural Heritage Organization, IsfahanGoogle Scholar
Jazbi, A. 1987. Risāleh Tāq va Ajaz. Tehran: Soroush Publications. (Partial Translation of Miftah al-hisab).
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Necipoßlu, G. 1995. The Topkapi Scroll. Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture. Los Angeles: Getty Center Publication.
We examine how three authors, Dante Alighieri, Margaret Cavendish, and James Joyce, employed allusions to the classical problem of squaring the circle, i.e., using only a compass and a straightedge to construct a square whose area equals that of a given circle. These discussions will be against the background of what was known mathematically about solving the problem when they wrote—respectively, in the fourteenth, seventeenth, and twentieth centuries. We will also discuss, as best as can be determined, what each author believed, knew, or could have known about the mathematical status of the problem and what this reveals about their use of the construction in their writings.
“From Pagoda to Pavilion: The Transition of Spatial Logic and Visual Experience of Multi-Story Buddhist Buildings in Medieval China”
Ancient Chinese architecture boasts a rich variety of styles and high levels of construction. There were residences, official buildings, palaces, temples, altars, gardens, bridges, city walls and so on. Construction took the form of lou (multistoryed buildings), tai (terraces), ting (pavilions), ge (two-storey pavilions), xuan (verandas with windows), xie (pavilions or houses on terraces), wu (rooms along roofed corridors), etc. All these architectural forms were recorded in early documents of Chinese history. Pagodas, however, appeared relatively late in China. A Chinese term for pagoda did not exist until the first century. The reason is that this new form of architecture was introduced to China only when Buddhism spread to the country.
The origin of pagodas, like that of Buddhism, can be traced to India. The relation between Buddhism and pagodas is explained in Buddhist literature, which says that pagodas were originally built for the purpose of preserving the remains of Sakyamuni, the founder of Buddhism. According to Buddhist scripture, when Sakyamuni’s body was cremated after his death, his disciples discovered that his remains crystallized into unbreakable shiny beads. They were called sarira, or Buddhist relics, as were his hair, teeth and bones. Later, the remains of other Buddhist monks of high reputation were also called sarira. Since more often than not, no such precious shiny beads could be found in the ashes of cremated Buddhist monks, other things, such as gold, silver and crystal objects or precious stones, were used instead.In Sanskrit pagoda (or stupa) meant tomb. Before the pagoda was introduced to China, it had already had a considerable period of development in India. Beside serving as tombs, pagodas were built in grottoes or temples for offering sacrifices to people’s ancestors. When the Indian word for pagoda was first translated into Chinese, there were some twenty different versions. A renowned scholar of the Qing Dynasty, Ruan Yuan (1764-1849), summarized the history of the pagoda’s development in China in his essay “On the Characteristics of Pagodas” included in his Yan Jing Shi Ji (Collection of Essays from Yan Jing Studio). He said that during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220) both the doctrine and preachers of Sakyamuni’s religion were called futu. Their residence and the object of their worship was a building of seven or nine storeys, each surrounded by banisters.
In Sanskrit this kind of building was called a stupa. From the Jin Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties (265-589), when the Buddhist scriptures were translated into Chinese, there was no equivalent for the Hindu word for pagoda in the Chinese language, nor was there anything in China similar to the peculiar structure. Therefore, a new Chinese character was created to stand for the Buddhist tower, or pagoda. The new character was ta, which first appeared in Zi Yuan(Essays on Chinese Characters) by Ge Hong (284-364), a scholar of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Ta is a much better translation than many other versions, such as futuor fotu, because it contains the radical meaning earth or soil, so it can be understood as an indication of a tomb. Some scholars believed that the character ta could be interpreted as an earthen tomb in which Buddha was buried, so it was a satisfactory equivalent for the word pagoda.
Buddhism spread in China not only because of its doctrines but also because of its concrete images, such as the religious sculptures and pagodas. It became a popular religion after the White Horse Temple was built near Luoyang, Henan Province, during the reign (58-75) of Emperor Ming of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Legend has it that the emperor once dreamed of a golden man more than three meters tall with a halo over his head flying around his imperial palace. The next day the emperor called his ministers to court and asked them to interpret his dream. One of his ministers, Fu Yi, said, “In the West there is a god called Buddha. The golden man Your Majesty saw in your dream looked like him.” So the emperor dispatched officials, Cai Yin, Qin Jing, Wang Zun and others, to India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan to learn the doctrine of Buddhism. When they reached Central Asia, they met two Buddhist masters from India and acquired from them Buddhist scriptures and a statue of Buddha. They also invited the Indian Buddhists to China to lecture on Buddhism.
When the Indian Buddhists arrived in Luoyang, then the capital of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Ming gave them a warm welcome and built a temple for them to live in the suburbs of Luoyang.
Originally, the Chinese character si, meaning temple, stood for an official building that, in ancient China, ranked second only to the emperor’s imperial palace. To show his respect for Buddhism, the emperor ordered that the residence of the Indian Buddhists be called a si, and ever since, Buddhist temples have been called that.
If pagodas were brought to China from India, what did the pagodas in India look like?
There used to be two kinds of pagodas in India: those used as tombs for Buddhist relics were called stupas; those serving as shrines or monuments were called temples. No relics were buried in the latter in most cases. Both kinds of pagodas underwent great changes in style after being introduced to China and became integrated with China’s traditional architecture and culture.
The latter pagoda was also called caitya in Sanskrit. In India they were originally grottoes dug out of stone cliffs. Religious sculptures were placed inside the caves and small pagodas were built at the back as memorials. Usually space was cleared in front of the pagoda for religious ceremonies. After being introduced to China, this kind of structure developed into the so-called grotto temple. Typical Chinese grottoes were much smaller than their Indian counterparts, so no religious ceremonies could be held inside. Usually a separate temple was built in front of or beside the grottoes to house Buddhist monks and for assemblies as well. The pagoda placed at the back of an Indian grotto changed into an ornamental pillar either at the back or in the middle of the grotto. In fact, the Chinese temple was different from its Indian counterpart in both form and function. In India there was once a kind of special grotto called vihara in which Buddhist monks lived. In the middle of such a grotto a square or rectangular platform was built for Buddhist preachers, to sit on to give lectures on Buddhism. At the back of the grotto a small pagoda sculpture was erected in front of a small niche, serving as a place for praying. Along the front and side walls of the grotto many tiny rooms were dug out, each big enough for only one monk to sleep in. Since each of the rooms was merely one square zhang (about ten square meters) in size, later the bedrooms of the abbots and monks in a Buddhist monastery were called fangzhang(meaning one square zhang) in Chinese. Of course, most Buddhist abbots actually lived in much bigger rooms. Such grotto temples, popular in the early development of Buddhism in India, were found in very few places in China. In fact, the Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province may be the only place where remnants of similar structures can be found today.
For instance, Caves No.267 to 271 at Dunhuang, dug during the Northern Liang period (397-439), used to be a group of related caves, with Cave No. 268 as the center, to which Caves No. 267 and 270 on the southern wall and Caves No. 269 and 271 on the northern wall were attached. In fact, all four attached caves were merely recesses big enough for only one person to sit with bent knee. It is believed that they were dug for the monks to sit in meditation, not for them to live in. Cave No. 285, dug during the Western Wei period (535-556), also contains four such recesses in its southern and northern walls, less than a square meter. On the ceiling of the main cave there is a painting of thirty-five monks sitting in meditation in some remote mountain caves. From their size, the recesses as a place of meditation were only symbolic.
The characteristics of these caves show that the so-called vihara underwent great changes after they were introduced to China from India.
We have learned that the pagodas designed as tombs for Buddhist relics were soon integrated with China’s traditional architecture and culture and assumed Chinese characteristics after they were introduced to China from India. Most ancient pagodas still existing today in China are the so-called temple pagodas of Chinese style. Though they are called sarira pagodas, sometimes Buddhist relics are not inside.
Few stupas believed to hold any relics of Sakyamuni have survived even in India or they have been destroyed and reconstructed repeatedly over the years retaining little of their original features. Among the earliest of such stupas is one built around the first century. It resembles a tomb with a domelike top in the middle. A pole with a dish-shaped object was erected on the top, and a platform surrounded by a balustrade served as the base. Stairs in front lead up to the platform. Four gateways face in four directions. On each side of the front gate is an ornamental column with exquisite relief sculptures of lions. They are similar to the ornamental columns erected in front of ancient tombs in China.
Another stupa featuring an inverted-bowl-shaped body is located forty-five kilometers from the town of Gorakopa in northern India. It is believed to be the place where a famous Indian Buddhist monk attained nirvana. Though it has been destroyed and reconstructed several times, it still resembles the style of the great stupa mentioned earlier, which looks like a big tomb. The Lamaist dagobas in China have inherited this style.
Great changes have also taken place in the structure of Indian pagodas. At Buddh Gaya in Gaya County, Bihar State, there is a pagoda where Sakyamuni is believed to have awakened to the truth of Buddhism. Behind the pagoda there is a bodhi tree and under the tree is a solid rock seat, called vajrasana. Legend has it that Sakyamuni attained his Buddhahood while sitting on this seat. The structure of the pagoda, therefore, is called the vajrasana style, which is completely different from that of the stupas described earlier. Pagodas of the vajrasana style also appeared in China. The earliest images of this kind of pagoda are in a mural in Cave No. 285 of the Mogao Grottoes at Dunhuang, a work of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581), and a small stone sculpture preserved in Chongfu Temple in Shuoxian County, Shanxi Province, believed to have been made in 454. The Dunhuang mural shows a square platform on which stand five pagodas; the one in the middle is much bigger and more spectacular than the ones at the four comers. Each of the five pagodas has seven storeys with a precious bead on top. Another small stone sculpture, made in 455 and found at the old site of Chongfu Temple, and a similar one made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and found in Nanchan Temple on Mount Wutai also bear this style, but the Vajrasana in the mural at Dunhuang more closely resembles existing structures than the small stone sculptures at Chongfu Temple.
4 Types of Chinese Architecture That You Need to Know
The Chinese have used the same architectural model for their imperial and religious buildings for more than two thousand years. It consists of three elements: a platform, a framework of pillars and beams, and non-load-bearing walls.
The buildings usually incorporate the main gate, rectangular enclosures or courtyards, and a series of pavilions arranged in a line and facing north. Almost all buildings were constructed of wood, but due to vulnerability to fire very few survive; the oldest date from the Tang period. Here are some representative Chinese architectures.
Pavilions
The structure of the pavilions is always the same. They consist of a platform of rammed earth or stone and a grid of wooden pillars. The front part always incorporates an odd number of intercolumns. The meeting of pillars and beams is fixed with brackets (dougong), which support the structure and allow for overhanging roofs. The wood is lacquered in intense tones, and the roofs are curved, of tile or thatch.
Plant building and plant pavilion
Even before pagodas, multi-storey buildings (lou) were built in China, ranging from two-storey private residences to towering gazebos. The plant pavilions (ge) were used for storage and had only doors and windows at the front. These buildings incorporated the usual three elements: base, pillars, and non-load-bearing walls. Plant pavilions were used to store important items, such as libraries of Buddhist sutras or colossal statues like Puning Si in Chengde.
Pagoda
The pagoda or ta is inspired by the Indian stupa and began to develop with the advent of Buddhism in the 1st century AD. Pagodas, with their multiple storeys, were often erected in Buddhist temple complexes (later built outside of them), with the purpose of housing a religious statue.
They were made of brick, stone or wood. The pagoda, an archetypal element of Chinese architecture, originated as a concept and form in India from the Buddhist stupa. But Chinese architectural traditions and styles were soon incorporated into pagodas as well, as can be seen in the pillar pagodas of the Yungang caves, with their multiple heights. Over 1,500 years, pagodas developed an incredible variety of forms, from pillars to flattened tombs to tall multi-story towers.
They were built of stone, brick, or wood and could be square or multi-sided. When they became typical Chinese buildings, their function changed slightly. Their central role in the temple was taken over by the much more functional pavilion. The feng shui provided the construction of pagodas without temples in the mountains on the outskirts of the cities or next to the rivers, to bring good luck or to avoid floods. The Hindu stupa was a symbolic tomb and receptacle for Buddhist relics that inspired the birth of the Chinese pagoda. But the stupa did not gain strength until the 13th century, when the Yuan imported Tibetan Buddhist stupas (also known as dagobas) and made this architecture popular for later dynasties.
The Dali pagoda is a beautiful example of a pagoda with closely spaced stone eaves. It is square in plan and has a top in the shape of a lotus flower bud. The wooden pagoda of the Fogong Si of Yingxian is one of the most delicate remains. This octagonal building dates from 1056 and is called Sakyamuni pagoda.
Ornamental arch
The pailou or paifang is an arch of wood, brick or stone, sometimes tiled with glazed tiles. It is often inscribed with information about its construction. Pailou were erected at crossroads, temples, bridges, government offices, parks, and tombs.
Defensive walls
The first walls were made of earth, which was crushed and hardened with mallets or moistened to obtain mud and pressed against reed mats. Later brick was used. City walls were usually square, with the main gate to the south. The word for city, cheng, also means wall. Pingyao wall, made of rammed earth and brick and 10 meters high, towers and rampart provided an effective defense. It dates from the Ming period, but part of it has collapsed recently.
Architectural details
The interpretation of detail in Chinese architecture is very interesting. The use of yellow tiles, for example, was reserved for the emperor. The Nine Dragons, present in the Forbidden City and elsewhere, are also imperial: the dragon is a symbol of yang, the masculine principle, and by extension, the emperor.
The chiwen, a bird capable of extinguishing fire with water, appears on the ends of the roofs as protection against fire. The bracket (dougong) transmits the weight of the roof to the pillar. It is a complex constructive and ornamental element that does not carry nails. It fixes the structure of tall buildings, such as the Yellow Crane Pavilion in Wuhan.
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Pagoda, originally meant tomb in Sanskrit, refers to the place where the ashes of ancient Indian monks were buried after their death. It originated in India and was brought into China along with Buddhism in the Han Dynasty. Nowadays, such ancient architecture is still widely respected by the Buddhist disciples and praised as an outstanding architectural form from ancient China.
Origin of Chinese Pagoda
Around the 1st century, the Indian stupa was introduced into China. To better suit the Chinese aesthetics, ancient Chinese people integrated the original stupa styles with the traditional pavilions and attics, creating the pagoda with multiple floors and a nine-layer tower spire.
Chinese Pagoda vs. Indian Pagoda
Like the Chinese, the Indians also believed in the idea of a round heaven and square ground.
Therefore, the semi-circular stupa represented the Buddhist cosmology. When the stupa was brought into China, ancient Chinese people created the round top with square-shaped attics at the bottom functioning as supporters. Not only that, but Chinese people also imposed the humanized content on Buddhism. They built temples together with pagodas. Therefore, where there is a pagoda, there is a temple. Inside the temple, divine halls were built to offer sacrifices to Buddhas along with the pagoda. For instance, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda became an elegant building that attracted numerous scholars to visit. The Six Harmonious Pagoda nearby the Qiantang River has become the beacon for the riverboat at night. While the pagoda inside the Kaiyuan Temple in Hebei province also served as a spot for military observation. The Guojie Tower of Juyongguan Great Wall also functions as a pedestrian passway. In some places, pagodas were built to drive away evil spirits. In various ways, Chinese people changed the mysterious and untouchable Indian stupas to something practical. Therefore, the Chinese pagoda is a human building.
Number Culture of Pagoda
One of the outstanding characteristics of Chinese pagoda is the pagoda roof.
No matter the Dense-eave Pagodas, Pavilion Style Pagodas, or the Fengshui Pagodas, the floors of the pagodas are in an odd number, like one layer, three layers, five layers, or more. It’s sporadic to have a pagoda that has an even number of layers in its roof. In contrast, the pagoda level can be in square, hexagon, octagon, or dodecagon. There is no pagoda level with odd-numbered sides. Besides the structural reasons, such design was meant to echo the traditional cosmology of Yin and Yang. Ancient Chinese people granted the numbers with philosophical significance, like the odd numbers represent heaven, and they are Yang, and the even numbers represent the ground, and they are Yin. Heaven is round and high; therefore, odd numbers must be used. While the ground is square and low, even numbers must be used.
From the perspective of Buddhism interpretation, the four sides of the pagoda symbolize the Four Noble Truths, the six sides represent the Cycle Through the Six Worlds, eight sides symbolize the Eight Phases of Enlightenment, and the twelve sides mean the Twelve-linked Causal Formula. While the odd numbers of layers represent the innocence and sublimity in Buddhism.
The Big Wild Goose Pagoda was first built in 652 AD to store the
scriptures brought back by monk Xuan Zang from India. With a height of 64 meters and seven stories, the pagoda is a wood-and-brick structure without cement. Inside the pagoda, there are stairs from which people can climb to the top of the pagoda and have a bird’s eye view of the surroundings. There are four stone doors on all sides at the bottom of the pagoda and exquisitely engraved Buddha statues on the door lintels. In contrast, the Dharma Preaching Paintings on the western lintel contain the temple buildings in the Tang Dynasty, which became an essential material for studying architecture at that time.
2.Yingxian Wooden Pagoda in Shanxi
The Wooden Pagoda in Yingxian, Shanxi, is the oldest and largest
wooden pagoda in the world. Built in 1056 (Liao Dynasty), the pagoda is 67.13m in height, 30m in diameter at the bottom, and has five layers and six eaves. The pagoda plane is octagonal. The whole pagoda was applied with 54 different kinds of brackets, which makes it the representative pavilion-style pagoda with the most brackets. These brackets are so firm that the pagoda has stood upright for 900 years and survived multiple times of earthquakes.
3.Six Harmonious Pagoda in Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Situated in Yuelun Mountain by the Qiantang River in Hangzhou,
the Six Harmonious Pagoda is a Song-era pagoda. It’s an octagonal pagoda with 59.89m in height. The exterior of the pagoda has 13 floors, while the interior has seven floors. There are stairs inside so people can walk to the pagoda top. The exquisite images of brick carvings on the Sumeru seat like the flying fairies, musicians, sea pomegranates, lotus, phoenixes, lions, unicorns, and cloud patterns are valuable materials in studying the decorations from the Southern Song Dynasty.
4.Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in Dali, Yunnan
Located in front of the Chongsheng Temple in Dali, Yunnan,
the Three Pagodas are standing in a triangle shape. The big pagoda in the middle is named the Qianxun Pagoda; it’s a hollow brick pagoda in dense-eave style. The entire pagoda is 69.13m and has 16 floors. Each floor is carved with stone Buddha statues. The smaller pagodas on both sides of the big pagoda are 42.19m in height, and both of them are 10-layer octagonal solid brick pagodas with a layer of white mudskin on the pagoda body. Inside the pagodas, there are over 600 pieces of relics from Nanzhao (738 – 902) and Dali States (937-1094) Periods.
5.Iron Tower in Kaifeng, Henan
Formerly known as Kaibao Temple Tower, the Iron Tower is built in 1049 (northern Song Dynasty). It’s famous for its outstanding use of traditional wooden structures. The whole tower is 55.88 meters in height and covered with colorful glazed bricks, on which a dozen kinds of patterns and images are carved. Meanwhile, the exterior glazed bricks are all in brown color, and they are very solid. Therefore, people call the tower the Iron Tower.
6.Tiger Hill Pagoda in Suzhou, Zhejiang
Tiger Hill Pagoda is first built in 601 (Sui Dynasty) and restored in the early Song Dynasty. It’s 47.5 meters high, about 6000t in weight. There are seven floors, and the pagoda plane is octangular. Due to the foundation problems, the Tiger Hill Pagoda has been titled northwest for 2°40′ degrees since the Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). Therefore, the Tiger Hill Pagoda is regarded as the oriental Leaning Tower of Pisa.
7.Songyue Temple Pagoda
First built in 523 (Northern Wei Dynasty), Songyue Temple Pagoda is the earliest brick pagoda in existence and the only dodecagonal pagoda in China. The pagoda plane is almost circular, and the pagoda body is divided into upper and lower parts, which is very similar to the Indian stupa. Therefore, the Songyue Temple Pagoda is regarded as a representation of the early dense-eave pagoda. The whole pagoda is made from small thin bricks and mud. It’s quite a miracle that the pagoda can stand upright for 1400 years.
8.Zhenfeng Pagoda in Anqing, Anhui
Standing inside the Yingjiang Temple nearby the Yangtze River,
the Zhenfeng Pagoda is built in Ming Dynasty (1368 – 1644). It’s a pavilion-style octagonal pagoda in a masonry structure. The entire pagoda is 60.86m in height, and it has seven floors. It’s said that the pagoda was built to rejuvenate the literary culture in Anqing. Before the Ming Dynasty, there were no famous scholars from Anqing. After observing the geography in Anqing, some astrologists believed that the lack of scholars lies in the nearby Yangtze River. A pagoda must be built to control it and retain scholars. The story itself is absurd; what interesting was that after the building of Zhenfeng Pagoda, some famous ministers and scholars like Fang Yizhi, Zhang Ying, Zhang Tingyu, Zhao Wenkai, and others did emerge in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
9.Leifeng Pagoda in Hangzhou, Zhejiang
Located on the Xizhao Mountain on the south bank of the West Lake,
the Leifeng Pagoda was built by the King Zhongyi of Wuyue State (907-978); his concubine had a son. It’s an octagonal pagoda in pavilion style and has five floors. According to the folklore Tale of the White Snake, this pagoda used to contain the Madam White Snake after she was defeated by the monk Fahai until the pagoda fell. Therefore, some people believed that Leifeng Pagoda has the power to control supernatural things. The fact is that the old Leifeng Pagoda collapsed in 1924. The one people see today is a replica of the original pagoda.
10.Lingguang Pagoda in Changbai, Jilin
Lingguang Pagoda is located on the southwest side of Changbai County,
Jilin. Built in Bohai State (698 – 926) of the Tang Dynasty, the pagoda is the oldest brick pagoda in northeast China and a representative relic from Bohai State. The whole pagoda is in pavilion style, and it is 12.86m in height and has five layers. The decorative bricks, the characteristic windows, and the underground palaces are valuable materials for studying the relationship between Bohai State (698-926) and Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Performing Center in a Vertical Rise: Multilevel Pagodas in China’s Middle Period
Round Heaven and Square Earth, Unity of Pagoda and Statuary— A Study on the Geometric Proportions of Space and Statues inside the Timber Pagoda in Ying County[J].
Nan Wang received his Bachelor of Architecture at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University in 2001 and his Ph.D. in the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University in 2008, studying under Professor Wu Liangyong. Since 2009, he has been a lecturer at Tsinghua University, teaching architectural and urban design courses. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute of The Forbidden City in Beijing since 2019. His main research interests are the history and proportions of traditional Chinese architecture. His most important academic books are Rules of Square and Circle, Harmony of Heaven and Earth: A Research on the Proportions of Chinese Traditional Capital Cities and Architectures (2018), The Traditional Architecture of Beijing (2016), and Ancient Capital City Beijing (2012). Since 2013, Nan Wang has published nine volumes of the series of “Epic of Architecture” in Duku, a famous Chinese magazine on arts and humanities, including “The Pantheon,” “Tombs of Han Dynasty,” “Pagodas and Grottoes Coming to the East, “Stone Remains of the Six Dynasties, “Golden Heaven, “Dreams back to Tang Dynasty,” “Sacred Monasteries,” ”Mysterious Book of Ying Zao,” and “Structure of Wood and Spirit of Zen.”
Nan Wang 王南 received his Bachelor of Architecture at the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University in 2001 and his Ph.D. in the School of Architecture, Tsinghua University in 2008, studying under Professor Wu Liangyong. Since 2009, he has been a lecturer at Tsinghua University, teaching architectural and urban design courses. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Institute of The Forbidden City in Beijing since 2019. His main research interests are the history and proportions of traditional Chinese architecture. His most important academic books are 《規矩方圓天地之和 – 中國古代都城，建築群與單體建築之構圖比例研究》 (Rules of Square and Circle, Harmony of Heaven and Earth: A Research on the Proportions of Chinese Traditional Capital Cities and Architectures), 2018, 《北京古建築地圖》 (The Traditional Architecture of Beijing), 2016, and 《古都北京》 (Ancient Capital City Beijing), 2012. Since 2013, Nan Wang has published nine volumes of the series of 建築史詩 (Epic of Architecture) in Duku, a famous Chinese magazine on arts and humanities, including 《萬神殿堂》 (The Pantheon), 《漢家陵闕》(Tombs of Han Dynasty), 《塔窟東來》(Pagodas and Grottoes Coming to the East), 《六朝遺石》(Stone Remains of the Six Dynasties), 《金色天國》 (Golden Heaven), 《夢迴唐朝》 (Dreams back to Tang Dynasty), 《修道聖所》(Sacred Monasteries), 《營造天書》(Mysterious Book of Ying Zao), and 《木骨禪心》(Structure of Wood and Spirit of Zen).
An Infinity of Stupas: Types of Chinese Buddhist Pagodas
浮图万千：中国古代佛塔三讲
#1 Multi-storied 独上高楼 #2 Multi-eaved and Flower-shaped 密檐如华 #3 Bottle-shaped and Vajra-based 梵藏壇城
WANG Nan 王南 Ph.D., Lecturer School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing Visiting Professor Institute of The Forbidden City, Beijing Visiting Scholar Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University
To See the Three Thousand Worlds in a Single Thought Moment (yi-nian san-qian 一念三千)
Three Truths (san-di 三諦)
The One Vehicle (eka-yāna; yisheng 一乘) and Buddha Nature (tathāgata-garbha; rulai zang 如來藏)
Five Times and Eight Teachings (wushi bajiao 五時八教)
Tiantai Buddhism
Source: From Tiantai to Hiei: Transborder and Transcultural Spread of Tiantai/Chontae/Tendai/ Buddhism & East Asian Societies
It would be difficult to find a more influential Chinese Buddhist monk than Tiantai Zhiyi 天台智顗 (538-597). He wrote a seminal treatise about Indian Buddhist meditation practices (e.g., Great Treatise on Concentration (śamatha) and Insight (vipśayanā), Mohe zhiguan 摩訶止觀), advocated for classifying the teachings (panjiao 判教) of the historical Buddha Śākyamuni into the five periods and eight teachings, and he wrote or monumental commentaries to three key Mahāyāna sūtras are attributed to him. These sūtras include the Lotus (Fahua xuanyi 法華玄義 and Fahua wenju 法華文句), Suvarṇabhāsottama (Jinguangming jing xuanyi 金光明經玄義 and Jingguangming jing wenju金光明經文句), and Vimalakīrtinirdeśa (Weimo jing xuanshu 維摩經玄疏 and Weimo jing wenshu 維摩經文疏). Furthermore, by the 9thcentury the temple on Mount Tiantai in present day Zhejiang province which legend says was commissioned immediately after his death by emperor Sui Wendi 隋文帝 (r. 581-604), Guoqing monastery 國清寺, had become the focus of pilgrimage by monks from Japan and Korea. Pilgrims including Saichō 最澄 (767-822), Ennin 圓仁 (794-864), and Enchin 圓珍 (814-191) returned with Zhiyi’s teachings and those from their contemporaries at Guoqing si to establish two of the most enduring monastic institutions in Japan: Enryakuji 延暦寺 on Mount Hiei 比叡山 and Onjōji 園城寺 (alt. Miidera 三井寺).The organizing committee for the international conference on “Tiantai Buddhism and East Asian Societies” cordially invites the submission of related papers. The conference is hosted by the Center for Buddhist Studies at Peking University 北京大學佛教研究中心 in Beijing, China, sponsored by the Cultural Exchange Center of Mount Tiantai 天台山文化交流中心, and co-organized by the From the Ground Up project based at the University of British Columbia (www.frogbear.org). The conference will be held between December 6 and 8, 2019 at Peking University.
Compared with other Buddhist traditions in East Asia, Tiantai/ Chontae/Tendai seems to have maintained particularly intensive and extensive engagement in doctrinal debates, resulting in the increasing deepening and widening of Buddhist teachings and practices as shown, among others, by the rare documents known as “Tōketsu” 唐決 (Authorizing Answers from Tang China). These documents amply demonstrate the multi-directional nature of the impacts between East Asian Buddhist communities and broach the extent to which Chinese Tiantai Buddhist scholiasts were influenced by their counterparts in Korea and Japan.
Tiantai adherents revolutionized the ritual life of Buddhism across China during the 10th and 11th centuries when the Jiangnan 江南 region remained a vibrant crossroads for monastics from across East Asia; Uicheon 義天 (1055-1101) traveled to Song China from Goryeo 高麗 Korea to meet eminent Tiantai and Huayan 華嚴 teachers. For nearly a millennium thereafter, monastics from the Tiantai or Tendai or Chontae traditions in China, Japan, and Korea interacted with members of other Buddhist traditions (esp. Vinaya, Chan, Huayan, or Esoteric Buddhism) and beyond to fundamentally shape religion in East Asia.
This conference seeks to address how Tiantai Buddhism spread throughout East Asia, and to explore how Tiantai teachings and teachers contributed to the multi-dimensional and multi-directional circulation of book culture in East Asia. In particular, we seek to investigate how Tiantai texts were exported from China to the rest of East Asia, and conversely how their re-importation back into China, especially from the Korean peninsula and Japan, transformed not only the intellectual history of East Asian Buddhism, but also how the trade in specifically Tiantai books—not necessarily Buddhist—can be an innovative lens through which to examine the social, economic, institutional, and religious life of East Asia.
Source: Tiantai Buddhism in China
A monk named Zhiyi (538-597; also spelled Chih-i) founded Tiantai and developed most of its doctrines, although the school considers Zhiyi to be either its third or fourth patriarch, not the first. Nagarjuna is sometimes considered the first patriarch. A monk named Huiwen (550–577), who may have first proposed the Three Truths doctrine, is sometimes considered the first patriarch and sometimes the second, after Nagarjuna. The next patriarch is Huiwen’s student Huisi (515-577), who was the teacher of Zhiyi.
Zhiyi’s school is named for Mount Tiantai, which is located in what is now the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang. The Guoqing Temple on Mount Tiantai, probably built shortly after Zhiyi’s death, has served as the “home” temple of Tendai through the centuries, although today it is mostly a tourist attraction.
After Zhiyi, Tiantai’s most prominent patriarch was Zhanran (711-782), who further developed Zhiyi’s work and also raised the profile of Tiantai in China. The Japanese monk Saicho (767-822) came to Mount Tiantai to study. Saicho established Tiantai Buddhism in Japan as Tendai, which for a time was the dominant school of Buddhism in Japan.
In 845 the Tang Dynasty Emperor Wuzong ordered all “foreign” religions in China, which included Buddhism, to be eliminated. Guoqing Temple was destroyed, along with its library and manuscripts, and the monks scattered. However, Tiantai did not become extinct in China. In time, with the help of Korean disciples, Guoqing was rebuilt and copies of essential texts were returned to the mountain.
Source: Tiantai Buddhism / SEP
In this article, the term “Tiantai” will be used to refer to the philosophical ideas developed from the sixth to eleventh centuries by this school, as expounded in the writings of its three most representative figures: Tiantai Zhiyi (538–597), Jingxi Zhanran (711–782) and Siming Zhili (960–1028).
Source: Tiantai / China Connect University
Source: Tiantai / China Connect University
Source: Tiantai / China Connect University
Source: The Ten Worlds of Tiantai Zhiyi within Atiśa’s Stages of the Path.
Source: The Ten Worlds of Tiantai Zhiyi within Atiśa’s Stages of the Path.
Source: Tiantai School
TIANTAI SCHOOL
Often described as the first genuinely Sinitic school of Buddhism, the Tiantai school traces its ancestry back to NĀgĀrjuna (ca. second century c.e.) in India, not by any direct transmission but through the reading of translated texts by its proto-patriarchs, Huiwen (Beiqi zunzhe, mid-sixth century) and Huisi (Nanyue chanshi, 515–577). Very little is known of these two figures. Huiwen in particular is little more than a shadowy presence; traditional biographies report that he was active during China’s Northern Qi dynasty (550–577), stressed strict meditation practice, and initiated the characteristic Tiantai emphasis on triplicity. In particular, Huiwen is reported to have emphasized the “simultaneity of the three contemplations,” namely, the contemplation of each object as emptiness, provisional positing, and the “mean,” as derived from a strong misreading of works attributed to Nagarjuna. Huisi, on the other hand, authored several extant texts, and is credited with combining Huiwen’s “three contemplations” with the teaching of the Lotus SŪtra (SaddharmapuṆḌarĪkasŪtra), to which Huisi was especially devoted. This combination proved to be explosive.
Huisi interpreted the lotus from the title of this sūtra as a metaphor suggesting a special relationship between cause and effect, or practice and enlightenment. The lotus, he noted, is unusual in that it gives no flower without producing a fruit, that the fruit is concealed and copresent in the flower, and a single flower produces many fruits. This suggests that every practice leads to many different results, which are copresent in the practice, and yet unrevealed; every practice, even those that show no orientation toward buddhahood, lead to and are copresent with buddhahood. The translation of the Lotus Sūtra by KumĀrajĪva (350–409/413 c.e.) characterizes “the ultimate reality” (literally, “real mark”) “of all dharmas” in terms of “ten suchnesses” (literally, ten like-this’s). They are:
like-this (suchlike) appearance
nature
substance
power
activity
cause
condition
effect
response
equality of ultimacy from beginning to end.
Huisi developed a special reading of this passage, facilitated by the peculiarity of the Chinese translation, where each phrase referred to every element of experience simultaneously as “empty,” in addition to its literal reference to each as provisionally posited, referring to each specific differentiated aspect (i.e., appearance, nature, etc.). In Zhiyi’s exfoliation of this interpretative move, each was also understood as the “mean.” This bold hermeneutic approach and its threefold implication formed the basis for what would develop into the distinctive Tiantai conception of “the ultimate reality of/as all dharmas.”
The de facto founder of the school, from whose part-time residence—Mount Tiantai in modern Zhejiang—the school gets its name, is Zhiyi (Tiantai Zhizhe dashi, 538–597). It was Zhiyi’s numerous and voluminous works, most of which were transcribed by his disciple Guanding (Zhangan dashi, 561–632) from Zhiyi’s lectures, that become authoritative for all later Tiantai tradition.
Provisional and ultimate truth: The Lotus Sūtra and the classification of teachings
Zhiyi constructed a vast syncretic system of MahĀyĀna thought and practice that aimed at giving a comprehensive overview of all of Buddhism and that found a place for all known modes of practice and doctrine. Confronted with the massive influx of Mahāyāna texts translated into Chinese, many of which directly contradicted one another in matters of both doctrine and practice, Zhiyi was faced with the challenge of accommodating the claim that all these texts represented the authoritative teaching of the Buddha. The solution he arrived at can be described as an insight into the interconnection between two central Mahāyāna doctrines: the concept of upĀya (skillful means), particularly as presented in the Lotus Sūtra, and the concept of ŚŪnyatĀ (emptiness), particularly as developed in the Madhyamaka school. From the synthesis of these ideas, Zhiyi developed a distinctive understanding of the buddha-nature, rooted especially in the universalist exposition given in the NirvĀṆa SŪtra, and the identity between delusion and enlightenment as invoked in the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa and other sūtras, which entailed a reconfiguring of both upāya and śūnyatā as they had been understood in earlier Mahāyāna Buddhism.
The Lotus Sūtra asserts that the śrāvakas (HĪnayĀna disciples), who had hitherto been regarded as having no aspiration toward bodhisattvahood or buddhahood—indeed, as having explicitly repudiated these goals—are in fact bodhisattvas currently working toward buddhahood, although they are unaware of the real efficacy of their current practice. The text develops the idea that it is possible to be a bodhisattva without realizing it into a claim that in fact all Buddhist disciples are really bodhisattvas, and all who hear the Lotus teaching will finally attain buddhahood. Indeed, it is said in the text that no sentient being really knows what he or she is practicing, what the ultimate karmic efficacy of his or her deeds and cognitions is, nor what his or her own real identity is. Only buddhas know these things, and the real efficacy of all their deeds as thus known by the buddhas is that these deeds allow these beings eventually to become buddhas themselves. The non-bodhisattva practices and teachings are all skillful means provided by the Buddha, sometimes requiring an ignorance of the final goal in order to have efficacy toward reaching that goal. This is the teaching of the first half of the sūtra, which Zhiyi calls the “trace gate.” Another wrinkle is given in the second half of the sūtra, which Zhiyi calls the “root gate.” Here it is claimed that Śākyamuni Buddha did not attain buddhahood at Bodh GayĀ, but had actually been and would continue to be a buddha for countless eons, in spite of his apparent imminent decease. The implication is that while practicing the bodhisattva path, he was in fact already a buddha (leaving ambiguous his own degree of awareness of this fact at the time), and that being a buddha does not mean a transcendence of engagement in the intersubjective work of liberating sentient beings, but the mastering of all possible skillful means by which to accomplish this task, and a ceaseless indefatigable endeavor to do so.
Taken together then, the two halves of the sūtra suggest that all beings are bodhisattvas, and all bodhisattvas are buddhas. And yet this is only so if the division between them, the opacity and ignorance that keeps them from collapsing these identities, remains intact, just as the upāyas work only as long as they are not known as such. This means that the intersubjective liberative relationship between buddhas and sentient beings is primary and always operative, whichever role one may seem to be playing at any time. To be is to be intersubjective, and each being is always both liberating and being liberated by all others, even while also creating karma (action) and duḤkha (suffering). Ontology is here made soteriological: All existence is instructive and revelatory, and can be read as a salvational device put forth by a buddha to liberate sentient beings.
The relation between illusion and reality is thus reconfigured as the relation between provisional and ultimate truth in the Buddha’s teaching. Zhiyi characterizes the Lotus teaching as the “opening of the provisional to reveal the real” (kaiquan xianshi), allowing one to see the provisional truths as both a means to and an expression of the ultimate truth. Provisional and ultimate truth are nondual, even while maintaining their strict opposition. Their relation is similar to that between the set-up and punch line of a joke; the punch line is funny only because the set-up was not, but once the punch line is understood, the set-up too is seen to have always been pervaded with the quality of humorousness, precisely by being contrastingly nonhumorous. On the basis of this doctrine, Zhiyi established a comprehensive system of “classification of teachings,” which categorizes all Buddhist teachings as expressions of ultimate truth tailored to specific circumstances and listeners.
The Madhyamaka doctrine of “two truths” can be understood as asserting that ultimate truth is somehow more real than conventional truth, and indeed that while conventional truth covers both common language (i.e., the everyday use of terms like I, you, cause, effect, and the like) and verbal Buddhist teachings, the metaphysical claims of rival schools (i.e., attempts to make rigorous ultimate truths of causality, selfhood, a first cause, and so on) are not even conventional truth, but are simply falsehoods and errors. Zhiyi reinterprets the Madhyamaka position as implying the “three truths”: emptiness, provisional positing, and the mean, which includes both and signifies their synonymy. The relation between these three is understood on the model of the Lotus Sūtra‘s doctrine of “opening the provisional to reveal the real,” which annuls any hierarchy between conventional and ultimate truth, and also expands conventional truth so as to include any provisionally posited assertion or cognition without exception. Zhiyi’s claim is that these three aspects are not only on precisely equal footing and of equal ultimacy, but that each is in fact simply a way of stating the other two; the three are synonymous.
The three truths and the doctrine of inherent entailment
The reasoning behind the three truths doctrine follows the traditional Buddhist doctrine of pratĪtyasamutpĀda (dependent origination), which holds that every element of experience necessarily appears “together with” other elements, which it depends upon for its existence and determinate character. These other, conditioning, elements, of course, also gain their determinate character only through their dependence on still other elements that simultaneously condition them. But it was this determinate character that was supposed to serve as a determining ground for the first element. If the determiner is not determinate, the determined also fails to be determined. Hence each element is coherent only locally, in relation to a limited set of these conditions; when all of its conditions—including contexts, components, and precedents—are considered, its coherence vanishes. There arises, then, no unambiguous particular element or entity with a univocally decidable nature. Precisely because all are determined in dependence on conditions, they are simultaneously without a fixed, determinate identity. This is the meaning of emptiness.
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Elements of experience are normally taken to have definitive identities, to be determinate, to be finite, to have “simple location,” and to have borders or boundaries between themselves and what is outside themselves. Tiantai meditation, however, calls for an inquiry into the borders between being X and not being X, either in time, space, or conceptual space (i.e., the arising of a given state from its qualitatively different antecedents, conceptual contrasts, or efficient causes). To appear in experience at all, X must be “non-all,” must be contrasted to some non-X, and must have an “outside.” But to necessarily have an outside means the outside is not really outside; the relation between the internal and the external is itself internal. One can always ask: Is the border (spatial, temporal, or conceptual) part of the inside or the outside, both, or neither? There is no coherent way to answer these questions if to exist is assumed to mean “simply located.” Hence, the interface always proves unintelligible, and the outside proves paradoxically both ineradicable and impossible, since it always proves to be equally internal, and hence not an outside at all. Therefore, the inside (X) is equally ineradicable and impossible (bukede, bukeshe). Like space, each determinate existent is simultaneously a merely nominal reality, is unobstructed and unobstructing, is beyond being and nonbeing, and is all-pervasive, present equally in the opposite of itself, in contrast to which it was originally defined. Precisely the same analysis applies to the difference between those defining borders that “determine as X” and those that “determine as Y,” which is why Zhiyi goes on to assert that to be determined as X is always at the same time to be determined as Y, and all other possible quiddities.
In sum, what is only locally coherent is thereby globally incoherent. It is what it is only because the horizon of relevant contexts has been arbitrarily limited, but the fact that all being is necessarily contextualized (arises with qualitative othernesses) means that any such limit is ultimately arbitrary, and there are more relevant contexts that can be brought to bear in every case. The “mean” signifies that these two are merely alternate statements of the same fact, which necessarily appears in these two contrasted ways. Determinateness, thought through to the end, turns out to be ambiguity, and vice versa. Hence, ambiguity and determinateness are no longer “other” to one another, and each is itself, just as it is, “absolute” (i.e., free of dependence on a relationship to an outside). Therefore, determinateness is a synonym for ambiguity, and either is a synonym for absoluteness (the ultimate reality and value, “eternal, blissful, self, and pure”). Any of these always signifies all three aspects. Moreover, determinateness is never simply “determinateness as such or in general”: It always means precisely this determinateness and precisely all other possible determinateness, which Zhiyi formulates for convenience as “the three thousand quiddities.” Any possible experienced content is necessarily dependently co-arisen, which is to be provisionally posited as precisely this (like-this appearance, etc.), which is to be empty, which is to be readable equally as provisional positing and as emptiness, which is to be readable as precisely every other possible determinacy.
It is from the “mean” that the Zhiyi deduces the claim that all things are everywhere at once. For if to be definitively X and not definitively X are merely alternate ways of stating the same fact about X, the contrast between the absence and presence of X is annulled, and X is no more present here and now than it is present there and then. It is “simply located” at neither locus, but “virtually located” at both. It pervades all possible times and places to exactly the extent that it is present here at all. It can be read into any experience, and is here and now only because it has been so read into the here and now. X, in other words, is eternal and omnipresent, but only as “canceled,” divested of the putative opacity of its simple location.
As an exfoliation of these claims, Zhiyi develops his theory of “the three thousand quiddities in each moment of experience,” which implies the interinclusion of the ten realms of sentient experience: purgatories, hungry ghosts, asuras, animals, humans, devas, śrāvakas, pratyekabuddhas, bodhisattvas, and buddhas. Each realm is a process of causes and effects that inherently entails all the other realms. Each of these realms can at each moment be characterized by the ten “suchnesses” from the Lotus Sūtra. All of these may be understood either in terms of the sentient beings experiencing these realms, the environment conditioning these beings, or these beings considered in terms of their components. Ten realms, each including all the others, makes one hundred; multiplied by the ten suchnesses, one gets one thousand, and multiplied by the three aspects, three thousand. Zhiyi asserts that all of these qualities, which indicate not merely all things as considered from a single perspective, but all processes as simultaneously understood from the perspectives of all the cognitive misperceptions of all sentient beings, are inherently entailed in each moment of experience undergone by any sentient being at any time.
The three tracks and buddha-nature
The three truths are a name for the ultimate reality of all dharmas, or the ultimate reality as all dharmas, since to be is to be determinate as just these particular things, in their ambiguity and conditioning relationships. From various perspectives, the three truths can be renamed as a number of other triads, all of which maintain the same relation of interpervasive identity as difference. Zhiyi calls these parallel triads the “three tracks,” which he characterizes as:
the track of contemplation and awareness (corresponding to emptiness)
the track of conditions for actualization or practice (provisional positing)
the track of the real nature or the absolute as such (the mean)
The triads belonging to these tracks include the three buddha-natures:
buddha-nature as manifesting cause (the awareness that allows the omnipresent buddha-nature to be made manifest)
buddha-nature as conditioning cause (practical and physical conditions that make this awareness possible)
buddha-nature as proper cause (the omnipresent absolute reality to be realized)
but also the three virtues of nirvĀṆa:
prajñā (wisdom)
liberation
dharmakayā
and the three paths:
kleśa (delusion)
karma (activity as cause of suffering)
duḥkha (suffering)
Since all these triads are merely alternate names for the three truths and bear the same internally interinclusive relationship derived from the relation of upāyato ultimate truth, one arrives at the identity between delusion and wisdom, karma and liberation, dharmakāya and suffering. Each of these is eternal and omnipresent, always present in every possible quiddity. In addition, there is the identity between each of these as actualized realities and as potentials, between the virtues of nirvāṇa and the buddha-nature as potential, between buddha-nature and delusion-karma-suffering, and so on. These paradoxical identities between oppositely valued realities come to be the distinctive mark of the Tiantai school, culminating in its unique doctrine of “the evil inherent in the buddha-nature,” the perfect interpervasion of delusion and enlightenment.
Zhanran and the buddha-nature of insentient beings
The Tiantai school fell into decline in the Tang dynasty (618–907), losing its imperial patronage and dominant influence to the newly arisen Huayan school and Chan school. Zhanran (Jingxi zunzhe, 711–782) is credited with revitalizing the tradition, meeting the challenges of the new schools and consolidating and reorganizing Tiantai doctrine. The bulk of his writings concentrate on detailed commentaries to Zhiyi’s works, but he is also responsible for adopting and adapting Huayan terminology into Tiantai doctrine while reasserting the distinctiveness of the Tiantai school, particularly noting the uniqueness of its doctrine of the evil inherent in the buddha-nature.
In his work Jin’gangbei (Diamond Scalpel), his only noncommentarial composition, Zhanran makes a frontal attack on the Huayan and early Chan doctrine that views the buddha-nature as an aspect of sentience, reasserting the Tiantai view that the buddha-nature is necessarily threefold from beginning to end, omnipresent in all three aspects, and impossible to restrict to sentient beings only. In fact, the threefold buddha-nature is another name for the three truths, which are the reality of any content of experience whatsoever, mind or matter, sentient or insentient. To be any one among them is to be all of them, so there can be no division of buddha-nature as the unconditioned essence of sentience and awareness as opposed to the passive inertness of insentient beings. Whenever one being attains buddhahood, all beings are buddha; whenever one entity is insentient, all beings are insentient. This is the interpervasion of all realms as understood in a Tiantai perspective; all possible predicates are always applicable to all possible beings.
The Song dynasty (960–1279) schism
Zhanran had imported certain formulations from Huayan thought into his teaching, most notably an interpretation of mind-only doctrine not found in Zhiyi, including the phrase “unchanging but following conditions, following conditions but unchanging,” as a characterization of the mind and its nature, respectively, as derived from the Huayan patriarch Fazang (643–712). In the Northern Song dynasty, some Tiantai writers later called the Shanwai (i.e., “off-mountain,” or heterodox) began to adopt the privileging of “awareness” (zhi), or mind, that characterizes later Huayan and early Chan thought. Even in Fazang a similar tendency is arguably discernible. Here the mind in its present function is a transcendent category that produces all phenomena, and of which all phenomena are transformations; the mind is in this sense at least conceptually prior to these phenomena, and is their ontological base, although it is not a definite objective entity. Realizing this all-pervasive awareness as all things is equivalent to awakening, and so this mind is also called “ultimate reality.” Praxishere means to see “the three thousand quiddities” as this present moment of mind, which is the transformation of mind, with nothing left out. Mind is the all-embracing “whole” that is uniquely capable of producing, determining, containing, and unifying all differentiated existences.
Zhili (Siming Fazhi fashi, 960–1028) led an attack on this interpretation of Tiantai thought, developing a position that was later called the Shanjia (Mountain Masters, or orthodox) position. Zhili holds fast to the traditional Tiantai interpretation of the claim in the Huayan jing (Sanskrit, Avataṃsaka-sūtra) that “there is no difference between the mind, buddhas, and sentient beings,” holding that this means that each of these three may be considered the creator of the other two, and vice versa. This interpretation rejects the assertion that mind is the real source that is able to create, or manifest itself, as either buddhas or sentient beings (as the Shanwai, Huayan, and Chan putatively claim), depending on whether it is enlightened or deluded. On the latter view, although buddhas and sentient beings could still be said to be “identical” to mind and hence to each other, this identity would be mediated by a one-way dependence relation. Zhili holds that this would not be real “identity,” for mind has at least one quality that the other two lack: It is creator, as opposed to created. In Zhili’s view, each is creator, each is created, and none is more ultimate than the others.
Zhili’s teaching combats a one-sidedly “idealist” interpretation of Tiantai doctrine. He holds that while it is true to say that mind inherently entails all entities, it is equally true to say that form or matter inherently entails all entities, and not merely because matter is actually nothing but mind. Here Zhili is echoing Zhiyi’s teaching that reality can be spoken of equally as mind-only, matter-only, taste-only, smell-only, touch-only, and so on. Zhili also insists that Tiantai meditation is a contemplation of the deluded mind, not directly of the pure or absolute mind that is the source and ground of all existence. The object of contemplation is the deluded process of differentiation itself, which is to be seen as creating the particular determinacies of the experienced world, then as inherently including all these determinacies, then as being identical to them all, and finally as itself determined, hence conditioned, hence empty, hence provisionally posited, hence the “mean.” Once this is done, all other contents are equally seen as the three truths, but the process of transformation must begin with the deluded mind, the mind that mistakenly sees itself as “inside” as opposed to “outside,” which makes arbitrary distinctions, and which is conditioned in a particular manner by particular causes. Only in this way, Zhili thinks, is practice both possible and necessary.
Zhili also reasserts the centrality of the doctrine of inherent evil, as is particularly evident in his teaching of “the six identities as applicable even to the dung beetle.” The six identities were propounded by Zhiyi originally to maintain a balance to the claims of identity between sentient beings and buddhahood. All beings are identical to the Buddha (1) in principle; (2) in name, once they hear of this teaching and accept it intellectually; (3) in cultivation; (4) in partial attainment;(5) in approximation to final identity; and finally (6) when Buddhist practice is completed and one becomes explicitly a buddha. Zhili asserts that these six levels of difference and identity apply not only to the relations between sentient beings and buddhas, but also to the relations between any two sentient beings, any two determinations of any kind, indeed, even between any entity and itself. This means that prior to Buddhist practice one is identical to, say, a dung beetle in principle only, but as one’s practice continues, one finally attains a more and more fully realized identity with the dung beetle, so that all the marks and names associated with dung beetle-hood become increasingly explicit and fully realized as practice continues. Evil, in other words, is not only what is cut off, but also what is more fully realized with practice; all things become more explicit together, and this full realization of their own determinate marks, by virtue of the three truths, is their liberation and transformation. This is the real goal of practice; indeed this is buddhahood itself.
Transmission to and development in Japan and Korea
Much of Zhili’s concern in his polemic against the Shanwai and his defense of the doctrine of “inherent evil” was to maintain the seriousness of Tiantai ritual practice, an evil that he saw threatened by the “sudden” doctrines of Chan and the Shanwai. Zhili and his dharma-brother Zunshi (Ciyun fashi, 963–1032) were instrumental in combining Tiantai contemplation with the practice of the Pure Land schools, particularly the visualizations of AmitĀbha, which were to be done in tandem with Tiantai doctrinal ruminations, “contemplating the image of the Buddha as an inherent aspect of the mind, utilizing the Buddha image to manifest the nature of mind.” This was consistent with Zhili’s general teaching that when any given content is made more explicit, it simultaneously makes all contents more explicit, as well as their interpervasion, the interpervasive three thousand being the realm of enlightenment.
In China, Tiantai and Pure Land practice came to be closely associated. A different development took place in Japan, where Tiantai, or Tendai in the Japanese pronunciation, became closely associated with esoteric Buddhism. Tiantai texts were first brought to Japan by the Chinese vinaya monk Jianzhen (687–763), but did not really take hold until the founding of the Japanese Tendai school by SaichŌ (Dengyo daishi, 767–822). Saichō combined the Tiantai teachings he had studied in Tang China under Zhanran’s disciple Daosui with elements of esoteric and Chan Buddhism. The tradition he founded later split into several rival schools, but Tendai remained for centuries the mainstream of Japanese Buddhism, providing the theoretical foundation of Buddhist practice to a much greater degree than was the case in China, where Huayan and Chan understandings of Buddhist doctrine arguably took a more preeminent position. Later Japanese Tendai contributed distinctive developments to the doctrines of original enlightenment (hongaku) and the buddhahood of inanimate objects, on which it laid special stress. All of the Buddhist reformers who created the new Japanese sects in the Kamakura period, including HŌnen (1133–1212), Shinran (1173–1263), Nichiren (1222–1282), and DŌgen (1200–1253), were trained initially as Tendai monks.
Both Huisi and Zhiyi are said to have had direct disciples hailing from the Korean peninsula, and this tradition of exchange continued for many centuries. But it was not until 1097 that a separate Tiantai (Korean, Ch’ŏnt’ae) school was established there. Its founder, Ŭich’Ŏn (1055–1101), hoped the new school would help reconcile the long-standing conflict in Korean Buddhism between scholastic studies and meditative practice. Ch’ŏnt’ae became one of the two main pillars of Korean Buddhism, together with Chan (Korean, Sŏn). The schools were unified under the auspices of a reconstituted Sŏn school in the early fifteenth century.
Chan, Chi-wah. “Chih-li (960–1028) and the Crisis of T’ien-t’ai Buddhism in the Early Sung.” In Buddhism in the Sung, ed. Peter N. Gregory and Daniel A. Getz, Jr. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
Cleary, Thomas, trans. Stopping and Seeing: A Comprehensive Guide to Buddhist Meditation (a partial translation of Zhiyi’s Mohe zhiguan). Boston: Shambhala, 1997.
Donner, Neal. “Chih-i’s Meditation on Evil.” In Buddhist and Taoist Practice in Medieval Chinese Society, ed. David W. Chappell. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1987.
Donner, Neal. “Sudden and Gradual Intimately Conjoined: Chih-i’s T’ien-t’ai View.” In Sudden and Gradual: Approaches to Enlightenment in Chinese Buddhism, ed. Peter N. Gregory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1987.
Donner, Neal, and Stevenson, Daniel B. The Great Calming and Contemplation: A Study and Annotated Translation of the First Chapter of Chih-i’s Mo-ho chih-kuan. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993.
Gregory, Peter, and Getz, Daniel, eds. Buddhism in the Sung. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2001.
Hurvitz, Leon. Chih-i (538–597): An Introduction to the Life and Ideas of a Chinese Buddhist Monk. M’elange Chinois et Bouddhiques, vol. 12 (1960–1962). Brussels: Institut Belges Des Hautes Etudes Chinoises, 1980.
Ng Yu-kwan, T’ien-t’ai Buddhism and Early Mādhyamika. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1993.
Stevenson, Daniel. “The Four Kinds of Samādhi in Early T’ient’ai Buddhism.” In Traditions of Meditation in Chinese Buddhism, ed. Peter N. Gregory. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1986.
Stone, Jacqueline. Original Enlightenment and the Transformation of Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1999.
Swanson, Paul L. Foundations of T’ien-t’ai Philosophy: The Flowering of the Two Truths Theory in Chinese Buddhism. Berkeley, CA: Asian Humanities Press, 1989.
Ziporyn, Brook. “Anti-Chan Polemics in Post-Tang Tiantai.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 17, no. 1 (1994): 26–63.
Ziporyn, Brook. Evil and/or/as the Good: Omnicentrism, Intersubjectivity, and Value Paradox in Tiantai Buddhist Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2000.
Brook Ziporyn
Source: Tiantai / Britannica
Tiantai
Tiantai, Wade-Giles T’ien-t’ai, Japanese Tendai, rationalist school of Buddhist thought that takes its name from the mountain in southeastern China where its founder and greatest exponent, Zhiyi, lived and taught in the 6th century. The school was introduced into Japan in 806 by Saichō, known posthumously as Dengyō Daishi.
The basic philosophical doctrine is summarized as the triple truth, or jiguan(“perfected comprehension”): (1) all things (dharmas) lack ontological reality; (2) they, nevertheless, have a temporary existence; (3) they are simultaneously unreal and temporarily existing—being the middle, or absolute, truth, which includes and yet surpasses the others. The three truths are considered to be mutually inclusive, and each is contained within the others. Because existence is ever-changing, the phenomenal world is regarded as identical with the world as it really is.
The doctrine of the triple truth was first taught by Huiwen (550–577); but Zhiyi, the third patriarch, is regarded as the founder of the school because of his own great contributions. Zhiyi organized the whole of the Buddhist canon according to the supposition that all the doctrines were present in the mind of Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha) at the time of his enlightenment but were unfolded gradually according to the mental capacities of his hearers. The Lotus Sūtra was considered the supreme doctrine, embodying all of the Buddha’steachings.
In 804 Saichō, a Japanese monk, was sent to China expressly to study the Tiantai tradition. The inclusiveness of the Tiantai school, which arranged all Buddhist learning into one grand hierarchical scheme, was attractive to Saichō. On his return to Japan he attempted to incorporate within the framework of the Tiantai doctrine Zen meditation, vinayadiscipline, and esoteric cults. The Tendai school, as it is called in Japanese, also encouraged an amalgamation of Shintō and Buddhism in the Ichijitsu (“One Truth”), or Sannō Ichijitsu Shintō.
The monastery founded by Saichō on Mount Hiei, near Kyōto, the Enryaku Temple, became the greatest centre of Buddhist learning of its time in Japan. Hōnen, and many other famous monks who later established their own schools, went there for training.
Saichō’s efforts to establish a Tendai ritual of ordination that would be more in keeping with Mahāyāna teachings and independent from the kaidan(“ordination centre”) at Nara bore results only after his death but was an important step in the Mahāyāna development in Japan.
After the death of Saichō, rivalry broke out between two factions of the school, which separated in the 9th century into the Sammon and the Jimon sects, headed by the two monks Ennin and Enchin. A third branch, the Shinsei, emphasizes devotion to the Buddha Amida.
Source: Chinese Foundations / Tendai in China: The Tiantai School
Beginning around the first century CE, Indian and Central Asian Buddhist texts and lineages began to flow into China. Buddhism spread throughout South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia NOT through conquest or forced conversion, but through intercultural dialogue. With Buddhist cultural diversity came an explosion of new approaches to the Dharma. New traditions, new texts, new teachings, and new practices spread throughout Asia.
It was Mahayana Buddhism that most caught the attention of Chinese Buddhists. The diversity of Mahayana Buddhism, however, posed something of an obstacle. There are hundreds of sutras that sometimes contain radically different teachings. Which ones were correct? How did they fit together? Did they fit together? To answer these questions, Chinese Buddhist thinkers developed doctrinal classification systems (panjiao) and new theories of Buddhist study and practice.
Zhiyi 智顗 (538–597) of Mt. Tiantai
Zhiyi, the founder of the Chinese Tiantai School, Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons
Zhiyi 智顗 (538–597) of Mt. Tiantai was one of the first and most influential scholar-monks in the history of East Asian Buddhism. Today he is regarded as the founder of the Tiantai School of Chinese Buddhism, the parent tradition of the Japanese Tendai School. Zhiyi’s thought also greatly impacted East Asian traditions like Huayan, Chan, Pure Land, and Esoteric Buddhism. Study and Practice: The Two Wings of the Buddha-Dharma Central to Zhiyi’s thought is the notion that meditation and study form the two wings of one’s practice of the Buddha-dharma. If one becomes unbalanced, you will not fly straight. In his day there were some meditation masters who focused exclusively upon meditation and neglected the study of the Buddhist scriptures. Similarly, there were some scholar-monks who were merely Buddhist bookworms who neglected to put into practice what they had learned. Zhiyi practiced what he preached, and during his lifetime he was a widely respected scholar, teacher, and meditation master.
The mind is sometimes compared to a bowl of water. The water in this bowl is murky, and the water is being jostled around. If, however, one were to set the bowl down in a quiet place, and let it sit peacefully, then eventually the ripples would disappear, and the silt would settle to the bottom, leaving behind crystal clear water. Shamatha (pronounced: “sha-ma-ta”) refers to the cultivation and calming of the mind. The Chinese character zhi can actually mean “stop.” This “stopping” leads to clarity and peace, and allows the naturally luminescent quality of one’s very own mind (your “Buddha nature”) to shine through. Shamatha meditation is sometimes described as “calm-abiding.”
Vipashyana (guan觀)
Once one has honed their mind’s ability to reach a state of “calm abiding,” or attentive stillness, then one is able to engage in contemplative or analytical meditation. Vipashyana refers to contemplation or analysis of reality, and the attainment of insight and wisdom into the nature of reality. (For more: Basic Buddhist Teachings and Basic Buddhist practices)
Four-fold Samādhi (si-zhong sanmei 四種三昧)
The Four-fold Samādhi is one of the foundational approaches to meditation devised by Zhiyi in the Mohezhiguan. Four 90-day periods of constant practice: 1) 90 days, Constant Sitting Samādhi 常坐三昧 2) 90 days, Constant Walking Samādhi 常行三昧 3) 90 days, Half-Walking and Half-Sitting Samādhi 半行半坐三昧 4) 90 days, Neither Walking nor Sitting Samādhi 非行非坐三昧Zhiyi drew upon the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra (Banzhou sanmei jing 般舟三昧經) in developing this meditation practice. In the Pratyutpanna Samādhi Sutra, the Buddha recommends both the contemplation of the Buddha Amitābha, and the recitation of his name. Zhiyi also recommended contemplation of this Amitābha, thus influencing the development of Pure Land Buddhism throughout the history of East Asia.
Resources for Further Study
For a more thorough explanation of Tiantai meditation practice, please consult your local Tendai sangha leader and read the following books:
However, the Mohe zhiguan is not merely a guide to meditation, but rather consists of a comprehensive introduction to Buddhism and Zhiyi’s approach to Buddhist thought and practice more broadly.
The One Vehicle (eka-yāna; yisheng 一乘) and Buddha Nature (tathāgata-garbha; rulai zang如來藏)
Zhiyi argued that the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma-puṇḍarīka-sūtra; Miaofa lianhua jing 妙法蓮華經 ) and the Nirvana Sutra (Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa sutra; Da banniepan jing 大般涅槃經) together constituted the ultimate teachings of the Buddha. The Lotus Sutra promotes a universalistic view of Buddhism, arguing that all paths ultimately converge on the same path. This all-inclusive path is called the Eka-yana, “One Vehicle,” a synonym for the Mahayana. Behind the diversity of the many Buddhist paths, there is a unity that binds them. The Nirvana Sutra and Lotus Sutra both promote the idea that all beings have the potential to attain Buddhahood. These two teachings, the unity of the vast Buddha-dharma and the inherent capacity for all beings to attain awakening form the basis for later Chinese Tiantai and Japanese Tendai Buddhism.
Three Truths (san-di 三諦)
Chinese Tiantai was highly influenced by the Indian school of Buddhist philosophy known as Madhyamaka. Madhyamaka thinkers look to Nagarjuna as their founder. Nagarjuna taught that all things are Shunyata, or lacking an inherent unchanging essence. This “ultimate reality” is somewhat at odds with our “conventional reality.” We tend to see the world as we want to see it, not as it truly is. The point of Buddhist practice is see the world as it truly is. For Mahayana Buddhists, influenced by Nagarjuna, we aspire to see the Shunyata in our ordinary “conventional” reality. Nāgārjuna famously said, “for whom Shunyata is possible, all things are possible.” In other words, when you see things as fixed and rigid (“conventional” reality), there is no hope for change. However, when you see things as they truly are, constantly changing and fluid (Shunyata), then anything is possible. The Bodhisattva (enlightening being) perceives this reality, and is therefore free from fear and pain.Chinese Tiantai Buddhist thinkers elaborated on this “Two Truths” view of reality, and posited that there were three truths:
The Truth of Shunyata (kongdi 空諦)
The Truth Conventional Reality (jiadi 假諦)
The Truth of the Middle (zongdi 中諦)
The third truth, the “middle,” signifies the ability to abide in two worlds simultaneously: to function on the level of conventional reality and yet perceive ultimate reality. In other words, both conventional reality and ultimate reality have a kind of reality from different perspectives. The Bodhisattva knows how to put these two views together to more effectively alleviate suffering in the world.
To See the Three Thousand Worlds in a Single Thought Moment (yi-nian san-qian一念三千)
Zhiyi and later Tiantai scholars argued that microcosm and macrocosm are connected. Past, present, and future, and every aspect of reality, all things in existence are interconnected. In other words, the whole is in the part and the part is the whole. In a single moment of thought, all aspects of reality are present. Nothing exists by itself but all things are dependent upon and connected with each other. Even in the ordinary mind, even a single thought, contains the whole of the universe (or “multi-verse” in the case of Mahayana Buddhism).
Five Times and Eight Teachings (wushi bajiao 五時八教)
One of the hallmarks of Zhiyi’s teachings is a comprehensive approach to Buddhism. This comprehensive framework, upon which Zhiyi’s disciples and interpreters elaborated, divides the whole of the Buddha-dharma into “five times and eight teachings.” The Buddha is commonly compared to a doctor who dispensed remedies as appropriate for particular afflictions. For spiritualists the Buddha taught the doctrine of “no-self,” while to the materialists he taught the doctrine of “Buddha nature.” In other words, the truth and even the meaning of a teaching is dependent upon context and audience. Zhiyi developed a comprehensive system encompassing the Mahayana and non-Mahayana teachings delivered by the Buddha throughout his lifetime. Zhiyi organized the teachings into “five times” and “eight teachings.” The five times refers to five time periods in the Buddha’s life during which, Zhiyi believed, the Buddha delivered particular teachings. The eight teachings refers to the differing ways the Buddha taught and the different ways disciples understood the content. For a more detailed overview of the five times and eight teachings, as well as other aspects of Tiantai and Tendai Buddhist thought, see the following resources:
Below is a short summary of the Five Times and Eight Teachings framework with links to available English language resources for further study:
The Five Times 五時
1. Avataṃsaka華嚴 Period
Following his awakening under the Bodhi tree (Life of Buddha), the Buddha preached what came to be known as the Avataṃsaka-sūtra (Huayan-jing 華嚴經, “Flower Ornament Sutra”) for 21 days. This teaching was intended for Bodhisattvas of very high attainment, as it presents a complex interconnected view of the universe and the path to awakening.
Realizing that the complexity of the “big picture” as presented in the Avatamsaka would be too much for most people, the Buddha spent 12 years explaining some of the basic insights he had gained, using his skills in upaya, or skillful means. These teachings took place at Deer Park, and were collected in the Āgamas (which roughly correspond to the Nikayas of the Pali Canon of the Theravada tradition).
Next, for eight years the Buddha began to introduce the “expansive” (vaipulya) Mahayana teachings. Some of the sutras taught during this period include, but are not limited to, the following:
Having introduced some of his disciples to the profound teachings of the Mahayana, the Buddha went on to expound “perfection of wisdom” (prajñāpāramitā) for the next twenty-two years. The texts in this division are focused primarily on outlining the Bodhisattva Path and Shunyata (Section in Mahayana Basics)
Lotus Sutra presents the idea that all paths fit together and ultimately lead to Buddhahood. The Nirvana Sutra presents the notion that all beings possess as their fundamental nature Buddhahood. Zhiyi suggested that taken together, the Lotus Sutraand the Nirvana Sutra constitute the pinnacle of the Buddha’s teachings. Zhiyi believed that these teachings were delivered by the Buddha toward the end of his life. Historically the Tiantai tradition has placed somewhat more emphasis on the Lotus Sutra. Popular English Language Translations of the Lotus Sutra
The Lotus Sutra (BDK English Tripitaka, Free Online Version)
Just as the teachings of the Buddha may be organized chronologically, so too may they be organized according to the ways the Buddha accommodated the teachings to the specific needs of his audiences, and the differing approaches the Buddha used to teach different groups of people. Taken together, these constitute what are known as the Eight Teachings:
Four Approaches to Teaching 化儀四教 (huayi sijiao)
Sudden Teaching 頓教: This teaching corresponds to the Avataṃsaka-sūtra, which Zhiyi believed to have been taught by the Buddha immediately (or “suddenly”) upon the attainment of awakening to Bodhisattvas of the highest capacities.
Gradual Teaching 漸教: This teaching includes the gradual revelation of the teachings, progressing from non-Mahayana teachings (the “Deer Park Period”) to the full Mahayana teachings (“Perfection of Wisdom Period”).
Indeterminate Teaching 不定教: The Buddha teaches beings according to their individual capacities. Though beings may hear the same teaching, they derive from that teaching different truths depending on their karmic inclination. This does not refer to a specific set of scripture, but rather serves as a recognition of how beings encounter the Dharma. The teaching is not set in stone, but subjective, or “indeterminate.”
Secret Teachings 祕密教: The so-called secret teachings are also referred to as the “secret indeterminate teaching.” Beings may hear the same teaching, but they comprehend the teaching differently. Because beings are unaware of these subjective differences, some of these indeterminate teachings tare called secret teachings.
Four Ways of Accommodating the Teachings 化法四教
Tripiṭaka Teachings 三藏教: These are the teachings given for the benefit of those who are not yet studying the Mahayana teachings. These include the “Deer Park” period teachings listed above.
Shared Teachings 通教: These are the teachings that are taught for both Mahayana and non-Mahayana Buddhists.
Distinct Teaching 別教: These are the teachings that are designed to speak directly to students of the Mahayana teachings.
Perfect Teachings 圓教: These include teachings of the Lotus Sutra, and other Mahayana sutras to greater or lesser degrees.
Guanding 灌頂 (561–632) and the Tiantai School
Following Zhiyi’s remarkable career, his disciples systematized and promoted his comprehensive approach to the study and practice of Buddhism. It should be remembered that Zhiyi likely did not regard himself as a member of something called “the Tiantai School.” The idea of a Tiantai School was constructed over time by later generations of thinkers who saw themselves as members of Zhiyi’s lineage. Guanding 灌頂 (561–632) was Zhiyi’s close disciple. Most of what we know about Zhiyi comes from documents written by Guanding, and many of Zhiyi’s major works were actually compiled and edited from Guanding’s notes taken during Zhiyi’s many lectures. For more information on Guanding’s foundational role in the creation of the idea of the Tiantai lineage, see: Linda Penkower, “In the Beginning … Guanding 灌顶 (561-632) and the Creation of Early Tiantai”
Source: The Lotus Sutra / James Shields
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A crucial feature of Tiantai (天台) Buddhist thought certainly is its elaboration on the hidden and visible, called “root and traces” (ben ji 本跡), as the concept of non-duality (bu er 不二) of these opposites is part of what constitutes the highest level of Buddhist doctrine in Tiantai doxography, called “round/ perfect teaching” (yuanjiao 圓教). Such elaboration is inextricably bound up with paradoxical discourse, which functions as a linguistic strategy in Tiantai practice of liberating the mind from its self-induced deceptions.
Observation of paradoxes in the elaboration on the hidden and visible could be called practice qua doctrinal exegesis, because Tiantai masters try to integrate self-referential observation in mind-contemplation (guanxin 觀心) with interpretation of sūtra and śāstra. For Tiantai Buddhists, the ultimate meaning of the Buddhadharma (fofa 佛法) itself is independent from speech and script and only accessible to the liberated mind, yet it cannot fully be comprehended and displayed apart from the transmission of the canonical word. To observe the paradox in non-duality of the hidden and visible is what triggers practice qua doctrinal exegesis and entails liberation (jietuo 解脫) according to the “round/ perfect teaching.”
The article traces the formation of paradoxical discourse in Chinese Madhyamaka, particularly referencing the Tiantai elaboration on the hidden and visible and its diverse sources of inspiration, which includes both Chinese indigenous traditions of thought (Daoism and Xuanxue) and translated sūtraand śāstra literature from India.
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Zhuang Zhou’s 莊周 (fourth century BC) Zhuangzi 莊子and Guo Xiang’s 郭象 (252–312) commentary:Search in Google Scholar
Guo, Qingfan 郭慶藩 (1991): Zhuangzi jishi 莊子集釋. Taibei 台北: Huazheng shuju 華正書局.Search in Google Scholar
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Chen, Jinhua (1999): Making and Remaking History: A Study of Tiantai Sectarian Historiography (Studia Philologica Buddhica Monograph; 14). Tokyo: The International Institute of Buddhist Studies.Search in Google Scholar
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From the early 9th century a new orientation emerged in Japanese Buddhism that emphasized specific Tantric, or Vajrayāna characteristics of both doctrine and practice. While elements of the Vajrayāna (vehicle of the diamond/thunderbolt) Buddhist traditions of mature Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism were present in Japan in the 8th century, it was only in the new Buddhist schools of Tendai and Shingon that related practices recently imported from China were specifically identified as “esoteric” in nature and as different from the other schools of Buddhism that were newly designated as “exoteric” by these schools. The first to promote this distinction was the monk Kūkai, founder of the Shingon school. His contemporary Saichō, who founded the Tendai school, placed himself and several of his disciples under Kūkai’s tutelage to learn what the latter had brought back from an intensive study period in China. Yet Saichō’s approach was to place the esoteric teachings and practices on a par with his Tendai teachings, derived primarily from the Chinese Tiantai school. His difference from Kūkai on this matter drove both an eventual end to their cooperative relationship and, after Saichō’s death, innovations by Tendai school exegetes that aimed to reconcile the differences. The combined force of Tendai esotericism (Taimitsu) and Shingon esotericism (Tōmitsu) impacted greatly the development of subsequent centuries of Japanese Buddhism. The three major schools of Buddhism that dominated during the Nara period (710–794)—Sanron, Hossō, and Kegon—all incorporated esoteric elements into their practice during the Heian period (794–1185). By the time of the Kamakura period (1185–1333), when the new forms of Zen, pure land, and Nichiren Buddhism emerged, the esoteric paradigm was so ingrained in Japanese Buddhist thought that even though esoteric practice was at times explicitly criticized by the new schools, much of its worldview was implicitly affirmed.
Central to Japanese esoteric Buddhism is the understanding that through engaging in the ritual practices of reciting mantra, practicing symbolic hand gestures known as mudra, and imagining one’s self and all beings as being intrinsically awakened (one meaning of the term mandala), one can achieve the enlightened stage of buddhahood within one lifetime. These three are called the “practices of the three mysteries” (sanmitsu gyō三密業), through which a practitioner is able to unite with the enlightened energy of the cosmic buddha’s body, speech, and mind. More than anything else, it was this cosmological framework that influenced the development of many later Buddhist practices. Fundamental to this model was the affirmation that every living being is intrinsically endowed with the latent qualities of buddhahood. This concept of “original enlightenment” (hongaku本覚) framed an immanental, holistic vision that recognized the real presence of nirvāṇa (freedom, liberation) in the midst of one’s experience of saṃsāra (the cyclic world of ignorant suffering). The unfolding of various doctrinal and ritual means of articulating and verifying a practitioner’s intrinsic state of enlightenment spurred novel theological systems, artistic creativity of many forms, as well as sociopolitical opportunities for aristocrats who sought to invoke the buddha’s power for various mundane needs. Tendai and Shingon monks alike contributed to this growth in a myriad of ways.
A Brief History of the T’ien-t’ai School and Tendai Shu
Nichiren was ordained and trained as a Tendai monk, so much of his teachings and arguments are incomprehensible without at least a rudimentary understanding of T’ien-t’ai Buddhism. In this chapter I provide a brief history of the T’ien-t’ai school in China and Japan. In the next two chapters I will cover the T’ien-t’ai teachings relating to the classification of the Buddha’s teachings and the various practices of meditation that Nichiren alludes to throughout Kanjin Honzon-shō.
In the 6th century, the Chinese monk Chih-i (538-597) established a teaching center on Mt. T’ien-t’ai. He was later known as the Great Master T’ien-t’ai, founder of the school of the same name. Chih-i was a great scholar and meditator who wanted to systematize all the seemingly contradictory teachings that had been translated into Chinese. To do this, he classified the Buddha’s teachings into five flavors and eight categories of teaching. Chih-i was a practitioner as well as a scholar. He put equal emphasis on meditation practice and doctrine in order to create a balanced system whereby doctrine would inform practice and practice would actualize doctrine. The concept of the “3,000 worlds in a single thought-moment” that is discussed at the beginning of Kanjin Honzon-shō was part of his explanation of the sudden and perfect method of tranquility and insight meditation. He also spoke of awakening in terms of realizing the unity of the three truths of emptiness, provisional existence, and the Middle Way in order to clarify the true meaning of the teachings of the Perfection of Wisdom sūtras and Nāgārjuna’s (2nd-3rd century) teachings regarding emptiness, causality, and the Middle Way. He derived the unity of the three truths from a line in Nāgārjuna’s major work, Verses on the Middle Way: “Whatever is dependently co-arisen/That is explained to be emptiness./That, being a dependent designation,/Is itself the middle way.” (Garfield, p. 304) Chih-i taught that these three truths could be realized through a “threefold contemplation” cutting through the “three kinds of delusion” and giving rise to the “three kinds of wisdom.” Ultimately, Chih-i taught that the three truths are simply different aspects of the one true nature of reality that can be realized in a single moment of insight.
Chih-i lost his parents when he was seventeen years old, during the turbulent end of the Southern Liang Dynasty (502-557). Soon after, he sought ordination as a Buddhist monk. In 560 CE, Chih-i visited Nan-yüeh Hui-ssu (515-577) on Mount Ta-su, and studied the Lotus Sūtra under him, and, as a result of intense practice, he was said to have attained awaking through this phrase of the “Medicine King Chapter” of the Lotus Sūtra: “The Buddhas of those worlds praised him, saying simultaneously, ‘Excellent, excellent, good man! All you did was a true endeavor. You made an offering to us according to the true Dharma.’” (Murano 1974, p. 301) His awakening was certified by Hui-ssu. With the recommendation of Hui-ssu, Chih-i left Mount Ta-su and went to Chin-ling and stayed at Wa-kuan-ssu where he lectured to clergy and laity over a period of eight years. During this time he greatly impressed the literati and monks whom he came in contact with.
There are several well-known monks that are associated with Chih-i, such as Fa-chi, who was skilled in meditation, Fa-lang, who was the great master in the San-lun tradition, and Pao-ch’iung and Ching-shao, who were distinguished monks in the capital Chin-ling. It is recorded in the Pieh-chuan that these monks either challenged Chih-i with the knowledge of contemplation or with engagement of doctrinal debate, but all of them ended up gaining great admiration and respect for Chih-i’s knowledge and wisdom and his power of contemplation. (Shen Vol. I, p. 14)
However, because of an anti-Buddhist movement by the Northern Chou dynasty, Chih-i retired to Mount T’ien-t’ai in 575 CE at the age of 39. He undertook dhūta practice at the Flower Peak of the mountain, and lectured at Hsiu-ch’an Temple. In 585 CE, at the age of 48, Chih-i returned to Chin-ling, the capital of the Ch’en dynasty, at the request of several district lords and governors. In 587 CE, he gave lectures on the Lotus Sūtra, which were later compiled as The Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra. To avoid the conquest of the Ch’en dynasty by the Sui dynasty, Chih-i stayed at Mount Lu and the town of Ch’ang-sha. In 591 CE, he was invited by Prince Kuang (later known as Yang-ti), and went to Yang-chou. He granted bodhisattva precepts to the prince and received the honorific name “Chih-che” from him. He established Yü-ch’üan Temple in Ching-chou and expounded The Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra in 593 CE and The Great Concentration and Insight in 594 CE. He returned to Mount T’ien-t’ai in 595 CE. Two years later, in 597 CE, while he was on the way to see Prince Kuang, he became sick and died.
Chih-i upheld the Lotus Sūtra as the most profound teaching of the Buddha. In terms of practice he emphasized the sudden and perfect method of tranquility and insight, but also utilized elaborate repentance ceremonies and devotional Pure Land practices. In his teachings, Chih-i drew upon the Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise attributed to Nāgārjuna that had been translated (or perhaps written) by Kumārajīva, the Larger Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra, and the Nirvāna Sūtra in order to expound a comprehensive system of Buddhist teaching and practice. Chih-i’s three major works were the aforementioned Words and Phrases of the Lotus Sūtra, the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra, and the Great Concentration and Insight. These three works were actually based on notes taken from his lectures that were compiled and edited by Chih-i’s disciple Kuan-ting (561-632; aka Chang-an).
Before Chih-i there had been a lot of debate about the true meaning of the Buddha’s teachings due to the contradictions found between the various sūtras and commentaries coming from India. Starting in the late 5th century, various attempts were made to reconcile the many teachings that were being translated. By Chih-i’s time there were the so-called three schools of the south and seven schools of the north that each presented a different system for classifying the sūtras. These were not schools in the sense of sects or monastic orders but rather differing schools of thought propounded by different monks. These schools arranged the sūtras into such categories as sudden, gradual, and indeterminate. Many of these schools favored the Flower Garland Sūtra or the Nirvāna Sūtra as the ultimate teaching of the Buddha. Chih-i critiqued these systems and presented his own system in the Profound Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra of the five flavors and eight teachings that showed how the teaching and practice of the other sūtras all led up to the Lotus Sūtra as the definitive expression of the Buddha’s ultimate teaching.
The school Chih-i founded was named the T’ien-t’ai School after the mountain where he resided. Though Chih-i was the founder and first patriarch, Nāgārjuna is sometimes considered the honorary first patriarch because so much of the T’ien-t’ai teachings are based upon the Great Perfection of Wisdom Treatise. Hui-wen (n.d.), the teacher of Hui-ssu is then considered the second patriarch, Hui-ssu the third, and Chih-i the fourth. Sometimes it is Hui-wen who is considered the honorary first patriarch of the school, making Hui-ssu the second and Chih-i the third. The T’ien-t’ai School declined during the 7th and 8th centuries due to the rise of the Dharma Characteristics, Flower Garland, and Zen schools that overshadowed the T’ien-t’ai School in terms of prestige and royal patronage. The T’ien-t’ai school was briefly revived during the time of Chan-jan (711-782; aka Miao-lê), the school’s sixth patriarch (if Chih-i is considered the first). Chan-jan wrote commentaries on Chih-i’s three major writings that Nichiren quoted almost as often as Chih-i himself. Unfortunately, the persecution of Buddhism by the Emperor Wu-tsung in 845 was the end of the great scholastic schools of Buddhism in China. After that, the Zen and Pure Land Buddhism dominated Chinese Buddhism.
The T’ien-tai teachings were first brought to Japan by Chien-chen (J. Ganjin; 688-763), who was also a T’ien-t’ai monk as well as a Vinaya master. Saicho (767-822; known posthumously as Dengyō) later studied these teachings and was greatly intrigued by them. In 788 Saichō established a temple (later named Enryakuji by Emperor Saga in 823) on Mt. Hiei to study and practice away from the world. The world, however, came to him. In 794 the capital of Japan moved from Nara to Kyoto, right at the foot of Mt. Hiei. In 797, Saichō came to the attention of the emperor and he was given a post at court. Beginning in 798, Saichō gave annual lectures on the Lotus Sūtra at Mt. Hiei that were attended by monks from the Nara schools. His reputation grew and in 802, Saichō was invited to lecture on the three major works of Chih-i at Takaosanji temple in Kyoto attended by 14 prestigious monks of the six schools of Nara. Paul Groner said of this occasion, “The many years which Saichō had devoted to the study of Tendai texts must have enabled him to make a strong and lasting impression at the lectures.” (Groner, p. 36)
In 804, Saichō was able to travel to China to learn more about T’ien-t’ai Buddhism and other teachings and bring back more reliable texts. He could not speak Chinese but was able to read it and had to rely on interpreters. He was able to study with Tao-sui (n.d.), the seventh patriarch of the T’ien-t’ai school, and Hsing-man (n.d.), a monk who had been a student of Miao-lê. From the former, Saichō received the bodhisattva precepts of the Brahma Net Sūtra (allegedly translated by Kumārajīva though many scholars believe it is a Chinese creation). He also received the teachings of the minor Zen branch known as the Ox Head School from a monk named Hsiu-jan (who may or may not have been a disciple of the Zen Master Ma-tsu Tao-i (709-788). He also received esoteric Buddhist initiations and teachings from a monk named Shun-hsiao (n.d.) and other esoteric practitioners, though his study of these teachings was not as deep as he would have liked.
After only eight and a half months, Saichō returned to Japan in 805 and began the establishment of the Tendai Shū on Mt. Hiei. The Tendai Shū was originally set up to be a comprehensive school of Buddhism that utilized all teachings and methods of practice united by the perfect teaching of the Lotus Sūtra as taught by Chih-i. This synthesis of teachings and practices was called “enmitsuzenkai.” “En” means “Perfect” and refers to the perfect teaching of the Lotus Sūtra. “Mitsu” means “esoteric” or “secret” and refers to esoteric Buddhism. “Zen” refers to the practice of meditation. “Kai” means “precepts” and refers to Saichō’s concern with the establishment of the Mahāyāna precepts. Saichō established two tracks of practice: one track was for the practice of esoteric Buddhism, while the other was for the practice of the T’ien-t’ai method of concentration and insight.
Saichō also worked to establish a Mahāyāna precept platform on Mt. Hiei for the conferral of Mahāyāna precepts from the Brahma Net Sūtra on his disciples so that Mahāyāna monastics could have a Mahāyāna precept lineage. Though the Brahma Net Sūtra precepts had been conferred upon monks and householders in both China and Japan before this, they had never been used in place of the Dharmaguptaka precepts, nor had there ever been a separate precept platform (kaidan) for their conferral. This was an unprecedented innovation that aroused the opposition of the six schools of Nara. The controversy raged throughout Saichō’s life, but a week after his death in 822 the court finally granted permission for Mt. Hiei to have a Mahāyāna precept platform and it was finally constructed in 827.
Saichō also got involved in doctrinal controversies with monks of the Nara schools, in particular with a monk named Tokuitsu (c. 780-842) of the Dharma Characteristics School who insisted that the One Vehicle teaching of the Lotus Sūtra was only a provisional teaching whereas the three vehicles teaching was the definitive truth. Tokuitsu’s rationale was based upon the teaching of the “five mutually distinctive natures.” In his view, not all people are capable of attaining buddhahood, so some should settle for the lesser goals of the two vehicles, while those who are able should take up the bodhisattva vehicle. The One Vehicle was taught for those who are able to take any of the three vehicles to encourage them to take up the buddha vehicle. Saichō vigorously argued that this was not the case. The Buddha taught the One Vehicle for all beings because all beings are capable of attaining buddhahood. This debate was carried out in the form of essays and treatises. According to Paul Groner, “Tendai scholars have often claimed that Saichō decisively won the debate.” (Ibid, p. 95)
Something should also be said about the relationship between Saichō and Kūkai (774-835; known posthumously as Kōbō), the founder of the True Word School in Japan. They first met when they were traveling to China together in 804. Kūkai returned to Japan in 806 after having studied and received the authority to teach esoteric Buddhism. He established the Shingon Shū or True Word School on Mt. Kōya in 816. For many years Saichō and Kūkai were friends. In 809, Kūkai had gone to Mt. Hiei to learn about the T’ien-t’ai teachings from Saichō. In turn, Saichō inquired about the esoteric teachings, borrowing texts and even receiving an esoteric initiation from Kūkai in 812. Unfortunately, their relationship soured in later years, as one of Saichō’s disciples defected to the True Word School and Kūkai refused to lend texts and insisted that Saichō become his disciple if he wished to study True Word teachings. They also had fundamental disagreements over the relative importance of the Lotus Sūtra and esoteric Buddhism. Not surprisingly, Kūkai compared the Lotus Sūtra and T’ien-t’ai teachings unfavorably with the True Word sūtras, teachings, and practices. By 816, the two monks were no longer corresponding with each other.
After the passing of both Saichō and Kūkai, the successive patriarchs of the Tendai school on Mt. Hiei developed Tendai esotericism to bolster the popularity of their school. Ennin (794-864; aka Jikaku), the third chief priest, and Enchin (814-891; aka Chishō), the fifth, were particularly responsible for bringing esoteric Buddhism to the fore in the Tendai school and even for making it more important than the Lotus Sūtra. Because of this, Nichiren would in his later years accuse them of having turned the Tendai School into the True Word School in all but name, thus leading to the neglect of the Lotus Sūtra within the Tendai School itself. Nichiren would express his critiques of Kūkai, Jikaku, and Chishō in his later writings such as the Senji-shō (Selecting the Right Time) and Hōon-ō (Essay on Gratitude).
Pure Land Buddhism also developed in the Tendai School. Saichō himself aspired to rebirth in the Pure Land, but it was Ennin who established the Jōgyō Zammai-dō (Hall for Walking Meditation) in 849. This hall was dedicated to the practice of the constant walking meditation taught in the Great Concentration and Insight of Chih-i which featured the chanting of nembutsu. After that, Pure Land devotion became an important part of Tendai Buddhism. By Nichiren’s time, many Tendai temples had become centers for the practice of Hōnen’s (1133-1212) exclusive nembutsu version of Pure Land Buddhism.
Zen Buddhism in Japan also had its origins in Tendai temples. Eisai (1141-1215) was a Tendai monk who tried to propagate Rinzai Zen practice as part of the Tendai School. He established Jufuku-ji in Kamakura in 1200 and Kennin-ji temple in Kyoto. These temples were initially meant to be Tendai temples where Rinzai Zen would be practiced. However, by Nichiren’s day they had become pure Rinzai Zen temples run by monks such as Lan-chi Tao-lung (1213-1278; J. Rankei Dōryū) who had come from Sung China to Japan in 1246 at the invitation of Hōjō Tokiyori (1227-1263) and was installed as the abbot of Kennin-ji in 1259.
In his writings, Nichiren speaks of Chih-i and Saichō defeating their contemporaries in debates. However, rather than engaging in formal debates, Chih-i and Saichō gave lectures and wrote essays and corresponded with fellow monks. They did, nevertheless, win the respect of their contemporaries, both monks and literati, for their insightful scholarship and depth of spiritual cultivation. As a Tendai reformer, Nichiren was alarmed that the Tendai temples were being converted into centers of True Word, Pure Land, and Zen practice. He lamented what he saw as the neglect of the teachings of Chih-i, Miao-lê, and Saichō and hoped to restore the heritage of the T’ien-t’ai School. More importantly, Nichiren was determined to carry forward the legacy of the T’ien-t’ai School by sharing the teaching and practice of the Lotus Sūtra, the Buddha’s highest teaching, with all people.
Sources:
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Groner, Paul. Saicho: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School. Berkeley: Berkeley Buddhist Studies Series, 1984.
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Hurvitz, Leon. Chih-i: An Introduction to the Life and Ideas of a Chinese Buddhist Monk. Melanges chinois et bouddhiques 12 (1960-62): 1-372. Brussels: l’Institute Belge des Hautes Etudes Chinoises.
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Murano, Senchu. Kaimokusho or Liberation from Blindness. Berkeley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000.
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According to Yogacara school of Mahayana Buddhism there are eight kinds of discernment: (1) sight-consciousness, (2) hearing-consciousness, (3) smell-consciousness, (4) taste-consciousness, (5) touch-consciousness, (6) mind-consciousness, (7) Mano-consciousness, and (8) Alaya-consciousness.
Alaya-vinnana (storehouse consciousness) refers to a level of subliminal mental processes that occur uninterruptedly throughout one’s life and may continue in to multiple lifetimes and scientists identify this as the sub-conscious.
Source: Yogacara Buddhism / MN Zen Center
Source: Philosophy of mind in the Yogacara Buddhist idealistic school
Source: Philosophy of mind in the Yogacara Buddhist idealistic school
Source: Philosophy of mind in the Yogacara Buddhist idealistic school
Source: Philosophy of mind in the Yogacara Buddhist idealistic school
Source: Philosophy of mind in the Yogacara Buddhist idealistic school
Source: Philosophy of mind in the Yogacara Buddhist idealistic school
Source: Philosophy of mind in the Yogacara Buddhist idealistic school
Indian Yogacara
Maitreya Nath
Gandhara (Afghanistan) Brahmin Boys Asanga and Vasubandhu
Sthiramati
Paramartha
Bodhiruci
Vijñaptimātra
Vijñānavāda
ālayavijñāna
mind only (citta-matra)
idea/impressions (vijñapti-matra)
three self-natures (trisvabhāva)
warehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna)
Storehouse consciousness
overturning the basis (āśrayaparāvṛtti)
the theory of eight consciousnesses
Amalavijñānam
Dignaga
Dhamapala
Silabhadra
Dharma Nature
Tathagatagarbha
Third Turning of Dharma Chakra
Source: Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters
Through engaging, contemporary examples, Making Sense of Mind Only reveals the Yogacara school of Indian Buddhism as a coherent system of ideas and practices for the path to liberation, contextualizing its key texts and rendering them accessible and relevant.
The Yogacara, or Yoga Practice, school is one of the two schools of Mahayana Buddhism that developed in the early centuries of the common era. Though it arose in India, Mahayana Buddhism now flourishes in China, Tibet, Korea, Vietnam, and Japan. While the other major Mahayana tradition, the Madhyamaka (Middle Way), focuses on the concept of emptiness—that all phenomena lack an intrinsic essence—the Yogacara school focuses on the cognitive processes whereby we impute such essences. Through everyday examples and analogues in cognitive science, author William Waldron makes Yogacara’s core teachings—on the three turnings of the Dharma wheel, the three natures, the storehouse consciousness, and mere perception—accessible to a broad audience. In contrast to the common characterization of Yogacara as philosophical idealism, Waldron presents Yogacara Buddhism on its own terms, as a coherent system of ideas and practices, with dependent arising its guiding principle.
The first half of Making Sense of Mind Only explores the historical context for Yogacara’s development. Waldron examines early Buddhist texts that show how our affective and cognitive processes shape the way objects and worlds appear to us, and how we erroneously grasp onto them as essentially real—perpetuating the habits that bind us to samsara. He then analyzes the early Madhyamaka critique of essences.
This context sets the stage for the book’s second half, an examination of how Yogacara texts such as the Samdhinirmocana Sutra and Asanga’s Stages of Yogic Practice (Yogacarabhumi) build upon these earlier ideas by arguing that our constructive processes also occur unconsciously. Not only do we collectively, yet mostly unknowingly, construct shared realities or cultures, our shared worlds are also mediated through the storehouse consciousness (alayavijñana) functioning as a cultural unconscious. Vasubandhu’s Twenty Verses argues that we can learn to recognize such objects and worlds as “mere perceptions” (vijñaptimatra) and thereby abandon our enchantment with the products of our own cognitive processes. Finally, Maitreya’s Distinguishing Phenomena from Their Ultimate Nature (Dharmadharmatavibhaga) elegantly lays out the Mahayana path to this transformation.
Source: ‘Yogācāra: Indian Buddhist Origins’
This chapter provides a historical overview of Yogācāra in India, including its place in Indian Buddhist doxography; its representative thinkers and commentators from the fourth through to the eleventh centuries, as well as important Yogācāra scholars from the Tibetan tradition; the school’s main scriptural sources (Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra; Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra; Abhidharma-samuccaya; Abhidharma-kośa; Mahāyāna-saṃgraha; Madhyānta-vibhāga; Viṃśikā; Triṃśikā); key doctrines (such as buddhahood; seeds; base consciousness; five sense consciousnesses; mental factors; three wheels; three natures; dependent arising; idealism); Yogācāra psychology and meditation theory; and Yogācāra soteriology and hermeneutics.
Source: Some Remarks on the Genesis of Central Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda Concepts.
The present paper is a kind of selective summary of my book The Genesis of Yogācāra-Vijñānavāda. [1.–2.] It deals with questions of origin and early development of three basic concepts of this school, viz., the ‘idealist’ thesis that the whole world is mind only or manifestation only, the assumption of a subliminal layer of the mind, and the analysis of phenomena in terms of the “Three Natures”. [3.] It has been asserted that these three basic concepts are logically inseparable and therefore must have been introduced conjointly. [4.] Still, from Vasubandhu onward treatises have been written in which only one of the three concepts is advocated or demonstrated to be indispensable, without any reference to the other two being made. Likewise, in most of the earlier Yogācāra treatises, the three concepts occur in different sections or contexts, or are even entirely absent, as vijñaptimātra in the Yogācārabhūmi and ālayavijñāna in the Mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra and Madhyāntavibhāga. [5.] It is therefore probable that the three concepts were introduced separately and for different reasons. [5.1.] As regards the concept of the “Three Natures”, I very hypothetically suggest that it was stimulated by the Tattvārthapaṭala of the Bodhisatvabhūmi. [5.2.1.] In the case of ālayavijñāna, I still think that my hypothesis that the concept originated from a problem emerging in connection with the “attainment of cessation” holds good and has not been conclusively refuted, but I admit that Prof. Yamabe?s hypothesis is a serious alternative. [5.2.2.] An important point is that in the Yogācārabhūmi we come across two fundamentally different concepts of ālayavijñāna, the starting point for the change being, probably, the fifth chapter of the Saṁdhinirmocanasūtra. [5.3.] As for ‘idealism’, we may have to distinguish two strands, which, however, tend to merge. [5.3.1.] The earlier one uses the concept cittamātra and emerges as early as in the Pratyutpanna-buddha-saṁmukhāvasthita-samādhi-sūtra in connection with an interpretation of visions of the Buddha Amitāyus. [5.3.2.] The later strand introduces the concept vijñaptimātra and seems to have originated in the eighth chapter of the Saṁdhinirmocanasūtra in connection with a reflection on the images perceived in insight meditation. [5.3.3.] In texts like the Mahāyānasūtrālaṁkāra, concepts from other Mahāyānasūtra strands become prominent in this connection, and it is only in the Mahāyānasaṁgraha that the use of vijñaptimātra is finally established.
Source: Vasubandhu’s consciousness trilogy: a Yogacara Buddhist process idealism
This work is a philosophical investigation into Vasubandhu’s consciousness trilogy, comprised by the Trisvabhāva-Nirdeśa (“Instruction on the Threefold Own-State-of-Being,”) and the Vijñaptimātra-Kārikas (“Verses on Consciousness-Occasion,”) divided into the Viṃśika-Kārikas (“Twenty Verses”) and the Triṃśika-Kārikas (“Thirty Verses.”) Although early Indian Yogācāra Buddhism was once non-controversially described as a form of absolute ontological idealism, challengers have urged predominately psycho-epistemological readings of Yogācārin works. However, neither an exclusively metaphysical or exclusively epistemological reading is warranted; the more interesting and difficult case is that these themes are necessarily interwoven throughout the early Yogācāra canon, including the consciousness trilogy. While Vasubandhu’s position in the trilogy is indeed idealist and monist, this does not entail a rejection of objectivity. Functions are substituted for substances in ontological discussions. The ālayavijñāna (“storehouse-consciousness”) concept is developed so that it can serve the explanatory function of material cause. In this way much apparent logical tension is diffused, and a more complete picture of Vasubandhu’s Yogācāra emerges.
Source: ‘Buddhism, Yogacara school of’
Yogācāra is one of the two schools of Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism. Its founding is ascribed to two brothers, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu, but its basic tenets and doctrines were already in circulation for at least a century before the brothers lived. In order to overcome the ignorance that prevented one from attaining liberation from the karmic rounds of birth and death, Yogācāra focused on the processes involved in cognition. Their sustained attention to issues such as cognition, consciousness, perception and epistemology, coupled with claims such as ‘external objects do not exist’ has led some to misinterpret Yogācāra as a form of metaphysical idealism. They did not focus on consciousness to assert it as ultimately real (Yogācāra claims consciousness is only conventionally real), but rather because it is the cause of the karmic problem they are seeking to eliminate.
Yogācāra introduced several important new doctrines to Buddhism, including vijñaptimātra, three self-natures, three turnings of the dharma-wheel and a system of eight consciousnesses. Their close scrutiny of cognition spawned two important developments: an elaborate psychological therapeutic system mapping out the problems in cognition with antidotes to correct them and an earnest epistemological endeavour that led to some of the most sophisticated work on perception and logic ever engaged in by Buddhists or Indians.
Although the founding of Yogācāra is traditionally ascribed to two half-brothers, Asaṅga and Vasubandhu (fourth–fifth century bc), most of its fundamental doctrines had already appeared in a number of scriptures a century or more earlier, most notably the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra (Elucidating the Hidden Connections) (third–fourth century bc). Among the key Yogācāra concepts introduced in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra are the notions of ’only-cognition’ (vijñaptimātra), three self-natures (trisvabhāva), warehouse consciousness (ālayavijñāna), overturning the basis (āśrayaparāvṛtti) and the theory of eight consciousnesses.
The Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra proclaimed its teachings to be the third turning of the wheel of dharma. Buddha lived around sixth–fifth century bc, but Mahāyāna Sūtra did not begin to appear probably until five hundred years later. New Mahāyāna Sūtra continued to be composed for many centuries. Indian Mahāyānists treated these Sūtras as documents which recorded actual discourses of the Buddha. By the third or fourth century a wide and sometimes incommensurate range of Buddhist doctrines had emerged, but whichever doctrines appeared in Sūtras could be ascribed to the authority of Buddha himself. According to the earliest Pāli Sutta, when Buddha became enlightened he turned the wheel of dharma, that is, began to teach the path to enlightenment. While Buddhists had always maintained that Buddha had geared specific teachings to the specific capacities of specific audiences, the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra established the idea that Buddha had taught significantly different doctrines to different audiences according to their levels of understanding; and that these different doctrines led from provisional antidotes (pratipakṣa) for certain wrong views up to a comprehensive teaching that finally made explicit what was only implicit in the earlier teachings. In its view, the first two turnings of the wheel – the teachings of the Four Noble Truths in Nikāya and Abhidharma Buddhism and the teachings of the Madhyamaka school, respectively – had expressed the dharma through incomplete formulations that required further elucidation (neyārtha) to be properly understood and thus effective. The first turning, by emphasizing entities (such as dharmas and aggregates) while ’hiding’ emptiness, might lead one to hold a substantialistic view; the second turning, by emphasizing negation while ’hiding’ the positive qualities of the dharma, might be misconstrued as nihilism. The third turning was a middle way between these extremes that finally made everything explicit and definitive (nīthartha). In order to leave nothing hidden, the Yogācārins embarked on a massive, systematic synthesis of all the Buddhist teachings that had preceded them, scrutinizing and evaluating them down to the most trivial details in an attempt to formulate the definitive Buddhist teaching. Stated another way, to be effective all of Buddhism required a Yogācārin reinterpretation. Innovations in abhidharma analysis, logic, cosmology, meditation methods, psychology, philosophy and ethics are among their most important contributions. Asaṅga’s magnum opus, the Yogācārabhūmiśāstra (Treatise on the Stages of Yoga Practice), is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Buddhist terms and models, mapped out according to his Yogācārin view of how one progresses along the stages of the path to enlightenment.
Chinese Yogacara
Old Yogacara
Northern Dilun
Southern Dilun
Shelun
Later Yogacara
Faxiang
Dharma Characteristics
Weishi (Consciousnesss – Only)
Fa-hsiang school of China
Hsüan-tsang and K’uei-chi
The great monk Genjō (Xuanzang in Chinese; 596–664)
his eminent disciple Kiki, also known as Jion Daishi (Guiji in Chinese; 632–682).
Dignaga
Dhamapala
Silabhadra
Xuanzang (602-664)
Kuiji (632- 682)
Huizho
Zhizhou
Consciousnesss – Shi
Mind – Xin
Meta Consciousness
9th level Consciousness – Amala
One Consciousness Only – Weidushi
Faxiang zong – Zong of Dharma Characteristics
Faxing zong – Zong of Dharma Nature
Source: Yogācāra Buddhism in China
Yogācāra Buddhism in China is divided into two stages. The early stage is represented by the schools of Dilun and Shelun, while the late stage is known as the school of Faxiang (dharma-characteristic) or Weishi (consciousness-only). Besides upholding the traditional Yogācāra teachings of store-consciousness, three natures, and consciousness-only, Chinese Yogācāras also had some interesting contributions to the relationship between the theories of mind and of Buddha-nature, to the analysis of the structure of consciousness, and to the classification of objects.
Source: 4. Indian transplants: tathāgatagarbha and Yogācāra
A dispute at the start of the sixth century presaged a conflict that would take the Chinese Buddhists more than two centuries to settle. Two Indian monks collaborated on a translation of Vasubandhu’s Daśabhūmikasūutra śāstra (Treatise on the Ten Stages Sutra; in Chinese, Shidijing lun, or Dilun for short). The Dilun described the ten stages through which a bodhisattva proceeded on the way to nirvāṇa, and Vasubandhu’s exposition of it highlighted aspects most in accord with the tenets of the Yogācāra school (see Buddhism, Yogācāra school of; Vasubandhu). While translating, an irreconcilable difference of interpretation broke out between the two translators, Bodhiruci and Ratnamati. Bodhiruci’s reading followed a relatively orthodox Yogācāra line, while Ratnamati’s interpretation leaned heavily toward a Buddhist ideology only beginning to receive attention in China, tathāgatagarbha thought. Bodhiruci went on to translate roughly forty additional texts, and was later embraced by both the Huayan and Pure Land traditions as one of their early influences (see §§8, 10). Ratnamati later collaborated with several other translators on a number of other texts. Both sides attempted to ground their positions on interpretations of key texts, especially the Dilun. The Yogācāra versus Yogācāra-tathāgatagarbha conflict became one of the critical debates amongst sixth and seventh century Chinese Buddhists.
Yogācāra focused on the mind and distinguished eight types of consciousness: five sensory consciousnesses; an empirical organizer of sensory data (mano-vijñāna); a self-absorbed, appropriative consciousness (manas); and the eighth, a warehouse consciousness (ālaya-vijñāna) that retained the karmic impressions of past experiences and coloured new experiences on the basis of that previous conditioning. The eighth consciousness was also the fundamental consciousness. Each individual is constituted by the karmic stream of one’s own ālaya-vijñāna, that is, one’s karmic conditioning. Since, like a stream, the ālaya-vijñāna is reconfigured each moment in response to constantly changing conditions, it is not a permanent self, although, being nothing more than a sequential chain of causes and effects, it provides sufficient stability for an individual to maintain a sense of continuity. According to classical Yogācāra texts, the mind (that is, ālaya-vijñāna and the mental events associated with it) is the problem, and enlightenment results from bringing this consciousness to an end, replacing it with the Great Mirror Cognition (ādarśa-jñāna); instead of discriminating consciousness, one has direct immediate cognition of things just as they are, as impartially and comprehensively as a mirror. This type of enlightenment occurs during the eighth stage according to the Dilun and other texts.
The term tathāgatagarbha (in Chinese, rulaizang) derives from two words: tathāgata (Chinese, rulai) is an epithet of the Buddha, meaning either ‘thus come’ or ‘thus gone’; garbha means embryo, womb or matrix, and was translated into Chinese as zang, meaning ‘repository’. In its earliest appearances in Buddhist texts, tathāgatagarbha (repository of buddhahood) signified the inherent capacity of humans (and sometimes other sentient beings) to achieve buddhahood. Over time the concept expanded and came to signify the original pristine pure ontological Buddha-ness intrinsic in all things, a pure nature that is obscured or covered over by defilements (Sanskrit, kleśa; Chinese fannao), that is, mental, cognitive, psychological, moral and emotional obstructions. It was treated as a synonym for Buddha-nature, though Buddha-nature dynamically understood as engaged in a struggle against defilements and impurities. In Chinese Buddhism especially, the soteriological goal consisted in a return to or recovering of that original nature by overcoming or eliminating the defilements. The battle between the pure and impure, light and dark, enlightenment and ignorance, good and evil and so on, took on such epic proportions in Chinese Buddhist literature that some scholars have compared it to Zoroastrian or Manichean themes, though evidence for the influence of those religions on Buddhist thought has been more suggestive than definitive (see Manicheism; Zoroastrianism).
In their classical formulations the ālaya-vijñāna and tathāgatagarbha were distinct items differing from each other in important ways – for instance, enlightenment entailed bringing the ālaya-vijñāna to an end, while it meant actualizing the tathāgatagarbha; the ālaya-vijñāna functioned as the karmic mechanism par excellence, while tathāgatagarbha was considered the antipode to all karmic defilements. Nonetheless some Buddhist texts, such as the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, conflated the two. Those identifying the two argued that the ālaya-vijñāna, like tathāgatagarbha, was pure and its purity became permanently established after enlightenment. Those opposing the conflation countered that the ālaya-vijñānawas itself defiled and needed to be eliminated in order to reach enlightenment. For the conflators, tathāgatagarbha was identified with Buddha-nature and with mind (xin) (see Xin). Mind was considered pure, eternal, and the ontological ground of reality (Dharma-dhātu), while defiled thought-instants (nian) that engaged in delusionary false discriminations had to be eliminated. Once nian were eliminated, the true, pure nature of the mind would brilliantly shine forth, like the sun coming out from behind the clouds.
A third view was added when Paramārtha, another Indian translator with his own unique interpretation of Yogācāra, arrived in the middle of the sixth century. For his followers the most important of his translations was the She dasheng lun (Sanskrit title, Mahāyānasaṃgraha), or Shelun, a quasi-systematic exposition of Yogācāra theory by one its founders, Asaṅga. In some of his translations he added a ninth consciousness beyond the usual eight, a ‘pure consciousness’ that would pervade unhindered once the defiled ālaya-vijñāna was destroyed. His translations, which sometimes took liberties with the Sanskrit originals, offered a more sophisticated version of the conflation theory.
Source: Quick Overview of the Faxiang School 法相宗
Called the Weishi 唯識 (Sanskrit, Vijñaptimātra; consciousness-only) school by its Chinese proponents, and the Faxiang 法相 (dharma characteristics) school by its opponents, this was the third major introduction of Yogācāra Buddhism into China. Competing versions of Yogācāra had dominated Chinese Buddhism since the beginning of the sixth century, first with the Northern and Southern Dilun 地論schools, which followed, respectively, the opposing interpretations by Bodhiruci 菩提流支and Ratnamati 勒那摩提 of the Dilun (Vasubandhu’s commentary on the Shidi jing 十地經 [Sanskrit, Daśabhūmika-sūtra] called Daśabhūmika-sūtra-śāstra [Chinese, Shidi jing lun 十地經論], T.26.1522). Thereafter, a different brand of Yogācāra was introduced by the translator Paramārtha 真諦 (499-569) in the mid-sixth century. Disputes between these three schools (the two Dilun schools and Paramārtha’s school), as well as various hybrids of Yogācāra and tathāgatagarbha thought, had become so pervasive by the time of Xuanzang 玄奘 (ca. 600-664) that he traveled to India in 629 believing that texts as yet unavailable in China would settle the discrepancies. Instead he found that the Indian understanding of Yogācāra differed in many fundamentals-doctrinally and methodologically-from what had developed in China, and on his return to China in 645 he attempted to narrow the differences by translating over seventy texts and introducing Buddhist logic.
Because the novel teachings Xuanzang conveyed represented Indian Buddhist orthodoxy and because the Chinese emperor lavished extravagant patronage on him, Xuanzang quickly became the preeminent East Asian Buddhist of his generation, attracting students from Korea and Japan, as well as China. Two of his disciples, the Korean monk Wŏnch’ŭk 圓測 (613-696) and the Chinese monk Kuiji 窺基 (632-682), bitterly competed to succeed Xuanzang upon his death, their rivalry largely centering on divergent interpretations of the Cheng weishi lun 成唯識論 (Treatise on Establishing Consciousness-Only), a commentary on Vasubandhu’s Triṃśikā (Thirty Verses) that, according to tradition, Kuiji helped Xuanzang compile and translate from ten Sanskrit commentaries. Kuiji is considered by tradition to be the first patriarch of the Weishi (or Faxiang) school.
Kuiji wrote many commentaries, such as on:
the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa-sūtra ( 說無垢稱經疏, T.38.1782)
the Heart Sūtra ( 般若波羅蜜多心經幽贊, T.33.1710 – English translation by Heng-ching Shih and Dan Lusthaus, A Comprehensive Commentary on the Heart Sutra, Numata Center, Berkeley, 2001),
the Diamond Sūtra (T.33.1700 and T.40.1816),
the Lotus Sūtra (Saddharmapuṇḍarīka-sūtra)( 妙法蓮華經玄贊, T.34.1723),
Amitābha and Maitreya Sūtras (T.37.1757; T.37.1758; T.38.1772),
Vasubandhu’s One Hundred Dharmas Treatise ( 大乘百法明門論解, T.44.1836),
Sthiramati’s Commentary on Asaṅga’s Abhidharmasamuccaya ( 雜集論述記, ZZ.74.603),
and on Buddhist logic ( 因明入正理論疏, T.44.1840);
but his commentaries on the Cheng weishi lun1 and an original treatise on Yogācāra, Fayuan yilin chang 大乘法苑義林章 (Essays on the Forest of Meanings in the Mahāyāna Dharma Garden, T.45.1861), became the cornerstones of the Weishi school.
Hui Zhao 惠沼 (650-714), the second patriarch, and Zhi Zhou 智周 (668-723), the third patriarch, wrote commentaries on the Fayuan yulin chang, the Lotus Sūtra, and the Madhyāntavibhāga; they also wrote treatises on Buddhist logic and commentaries on the Cheng weishi lun.2 After Zhi Zhou, Faxiang’s influence declined in China, though its texts continued to be studied by other schools. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Faxiang enjoyed a revival among Chinese philosophers such as Yang Wenhui (1837-1911), Ouyang Jingwu (1871-1943), Taixu (1890-1947), and Xiong Shili (1883-1968), who sought a bridge between native philosophy and Western philosophy, especially in the field of epistemology.
Faxiang (Korean: Pŏpsang; Japanese: Hossō) was influential in Korea during the Unified Silla (668-935) and Koryŏ dynasties (935-1392), but faded with the decline of Buddhism in the Chosŏn dynasty (1392-1910). Similarly, Hossō, initially transmitted to Japan from China and Korea, was prominent during the Nara period (710-784), but withered under attack in the Heian period (794-1185) from rival Tendai and Shingon schools. The Hossō monk Ryōhen 良逼 (1194-1252) rebutted those attacks in his Kanjin Kakumushō 觀心覺夢鈔 (Précis on Contemplating the Mind and Awakening from the Dream), but Hossō, though surviving, declined nonetheless.
Most East Asian Buddhist schools, along with Faxiang, accepted many standard Yogācāra doctrines, such as the eight consciousnesses, three natures, and mind-only, though each school quibbled about specifics. The two doctrines that drew the most attacks were the Faxiang rejection of tathāgatagarbha ideology for being too metaphysically substantialistic and the Faxiang doctrine of five seed-families (Sanskrit, pañcagotras; Chinese, wu xing 五姓), which held that one’s potential for awakening was determined by the good seeds already in one’s consciousness stream. Practitioners of the Hīnayāna, pratyekabuddha, and Mahāyāna paths, as well as those who were undecided about practice, could fulfill these paths only by bringing the respective seeds of whichever path they contained to fruition. A fifth seed-family, icchantika, being devoid of the requisite seeds, can never and would never desire to achieve awakening. Since the other East Asian Buddhist schools held that all beings possess buddha-nature incipiently as tathāgatagarbha, and thus all have the potential for awakening, they found the icchantika doctrine unacceptable. However, Faxiang did not treat the icchantika as an ontological category or predestination theory; it only referred to someone incorrigible, someone who, in recent lives, remains impervious to the teachings of Buddhism. Anyone desiring enlightenment, by definition, cannot be an icchantika.
Bibliography
Lusthaus, Dan. Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch’eng Wei-shih Lun.. London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002.
Sponberg, Alan. “The Vijñaptimātratā Buddhism of the Chinese Monk K’uei-chi (A.D. 632-682).” Ph.D. dissertation, University of British Columbia, Vancouver: 1979.
Weinstein, Stanley. “The Kanjin Kakumushō.” Ph.D. diss, Harvard University, 1965.
Notes
1. 成唯識論述記, T.43.1830; 成唯識論掌中樞要, T.43.1831; 成唯識論料簡, ZZ.76.927; and the partially extant 成唯識論別抄, ZZ.77.866.[back]
2. Hui Zhao’s extant work, 成唯識論了義燈 (T.43.1832), a commentary on the Cheng Weishi lun (CWSL), offers details on the feud between Kuiji and Wŏnch’ŭk over interpretation of the CWSL and the right to succeed Xuanzang. Zhi Zhao’s extant writings include:
成唯識論演祕, T.43.1833 (Commentary on the CWSL)
大乘入道次第, T.45.1864 (Introduction to the Mahāyāna Path)
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Source: TRANSFORMING CONSCIOUSNESS: YOGACARA THOUGHT IN MODERN CHINA
Japanese Yogacara
One of the eight earliest Buddhist schools, Hossō (Faxiang in Chinese; Dharmalakshana in Sanskrit) was founded by the great monk Genjō (Xuanzang in Chinese; 596–664) and his eminent disciple Kiki, also known as Jion Daishi (Guiji in Chinese; 632–682).
The Todai-ji Temple (meaning Great Eastern Temple) is a key Buddhist landmark of Nara. It dates from the period when Mahayana [1] Buddhism first started to arrive in Japan via China and Korea at the start of the 7th century CE. [2] The most prominent early converts were the Empress Suiko (592-628 CE) and Prince Shotoku (573-621 CE). Nara also witnessed the period of the ‘Six Sects’ covering the debates between the Jojitsu, Kusha, Ritsu, Sanron, Hosso and Kegon sects [3], and this Todai-ji Temple served as the administrative temple covering all six Buddhist schools in Japan.
Source:
Kohfuku-ji is the main temple of the Hossō-shū Buddhist sect, inspired by the Chinese school Weishizong “pure consciousness”, known as Faxiang, introduced in Japan at the end of 7nd or at the beginning of 8nd century. The Hōsso School is based on the doctrine of pure consciousness, the deepest stratum of consciousness that holds the possibility of becoming a Buddha. It aims to perceive the true nature of things whose discovery leads to enlightenment.
Source: “Early Japanese Hossō in Relation to Silla Yogācāra in Disputes between Nara’s Northern and Southern Temple Traditions.”
This paper examines the influence of writings by Silla Yogācāra Buddhists on the formation of orthodox interpretations within the Hossō tradition, Japanese Yogācāra. Part One considers the frequency of citations of Silla masters and their texts in principal Hossō writings and suggests several implications of this. Some of the Silla writings used by Hossō thinkers in support of their views were specifically condemned by the Chinese Faxiang tradition. This contradicts descriptions by Gyōnen and other historians of Hossō as an imported copy of Faxiang. Part Two of the article assesses four points of argument between the Nara Hossō Northern Temple (Kōfukuji) tradition and Nara Hossō Southern Temple (Gangōji) tradition. It is shown that these disputes persisted for centuries in Japanese Yogācāra and that the two traditions used Silla interpretations in opposing ways. Many prominent Hossō authorities relied on Silla texts that challenge Faxiang understandings of epistemology, ontology, and logic.
Source: “Early Japanese Hossō in Relation to Silla Yogācāra in Disputes between Nara’s Northern and Southern Temple Traditions.”
Source: “Early Japanese Hossō in Relation to Silla Yogācāra in Disputes between Nara’s Northern and Southern Temple Traditions.”
Source: “Early Japanese Hossō in Relation to Silla Yogācāra in Disputes between Nara’s Northern and Southern Temple Traditions.”
Source: “Early Japanese Hossō in Relation to Silla Yogācāra in Disputes between Nara’s Northern and Southern Temple Traditions.”
Source: “Early Japanese Hossō in Relation to Silla Yogācāra in Disputes between Nara’s Northern and Southern Temple Traditions.”
One of the Six Schools of Nara Buddhism in Japan.this school consisted of scholar-monks whose primary concern was the texts and doctrines of the Fa-hsiang school of China (of which Hossō is the Japanese pronunciation). Their philosophy was also known as yuishiki, or ‘consciousness-only’, because of its fundamental belief that all of reality, including both the objective world and the subjective mind that regards it, are but evolutions of consciousness according to karma. The school was transmitted to Japan by Japanese clerics who studied in China with Fa-hsiang masters such as Hsüan-tsang and K’uei-chi, and became one of the most powerful of the six Nara schools. See also citta-mātra; yogācāra; vijñapti-mātra.
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Living Yogacara: An Introduction to Consciousness-Only Buddhism
Paperback – June 9, 2009 by Tagawa Shun’ei (Author), A. Charles Muller (Translator)
The Yogācāra (practitioners of yoga) school, also known as citta-mātra (mind-only), or vijñānavāda(consciousness school), is one of two major schools of Indian Mahayana Buddhist thought, which flourished in classical India from the 3rd–4th century CE to the 9th century CE. It is important both for the way it synthesized and developed all aspects of contemporaneous Mahāyāna Buddhism, as well as for its historical influence on subsequent forms of Buddhism both inside and outside of India. Its encyclopedic aims led Yogācārins first to outline the “practice of yoga,” which combined Abhidharmic modes of analyzing mental processes with the Mādhyamikan notion of emptiness, and, second, to systematize the Mahayana path system and developing notions of buddhahood. Both of these syntheses—philosophical analyses of mental processes and systematization of the Buddhist path and goal—were very influential in later Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Buddhist history, while only the second—systematizing the Buddhist path and goal—attained similar importance in Tibet. Understanding the whole of Yogācāra is a challenge commensurate with its ambitious aims; accordingly, there are still no comprehensive treatments of Yogācāra in Western languages. Moreover, a huge gulf still exists between works that are relatively accessible to nonspecialists and those written for and by specialists. Academic interest in the school has been increasing since the 1990s, however, partly as a result of increased historical knowledge about and interaction between South and East Asian forms of Buddhism, and partly in response to the many venues for dialogue between Yogācāra and modern thought.
General Overviews
Though Yogācāra is an elaborate scholastic school, it purports to describe everyday experience, however deluded, as well as its transformation through the practice of yoga to the ultimate state of buddhahood. In accessible terms, Nhât Hanh 2006 and Tagawa 2009 show how Yogācāra analyses of mind elucidate everyday experience and their transformations. Davidson 1985 illustrates, more technically, the multiple systems whereby Yogācārins conceived of such transformation, while Nagao and Kawamura 1991 addresses the various philosophical, interpretive, and historical issues these practices raised. Potter 1999 contains useful synopses of most Buddhist texts from the formative period of Yogācāra. Lusthaus (What Is and Isn’t Yogācāra) provides an excellent and succinct outline of classical Indian Yogācāra while arguing against the standard interpretation of Yogācāra as metaphysical idealism—an interpretation whose history in Western scholarship he reconstructs in Lusthaus 1999. General Bibliography on Yogācāra and especially Powers 1991 can be consulted for further sources.
Davidson, R. M. Buddhist Systems of Transformation: Āśraya parivṛtti/parāvṛtti among the Yogācāra. PhD diss., Berkeley: University of California, 1985. The only work that effectively encompasses the various dimensions of classical Yogācāra systems of transformation in its Indian historical milieu. It assumes some background on the part of the reader.
Lusthaus, Dan. “What Is and Isn’t Yogācāra.”A succinct summary of Yogācāra along with the clearest argument against its standard interpretation as a form of metaphysical idealism.
Lusthaus, Dan. “A Brief Retrospective of Western Yogācāra Scholarship in the 20th Century.” Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Chinese Philosophy, Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan, 26–31 July 1999. A useful overview of Western scholarship on Yogācāra during the 20th century. Includes references. Available online.
Nagao Gajin, and Leslie S. Kawamura, trans. Madhyamaka and Yogācāra: A Study of Mahāyāna Philosophies: Collected Papers of G. M. Nagao. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991. A collection of seminal essays by one of Japan’s leading Yogācāra specialists. A great place for graduate students to begin, especially those interested in philological issues.
Nhât Hanh, Thich. Understanding Our Mind. Berkeley, CA: Parallax, 2006. A simple, though not simplistic, introduction to the major concepts of Yogācāra from the point of view of a leading Buddhist teacher and monk. Accessible, although somewhat repetitious.
Potter, Karl, ed. Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies: Buddhist Philosophy. Vols. 8–9. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1999. A useful collection of detailed outlines of Buddhist philosophical texts from roughly 100 to 350 CE, a period that encompasses the classical texts of Asaṅga and Vasubandhu. It includes a long introduction contextualizing the development of Yogācāra doctrines within the larger world of Indian Buddhist thought.
Powers, John. The Yogācāra School of Buddhism: A Bibliography. ATLA Bibliography Series 27. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow, 1991. The most comprehensive bibliography in English. It includes references to all the important editions of Yogācāra texts in their Sanskrit originals and Tibetan and Chinese translations, their modern critical editions, as well as works by traditional Tibetan and modern scholars from around the globe. Lists no publications beyond 1991.
Tagawa Shun’ei. Living Yogācāra: An Introduction to Consciousness-Only Buddhism.Translated by Charles Muller. Boston: WisdomPublications, 2009. A nontechnical introduction to the basic ideas of Yogācāra, heavily influenced by East Asian perspectives. Accessible and engaging.
Vasubandhu’s “Three Natures” A Practitioner’s Guide for Liberation
This dissertation seeks to locate the place of Taehyon (ca. 8th century CE), a Silla Korean Yogacara monk, within the broader East Asian Buddhist tradition. My task is not confined solely to a narrow study of Taehyon’s thought and career, but is principally concerned with understanding the wider contours of the East Asian Yogacara tradition itself and how these contours are reflected in Taehyon’s extant oeuvre. There are problems in determining Taehyon’s doctrinal position within the traditional paradigms of East Asian Yogacara tradition, that is, the bifurcations of Tathagatagarbha and Yogacara; Old and New Yogacara; the One Vehicle and Three Vehicles; and the Dharma Nature and Dharma Characteristics schools. Taehyon’s extant works contain doctrines drawn from across these various divides, and his doctrinal positions therefore do not precisely fit any of these traditional paradigms. In order to address this issue, this dissertation examines how these bifurcations originated and evolved over time, across the geographical expanse of the East Asian Yogacara tradition. The chapters of the dissertation discuss in largely chronological order the theoretical problems involved in these bifurcations within Yogacara and proposes possible resolutions to these problems, by focusing on the works of such major Buddhist exegetes as Paramartha (499-569), Ji (632-682), Wonhyo (617-686), Fazang (643-712), and, finally, Taehyon.
Into the Mirror is a call to cultivate wisdom and compassion—right within this world of illusion—and an insightful challenge to the rampant materialism of modernity. Andy Karr presents accessible and powerful methods to accomplish this through investigating the way our minds construct our worlds.
Combining contemporary Western inquiries with classical Buddhist investigations into the nature of mind, Karr invites the reader to make a personal, experiential journey through study, contemplation, and meditation. He presents a series of contemplative practices from Mahayana Buddhism, starting with the Middle Way teachings on emptiness and interdependence, through Yogachara’s subtle understanding of nonduality, to the view that buddha nature is already within us to be revealed rather than something external to be acquired.
Quarks of Consciousness and the Representation of the Rose: Philosophy of Science Meets the Vaiśeṣika-Vaibhāṣika-Vijñaptimātra Dialectic in Vasubandhu’s Viṃśikā.
Philadelphia, Pa. : American Theological Library Association ATLA bibliography series ; no.27 ISBN : 0810825023
Being as Consciousness: Yogācāra Philosophy of Buddhism
Authors Fernando Tola, Carmen Dragonetti Editors Fernando Tola, Carmen Dragonetti Publisher Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 2004 ISBN 8120819675, 9788120819672 Length 270 pages
Mādhyamika and Yogācāra A Study of Mahāyāna Philosophies
By Gadjin M. Nagao Edited by Leslie S. Kawamura
Subjects: Buddhism Series: SUNY series in Buddhist Studies Paperback : 9780791401873, 304 pages, January 1991 Hardcover : 9780791401866, 304 pages, January 1991
The Problem of Knowledge in Yogācāra Buddhism
Author Chhote Lal Tripathi Publisher Bharat-Bharati, 1972 Original from the University of Virginia Digitized Aug 1, 2007 Length 396 pages
Referents and Objects: A Parallel between General Semantics and Yogācāra Buddhism
Rowe, Thomas
(2018). Institute of General Semantics, ETC: A Review of General Semantics, July/October 2018, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3821619
A striking and specific parallel occurs between the “two crucial negative premises” identified by Alfred Korzybski and the two approaches to emptiness in the Yogācāra school of Buddhism.
Korzybski: Let us repeat the two crucial negative premises as established firmly by all human experience: (1) Words are not the things we are speaking about; and (2) There is no such thing as an object in absolute isolation.
The Yogācāra Emptinesses: 1. An object’s absence of being established by way of its own character as a referent of terminology or of a conceptual consciousness. 2. The emptiness of apprehended-objects and apprehending-subjects existing as different substantial entities.
Readings on Yogacara Buddhism
AUTHOR: A. K. CHATTERJEE PUBLISHER: BANARAS HINDU UNIVERSITY LANGUAGE: SANSKRIT EDITION: 1971
Making Sense of Mind Only: Why Yogacara Buddhism Matters
(Paperback)
By William S. Waldron
ISBN: 9781614297260 ISBN-10: 1614297266 Publisher: Wisdom Publications Publication Date: November 7th, 2023 Pages: 384 Language: English
Xuanzang’s journey to the West — and back to Chang’an
The Buddhist monk Xuanzang covered 10,000 miles on foot and horseback, from China to India, and passed through parts of what are today Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Nepal. When he returned home, he received a hero’s welcome.
The Consciousness-Only (vijñapti-mātra) School of Chinese Buddhism is a transmission and development of the Consciousness-Only School of Indian Buddhism. Controversies exist regarding to what extent the Indian version was reshaped in China. Historically speaking, there were three major phases of the transmission of Indian Consciousness-Only doctrines: (1) early 6th century, represented by Bodhiruci; (2) mid-6th century, represented by Paramārtha (499-569); (3) mid-7th century, represented by Xuanzang (602?-664) and his disciples, who compiled the Cheng weishi lun (*Vijñapti-mātratā-siddhi) and were later regarded as orthodox. One of the major differences between the Consciousness-Only doctrine transmitted by Paramārtha and that by Xuanzang lies in their reception of Tathāgatagarbha thought. According to Paramārtha, all sentient beings share the Dharma-body of the Buddha and can be properly designated as “Buddha-containing” (tathāgata-garbha), but Xuanzang recognizes the existence of the icchantika-s, namely, a group of sentient beings who will never be enlightened and become Buddhas.
Gimello 1976 remains a reliable introduction. Lusthaus 2002 is controversial in its interpretation of the Consciousness-Only doctrine of Xuanzang and Kuiji as phenomenology instead of as idealism.
The research explores the interplay between causality and the notion of time in Yogācāra Buddhism. There has been a long debate over whether time is an objective reality with independent ontological status or, in contrast, a subjective experience that is dependent on mind. Until now, the two sides have failed to provide a clear and complete explanation of our temporal conception of things. A similar situation can be identified in the development of the notion of time in Indian philosophy. The concept of time (kāla) in the Indian tradition has evolved from cosmological speculations and the notion of divine power as developed in the Upanisads, where time is identified with Brahman (God), which is postulated as the ultimate ground of existence. On the other hand, in Buddhist philosophy our temporal conception of things is explained with our psychological experience. The limited investigation into the teachings of Yogācāra Buddhism has created a vacuum in our knowledge of the concept of time as understood by this particular Buddhist tradition. The thesis argues that concepts of time in Yogācāra are closely linked with its spiritual practice and its explanation for temporal experience as it occurs in the internal mind. It is the Vijñānavāda theory of causality that mediates between mind and spiritual practice. Here, time is defined as a nominal designation for an uninterrupted series of causal activities. When causality links with the flowing stream of time in the past, present and future, it creates the impression of a linear relation between the cause and the arising of the effect. In this thesis, primary sources in Sanskrit, Tibetan and Chinese are presented in order to show that there are doctrinal materials to support that it is around this central theme on which Yogācāra discussion on time hinger. The thesis demonstrates that the study of time in Yogācāra is divided into three strata: staring from the soteriological investigation by Maitreya and Asanga then developed into phenomenological inquiry in Vasubandhu’s idealistic position, and completed in the epistemological system of Dignāga and Dharmakīrti. This research is intended to fill a gap in the study of the Buddhist concept of time and to provide a possible resolution to the contemporary debate over the nature of temporal notions by examining it from the religious and philosophical perspectives found in Yogācāra Buddhism.
YOGACARA VASUBANDHU’S PHENOMENOLOGICAL IDEALISM
A BUDDHIST THEORY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
SHRUTI KAPUR
THIS BOOK IS A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF YOGACARA VASUBANDHU AND THAT OF THE GERMAN PHILOSOPHER EDMUND HUSSERL HAVING THE FOCUS ON THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE DEEPLY INNER NATURE OF CONSCIOUSNESS OR MIND. IT ASSERTS THAT THE YOGACARA PHILOSOPHY IS MUCH RICHER AND COMPREHENSIVE THAN THE WESTERN PHENOMENOLOGY, PARTICULARLY THE HUSSERLIAN PHENOMENOLOGY.
ISBN: 9788124611586 Year Of Publication: 2022 Edition: 1st Publisher: D.K. Printworld Pvt. Ltd.
The Doctrine of Momentariness in Sarvastivada School
Four Kinds of Sarvastivadins
Dharmatrata
Ghosaka
Vasumitra
Buddhadeva
Sautrantika (Darstantika) School
Doctrines Propounded by the Sautrantikas
The Doctrine of Momentariness
The Theory of Seed (Bīja)
A Glance at the Three Different Philosophical Perspectives of Vasubandhu
Vasubandhu: A Sarvastivada–Vaibhasika and Sautrantika
Vasubandhu: A Yogacara–Vijnanavadin
A Philosophical Debate between Yogacara Vasubandhu and the Buddhist Realists
Preamble
Objection 1: Spatial Regularity (Desa-niyama)
Reply
Objection 2: Temporal Regularity (Kala-niyama)
Reply
Objection 3: Public Shareability and Causal Continuity (Santana-niyama)
Reply
Objection 4: Functional Causal Action
(Krtya-kriya-niyama)
Reply
An Evaluation of Vasubandhu’s Arguments
Vaibhasika’s Realist Response
Yogacara Vasubandhu’s Response
Vaibhasika’s Realist Response
Yogacara Vasubandhu’s Response
Vaibhasika’s Realist Response
Yogacara Vasubandhu’s Response
Vaibhasika’s Realist Response
Yogacara Vasubandhu’s Response
Sautrantika Position
Yogacara Vasubandhu’s Objection
Sautrantika Reply
Yogacara Vasubandhu’s Response
Sautrantika Reply
Yogacara Vasubandhu’s Response
Upapadukasattvadesana
Abhipraya
Prayojana
Badhaka-pramana
Agama Badha
Yukti Badha
Discourse on the Twelve Sense Spheres (Ayatana) Abhipraya
Sautrantika Questions
Vasubandhu Explains Ayatana Desana
Vijnaptimatrata Desana
Nature and Modes of Consciousness in the Trimsika
Introduction
Significant Key Questions
Meaning and Classification of Consciousness (Vijnana) Traditional Buddhist Classification: Early Abhidharma Classification of Consciousness by Yogacarin Asanga and Vasubandhu
Three-layered Structure of Consciousness
Storehouse Consciousness (Alaya-vijnana): The First Transformation
Etymological Roots of Alaya
Various Translations of Alaya-vijnana
Three Interpretations of Alaya-vijnana
Four Aspects of Alaya
Nature of the Five Omnipresent Factors
Svarupa/Svabhāva of Alaya-vijnana
Contribution of Alaya-vijnana Principle to Vijnanavada
Alaya-vijnana: Its Active and Passive Modes
Cessation (Nivr̥tti) of Alaya-vijnana
Alaya-Vijnana vs Absolute Flow of Consciousness
Thinking Consciousness (Mano–nama-vijnana): The Second Transformation
Four Aspects of Ego Consciousness
Cessation (Nivrtti) of Klista-manovijnana
Active Consciousness (Pravr̥tti–vijnana): The Third Transformation
Mind and Mental Concommitants (Citta and Caitta or Caitasika)
Metaphors of “River” and “Ocean”
Reciprocal Relationship between Alaya–vijnana and Pravrtti–vijnana
The Internal Consciousness (Manovijnana)
Refutation of Eternalism (Sasvatanta)
Criticism of Externalist Realist
Refutation of Annihilationism
(Ucchedanta, Apavadanta)
Vasubandhu’s Theory of Trisvabhava
Introduction
The Three Natures of Consciousness (Trisvabhāva)
The Imagined Nature (Parikalpita Svabhava)
The Dependent Nature (Paratantra Svabhava)
The Consummate Nature (Pariniṣpanna Svabhava)
Interrelatedness between the Three Natures of Consciousness
Theory of Trilaksana in the Sandhinirmocanasutra
Simile of the Classical Indian Roadside Magic Show
Vasubandhu Explains Nihsvabhavata
Vasubandhu’s Tri-nihsvabhava Theory
The Path of Purification or Perfection (Ksanti)
Laksana Nihsvabhavata
Utpatti Nihsvabhavata
Paramartha Nihsvabhavata
5.Variety of Idealism: Western and Indian
What Is idealism?
Mind-boggling Views of Idealism
Plato’s Idealism
Descartes’ Problematic Idealism
Metaphysical Theory
Privileged Epistemic Position of Mind
Wax Analogy: Melting of the External Object
Representation Theory of Sense Perception
External Things: “A Great Propensity to Believe” Argument
Berkeley’s Idealism
What Is the Treatise All About?
Argument against Materialism
The Master Argument
Rejection of the Theory of Abstraction
Kant’s Transcendental Idealism
Kant’s Refutation of Idealism
Husserl’s Direct Realism-cum-Transcendental Idealism
Realist-Idealist Controversy about Husserl
Transcendental Idealism of Vedanta
Synthesis of Realism and Idealism in the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad
Sankara’s Strong Sense of Philosophical Idealism
Phenomenology of Consciousness: A Comparative Study of Yogacara Vasubandhu and Husserl
Is Yogacara Vasubandhu a Phenomenologist?
What Does Phenomenology Mean?
Human Life as an Embodied Consciousness
Vasubandhu’s Thought-continuity and Methodology
Denial of the Duality within Experience
Two-tiered Hermeneutic Strategy
Vijnapti Matra and Nirvanic Freedom
The Problem of Temporal Synthesis and Continuity
Vasubandhu
Phenomenological Modes of Consciousness
Husserl on Temporal Synthesis and Continuity
Conclusion: A Critical Estimate
Bibliography
Index
IS IT ALL IN MY HEAD? AN INTRODUCTION TO THE MIND-ONLY SCHOOL, PART 1: MIND-ONLY IN CONTEXT
Yogacara Buddhism has frequently been mislabelled by scholars as a form of philosophical idealism. Hence it is usually asserted that Yogacara claims that mind or consciousness is the only reality and that the aim of Yogacara practice is the transformation of a defiled, empirical mind/consciousness into a true mind. This interpretation totally distorts Yogacara’s actual intent, which is summarized in the Sanskrit term vijnapti-matra . I seek to demonstrate that vijnapti-matra does not mean that mind alone is real, but rather that all human problematics are produced by and in the closure of psycho-linguistic conditioning; mind is the problem, not the solution. ;Since proper understanding of Yogacara depends on correctly contextualizing its doctrines, the evolution of key concepts–such as karma, the privileging of the cognitive domain , the ‘closured-actuality’ and ‘exceeding-reference-actuality’ , etc.–has been traced from early Buddhism through the development of Mahayana, to the interpretation given these notions in the Yogacara schools. A strong epistemological affinity between Yogacara and the Phenomenologies of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty is also discussed and analyzed. ;When, during the seventh century, Hsuan-tsang composed the Ch’eng Wei-shih lun, a compilation and translation into Chinese of ten Sanskrit commentaries on Vasubandhu’s Trimsika , he intended it as a corrective on the errant interpretations of Yogacara then prevalent in China. In order to recover the authentic Yogacara position, sections of the text have been translated and analyzed. Appendices include charts of the seventy-five and one-hundred dharmas, and a translation of the first chapter of the Madhyanta Vibhaga
Transforming Consciousness: Yogacara Thought in Modern China
The Western roots of many aspects of modern Chinese thought have been well documented. Far less well understood, and still largely overlooked, are the influence and significance of the main exemplar of Indian thought in modern China: Yogācāra Buddhist philosophy. This situation is all the more anomalous given that the revival of Yogācāra thought among leading Chinese intellectuals in the first three decades of the twentieth century played a decisive role in shaping how they engaged with major currents in modern Chinese thought: empirical science; “mind science” or psychology; evolutionary theory; Hegelian and Kantian philosophy; logic; and the place of Confucian thought in a modernizing China. The influence and legacy of Indian thought have been ignored in conventional accounts of China’s modern intellectual history. This volume sets out to achieve three goals. The first is to explain why this Indian philosophical system proved to be so attractive to influential Chinese intellectuals at the very moment in Chinese history when traditional knowledge systems and schemes of knowledge compartmentalization were being confronted by radically new knowledge systems introduced from the West. The next goal is to demonstrate how the revival of Yogācāra thought informed Chinese responses to the challenges of modernity, in particular modern science and logic. The third goal is to highlight how Yogācāra thought shaped a major current in modern Chinese philosophy: New Confucianism.
‘Teaching Yogācāra Buddhism Using Cognitive Science’,
Waldron, William S.,
in Todd Lewis, and Gary deAngelis (eds), Teaching Buddhism: New Insights on Understanding and Presenting the Traditions, AAR Teaching Religious Studies (New York, 2016; online edn, Oxford Academic, 20 Oct. 2016), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199373093.003.0003, accessed 10 July 2023.
In his Madhyamakāvatāra, Chandrakirti also offered refutations of a number of Buddhist views such as those of the vijñānavāda (“consciousness doctrine”) or yogācāra school. Chandrakirti understood this tradition as positing a kind of subjective idealism. According to Chandrakirti, the yogācāra school fails to fully understand the empty nature of consciousness since they ontologically privilege consciousness over its objects. However, according to Chandrakirti, both are equally empty and neither have any ontological primacy or ultimate existence. Thus, for Chandrakirti, yogācāra fails to appreciate how everything, including consciousness, is conditioned and empty.
Chandrakirti also examines and refutes the basic theories of yogācāra, including the theory of the three natures and the theory of the storehouse consciousness. Chandrakirti cites the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra in order to argue that the storehouse consciousness is a provisional teaching of indirect meaning (neyartha). He also critiques the yogācāra denial of an external object (bāhyārtha, bahirartha) of knowledge and the yogācāra theory of ‘self-awareness’ (svasamvedana, svasamvitti).
Furthermore, Chandrakirti interprets the various statements in the Mahayana sutras which seem to promote idealism in a different way than the yogācāra school. According to Chandrakirti, sutra teachings which state that “all is mind” and the like were taught by the Buddha as a way to counter the idea that our sufferings are caused by external forces and actors. According to Chandrakirti, to counter this wrong view and to help people understand that suffering mainly arises due to the way we understand our experience, the Buddha taught that all is mind (citta-matra) or idea/impressions (vijñapti-matra). Chandrakirti argues that it is a mistake to take this literally as an ontological statement and to conclude that only consciousness exists.
Vasubandhu’s consciousness trilogy: a Yogacara Buddhist process idealism
the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri-Columbia Doctor of Philosophy Thesis By MELANIE K. JOHNSON-MOXLEY Dr. Bina Gupta, Dissertation Supervisor MAY 2008
The Western roots of many aspects of modern Chinese thought have been well documented. Far less well understood, and still largely overlooked, is the influence and significance of the main exemplar of Indian thought in modern China: Yogacara Buddhist thought. This situation is all the more anomalous given that the revival of Yogacara thought amongst leading Chinese intellectuals in the first three decades of the twentieth century played a decisive role in shaping major currents in modern Chinese thought. Furthermore, the legacies of the revival of Yogacara thought in key areas of contemporary thought (New Confucianism, in particular) are ongoing. This Project has three broad aims: 1. It will explain why this Indian philosophical system proved to be so attractive to influential Chinese intellectuals at the very moment in Chinese history when traditional knowledge systems and schemes of knowledge compartmentalization were being confronted by radically new knowledge systems introduced from the West. 2. It will demonstrate how the revival of Yogacara thought informed early Chinese responses to the challenges of modernity and shaped major currents in modern Chinese thought and philosophy. 3. It will show how the legacies of sustained critical engagement with Yogacara thought in contemporary China “New Confucianism, in particular” remain vibrant, ongoing and ripe with possibility. The Project undertakes to achieve these aims this by coordinating and drawing on the combined resources of a unique body of expertise in a highly innovative collaborative undertaking. The Project involves the collaboration of a network of twelve specialists around the globe: Australia, the Netherlands, Taiwan, USA, Canada and China. It brings together the expertise of scholars of Buddhism (covering Indian, Tibetan, Chinese, Korean and Japanese traditions of Buddhism) and scholars of Chinese intellectual history. A specialist of modern Japanese ethics has been added to provide a point of comparison helping the team to contextualize its findings within a larger East Asian Framework.
An Outline of the Yogacara-Vijñanavada School of Indian Buddhism Part One.
Source: Through the Mirror: The Account of Other Minds in Chinese Yogācāra Buddhism
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An Introduction to Japanese Buddhist Sects (inc. History; Development of Mahayana Buddhism; Ancient Sects Jojitsu & Sanron; Kusha; Hosso; Ritsu; Kegon; Tendai; Shingon; Nichiren; Zen ]; etc)
Armstrong, R C ( Robert Cornell ); Preface By Ketha A Armstrong; Introduction By John Line
Published by Canada (likely Regina, SK.) Privately Printed for Mrs Robery Cornell Armstrong (printer – The Hunter Rose Co. ), 1950, 1st Edition, First Printing, Regina, Saskatchewan, 1950
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE TWELVE JAPANESE BUDDHIST SECTS.
TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL JAPANESE BY BUNYIU NANJIO, M. A. OXON; MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, LONDON; LECTURER ON THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE IN THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY. TOKYO.
“This temple is the Shingon sect in Japan!!” “Because this temple is the Jodo sect of Buddhism, the principal idol is Amida Nyorai (Amitabha Tathagata).”
Have you not watched such a sentence in guide sites? (I also write such a sentence frequently in this Blog.)
However, do you know the sects and the characteristic of the Japanese chaitya well?
I didn’t know that…
This is no good.
Therefore, I checked the sects of the Buddhism of Japan and these characteristic.
Contents:
A sect and characteristic of the Japanese Buddhism
Characteristic of each sects
1.A sect and characteristic of the Japanese Buddhism
Attention : Also note that the views and impressions here are those of individuals.
A denomination of representative Buddhism called “13 sects of Japanese Buddhism” was in Japan by 1940 before the Religious Corporation Act promulgation. (It becomes “18 sects of Japanese Buddhism” now.)
I made the list of the characteristic of each denomination.
2.Characteristic of each sects
The large classification of the denomination of the Japanese Buddhism is the following six denominations.
Nara Buddhism line(Nanto Rokushu, or the Six Sects of Nara)
Esoteric Buddhism line
Jodo line
Zenshu (Zen Buddhism) line
Hokke(Nichiren) Buddhism line
Other
●Nara Buddhism line(Nanto Rokushu, or the Six Sects of Nara)
Nanto Rokushu’ (also called ‘Nanto Rikushu’) is the general term of the six Buddhist sects which flourished mainly in Heijo-kyo (the capital of Japan in the Nara period) in the Nara period.
Sanron sect
Jojitsu sect
Hosso sect
Kusha sect
Kegon sect
Ritsu sect
Shotoku Sect
・Sanron sect
・Thought that the essence of all existence is “空(Ku)”. (空:くう, 梵: śūnyatā) ・”空(Ku)” is thought of Buddhism regarded as “This world continues changing.”. (a belief in Buddhism in which everything is regarded as relative)
・Thought that the essence of all existence is “空(Ku)”. (空:くう, 梵: śūnyatā) ・”空(Ku)” is thought of Buddhism regarded as “This world continues changing.”. (a belief in Buddhism in which everything is regarded as relative)
Theory of this sect : “We can enter Nirvana by doing long ascetic practices”. Theory of this sect : “to practice various kinds of Buddhistic austerities”.
・A theory of this sect is a philosophical, difficult theory. (For example, “One is others, and others are one”) ・The theory of this sect is not to think but to feel.
・This sect attaches great importance to religious precepts of the Buddhism called “律(Ritsu)”. ・”律(Ritsu)” is a way of thinking called “a rule of the group are important”. (This attitudes parallel a current Japanese education in many points.)
The esoteric Buddhism means “secret teaching”. And this denomination is generally a denomination of the secret religion of the Mahayanist Buddhism.
Tendai sect
Shingon sect
・Tendai sect
・This sect is the position of the university of the Japanese Buddhism. ・This sect produced the initiator of many other denominations. ・This sect thinks that “Mikkyo(Esoteric Buddhism)” is the same as “Kenkyo(exoteric Buddhism)”. ・Nara has few temples of the Tendai sect. This is because Saicho which is an initiator of this sect was on bad terms with a temple of Nara.
・This sect is the position of the college of the Japanese Buddhism. ・This sect thinks that “Mikkyo(Esoteric Buddhism)” and “Kenkyo(exoteric Buddhism)” are different. ・This sect thinks that a sect except this sect is a part of this sect.
Jodo-kyo is a teaching for people to become Buddha in the Land of Bliss of Amitabha Buddha.
Yuzu-Nenbutsu sect
Jodo sect
Jodo-Shinshu sect
Ji sect
・Yuzu-Nenbutsu sect
・Theory of this sect : “All for one and one and one for all” ・The word of “融通(Yuzu)” have a meaning as “helps each other”. ・Theory of this sect : Let’s make the action of chanting a prayer to Amida Buddha ten times in a day.
・Theory of this sect : We can go to Paradise if we advocate a prayer to Buddha (Namu Amida Butsu). ・This sect attaches great importance to a prayer to Buddha very much. ・I think that it is influence of this sect and Jodo-Shinshu sect that a Japanese advocates a prayer to Buddha frequently.
伝来(Introduction)：1175 本山(Head Temple)：Chion-in Temple (Kyoto) 宗祖(Sect founder)：Honen 主な本尊(Main principal idol)：Amida Nyorai(Amitabha Tathagata) 経典(Main Sutra)：Jodosanbu-kyo(Three Sutras of the Pure Land)
・Jodo-Shinshu sect
・Theory of this sect : Even if we do not demand the help, Buddha helps us. ・This is a way of thinking of Tarikihongan (salvation by faith in Amitabha). (Therefore let’s advocate a prayer to Buddha to thank Buddha.)
伝来(Introduction)：1224 本山(Head Temple)：- 宗祖(Sect founder)：Shinran 主な本尊(Main principal idol)：Amida Nyorai(Amitabha Tathagata) 経典(Main Sutra)：Jodosanbu-kyo(Three Sutras of the Pure Land)
・時宗
・Theory of this sect : We must not advocate a prayer to Buddha to demand a result. (Let’s advocate a prayer to Buddha earnestly without thinking anything.) ・A thought that all the everyday life is the end of the life. (Therefore let’s always advocate prayers to Buddha not to be sorry.)
伝来(Introduction)：1274 本山(Head Temple)：Shojoko-ji Temple (Kanagawa) 宗祖(Sect founder)：Ippen 主な本尊(Main principal idol)：Amida Nyorai(Amitabha Tathagata) 経典(Main Sutra)：Jodosanbu-kyo(Three Sutras of the Pure Land)
●Zenshu (Zen Buddhism) line
The Zen Buddhism is a denomination of Buddhism training ourselves using the Zen meditation.
Rinzai sect
Soto sect
Fuke sect
Obaku sect
・Rinzai sect
・Theory of this sect : to reach the stage of spiritual awakening after getting a delusion out of one’s head (State of the Zen) ・The way of thinking that all life coexists. (Therefore the principal idol is not appointed in this sect in particular.)
伝来(Introduction)：1191 本山(Head Temple)：Myoshin-ji Temple (Kyoto) and others 宗祖(Sect founder)：Minnan Eisai 主な本尊(Main principal idol)：None Specified 経典(Main Sutra)：None Specified
・Soto sect
・Theory of this sect : We must not advocate a prayer to Buddha to demand a result. ・We must not be particular about a spiritual awakening.
・The basic theory of this sect is the same as “Rinzai sect”. ・This sect has a custom to advocate a prayer to Buddha in Chinese. ・An initiator of this sect is the person who introduced kidney beans to Japan.
Hokkeshu(Nichiren) sect is one of the denomination of Buddhism. Its fundamental sutra is only Lotus Sutra.
Nichiren sect
・Nichiren sect
・This sect regarded the Lotus sutra as the supreme dharma. (Other sects are not recognized.) ・It is a commoner in the world of the Buddhism even if it is the Emperor.
伝来(Introduction)：1253 本山(Head Temple)：Kuon-ji Temple (Yamanashi) 宗祖(Sect founder)：Nichiren 主な本尊(Main principal idol)：Shaka Nyorai(Gautama Buddha), Great Mandala(Maha Mandala) 経典(Main Sutra)：Lotus Sutra
●Other
Shugenshu sect(Shugendo sect)
・Shugenshu sect(Shugendo sect)
・This sect was developed as an mountain religion unique to Japan through incorporation of Shinto religion, Buddhism, Taoism, and so forth. ・The practitioner of austerities of this sect is called Yamabushi (Buddhist monk). ・Yamabushi is a practitioner of Shugendo (Japanese mountain asceticism/shamanism incorporating Shinto and Buddhist concepts) who earnestly walks in the mountains as an ascetic practice.
伝来(Introduction)：Nara period 本山(Head Temple)：Kimpusen-ji Temple (Nara) and others 宗祖(Sect founder)：En no Gyoja(En no Ozunu) 主な本尊(Main principal idol)：Zao Gongen 経典(Main Sutra)：None Specified
How did you like it?
The Japanese Buddhism is really profound.
Have a nice trip! XD
<Let’s search the sightseeing information of Kansai in Japan on ‘Japan’s Travel Manual‘!!> <This site introduces the easiest way to get Japanese (Kansai) sightseeing spots to you.>
the commentaries of Ch’eng-kuan and Tsung-mi on Tu-shun’s Fa-chieh-kuan-men.
Mereology
Gandavyuha-sutra
Daśabhūmika-sūtra
Phenomena and principle
Six aspects and ten mysteries
The four dharma-dhātus
the dharma-dhātu of phenomena
the dharma-dhātu of principle
the dharma-dhātu of non-obstruction of phenomena and principle
the dharma-dhātu of non-obstruction of phenomena
One true dharma-dhātu
The cosmogonic map for Buddhist practice
ālayavijñāna
Key Teachers
Du Shun
Zhiyan
Fazang
Chengguan, the ‘fourth’ Huayan patriarch
Zongmi
Li Tongxuan (635–730)
Source: Huayan Buddhism / MNZencenter
Source: Reflecting Mirrors Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism
Source:Huayan Buddhism and the Phenomenal Universe of the Flower Ornament Sutra
Huayan Buddhism and the Phenomenal Universe of the Flower Ornament Sutra
Taigen Dan Leighton From the fall 2006 “Buddhadharma” magazine
Chinese Huayan Buddhism is considered by many Buddhist scholars to be one of the highpoints of Mahayana thought, or even of world philosophy. The Huayan worldview – which emphasizes interconnectedness and employs provocative holographic metaphors such as Indra’s Net – is a fascinating, illuminating resource that can be very useful to contemporary Buddhist practitioners, even though very few know much about it. It was hardly predominant in ancient times either. The major Huayan commentators were active in China for a relatively brief period – from the sixth to ninth century – and their profound, dense, and challenging writings were never widely read. Furthermore, the school they established in China never achieved any lengthy institutional prominence, and Huayan barely survives formally today in Japan as the Kegon school. Nevertheless, Huayan – with its intricate dialectical philosophy – provides the philosophical underpinning for Zen and much of the rest of popular East Asian Buddhism, and of its offshoots in the West. As a result, Huayan perspectives, and the practical instructions that grow out of them, have an enduring influence and applicability to modern Buddhist practice.
The Flower Ornament Sutra
The starting point for Huayan Buddhism is the extravagant, lengthy Flower Ornament Sutra, or Avatamsaka Sutra in Sanskrit, considered the most elevated scripture by the Huayan school. (Avatamsaka is translated as Huayan in Chinese, which is read as Kegon in Japanese.) The Chinese Huayan school features intricate, didactic philosophical speculations illustrated with fascinating metaphors, inspired by this sutra. Yet the Flower Ornament Sutra itself is a very different type of literature. It consists of highly sumptuous visions that offer a systematic presentation of the stages of development and unfolding of the practice activities of bodhisattvas, enlightening beings functioning in the world to promote awakening and ease suffering. This sutra is sometimes described as the very first awareness of Shakyamuni Buddha upon his great enlightenment, too lofty for anyone else at that time to hear. Over 1600 pages in Thomas Cleary’s translation, the Flower Ornament Sutrais a samadhi text, designed to inspire luminous visions and exalted experiences of mind and reality through its use of lush psychedelic, evocative imagery.
Because of the book’s length, but also because of its unique quality as a text, most practitioners need some guidance as to how to read the Flower Ornament Sutra, which may seem impenetrable at first glance. This is not a book to read to gain intellectual comprehension. Rather, the cumulative impact of the profusion of its imagery inspires heightened states of samadhi, or concentrated, meditative awareness. This effect can best be appreciated by bathing in the imagery, as if listening to a symphony, rather than trying to decipher a textbook. Reciting it aloud, by oneself or together with a small circle of practice friends, is a traditional approach.
This extensive sutra also need not be read in its entirety to experience its impact. Of the thirty-nine chapters of the sutra, two stand out as inspiring, independent sutras in their own right. One is the chapter on the Ten Stages or Grounds (Dasabhumika Sutra in Sanskrit), one of the earliest Mahayana sutras, which details the ten stages of development of bodhisattvas before buddhahood, even the first of which is quite lofty. The other separate sutra is the final chapter, the Entry into the Realm of Reality (Gandhavyuha Sutra in Sanskrit), which relates the journey of the pilgrim Sudhana to a sequence of fifty-three different bodhisattva teachers. These great bodhisattvas present a democratic vision of Dharma, as they include women and men, laypeople and priests, beggars and kings and queens. The chapter culminates with Sudhana’s entry into the inconceivably vast tower of Maitreya Bodhisattva, the next future Buddha, a lofty mind-boggling episode that even the special effects wizardry of George Lucas and his colleagues could not begin to capture. Maitreya’s tower, as extensive as all of space, contains a vast number of equally spacious towers overflowing with amazing sights, each without interfering with the space of any of the others.
Although these two sutras within a sutra stand out, any chapter of the larger Flower Ornament Sutra can serve as an entryway to its awareness, because of the holographic quality of the text, in which each part in itself fully exemplifies the entirety of the whole. This interfusion of the particular with the totality becomes the heart of the Huayan philosophy and practice. The larger sutra is replete with myriad buddhas and bodhisattvas, described as filling every grass-tip or atom. But the primary Buddha of the Flower Ornament Sutra is Vairocana, the Reality Body Buddha (Dharmakaya in Sanskrit) whose body is the equivalent of the entire phenomenal universe, which is known in Buddhism as the Dharmadhatu. Vairocana is also the primary buddha in many mandalas in Vajrayana, or tantric Buddhism. The heroic bodhisattva most prominently featured in the sutra is Samantabhadra (Puxian in Chinese; Fugen in Japanese), whose name means “Universal Virtue.” Often depicted riding an elephant, Samantabhadra with his calm dignity specializes in performing devotional observances and artistic, aesthetic expressions of the sacredness. He also resolutely practices the Bodhisattva Vow through accomplishing many varieties of helpful projects, all aimed at benefiting all beings and engaging all the societal systems of the world. As a result, Samantabhadra can serve as a great encouragement and resource both for artists and for modern “engaged” Buddhism and its renewal of Buddhist societal ethics.
The Fourfold Dharmadhatu
Inspired by this Flower Ornament Sutra, the Chinese Huayan teachers were able to articulate a profound dialectical vision that is a part of the foundation for all East Asian Buddhism. The basic teaching of this philosophy of interconnectedness is the Fourfold Dharmadhatu. The first two of these four aspects of Huayan reality clarify the two fundamental aspects of spiritual practice, and indeed of our whole lives: the universal and the particular. These first two aspects have also been described with the terms ultimate and phenomenal, absolute and relative, real and apparent, or sameness and difference.
The ultimate, absolute reality – the first part of the fourfold dharmadhatu – is glimpsed in introspective meditation; the practice of turning the attention within can serve to deepen awareness of the universal truth. In many religious traditions, seeing the universal oneness or reality is considered the goal of spiritual awareness and practice. But in Huayan Buddhism and in all East Asian Mahayana thereafter, the bodhisattva’s integration of that awareness back into ordinary, everyday activities and reality, into the particular – the second part of the fourfold dharmadhatu – is of crucial importance. As the eighth century Chan master Shitou (Sekito in Japanese) declared, “Merging with sameness is still not enlightenment.” Seeing the oneness of the Universal is only half of the practice, if that. The relevance of this insight must be realized and expressed in the realm of the relative particularities and diversities of our world.
The third aspect of the Huayan fourfold dharmadhatu is the mutual, non-obstructing interpenetration of the universal and particular. Admittedly, this is difficult to take in at first, but with patience we can see that universal truth can only exist in the context of some particular situation. There can be no abstract universal truth apart from its active presence in the particular circumstance of some specific causal condition. Also, every individual particular context, when fully examined, completely expresses the total universal truth. Moreover, the particular being or event and its universal aspect completely interact and coincide without hindering each other.
Based on this integration of universal and particular, the fourth part of the fourfold dharmadhatu is the mutual, non-obstructing interpenetration of the particular with other particulars, in which each particular entity or event can be fully present and complementary to any other particular. Viewed from the vantage point of deep interconnectedness, particular beings do not need to obstruct each other, but rather can harmonize and be mutually revealing. This has significant implications for how we can see our world as a field of complementary entities, rather than a world of competitive and conflicting beings.
Indra’s Net
A frequently cited expression of this vision of reality is the simile of Indra’s Net from the Avatamsaka Sutra, which was further elaborated by the Huayan teachers. The whole universe is seen as a multidimensional net, and at every point where the strands of the net meet jewels are set. Each jewel reflects the light reflected in the jewels around it, and each of those jewels in turn reflects the lights from all the jewels around them, and so on, forever. In this way each jewel, or each particular entity or event, including each person, ultimately reflects and expresses the radiance of the entire universe. All of totality can be seen in each of its parts.
Huayan teaching features a range of holographic samadhi instructions drawn from the Flower Ornament Sutra. These practices help clear away limited preconceptions, foster fresh perspectives on reality, and expand mental capacities by expressing our deep interconnectedness.
One example is the “lion emergence” samadhi, in which upon every single hair tip abide numerous buddha lands containing a vast array of buddhas, bodhisattvas, and liberating teachings. Another model is the “ocean mirror” or “ocean seal” samadhi. In this image, awareness is like the vast ocean surface, reflecting and confirming in detail all phenomena of the entire universe. Waves of phenomena may arise on the surface of the ocean, distorting its ability to mirror plainly. But when the waves subside as the water calms and clears, the ocean mirror again reflects all clearly. Our individual minds are like this, often disturbed by turbulence, but also capable of settling serenely to reflect clear awareness.
The Golden Lion and the Hall of Mirrors
Fazang (643-712), the third of the five patriarchs of the Huayan school, was a brilliant teacher who might be considered the true founder of the school. He was particularly adept at devising models and metaphors to readily illustrate the profound Huayan truths to people.
Fazang once taught the powerful Empress Wu, a dedicated patron and student of Buddhism, using as a metaphor a golden lion sitting nearby them in her palace. He explained the non-obstructing interpenetration of the universal and particular by describing in detail how the gold, like the universal principle, pervaded the object completely, but that its particular unique form was that of a lion. We can see it either as gold or as a lion. But each part of the golden lion is completely gold, and each part is also completely part of the lion.
Another time, Fazang illustrated the Huayan teachings for Empress Wu by constructing a hall of mirrors, placing mirrors on the ceiling, floor, four walls, and the four corners of a room. In the center he placed a Buddha image with a lamp next to it. Standing in this room, the empress could see that in the reflection of any one mirror clearly reflected the reflections from all of the other mirrors, including the specific reflection of the Buddha image in each one. This fully demonstrated the unobstructed interpenetration of the particular and the totality, with each one contained in all, and with all contained in each one. Moreover, it showed the non-obstructed interpenetration of each particular mirror with each of the others.
Along with these more accessible models, Fazang and the other Huayan masters, such as the fourth patriarch Chengguan (738-839), developed many intricate philosophical descriptions of various aspects of interconnectedness, such as the ten-fold causes for realization of totality, the non-obstruction of space and of time, and the ten non-obstructions of totality. These various conceptual presentations require lengthier study and dialectics to fully appreciate and benefit from. However, they do not contain new and separate teachings; rather they expand on and elaborate the Huayan dialectical philosophy of the interconnectedness of totality with all individual beings.
Implications for Practice
The Huayan teachings present splendorous, inspiring visions of the wonders of the universal reality, far beyond the limited perspectives caught within the physical details and conditioned awareness of our everyday life. This teaching first of all encourages the possibility of a fresh, deeper way of seeing our world and its wonders. With the encouragement of these teachings, we can sense levels of spiritual interconnection with others and with the wholeness of reality that lift us beyond our ordinary attachments and prejudices. Such vision can help to heal our individual confusion, grasping, and sense of sadness or loss.
But beyond this deeper connection with wholeness, the Huayan teachings also offer guidance for more complete balance in practice. The emphasis on integration of glimpses into the ultimate with the particular problems and challenges of our everyday situations can help practitioners not get caught up in blissful absorption in awareness of ultimate reality. Attachment to the ultimate is considered the most dangerous attachment. But attending to the conventional realities of our world with some sense of the omnipresence of the totality helps to balance our practice, and can also further inform our deeper sense of wholeness.
Among the Huayan tools for bringing the universal into our everyday experience are gathas, or verses, which include many practice instructions to be used as enlightening reminders in all kinds of everyday situations. Specifically, the eleventh chapter of the Flower Ornament Sutra, called “Purifying Practice,” includes one hundred forty distinct verses to be used to encourage mindfulness in particular circumstances. Some of the following situations are cited: awakening from sleep; before, during, and after eating; seeing a large tree, flowing water, flowers blooming, a lake, or a bridge; entering a house; giving or receiving a gift; meeting teachers, or many various other kinds of people; or proceeding on straight, winding, or hilly roads.
All the verses use the situation mentioned to encourage mindfulness and as reminders of the fundamental intention to help ourself and others more fully express compassion and wisdom, as in the following example:
Seeing grateful people They should wish that all beings Be able to know the blessings Of the Buddhas and enlightening beings.
Historically, a selection of these verses has been recited in East Asian monasteries as rituals before and after bathing, brushing teeth, taking meals, or while doing begging rounds. A number of present-day teachers, such as Thich Nhat Hanh and Robert Aitken Roshi, have rewritten such verses for everyday mindful awareness, bringing them into our contemporary contexts such as when driving on the freeway or using the telephone.
Huayan models of interconnectedness point to the experience of wholeness that is one of the great joys of zazen. From the perspective of zazen, meditation practice is not about attaining some special, new state of mind or being, but rather of fully realizing the inner dignity of this present body and mind. Huayan further explicates the importance of the relationship of wholeness to everyday activities, matching the central emphasis of Zen training on expressing clear awareness amid ordinary conduct.
Huayan in Chan and Zen
The strong influence of Huayan on Chan and Zen was initiated in the person of Zongmi (780-841), the fifth Huayan patriarch, who was also a Chan master descended from the famous Chinese Chan Sixth patriarch, Huineng. A prolific scholar, Zongmi commented extensively on aspects of the Flower Ornament Sutra and Huayan teaching, but also wrote insightfully on many Chan issues. Much of what we know about the historical realities of early ninth century Chan is from Zongmi’s writings. In his teachings, Zongmi synthesized not only Chan and Huayan, but also integrated native Chinese Confucian and Daoist traditions in an understanding that strongly influenced all subsequent Chinese Buddhism.
The Huayan Fourfold Dharmadhatu is the direct inspiration and starting point for the important Zen teaching of the Five Ranks by Dongshan (806-869), the founder of the Caodong Chan lineage, later brought to Japan as Soto Zen by Dogen (1200-1253). The five ranks or degrees teachings, which detail the five aspects of unfolding of the relationship between the universal and particular, became the philosophical foundation for Zen. This was not only true in the Soto school; Linji (Rinzai in Japanese) also developed teachings that echoed the Fourfold Dharmadhatu. Hakuin (1686-1769), the great Japanese founder of modern Rinzai Zen, also commented on the Five Ranks, which remain one of the highest stages in the koan curriculum of modern Rinzai Zen.
Huayan in Japan
The Japanese Kegon school is descended from the Chinese Huayan. One of the six early Nara schools from seventh century Japan, Kegon is a very small school today. But Kegon is still known for its Todaiji temple in Nara, home of the largest wooden building in the world, and the largest bronze statue, the “Great Buddha,” which depicts Vairocana, the Dharmakaya Buddha.
Probably the best-known Japanese Kegon teacher is the passionately devotional Myoe (1173-1232), a fascinating figure who has recently drawn attention from Western scholars for his forty-year dream journal, celebrated by modern Jungian psychologists. Myoe made considerable efforts to develop practical applications of the Huayan teachings and the Flower Ornament Sutra. For example, he presented his own dreams and meditative visions in terms of understandings from Huayan teachings, and he encouraged others to use Avatamsaka visions to support and clarify their own practice.
Myoe was also a Shingon (Japanese Vajrayana) priest. Among his numerous other colorful activities, as an ardent young monk he cut off his ear like Van Gogh to demonstrate his sincerity, and he is often depicted doing zazen on his sitting platform up in a tree at the temple where he taught.
Huayan in the West
Apart from its power to inform and illuminate meditation practice, Huayan philosophy is highly relevant to Buddhism’s potential contribution to environmental and ecological thinking. The dynamics of the mutual relationship of universal and particular in Huayan has already been influential in the modern deep ecology movement in its clear expression of the interrelationship of the total global environment to the well-being of particular ecological niches.
The implications of this interconnectedness and the importance of the bodhisattva’s responsibility in Huayan is also a great encouragement and resource for modern Engaged Buddhism and Buddhist societal ethics. This can be seen, for example, through the main Avatamsakabodhisattva Samantabhadra, who engages in specific projects for worldly benefit through his dedicated practice of Vow as applied to benefiting all beings and all the societal systems of the world.
Huayan models of the interconnectedness of totality also have implications for modern science. Especially in cutting-edge realms of physics such as string theory, Huayan visions may provide inspirations for clarifying the dynamic interactions of various dimensions of reality.
Given how much Huayan Buddhism has to offer contemporary practitioners seeking to deepen their experience and understanding, even in realms outside of practice, it is fortunate that more material about this ancient teaching is becoming available. We can perhaps look forward to a renaissance of this profound teaching of interconnectedness in response to the pressing needs of our day.
Source: Huayan Buddhism / Chinaconnectu
Source: 5. Pure Land, Hua-yan and Tantric Buddhism
Hua-yan Buddhism
The Hua-yan school is based on a collection of Mahayana sutras called the avatamsaka (flower wreath). Although most of these scriptures have been lost, some remain, notably the dhasabhumika and gandavyuha Sutras. The Hua- yan’s philosophies were primarily systematised by Fa-zang (643-712). Perhaps the most important teaching is that of “interpenetration”. This principle of interpenetration is illustrated by the Hindu myth of “Indra’s net”.
Indra’s net [Edited excerpt from Sangharakshita’s lecture: “the Universal Perspective of Mahayana Buddhism”]
According to mythology which Buddhism inherited from Hinduism, Indra is the King of the Gods. He is said to dwell in the “heaven of the thirty-three gods”. And Indra possesses a number of treasures. Amongst these treasures is a net made entirely of jewels. This net has the extraordinary characteristic that each and every one of its jewels reflects all the other jewels. In other words each jewel reflects the rest of the net; and all the other jewels are reflected in that individual jewel. All in each, and each in all.
The gandhavyuha sutra, which is so important to the Hua-yan school, says the whole universe with everything in it is like Indra’s net of jewels. The universe consists of innumerable phenomena of various kinds, just as Indra’s net consists of innumerable jewels of all shapes and sizes. From the standpoint of the highest spiritual experience all the phenomena of the universe, whether great or small, near or distant, all mutually reflect one another; in a sense they even contain one another. All contain each, and each contains all. This truth applies throughout space and also throughout time. Space and time are, in effect, transcended, because everything that happens is happening now, and everything that is happening anywhere is happening here.
Of course we usually we do not think of the universe like this, or experience it like this. We usually think of the things that make up the world as irreducibly distinct from one another. And we usually experience the universe as consisting of things that are completely distinct from one another.
There is a very popular scriptural saying that is quoted in mahayana Buddhist countries again and again, and which enters deeply into their literature.. Eventually it even influences their everyday life. And this saying is that “every grain of dust in the universe contains all the Buddhafields” (ie. all the worlds throughout space and time). This might seem a rather bizarre and exotic insight, but we have something rather like it in a verse by the English poet, painter and visionary William Blake. He must have had a glimpse of this reality when he wrote:
To see a world in a grain of sand, And Heaven in a wild flower, Hold the universe in the palm of one’s hand, And eternity in an hour.
Although this is a very popular verse of English literature, some people may not take it very seriously. They tend to think of these lines as just a flight of poetic fancy. But Blake was not just a poet, he was also a visionary, and this verse of his expresses a realization that in essence is not very different from that of Indra’s net.
The various teachings of Buddhism are also like Indra’s net. They comprise a number of different paths, teachings and practices, all of which are interconnected. They all reflect one another each gives you a clue to all the others. Each is contained in all the others.
Source: THE PROBLEMATIC OF WHOLE – PART AND THE HORIZON OF THE ENLIGHTENED IN HUAYAN BUDDHISM
Source: “Dharmadhātu: An Introduction to Hua-Yen Buddhism.”
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The Vedic metaphor of Indra’s Net
The metaphor of Indra’s net, with its poetic description of the indivisibility of the universe, captures the essence of Hinduism’s vibrant and open spirit.
A Jewel in Indra’s Net: The Letter Sent by Fazang in China to Ŭisang in Korea
Volume 8 of Italian School of East Asian Studies occasional papers Occasional papers
Author Antonino Forte Edition illustrated Publisher Italian School of East Asian Studies, 2000 Original from the University of Michigan Digitized Jul 1, 2009 ISBN 4900793167, 9784900793163 Length 105 pages
The Chintamani Crystal Matrix: Quantum Intention and the Wish-Fulfilling Gem
By Johndennis Govert, Hapi Hara
Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism
Volume 151 of Asiatische Forschungen, ISSN 0571-320X Editor Imre Hamar Edition illustrated Publisher Harrassowitz, 2007 Original from the University of Michigan Digitized Jul 1, 2009 ISBN 344705509X, 9783447055093 Length 410 pages
A study of the relations between the doctrine of Huayan Buddhism and the legends surrounding some of the Huayan school patriarchs in China, Korea, and Japan.
Did Huayan’s teachings influence Dōgen’s Thought ? : Dōgen’s Treatment of Huayan Concepts of Mind-Only and One-and-Allness (Part 1 : The Intellectual relationship Between Dōgen and Huayan).
Skanda, The Multifaceted God: Skanda in Korean Buddhism and Beyond
위태천의 다양한 변모: 한국불교 그리고 보다 넓은 아시아적 관점에서 김수정 Sujung Kim 드포대학교 종교학과 부교수 Associate Professor of Religious Studies, DePauw University 31 March 2021. pp. 51-96
The Huayan school is a form of Buddhism that reflects unique East Asian understanding and interpretation of Indian Buddhism. It flourished the most in China during the Tang dynasty when the renowned “five patriarchs” of the school, Du Shun, Zhiyan, Fazang, Chengguan, and Zongmi, were active. One of the best-known concepts of Huayan Buddhism is “dependent arising of the dharma-dhatu” often translated as “realm of reality.” In the Avatamsaka-sutra, the Buddha preaches at three human locales, and four heavenly realms. All chapters of the sutra revolve around two central topics: eulogy of the Buddha’s unique abilities, and description of the bodhisattva’s career. There is a story about Zhiyan meeting a strange monk, who advised him to meditate in seclusion on the six aspects of the Dasabhumika-sutra. Another notable example of the Huayan school’s comprehensive and creative systematization of Buddhist teachings is the doctrine of “ten mysterious gates.”
Drawing on a panjiao similar to that of Zhiyi, the Huayan school chose the Huayan Sutra (Sanskrit title Avataṃsaka Sutra, Chinese Huayan jing) for its foundational scripture. What immediately differentiates Huayan from typically Indian approaches is that instead of concentrating on a diagnosis of the human problem, and exhorting and prescribing solutions for it, Huayan immediately begins from the point of view of enlightenment. In other words, its discourse represents a nirvanic perspective rather than a samsaric perspective. Instead of detailing the steps that would lead one from ignorance to enlightenment, Huayan immediately endeavours to describe how everything looks through enlightened eyes.
Like Tiantai, Huayan offers a totalistic, encompassing ‘round’ view. A lived world as constituted through a form of life experience is called a dharma-dhātu. Chengguan, the ‘fourth’ Huayan patriarch, described four types of dharma-dhātus, each successively encompassing its predecessors. The first is shi, which means ‘event’, ‘affair’ or ‘thing’. This is the realm where things are experienced as discrete individual items. The second is called li (principle), which in Chinese usage usually implies the principal metaphysical order that subtends events as well as the rational principles that explicate that order. Often li is used by Buddhists as a synonym for emptiness. The first sustained analysis based on the relation of li and shi was undertaken by the Korean monk Wônhyo in his commentary on the Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna, which influenced early Huayan thinkers like Fazang. The li–shi model went on to become an important analytic tool for all sorts of East Asian philosophers, not just Buddhists. In the realm of li, one clearly sees the principles that relate shi to each other, but the principles are more important than the individual events. In the third realm, one sees the mutual interpenetration or ‘non-obstruction’ of li and shi (lishi wu’ai). Rather than seeing events while being oblivious to principle, or concentrating on principle while ignoring events, in this realm events are seen as instantiations of principle, and principle is nothing more than the order by which events relate to each other.
In the fourth and culminating dharma-dhātu, one sees the mutual interpenetration and non-obstruction of all events (shishi wu’ai). In this realm, everything is causally related to everything else. Huayan illustrates this with the image of Indra’s net, a vast net that encompasses the universe. A special jewel is found at the intersection of every horizontal and vertical weave in the net, special because each jewel reflects every other jewel in the net, so that looking into any one jewel, one sees them all. Every event or thing can disclose the whole universe because all mutually interpenetrate each other without barriers or obstruction.
This form of nondualism is not monistic because shishi wu’ai does not obliterate the distinctions between things, but rather insists that everything is connected to everything else without losing distinctiveness. Identity and difference, in this view, are merely two sides of the same coin, which, though a single coin, still has two distinct sides that should not be confused for each other. Mutual interpenetration is temporal as well as spatial; past, present and future mutually interpenetrate. Hence according to Huayan, to enter the path towards final enlightenment is, in an important sense, to have already arrived at that destination.
One: Being an Investigation into the Unity of Reality and of its Parts, including the Singular Object which is Nothingness (Oxford, 2014; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 May 2014), https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199688258.003.0011, accessed 29 June 2023.
Mereology concerns part-whole relations, which is to say that mereological discussions focus on (1) the relation between the parts of a whole and the whole of which they’re a part, and (2) the relations between the parts within a whole. But mereological discussions extend beyond mere articulation of mereological axioms. Mereologies—or part-whole theories—play a central role in many aspects of metaphysics. While this has been the case since the time of the Stoics, there has recently been a noteworthy revival of interest in mereology. Some are interested in mereology out of a genuine interest in the field itself, whereas others turn to it to find a toolkit to help them tackle problems that arise in other discussions, as many problems, it turns out, feature a mereological component. Mereology has, for instance, played a key role in motivating a variety of views. Do, for instance, any two objects “mereologically fuse” to form a further object? Some cases seem clear, like the molecules in my body and me; other more gerrymandered cases, like your nose and the Eiffel Tower, seem less clear. Our mereological views here—whether we want to be mereological nihilists, universalists, or restricted composition theorists—will, at a minimum, play a crucial role in forming our ontological commitments. Also notice that while mereological discussion typically focuses on material entities, sometimes our interests gravitate toward the mereological structure of space-time regions, or to the relations that hold between regions and the objects that occupy them, or to the mereology of such entities as events. Mereology has its fingers in many pies. But no matter how we might want to answer mereological concerns, we might further wonder if this is putting the cart before the horse. That is, should mereology take priority? Or should we work out which metaphysical theses we want to defend, and then determine which mereological principles best serve our ends? Different authors take different position here. This article highlights many of the key mereological concepts and principles, but it also outlines some of the fundamental problems that confront philosophers who think about mereology. The article also focuses on philosophical issues, rather than formal ones. For the sake of accessibility, this article avoids technical presentations of, for instance, mereological axioms. It’s also noteworthy that there is a nontrivial contribution to mereology from non-English writers, especially from Eastern Europe.
General Overviews
While there are no introductory textbooks on mereology, there are a number of good introductions, surveys, and general overviews of the field. Varzi 2016 stands out in this regard, as it is detailed, up-to-date, extensive, and clearly written. Simons 1987 assumes little on the part of the reader, and is worth reading in its entirety given the central place it holds in contemporary discussions of mereology. In addition, the introductory chapters of the anthologies on mereology can play the right role for readers interested in particular topics; for example, those unfamiliar with mereology who have a particular interest in locative relations would find the introduction to Kleinschmidt 2014 (cited under Anthologies) a good place to start.
Simons, Peter. Parts: A Study in Ontology. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987. The first three chapters of this contemporary locus classicus on parthood act as an excellent introduction to mereology.
Varzi, Achille. “Appendix: Formal Theories of Parthood.” In Mereology and the Sciences. Edited by Claudio Calosi and Pierluigi Graziani, 259–370. Berlin: Springer, 2014. This is a succinct technical overview of many mereological principles and the ways in which they’re connected. A valuable reference to have on hand.
Varzi, Achille. “Mereology.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Edited by Edward Zalta. Stanford, CA: Stanford University, 2016. Surveys the range of standard mereological principles, with an emphasis on the contemporary, and gradually introduces formal presentations. Varzi also highlights the controversies and problems in the process. A comprehensive introduction, with an extensive bibliography.
Hua-Yen – Buddhism and Daoism in Dialogue
The interpenetration of phenomena as the noumenon
A revolutionary move: phenomena restored to respectability
“To Be is To Inter-Be”: Thich Nhat Hanh on Interdependent Arising
MIRJA ANNALENA HOLST AUV, Vietnam (mianho@gmx.de)
The “Thought of Enlightenment” in Fa-tsang’s Hua-yen Buddhism
Dale S. Wright
The Prevalence of Huayan-Chan 華嚴禪 Buddhism in the Regions of Northern Chinaduring the 11th Century
Focusing on Chinese Language Texts from the Song, Liao and Xixia (Tangut) Kingdoms
WANG Song 王頌 Professor, Peking University, Beijing, China wangsong_pku@163.com
Journal of Chan Buddhism 1 (2019) 146–177
Exegesis-Philosophy Interplay:
Introduction to Fazang’s 法藏 (643-712) Commentary on the Huayan jing 華嚴經 (60 juans) [Skt. Avataṃsaka Sūtra; Flower Garland Sūtra] — the Huayan jing tanxuan ji 華嚴經探玄記 [Record of Investigating the Mystery of the Huayan jing]
by Weiyu Lin
The University of British Columbia (V ancouver)
July 2021
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Source: The Three Major Traditions of Buddhism: A Comprehensive Overview
Buddhism is one of the world’s major religions and has been practiced for over two and a half thousand years. It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as the Buddha, meaning “enlightened one.” Today, there are three main traditions of Buddhism in the world: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana.
Theravada Buddhism
Theravada Buddhism is the oldest and most traditional form of Buddhism. It is commonly practiced in Southeast Asia, including countries such as Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Myanmar. Theravada Buddhism focuses on individual enlightenment, with a strong emphasis on meditation and self-discipline. The teachings of the Buddha are considered to be the ultimate authority in Theravada Buddhism, and the goal of the practitioner is to become an arhat, or fully enlightened being. The Pali Canon, a collection of texts in the Pali language, is the primary source of teachings in Theravada Buddhism.
Mahayana Buddhism
Mahayana Buddhism is a more liberal and diverse tradition that developed in East Asia, including China, Japan, and Korea. Mahayana Buddhism emphasizes compassion and the idea that all sentient beings have the potential to become enlightened. The goal of a Mahayana practitioner is to become a bodhisattva, someone who has attained enlightenment but chooses to stay in the cycle of rebirth to help others achieve enlightenment. Mahayana Buddhism is characterized by the use of rituals and devotional practices, and it has a rich and complex system of philosophy and cosmology. The Mahayana sutras, a collection of scriptures, are considered the primary source of teachings in Mahayana Buddhism.
Vajrayana Buddhism
Vajrayana Buddhism, also known as Tantric Buddhism, is the third and newest tradition of Buddhism. It is commonly practiced in Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal, and it emphasizes the use of meditation, visualization, and ritual to attain enlightenment. Vajrayana Buddhism incorporates elements of Hinduism and indigenous shamanistic practices and is known for its elaborate rituals and the use of mantras, mudras, and mandalas. The goal of a Vajrayana practitioner is to attain Buddhahood in one lifetime, and the Vajrayana teachings are transmitted through a system of guru-disciple relationships.
While there are differences between the three traditions of Buddhism, they all share a common belief in the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, which are the foundational teachings of Buddhism. The Four Noble Truths state that suffering is a universal experience, the cause of suffering is craving and attachment, there is a way to end suffering, and the path to the end of suffering is the Eightfold Path, which includes right understanding, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration.
In conclusion, Buddhism is a rich and diverse religion with a long history and a wide range of practices and beliefs. The three traditions of Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana each offer a unique approach to achieving enlightenment, but they all share a common goal of reducing suffering and cultivating compassion. Whether you are interested in meditation, philosophy, or ritual, there is a form of Buddhism that can provide a path towards greater wisdom, peace, and understanding.
Key Terms
Theravada
Mahayana
Yogacara
Madhyamaka
Vajrayana
From its origin in India, Buddhism has spread to many parts of the world. It has become a world religion.
India
Nepal
Bhutan
Tibet
Mongolia
China
Korea
Japan
Vietnam
Sri Lanka
Myanmar (Burma)
Thailand
Cambodia
Laos
Europe
North America
In this post, I only outline schools of Buddhism in the following countries.
India, Tibet, China, Japan, and Korea.
Chinese Buddhism
Tiantai
Huayan
Chan
Source: Chinese Buddhist Philosophy
Chinese Buddhist philosophy primarily results from traditional Chinese Buddhist thinkers’ efforts to inherit, reinterpret, and develop theories and thoughts in various Chinese translations of Indian Mahayana scriptures and treatises. Five Chinese Buddhist schools or traditions are of philosophical significance: the Three-Treatise school, the Consciousness-Only school, the Tiantai school, the Huayan school, and Chinese Zen (Chan) Buddhism. Among them, the Three-Treatise and Consciousness-Only schools are the Chinese descendants of, respectively, Indian Madhyamaka and Yogācāra; however, both have all but disappeared after the Tang dynasty (618−907). The other three schools, Tiantai, Huayan, and Zen/Chan, are indigenous and can be seen as philosophically the most representative traditions of Chinese Buddhism. Considerably owing to the influence of Chinese thought and culture, Chinese Buddhist way of thinking is fundamentally nondualistic in character, emphasizing, more than Indian Mahayana does, the mutual sameness and interpenetration of the ultimate and the conventional. The thinking tends to be somewhat nondiscursive, involving holistic views expressed in paradoxical language, with particular concern on the practical. Meanwhile, Tathāgatagarbha thought receives much attention among Chinese Buddhist thinkers, and the widespread conviction is that all sentient beings have Buddha-nature and can attain Buddhahood.
Source: Chinese Buddhist Philosophy
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: Buddhist Schools/Quest for Wisdom
Chinese philosophy as a way of life: Buddhist schools
11 ― From: Rappard, H. van (2009). Walking Two Roads ― Accord and Separation In Chinese and Western Thought. Amsterdam: VU University Press. pp. 125-135.
Like the other Buddhist schools developed in China except for Chan the Huayan school was based on one particular sutra, the Avatamsaka sutra. Its Chinese name is Huayan or Flower Garland.
Translated in the fifth century, it was systematised by the third patriarch, Fazang (643-712). Because of its subtlety the Huayan school is often called the philosophical apex of Chinese Buddhism. It is also characteristically Chinese, which comes to the fore in its views on the relation between shi, variously rendered as objects, phenomena, form, or appearance, and li, principle, or reality.
In line with Mahayana Buddhism at large, Huayan holds that the phenomena, the things and events in the world that are perceived by the senses are interdependent or empty. This is so because, being conditioned by other phenomena they lack independent or intrinsic self-natures. There is nothing in them that really stands on its own as it were, no really independent or absolute core.
As Fazang said,
“Observe that all things are born from causes and conditions, and so have no individual reality, and hence are ultimately empty”.[2]
Shrine to a statue of the Eleven-Headed Guanyin[3]
In the breath-taking vistas conveyed by the Huayan sutra all phenomena are fully dependent on and related to each other.
Put thus however, the message of the Huayan school might seem to be no more than a pretty straightforward Buddhism and there would be little reason to call it a philosophical apex. But this qualification is easier to understand once it is understood that the sutra does not depict the world as seen by ordinary mortals but by a Buddha and that from such a perspective all phenomena in the universe interpenetrate. The Huayan is particularly famous for just this theme.
As seen by a Buddha, the world
“is one of infinite interpenetration. Inside everything is everything else. And yet all things are not confused”.[4]
A candle and a Buddha statue placed surrounded by mirrors
Such a perspective is difficult to appreciate and it is not surprising that Fazang, who had easy access to the court, found himself faced with an exasperated empress Wu (627-705) when he tried to explain the intricacies of the Huayan. But he was a good teacher with a characteristically Chinese knack of bringing highly abstract topics down to earth.
Recognising the difficulties experienced by the empress, Fazang had a candle and a Buddha statue placed surrounded by mirrors. When the candle was lit, the statue was reflected in every mirror, while each of these reflections were reflected in all the other mirrors so that in any one mirror were the reflections of all the others.
A 3D rendering of Indra’s net[5]
The background of this artful didactic device is found in the Huayan doctrine of Indra’s net, which would be less easy to replicate in one’s bathroom and considerably more expensive because it concerns a net of jewels. In Indra’s net each jewel reflects all the other jewels but the reflections of all the jewels in each individual jewel also contain the reflections of all the other jewels, ad infinitum. This illustrates the interpenetration of all things.
We are used to taking things purely at face value; a chair is a chair and that is all there is to it. We do not realise that it has been produced and that for this to happen trees have been cut, wood has been worked and other materials and energy have been used and that once manufactured, it has been transported to the shop where I bought it. And all this has been done by loggers, factory workers, drivers, sales persons and others, who required the services of yet other people such as mechanics and caterers in order to do their jobs. But then, all these people have been brought into existence by their parents, who themselves …
There is simply no end to what has gone into this particular chair. Even the simplest chair, in other words, is not an independent reality. Having come into existence because of numerous causes, it exists as the nexus of all of them. Applied along such lines,
Indra’s net provides an
“instrument for the achievement of balance and depth in understanding and, moreover, for the avoidance of one-sided views”.[6]
The Three Worthies of Huayan, Dazu Rock Carvings[7]
There is yet more to our chair. It may be seen as an economic object, a status symbol and a piece of furniture, and perhaps also as an antiquity or firewood. But each of these perspectives by itself elicits no more than one aspect of its totality, while the other perspectives are hidden.
Yet, the Huayan school insists,
“the display of this by no means annihilates that. On the contrary, at the very moment when this is displayed, all the infinite that’s are simultaneously and secretly established without the slightest hindrance or obstruction. It is a great pity that the human mind can only function in a one-at-a-time, from-one-level pattern, thus deprived of the opportunity of seeing the infinite versions of a given thing at once”.[8]
The mirror metaphor: not bound by a specific perspective
The Huayan school teaches us to be ‘round’, that is, not bound by a specific perspective. The obstacle that stands in the way of a round view is our ego,
“a persistent tendency to cling to a small, enclosed self and its interests. Its essence is to exclude, its function is to separate”.[9]
Fazang’s mirrors teach several things. The mirroring process takes place directly, not mediated by something else. A mirror mirrors, and when it does, it does so fully and completely ―
“it goes after nothing and welcomes nothing, it responds but does not store’.[10]
Aerial view of Huayan Temple, Datong[11]
This exemplifies the unimpeded interconnection of the phenomena that the sutra speaks of. But not only the Huayan sutra; unimpeded interconnection is found in all Buddhist schools in one way or another.
The mirror metaphor conveys the primordial accord and mutual resonance of things in the world. And also, if scratched or dirty a mirror won’t be able to function adequately and the image shown cannot but be partial and distorted. This demonstrates the disturbing role of the volitional intentions (fourth aggregate), which by and large come down to the Buddhist conception of the ego.
Whenever ego, self, or I interferes, as it cannot but do being itself the interfering volitional intention, the mirroring is disturbed and one-sided. But when the isolating sense of I is gone, awareness of the all pervading interconnection between all things arises.
The Huayan school has expressed this Buddhist insight as
“one in all and all in one’, and ‘one is all and all is one’.
Indra’s net has demonstrated the Huayan view of the relation between the phenomena as interdependent and interpenetrating without however, cancelling them out. Although their relativity is stressed, the phenomena do by no means disappear in an impenetrable fog of mutual dependence and interpenetration. This could be summarised by saying that the sutra sees the phenomena as separate yet identical, and at the same time as identical, yet separate.
Having dealt with the phenomena-phenomena level we are still left with the phenomena-principle level.
The metaphor of the golden lion
Lions pair, Bingling Si — photo Joke Koppius
How does li fit into the overall Huayan picture? In order to help empress Wu understand this dimension of the unimpeded interconnection propounded by his school, the resourceful Fazang thought of yet another didactic devise, the metaphor of the golden lion. In this metaphor gold symbolises the principle (li) and the lion a phenomenon or form (shi).
The relation between principle and form may be explained as follows. While the principle as such is formless it is inherent in all forms. Gold may be shaped into the form of a lion. But since the lion is merely a form it has no reality of its own ― it is entirely gold. Hence, the existence of the lion is wholly dependent on the existence of gold. No gold, no lion; without the principle there can be no phenomena or forms.
On the other hand, since the lion represents the form of the gold the latter cannot exist without the former. Thus, form reveals principle, and gold and lion co-exist harmoniously. Although they are merged together this impedes neither from being itself.
“One can see the golden lion as a lion, and one can see it as gold, and one can see both, and one can see neither. When the mutual conditioning of gold and lion is in harmony, the dichotomy of Li and Shih is gone; words are useless, the mind is at rest. Reality is appearance, appearance is reality. The gold is the lion, the lion is the gold”.[12]
In other words, just as the relation between the phenomena among themselves the relation between phenomena and principle is one of identity yet separation, and separation yet identity. Li and shi are mutually conditioned.
The metaphor of the golden lion also demonstrates why the Huayan school qualifies as a characteristically Chinese school of Buddhist philosophy.
The reason is that the principle (li) is not located in a separate world, a higher metaphysical or over-world if you please, but is conceived as inherent in the phenomena (shi). The principle operates and is to be found in this world.
Although it is often taken as propounding a purely intellectual Buddhism, what Huayan wants to convey is not just to cognitively understand the interconnection of all phenomena, and phenomena and principle but to actually live this insight.
Chan
Bodhidharma came from the West
Porcelain statuette Bodhidharma[13]
For all its lofty images and breathtaking scope the Buddhism of the Huayan school appeared to be highly Chinese in its concreteness. Nevertheless, in this respect the Chan school goes even further. This is probably the reason why it is often called the most Chinese form of Buddhism.
The earliest beginnings of the Chan school are foggy. When it began to emerge, Buddhism had already had four or five centuries to take root in Chinese soil and was solidly established.
There seems thus to have been little reason for an Indian meditation master to come from the West and set himself up as yet another teacher. But this is what the tradition tells us about Bodhidharma, a largely legendary character about whom nothing is known but who is assumed to have died in 532 at a ripe old age, which most accounts put at 150. He is said to have used not a single word in transmitting his teaching.
The oft-quoted stanza attributed to him was not formulated until the Tang dynasty. It runs as follows,
“A special transmission outside the teachings; Not standing on words and letters. Directly pointing to the human heart, Seeing into its nature and awakening.”[14]
When Chan began to be organised as an independent school it needed a history which would align it with the tradition of the already established Buddhist schools. It is not surprising therefore that a retrospective quality pervades the Chan tradition, McRae notes. Studying Chan history one deals
“not so much in facts and events as in legends and reconstructions, not so much with accomplishments and contributions as with attributions and legacies”.[15]
Bodhidharma the twenty eighth Indian patriarch and the first patriarch of Chan
Consequently, Bodhidharma went down in history as the twenty eighth Indian patriarch and the first patriarch of Chan.
After Bodhidharma four successive patriarchs seem to have carried on the tender Chan school: Huike (487-593), Sengcan (d. 606), Daoxin (580-635/651), and Hongren (602-675), who are traditionally presented as an unbroken line of master-disciple relationships although there is much historical uncertainty on this score.
This also applies to the third patriarch, Sengcan who has become known as the author of On trust in the heart(Xin xin ming) although it was probably produced during the Tang dynasty.
But from a practice point of view there is little reason to worry about Chan’s historical uncertainties. In view of what has been said about the tendency of the heart-mind to incline to either of two sides it is more pertinent to note Sengcan counsel about picking and choosing.
The first four lines of Trust in the heart run as follows,
“The Perfect Way is only difficult for those who pick and choose; Do not like, do not dislike; all will then be clear. Make a hairbreadth difference, and Heaven and Earth are set apart; If you want the truth to stand clear before you, never be for or against.”[16]
Not only is this yet another instance of the injunction to avoid one sidedness but it can also be argued that however different they may seem, ultimately the teachings of Chan and Huayan amount to the same: one must be ‘round’. To be round is to be free from specific points of view and limited perspectives. Not inclining toward any perspective, things are seen from all perspectives at once. Recall that the Huayan school is based on an orientation toward totality.
“Totality is a great harmony of the co-existence of all [perspectives]”.[17]
What is the Buddha?
Chang exemplifies this with the Chan story of a monk who asked Mazu what the Buddha was and on hearing the answer, ‘your mind is Buddha’, gained enlightenment. But after many years he was informed that Mazu had changed his teaching to ‘neither mind nor Buddha’.
The monk said,
“Let him have his neither mind nor Buddha, I still hold my ‘mind is Buddha’”.
Being informed of this reaction, Mazu was pleased and said that the monk had ripened.[18]
The monk had ripened to roundness because he was obviously not stuck in one point of view and did not become confused by Mazu’s change to another perspective.
Tang dynasty: Buddhism an exceedingly rich and powerful high church
By the time of the Tang dynasty Buddhism had developed a well entrenched position in Chinese society, amounting in fact to an exceedingly rich and powerful high church, maintained by the government at enormous expense. Its dignitaries enjoyed a wealth of privileges, such as exemption from forced labour and taxation, and when engaged in economic activities did not feel above charging usurious rates.
Systematic persecution
There had been protests before but in 845 this incited systematic persecution of the Buddhist church. Nearly 5000 temples were destroyed (along with a number of Nestorian and Zoroastrian ones for good measure), some 250,000 monks and nuns were forced to return to lay life, and properties were confiscated.
Although the anti-Buddhist regulations were already reversed after one year, only the Pure Land and Chan schools survived, the latter becoming the dominant school of Chinese Buddhism. None of the other schools ever recovered.
Although it did not emerge completely unscathed from the persecutions, Chan is the only school that was never interfered with by the government. One reason is political. In the early days the patriarchs and their students lived tough itinerant lives that were unlikely to attract much official attention.
Although this changed during the fourth patriarch, the monasteries that came to be established tended to be simple and located in remote places, while the monks earned their own livelihood instead of begging. Also important was that the governors of the out-laying regions where many monasteries were found were often of foreign origin and therefore treated rather off-handily by the central government. They did not feel much inclined therefore to obey its decrees. Moreover, many were Chan students themselves.
The Diamond sutra
Chinese translation of the Diamond Sutra[19]
According to the sutra bearing his name, the sixth patriarch, Huineng (638-713) and his widowed mother suffered extreme poverty. One day, while he was selling firewood, he happened to hear one of his customers read parts of the Diamond sutra. We are told that his eyes were opened immediately, which prompted him to try and find the fifth patriarch.
Hungren, the fifth patriarch
The fifth patriarch carrying a hoe — Muxi[20]
But Huineng’s first encounter with Hungren was not all that encouraging. He was told that a barbarian from the south like him could never become a Buddha. Undaunted, the allegedly uneducated boy quoted from the Diamond sutra that
“although my barbarian’s body and your body are not the same, what difference is there in our Buddha nature?”.[21]
The fifth patriarch got the message but decided to keep silent and put Huineng on the humble job of threshing rice, which prompted him, the tradition has it, to wear a heavy stone around the waist to add weight. Receiving no specific instruction, the poor, illiterate, slight boy worked in the threshing shed for eight months. It must have been a fruitful period.
The succession
One day, the fifth patriarch, getting old and wanting to settle his succession asked the monks to produce a verse. The one who presented the deepest insight would become his successor. Since they were all convinced that this could only concern the head monk none of them even bothered to try and compose a verse.
The head monk himself however, was hesitant about his insight and waited until the dark of the night to brush his verse on the wall of a corridor without anyone else knowing about it.
“The body is the Tree of Awakening, The heart a bright mirror; Always wipe it carefully So that no dust can settle.”[22]
Next morning, having read it all the monks thought this was a splendid verse and that the succession had been settled. The fifth patriarch too judged it to be fine. The head monk’s verse became the talk of the monastery and eventually also reached Huineng in the threshing shed.
Huineng, the sixth patriarch
Having had one of the monks read it to him, he asked him to write the following verse next to it,
“There is no Tree of Awakening; The bright mirror has no stand; When all is emptiness [in later works: From the beginning not a thing is] Where then could dust settle?”[23]
The Sixth Patriarch Huineng[24]
Because he feared to arouse the jealousy of the monks, the fifth patriarch handed Huineng the patriarchal robe in the middle of the night and urged him to flee south. Nevertheless, the sixth patriarch was pursued and finally overtaken by a monk, who asked him for the robe. Without a moment of hesitation Huineng handed this sign of transmission over. But on finding that it was too heavy for him, the monk had a change of heart asked for instruction.
For a number of years, Huineng ripened in South China. On his re-emergence he started teaching and soon afterwards had gathered a couple of thousand monks and laymen. After a fairly short teaching period, on his deathbed, he detailed the Chan practice.
“If you are only peacefully calm and quiet, without motion, without stillness, without birth, without destruction, without coming, without going, without judgments of right and wrong, without staying and without going ― this then is the Great Way”.[25]
Clearly, there is nothing here that does not fit in with the practice of self-cultivation as presented in the Mean and the Daoist classics.
The four teachers
Although their relations with the sixth patriarch are again uncertain, traditionally the line of his successors is formed by Mazu (709-788), Baizhang, Huangbo (d. 847), and Linji (d. 867).
The four teachers are represented in the Chan literature by collections of stories, discourses, and sayings, in which the lofty heritage of India has been put in pretty straightforward colloquial Chinese called baihua (white language), conveying stunningly concrete and outright physical ways of teaching.
Understanding of gongan
Ten Verses on Oxherding (1278)[26]
Indeed, countless stories testify to the perplexing speed with which the Chan masters reacted to the doubts and questions of students struggling to escape from their incessant deliberations. In the 1950s, when Chan began to become known in the West, it tended to an unfortunate popularity with hippies and New Agers because of its apparently unconventional teachers, aggravated by an understanding of gongan, better known by their Japanese name of koan, as mysterious riddles and mind busters.
However, it is not exotic pedagogical devises that abound in the exchanges between teacher and student. The teachers simply reacted to the demands of the situation that had been set up by the perplexed student and, following the lines laid down by Bodhidharma’s verse, did so in an disconcertingly direct way.
Hence, the shouting and beating, but also the humorous paradoxes and nonsensicalities ― virtually everything was used to shock the student out of his inclinations. Looked at thus, the seemingly irate behaviour of the Chan teachers, although not rational in the sense of reasoned-out, does stand to reason. Moreover, as Jullien points out, the seeds of this indicative way of teaching may already be found in Confucius and his followers.[27]
Analects by Confucius[28]
It should be realised that Confucius too, did not teach an abstract truth but tried to guide human conduct towards accord with the present moment. Quite like other Chinese teachers we have met Confucius did not teach a creed ― he just indicated the Way.
As he said,
“Only one who bursts with eagerness do I instruct; only one who bubbles with excitement, do I enlighten. If I hold up one corner and a man cannot come back to me with the other three, I do not continue the lesson”
Analects Bk. VII, 8.
Since Confucius did by no means try to convert the student it was of the essence that the latter was enabled to find the Way by his own lights. Just a few words or, better still, a silent pointing should therefore suffice. True enough, many instances of Chan teaching seem pretty drastic (see story below) but does that make them basically different from the indicative approach taken by Confucius?
“Ummon was not satisfied with his knowledge of Buddhism which had been gained from books, and came to Bokuju to have a final settlement of the intellectual balance-sheet with him. Seeing Ummon approach the gate, Bokuju shut it in his face. Ummon could not understand what it all meant, but he knocked and a voice came from within: ‘Who are you? My name is Ummon. I come from Chih-hsing. What do you want? I am unable to see into the ground of my being and most earnestly wish to be enlightened.’ Bokuju opened the gate, looked at Ummon, and then closed it. Not knowing what to do, Ummon went away. This was a great riddle, indeed, and some time later he came back to Bokuju. But he was treated in the same way as before. When Ummon came for a third time to Bokuju’s gate, his mind was firmly made up, by whatever means, to have a talk with the master. This time as soon as the gate was opened he squeezed himself through the opening. The intruder was at once seized by the chest and the master demanded: ‘Speak! Speak!’ Ummon was bewildered and hesitated. Bokuju, however, lost no time in pushing him out of the gate again, saying, ‘You good-for-nothing fellow!’ As the heavy gate swung shut, it caught one of Ummon’s legs, and he cried out: ‘Oh! Oh!’ But this opened his eyes to the significance of the whole proceeding.”[29]
The teaching of Linji
Rinzai (Linji)[30]
In the teaching of Linji, Chan probably attained its zenith as the most Chinese form of Buddhism. From his rough, utterly down to earth sayings Linji comes to the fore as a ‘true man’. This expression was first used by Zhuangzi. The true man is nothing special, except that by virtue of having neither rank nor status he eludes qualification. Confucius would not have liked this because in traditional China everyone had a rank in the social hierarchy. But like many Hellenistic philosophers the Chan people of old were what the ancient Greeks called atopoi (unclassifiable).
To live in the present moment
Above all however, Linji emerges as someone who lived in the present moment. If, as he counselled, the heart-mind is set at rest, there is no inclination or intention and thus, there is no going beyond the ‘now’.
“Followers of the Way, if you know that fundamentally there is nothing to seek, you have settled your affairs …
… Just put your heart at rest and seek nothing outside. When things come towards you, look at them clearly. Have faith in the one who is functioning at this moment, and all things of themselves become empty … Thus, (smoothly) functioning in response to the moment, what are you lacking….
… He who stands clearly revealed and distinct before your eyes, listening to the Dharma, this Independent Man of the Way lacks nothing at all … When the attitude of your heart does not change from moment to moment, this is called the living patriarch. For if it changes, then your essential nature and your actions come apart. But when your heart does not differ, there is also no difference between your essential nature and your actions …
I tell you this: There is no Buddha, no Dharma, no training and no realization. What are you so hotly chasing? … What are you lacking? Followers of the Way, the one functioning right before your eyes, he is not different from the Buddhas and patriarchs ….”[31]
Notes
[1] Source: Avatamsaka Sutra, vol. 12, frontispiece in gold and silver text on indigo blue paper, mid 14th century [2] Cleary, 1983, p. 23 [3] Source: Shrine to a statue of the Eleven-Headed Guanyin in the Drum Tower of Qita Temple (Yingzhou) [4] Williams, 1989, p. 124 [5] Source: A 3D rendering of Indra’s net [6] Cleary, 1983, p. 38 [7] Source: The Three Worthies of Huayan, Dazu Rock Carvings on Mount Baoding [8] Chang, 1972, pp. 127-128 [9] Chang, 1972, p. 26 [10] Watson, 1968, p. 97 [11] Source: Aerial view of Huayan Temple, Datong, built during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234) [12] Chang, 1975, pp. 99-100 [13] Source: A Dehua ware porcelain statuette of Bodhidharma from the late Ming dynasty, 17th century [14] Adapted from Schloegl, 1975, p. 14 [15] McRae, 2003, pp. 14-15 [16] Translation Waley, in Conze et al., 1990, p. 295 [17] Chang, 1972, p. 135 [18] Chang, 1972, p. 131 [19] Source: Chinese translation of the ‘Diamond Sutra’. The frontispiece to the world’s earliest dated printed book. This consists of a scroll, over 16 feet long, made up of a long series of printed pages. Printed in China in 868 CE, it was found in the Dunhuang Caves in 1907 (cave 17). [20] Source: The fifth Chan patriarch carrying a hoe — Muxi. The poem referring to the motif, signed Wu-I. H. Marjeyama Collection. [21] Yampolsky, 1967, p. 128 [22] Adapted from Schloegl, 1975, p. 15 [23] Adapted from Schloegl, 1975, p. 15 [24] Souece: The Sixth Patriarch Huineng, carrying a rod across his shoulder. Southern Song Dynasty, 13th century. (Gotoh Museum), Tokyo. [25] Yampolsky, 1967, p. 181 [26] Source: Ten Verses on Oxherding (1278) [27] Jullien, 2000, pp. 199, 270 [28] Source: Analects by Confucius [29] Suzuki, 1962, pp. 197-198 [30] Source: portrait of Rinzai (Linji) [31] Schloegl, 1976, pp. 28, 33-34, 37-38, 44-45
Japanese Buddhism
Jojitsu
Zen
Shingon
Jodo
Nichiren
Kegon
Sanron
Hosso
Kusha
Ritsu
Tendai
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: THE ESSENTIALS OF BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY
Source: The Shortest History of Japanese Philosophy
It was only in the sixth century, at the beginning of the Asuka Period (538–710), that writing was introduced to Japan. Before that nothing was written down so, we assume, there was probably not a great deal of philosophical activity. What there was can hardly be called philosophy: it was an animistic spirituality that centred around the idea that everything in the universe is connected by a spiritual force or energy called musubi, manifestations of which were called kami, a rough translation of which is ‘gods’ but it is more accurate to describe them as spirits. National treasures could be kami, as could awesome natural features like Mt. Fuji and the sun, phenomena like hurricanes, venerated individuals like emperors and great warriors, and supernatural beings like the ‘gods of the earthly realm’, called kunitsukami, or the heavenly deities from the Japanese creation myths, called amatsukami, like Izanagi and Izanami, the (respective) male and female creators of the world. This spiritual, arguably religious, tradition was Shintō, though many don’t like to call it Shintō because they think ‘Shintō as we know it’ didn’t turn up until way later. They acknowledge that Shintō came out of whatever this was, though, and that its core tenets were present from earliest times, so there really is no harm in just calling it Shintō for the sake of simplicity.
It was the introduction of Buddhism in 552 that represents the beginning of Japanese intellectual history.
It was the introduction of Buddhism in 552, however, that represents the beginning of Japanese intellectual history. As the story goes, King Seong of the Korean Kingdom of Baekje sent a diplomatic mission to the Japanese Emperor Kinmei containing Buddhist artefacts and scriptures, Buddhism having reached the Korean Peninsula from China much earlier. At a similar time, merchants, monks and scholars began to emigrate to Japan from Korea, bringing with them Confucian texts from which the Japanese learnt to read and write. The language of the Japanese court was, therefore, Chinese; it would not be for hundreds of years until the Japanese could write their own language.
The first written document in Japanese history was the Seventeen-Article Constitution written by the pseudo-historical Prince Shōtoku in 604. Though it’s called a constitution (kenpō in Japanese), it is little more than a set of highfalutin moral aphorisms without much practical application. Most of the articles are pretty hollow, when it comes down to it, saying things like “let us cease from wrath, and refrain from angry looks” and “give clear appreciation to merit and demerit”. Many were clearly ignored, like the injunction that “decisions on important matters should not be made by one person alone”. In fact, the only articles that look like constitutional laws are the sixteenth, which mandates corvée labour in the winter months rather than in the summer, and the twelfth, which prohibits provincial governors from levying taxes. That makes the document a lot more interesting philosophically than politically or legally.
The heart of the constitution is a politico-ethical philosophy of harmony expressed in the first sentence: “Harmony is to be valued, and an avoidance of wanton opposition to be honoured”. The rest of the document is a means to achieving this harmonious ideal, which includes the reverence of Buddhism (officiating it as the state religion), absolute obedience to the imperial commands, and the cessation of ‘wrath’ and ‘angry looks’ – which is probably a call to the end of the civil war which had dominated the sixth century which Shōtoku and his clan had come out of on top.
Prince Shotoku with Two Princes by Kano Osanobu (1842).
The heart of the constitution is a politico-ethical philosophy of harmony.
Shōtoku was a statesman, not a philosopher prince. What puts the Shōtoku Constitution at the beginning of the history of Japanese philosophy is that it sets the scene for everything that comes after it because it is syncretic. What that means is that it is a synthesis of various intellectual sources; in this case, of Buddhism, Confucianism and Shintō – and arguably Taoism and Legalism too. They are mixed in the constitution in two ways. The first is that different articles are inspired by different sources, such as the obviously Buddhist urge to cease from gluttony and abandon covetous desires and the clearly Confucian expectation that ministers will act with propriety (li in Chinese, rei in Japanese).
The second way the document is syncretic is through the creation of new theories combining different intellectual traditions. The harmonious ideal is the best example of this, the statement that “harmony is to be valued” coming from Confucius’ Analects but, unlike in Confucianism, harmony is not to be obtained through ceremonial propriety alone, but through personal moral development, which has a source in Buddhism, and through natural balance, which comes not only from Confucianism but from Shintō and Taoism too.
For the next two hundred years there were still no Japanese philosophers. Buddhism continued to flow into Japan, increasingly dominating intellectual life. There was a great proliferation of temples sponsored by the imperial household and the elite families like the Soga and the Fujiwara. A monastic social class began to emerge which was closely connected with the aristocracy, their sons entering the priesthood and monks serving as teachers and advisors for the aristocrats. However, as Buddhism became increasingly united with Japanese politics, it began to divide on doctrinal grounds into different sects and, by the time of the Nara Period (710–794), Japanese Buddhism was defined by the Six Nara Schools. They were Ritsu, Kusha, Jōjitsu, Sanron, Hossō and Kegon. The first three of these belong to the Hīnayāna tradition of Buddhism and the others are Mahāyāna.
Rather than focusing on transcendent metaphysics, Japanese Buddhism leant into aesthetic practice grounded in phenomenal reality.
The distinction between Hīnayāna, or ‘small vehicle’, and Mahāyāna, or ‘great vehicle’, Buddhism was a construct of the Mahāyānists. Hīnayāna Buddhists believe in an impersonal path to enlightenment, hinged on self-restraint, introspection, and a gradual detachment from worldly emotions. Mahāyānists, on the other hand, advocate for a communal approach to enlightenment, emphasizing empathy, compassion, and interpersonal connections. The latter dominated Japanese Buddhism, distinguished by its distinctive heuristic methods that democratize access to enlightenment. This shift towards a more egalitarian ethos is a defining feature in the historical evolution of Japanese Buddhism, setting it apart from its Chinese counterpart. Rather than focusing on transcendent metaphysics, Japanese Buddhism leant into aesthetic practice grounded in phenomenal reality.
Another important idea of the Mahāyānists was the Buddha’s embodiments. The historical buddha is the individual buddha that was Siddhārtha Gautama (or Shakyamuni, in Japanese). The celestial buddha refers to eternal celestial beings who’ve never been human. They can be understood as personifications of various aspects of the enlightened mind, and their purpose is to aid sentient beings on their path to enlightenment. The third is the cosmic buddha, which is the universal principle whose presence permeates everything. Japanese Buddhism emphasized the cosmic buddha over the other two, which is perfectly consistent with its phenomenalistic bent: because the buddha is in everything, enlightenment can be found in everything; to attain buddhahood is to experience everything as it really is.
All Six Nara Schools were exoteric, which meant that their teachings were accessible to anybody willing to put the effort into understanding them through scriptural study and adherence to established doctrines and rituals. Two opponents to this orthodoxy emerged at the beginning of the ninth century. They were Saichō and Kūkai, who brought esotericism to Japan from China, which focussed on the transmission of teachings from masters to their disciples through secret rituals, advanced meditation techniques, visualization practices, and sacred utterances called mantras to attain enlightenment.
Saichō founded Japanese Tendai Buddhism and established the influential temple complex of Enryakuji at Mt. Hiei. He was trained by the Chinese Tiantai philosopher Daosui, ‘Tendai’ being the Japanese translation of ‘Tientai’, but Tientai was exoteric. Allegedly, whilst waiting for his ship to arrive and take him back to Japan, Saichō visited Yuezhou (modern Shaoxing) where he learnt about esoteric Buddhism which he would incorporate into the Tendai school. Saichō happened upon esotericism, but Kūkai was specifically trained in it by the Chinese Tangmi monk Huiguo, returning to Japan to father Shingon Buddhism which was esoteric through and through.
Eight Patriarchs of the Shingon Sect of Buddhism: Kukai
When Kūkai returned to Japan, Saichō befriended him, copying his esoteric texts and receiving instructions on rituals. Both abandoned the capital at Nara for the mountains. The Nara Schools were predominantly intellectual and often academic in nature, whereas Saichō and Kūkai were considerably more religious in the sense of combining intellectual and practical Buddhist pursuits. Saichō would send students to Kūkai for instruction when he set up residence in Kyoto at Mt. Takao, but the relationship between the two eventually soured as competition between their sects increased.
Shingon and Tendai defined Buddhism in the Heian Period (794–1185), but it was one specific topic which consumed mediaeval Japanese philosophy, and that was the Original Enlightenment Debates. The doctrine of original enlightenment is the idea that everything originally or inherently has within it the germ of buddhahood, and that everything can eventually attain enlightenment.
The doctrine of original enlightenment is the idea that everything originally or inherently has within it the germ of buddhahood…
The topic became a major point of disputation, especially between Saichō and the Hossō monk Tokuitsu, which grew into a four year long doctrinal debate that would become one of the most important in the history of Japanese Buddhism. Saichō propounded universal buddhahood, which was the view that all beings will ultimately become buddhas, which he thought to be an ideal expounded in the Lotus Sūtra. Tokuitsu, on the contrary, championed the Yogācāra division of men into five categories of different latent potential, one of which being those for whom buddhahood is hopeless, meaning that it could not be the case that all being will ultimately attain buddhahood. It was Saichō’s promotion of universal buddhahood that won this philosophical feud.
Original enlightenment discussions later developed from the basic claim that everything has the potential to become a buddha to a more radical position of absolute nonduality in which everything is connected together as part of one buddha reality. They took Mahāyāna phenomenalism to its logical extremes, eradicating any distinction between the phenomenal world and the ultimate reality of enlightenment. Ryōgen and Kakuun, both tenth century Tendai monks, would even come to accept plants as within the realm of buddhahood, a topic which was broached earlier in China in the seventh century by Jicang and later, in the eighth century, by Zhanran. It became a common aphorism to say that “the grasses, trees, mountains, and rivers all attain buddhahood”, and that “the worldly passions are precisely enlightenment”.
Eventually the idea of original enlightenment reached its apex in concluding not only that everything has within it the potential to become buddha, but that all beings are already enlightened as buddha. In Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism there was the idea that the mundane world is simply buddha reality misunderstood; that there is no mysterious buddha behind reality. Buddha nature is reality as it is experienced; all we have to do is correctly interpret our experience. Japanese Buddhism went a step further though to say that buddha nature is nothing but reality as it is experienced.
The rise of Pure Land Buddhism was an explicit rejection of original enlightenment. It centred on the achievement of rebirth in the Pure Land – a magical realm in which it is easier to achieve enlightenment than in this world. Pure Land Buddhists thought that they were in the final of the Three Ages of Buddhism: the Degenerate Age of the Buddhist Law, or mappō. The first two were the Age of the Right Buddhist Law, or shōbō, which was the first millennium after the death of the Buddha in which his disciples upheld his teachings, and the Age of Semblance Buddhist Law, or zōhō, which was the next millennium where his teachings were practiced. Following them was ten thousand years in which the Buddha’s teachings would decline. In the degenerate age, it’s thought by Pure Land Buddhists that they must rely on the ‘other-power’ of a buddha to escort them to enlightenment. Because their current era and everything in it was corrupted and that, far from everything already being buddha just as they are, buddhahood could no longer be achieved through ‘self-power’.
The rise of Pure Land Buddhism was an explicit rejection of original enlightenment.
The buddha relied on by Japanese Pure Land Buddhists was Amida. The main practice that Pure Land Buddists taught was ‘mindfulness of the Buddha’. Brought to Japan in the ninth century by Ennin (known posthumously as Jikaku Daishi), it was the repetition of the name of Amida (called nianfo in Chinese and the nembutsu in Japanese). The phrase normally recited is “Namu-Amida-Butsu” which means “I take refuge in Amida Buddha”. The twelfth century monk Hōnen, originally of the Tendai sect, decided that the religious goal of achieving buddhahood was no longer possible in the degenerate age and announced that the nembutsu and rebirth in the Pure Land was the only way of attaining enlightenment. He thereby became the founder of Pure Land Buddhism.
Even more radical, though, was True Pure Land Buddhism which was characterized by the absolute primacy of faith in Amida Buddha. Shinran, one of Hōnen’s disciples and founder of the new sect, completely gave up all monastic practice, relying wholly on his faith in Amida. He thought that true faith is bestowed upon a believer and does not arise from within them, and interpreted the nembutsu as nothing more than an expression of thanks or praise for this endowment. In the fifteenth century, thanks to the efforts of Rennyo, hailed as the ‘restorer of the sect’, True Pure Land grew to be the largest and most influential Buddhist sect in Japan, which it remains today.
Still more radical was the Pure Land sect called Jishū, founded by the twelfth century itinerant monk Ippen. Whereas Shinran maintained the primacy of faith for rebirth in the Pure Land, Ippen taught that not even faith was necessary for salvation; simply chanting the nembutsu alone was sufficient.
Pure Land Buddhism was one of the Kamakura New Religions; new Buddhist movements that emerged in Japan during the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). The other two were Nichiren Buddhism and Zen.
Like Pure Land Buddhists, the thirteenth century Tendai monk Nichiren tried to tackle the challenges to attaining enlightenment associated with the degenerate age. The Kamakura Period was stricken by civil war, so most Buddhist schools of this period accepted the idea that Japan had entered the degenerate age but differed in their solutions to this malaise. Nichiren did not think that entrusting oneself to Amida Buddha was the correct course of action. Instead, what he declared was exclusive reliance on the Lotus Sūtra. Rather than “Namu-Amida-Butsu”, his followers chanted “Namu-Myōhō-Renge-Kyō”, meaning “Devotion to the Mystic Law of the Lotus Sūtra”. His first concern was to restore Tendai Buddhism to an exclusive reliance on the Lotus Sūtra, and then to convert the entire nation to this belief. He therefore sought to make Buddhist theory practical and actionable so laymen could manifest buddhahood within their lifetime without committing themselves to monkhood and decades of dedicated study.
Nichiren studied all ten schools of Japanese Buddhism over a period of two decades.
Nichiren studied all ten schools of Japanese Buddhism over a period of two decades. He doubted the efficacy of the nembutsu, which he had been practicing, and therefore sought other means to attain enlightenment. He began his study at the Tendai temple on Mt. Kiyosumi in 1233 and it was there that he returned in 1253 to present his findings after twenty years; that it was the Lotus Sūtra on which they all ought to rely for enlightenment. However, he left the temple after only a short while and established himself in Kamakura. Between 1254 and 1260, half the population perished due to a succession of calamities; drought, earthquakes, epidemic, famine, fire, storms and the like. Nichiren claimed that these were the result of the mass adoption of Pure Land teachings. In 1260, he submitted a tract On Securing the Peace of the Land Through the Propagation of True Buddhism to the regent of the Kamakura Shōgunate, Hōjō Tokiyori, in which he attacked Pure Land Buddhism as a sinister cult and stated the need to embrace the Lotus Sūtra. If the shōgunate did not heed his advice, Nichiren predicted, further calamities would befall the nation, including a foreign invasion, which did in fact occur just over a decade later with the Mongol Invasion of Japan in 1274. The petition was ignored, though, and instead brought the other Buddhist schools down upon Nichiren. Ironically, one year after Nichiren submitted his remonstration to the shōgunate, it was he who was expelled from the capital.
He spent most of his life in three exiles in total. In his lifetime, ‘Nichiren Buddhism’ was unified under him. After his death, however, it fragmented massively into six sects, each following one of the six senior priests Nichiren had named to uphold his teachings: Nikkō, Nisshō, Nichirō, Nikō, Nitchō, and Nichiji.
Zen Buddhism, the most significant of the Kamakura New Religions, traces its origins back to an episode known as the Flower Sermon. In this legendary event, Shakyamuni Buddha stood before his disciples ready to give a sermon. However, he didn’t say anything and instead held up a white flower. This left his disciples scratching their heads, except for Mahākāśyapa (who lived in either the sixth or the fifth century BCE), known in Japanese as Daikashō or Makakashō. He alone smiled, supposedly signifying his understanding. This silent exchange symbolized the transmission of profound wisdom beyond language, which the Buddha acknowledged, saying, “The subtle Dharma Gate does not rest on words or letters but is a special transmission outside of the scriptures. This I entrust to Mahākāśyapa”. Thus Mahākāśyapa earned his place as the inaugural figure in a lineage of twenty-eight Indian patriarchs, marking the birth of Zen Buddhism.
It was from China where it was called ‘Chan’ that Zen Buddhism came to Japan.
It was from China where it was called ‘Chan’ that Zen Buddhism came to Japan. Indian Buddhism was transmitted to China in the first century via the Silk Road where it underwent a process of Sinification as it was accommodated into Chinese culture. Of course, it was translated into Chinese from Sanskrit by scholars such as Kumārajīva and Buddhabhadra in the fourth and early fifth centuries, but it was also synthesized with Taoism and other native Chinese sensibilities in the same way that Confucianism and Buddhism were synthesized with Shintō in Japan.
Zen was established in Japan as an independent school called Daruma in the twelfth century by Dainichibō Nōnin. A Tendai monk, Nōnin encountered Zen texts that had made their way from China and were in the possession of the Tendai School. Inspired by these writings, he initiated his own solitary Zen practice and, in 1189, he sent two of his disciples to the Chan master Zhuoan Deguang with a letter outlining his revelations. Nōnin received back a letter certifying that he had awakened without a master but, because of his nonstandard spiritual bloodline, having awoken without a master, the Daruma School was thought of as teaching an unorthodox, syncretic ‘mixed Zen’ rather than a ‘pure Zen’ like in China. The school was short lived, however, for in 1194 the government shut it down at the Tendai School’s request.
The Rinzai school of Zen lasted much longer, however. In 1168, Myōan Eisai went to China where he studied Tientai Buddhism for two decades. He went again in 1187, this time learning about Chan from the Linji School. Upon his return in 1191, he established in his native land a Linji branch, in Japanese called Rinzai, and built the first Japanese Zen temple. Eisai never renounced his status as a Tendai monk, however; practicing in multiple schools was common within Mediaeval Buddhism. It remained for later masters to establish a pure Zen that was not an admixture of the doctrines of various Japanese Buddhist schools.
Dōgen thought that meditation isn’t about seeking answers. Instead, to meditate is to fully engage with the process of life itself.
The other main Zen school that was established in the Kamakura Period was the Sōtō School – the Japanese equivalent of the Chinese Caodong School of Chan. Sōtō Zen was brought to Japan by Dōgen in 1227 who had studied in China under Tiantong Rujing. Upon his return, he initially settled at Kennin-ji, but was driven out of Kyoto in 1230 by Tendai monks because of his extreme opinions about seated meditation and the primacy of Zen. For Dōgen, practice and enlightenment are not two separate stages but are fundamentally intertwined. To practice is to be enlightened, and enlightenment is nothing more than practice. His philosophy was deeply experiential and emphasized the importance of personal experience and direct understanding. He believed that the intellect could become an obstacle – even intellectual ‘understanding’ – if it led away from the immediate experience of reality. Dōgen thought that meditation isn’t about seeking answers. Instead, to meditate is to fully engage with the process of life itself.
The key difference between Zen and other Buddhist schools is that Zen instruction is based upon the ‘dharma transmission’ of a master to his disciples rather than upon doctrinal texts. That’s why Nōnin was considered an unusual case and his school impure; because he had awoken without a master. The principal practical difference between Sōtō and Rinzai Zen is that, in the former, meditation took the form of ‘just sitting’, or shikan taza, whereas the Rinzai sect employed riddles and metaphors known as kōan to reach enlightenment. In terms of doctrinal differences, the main one was their difference in understanding ‘non-thinking’, which was the aim of meditation. Rinzai began by negating discriminative thinking and went on to negate self-centred thinking; Sōtō, on the other hand, first eliminated self-centred thinking which they judged to be part of a later stage of negating all discriminative thought.
Buddhism had been closely connected to the political power structures in Japan since it was first introduced to the country, enjoying patronage from the ruling elites, which included the imperial family, the shōgunate, and the aristocracy. Fierce competition between the sects meant that they became increasingly militarized throughout the Muromachi Period (1336–1573), developing their own armies of warrior monks known as sōhei. Conflict between them came to a head in 1467 when the Ōnin War kicked off in Kyoto over who would succeed Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa, commencing a century and a half of civil war known as the Sengoku Period (1467–1615).
Onin War (1467-1477). The Battle of Onin by Utagawa Yoshitora.
Tendai Buddhism had powerful armies of warrior monks; Pure Land Buddhism, however, amassed the Japanese citizenry. It had a broad following among the common people in Japan because of its egalitarian teachings. Unlike other sects, it taught that all people could attain salvation simply by expressing faith in Amida Buddha, and that complex rituals and ascetic practices were unnecessary. Faced with harsh conditions and heavy taxation, leagues of Pure Land Buddhists – both monks and laymen – rose up against the shōgunate and local feudal lords known as daimyo in peasant revolts throughout Japan called Ikkō-ikki. They formed self-governing communities, often centred around fortified temples, and at times they were even able to seize control of entire provinces.
However, more than a century of perpetual warfare had dire effects for Buddhism. The rampant violence often targeted Buddhist institutions, leading to the destruction of temples and the loss of religious texts and artefacts. This violence disrupted the Buddhist monastic system, eroding its economic base and diminishing its influence over society. What is more, the inability of Buddhism to prevent or mitigate the ongoing violence led to a crisis of faith among many Japanese. The Buddhist teachings, which emphasized impermanence and suffering, offered little solace or practical guidance in a time of social unrest.
The rampant violence often targeted Buddhist institutions, leading to the destruction of temples and the loss of religious texts and artefacts.
The death knell of Buddhist influence was sounded when Oda Nobunaga, the ‘Great Unifier’ of Japan who would bring the warring states period to a close, moved against the militant Buddhist sects who posed a threat to his authority. He first targeted the Tendai centre at Mt. Hiei in 1571, burning down the temple complex and slaughtering thousands of monks and civilians in the process. He then turned to the destruction of the Pure Land Ikkō-ikki, assaulting their fortress at Nagashima, setting it ablaze. Not one of its twenty thousand inhabitants survived. The other major fortress, the Ishiyama Hongan-ji, held out for eleven years, making it the longest siege in Japanese history, but the Abbot Kōsa was persuaded to surrender in 1580.
This crushed any potential for Buddhism to remain a powerful political force in Japan, bringing to a close the Buddhist Phase of the history of Japanese philosophy. This left a philosophical vacuum in the intellectual landscape. What would fill it was an ancient Chinese philosophy with a brand new finish.
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B.V.E. Hyde is a researcher with polymathic interests in philosophy, history, sociology and Japanology. He is currently employed as a philosopher of science and an ethicist, but has an enduring interest in Far Eastern philosophy. Some of his books on the topic (if a publisher will get around to accepting them) include The Tale of the Japanese Mind, a whistlestop tour of the history of Japanese philosophy, Lectures on Japanese Philosophy, an introduction to and overview of the subject, and a Commentary on the Shōtoku Constitution, which is a reference book much more academic than the other two. You can follow him on Twitter (@bvehyde) to stay up to date with his publications.
Source: Korean Buddhism has its own unique characteristics different from other countries
A brief review of Korean Buddhim
Korean Buddhism is distinguished from other forms of Buddhism by its attempt to resolve what it sees as inconsistencies in Mahayana Buddhism.
According to Wikipedia and various Korean reference materials, early Korean monks believed that the traditions they received from foreign countries were internally inconsistent.
To address this, they developed a new holistic approach to Buddhism.
This approach is characteristic of virtually all major Korean thinkers, and has resulted in a distinct variation of Buddhism, which is called Tongbulgyo (“interpenetrated Buddhism”), a form that sought to harmonize all disputes (a principle called hwajaeng 和諍) by Korean scholars.
Korean Buddhist thinkers refined their predecessors’ ideas into a distinct form.
As it now stands, Korean Buddhism consists mostly of the Seon Lineage, primarily represented by the Jogye and Taego Orders.
The Korean Seon has a strong relationship with other Mahayana traditions that bear the imprint of Chan teachings as well as the closely related Zen.
Other sects, such as the modern revival of the Cheontae lineage, the Jingak Order (a modern esoteric sect), and the newly formed Won, have also attracted sizable followings.
Korean Buddhism has contributed much to East Asian Buddhism, especially to early Chinese, Japanese, and Tibetan schools of Buddhist thought.
When Buddhism was originally introduced to Korea from Former Qin in 372, about 800 years after the death of the historical Buddha, shamanism was the indigenous religion.
As it was not seen to conflict with the rites of nature worship, Buddhism was allowed by adherents of Shamanism to be blended into their religion.
Thus, the mountains that were believed by shamanists to be the residence of spirits in pre-Buddhist times later became the sites of Buddhist temples.
Though it initially enjoyed wide acceptance, even being supported as the state ideology during the Goryeo period, Buddhism in Korea suffered extreme repression during the Joseon era, which lasted over five hundred years.
During this period, Neo-Confucianism overcame the prior dominance of Buddhism.
Only after Buddhist monks helped repel the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98) did the persecution of Buddhists stop.
Buddhism in Korea remained subdued until the end of the Joseon period, when its position was strengthened somewhat by the colonial period, which lasted from 1910 to 1945.
However, these Buddhist monks did not only put an end to Japanese rule in 1945, but they also asserted their specific and separate religious identity by reforming their traditions and practices.
They laid the foundation for many Buddhist societies, and the younger generation of monks came up with the ideology of Mingung Pulgyo, or “Buddhism for the people.” The importance of this ideology is that it was coined by the monks who focused on common men’s daily issues.
After World War II, the Seon school of Korean Buddhism once again gained acceptance.
A 2005 government survey indicated that about a quarter of South Koreans identified as Buddhist.
However, the actual number of Buddhists in South Korea is ambiguous as there is no exact or exclusive criterion by which Buddhists can be identified, unlike the Christian population.
With Buddhism’s incorporation into traditional Korean culture, it is now considered a philosophy and cultural background rather than a formal religion.
As a result, many people outside of the practicing population are deeply influenced by these traditions.
Thus, when counting secular believers or those influenced by the faith while not following other religions, the number of Buddhists in South Korea is considered to be much larger.
Similarly, in officially atheist North Korea, while Buddhists officially account for 4.5% of the population, a much larger number (over 70%) of the population are influenced by Buddhist philosophies and customs.
Buddhism in the Three Kingdoms:
When Buddhism was introduced to Korea in the 4th century CE, the Korean peninsula was politically subdivided into three kingdoms: Goguryeo in the north (which included territory currently in Russia and China), Baekje in the southwest, and Silla in the southeast.
There is concrete evidence of an earlier introduction of Buddhism than traditionally believed. A mid-4th century tomb, unearthed near Pyongyang, is found to incorporate Buddhist motifs in its ceiling decoration.
Korean Buddhist monks traveled to China or India in order to study Buddhism in the late Three Kingdoms Period, especially in the 6th century. In 526, The monk Gyeomik from Baekje traveled via the southern sea route to India to learn Sanskrit and study the Vinaya.
The monk Paya (562–613?) from Goguryeo is said to have studied under the Tiantai master Zhiyi. Other Korean monks of the period brought back numerous scriptures from abroad and conducted missionary activity throughout Korea.
Several schools of thought developed in Korea during these early times:
the Samlon (三論宗) or East Asian Mādhyamaka school focused on Mādhyamaka doctrine
the Gyeyul (戒律宗, or Vinaya in Sanskrit) school was mainly concerned with the study and implementation of śīla or “moral discipline”
the Yeolban (涅槃宗, or Nirvāna in Sanskrit) school based in the themes of the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra
the Wonyung (圓融宗, or Yuanrong in Chinese) school formed toward the end of the Three Kingdoms Period. This school lead to the actualization of the metaphysics of interpenetration as found in the Avatamsaka Sutra and was considered the premier school, especially among the educated aristocracy.
the Hwaeom (華嚴宗 or Huayan school) was the longest lasting of the “imported” schools. It had strong ties with the Beopseong (法性宗), an indigenous Korean school of thought.
The date of the first mission from Korea to Japan is unclear, but it is reported that a second detachment of scholars was sent to Japan upon invitation by the Japanese rulers in 577.
The strong Korean influence on the development of Buddhism in Japan continued through the Unified Silla period. It was not until the 8th century that independent study by Japanese monks began in significant numbers.
Goguryeo period:
In 372, the monk Sundo (順道, pinyin: Shùndào) was sent by Fu Jian (337–385) (苻堅) of Former Qin to the court of the King Sosurim of Goguryeo. He brought texts and statues (possibly of Maitreya, who was popular in Buddhism in Central Asia), and the Goguryeo royalty and their subjects quickly accepted his teachings.
Buddhism in China was in a rudimentary form, consisting of the law of cause and effect and the search for happiness. This had much in common with the predominant Shamanism, which likely led to the quick assimilation of Buddhism by the people of Goguryeo.
Early Buddhism in Silla developed under the influence of Goguryeo. Some monks from Goguryeo came to Silla and preached among the people, making a few converts.
In 551, Hyeryang (惠亮), a Goguryeo monk was appointed the first National Patriarch of Silla. He first presided over the “Hundred-Seat Dharma Assembly” and the “Dharma of Eight Prohibitions”.
Baekje period:
In 384, the Indian monk Marananta arrived in Baekje and the royal family received the strain of Buddhism that he brought.
King Asin of Baekje proclaimed, “people should believe in Buddhism and seek happiness.” In 526, the Baekje monk Gyeomik (겸익, 謙益) traveled directly to Central India and came back with a collection of Vinaya texts, accompanied by the Indian monk Paedalta (Sanskrit: Vedatta).
After returning to Baekje, Gyeomik translated the Buddhist scriptures in Sanskrit into seventy-two volumes.
The Gyeyul school in Baekje was established by Gyeomik about a century earlier than its counterpart in China. As a result of his work, he is regarded as the father of Vinaya studies in Korea.
Silla period:
Buddhism did not enter the kingdom of Silla until the 5th century.
The common people were first attracted to Buddhism here, but there was resistance among the aristocrats.
In 527, however, a prominent court official named Ichadon presented himself to King Beopheung of Silla and announced he had become Buddhist.
The king had him beheaded, but when the executioner cut off his head, it is said that milk poured out instead of blood.
Paintings of this are in the temple at Haeinsa and a stone monument honoring his martyrdom is in the National Museum of Kyongju.
During the reign of the next king, Jinheung of Silla, the growth of Buddhism was encouraged and eventually recognized as the national religion of Silla.
Selected young men were physically and spiritually trained at Hwarangdo according to Buddhist principles regarding one’s ability to defend the kingdom.
King Jinheung later became a monk himself.
The monk Jajang (慈藏) is credited with having been a major force in the adoption of Buddhism as a national religion.
Jajang is also known for his participation in the founding of the Korean monastic sangha.
Another great scholar to emerge from the Silla Period was Wonhyo.
He renounced his religious life to better serve the people and even married a princess for a short time, with whom he had a son.
He wrote many treatises and his philosophy centered on the unity and interrelatedness of all things.
He set off to China to study Buddhism with a close friend, Uisang, but only made it part of the way there.
According to legend, Wonhyo awoke one night very thirsty. He found a container with cool water, which he drank before returning to sleep.
The next morning he saw that the container from which he had drunk was a human skull and he realized that enlightenment depended on the mind. He saw no reason to continue to China, so he returned home.
Uisang continued to China and after studying for ten years, offered a poem to his master in the shape of a seal that geometrically represents infinity. The poem contained the essence of the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Buddhism was so successful during this period that many kings converted and several cities were renamed after famous places during the time of the Buddha.
Unified Silla (668–935):
In 668, the kingdom of Silla succeeded in unifying the whole Korean peninsula, giving rise to a period of political stability that lasted for about one hundred years under Unified Silla. This led to a high point in scholarly studies of Buddhism in Korea.
The most popular areas of study were Wonyung, Yusik (Ch. 唯識; Weishi) or East Asian Yogācāra, Jeongto or Pure Land Buddhism, and the indigenous Korean Beopseong (“Dharma-nature school”).
Wonhyo taught the Pure Land practice of yeombul, which would become very popular amongst both scholars and laypeople, and has had a lasting influence on Buddhist thought in Korea.
His work, which attempts a synthesis of the seemingly divergent strands of Indian and Chinese Buddhist doctrines, makes use of the Essence-Function (體用 che-yong) framework, which was popular in native East Asian philosophical schools.
His work was instrumental in the development of the dominant school of Korean Buddhist thought, known variously as Beopseong, Haedong (海東, “Korean”) and later as Jungdo (中道, “Middle Way”)
Wonhyo’s friend Uisang (義湘) went to Chang’an, where he studied under Huayan patriarchs Zhiyan (智儼; 600–668) and Fazang (法藏; 643–712).
When he returned after twenty years, his work contributed to Hwaeom Buddhism and became the predominant doctrinal influence on Korean Buddhism together with Wonhyo’s tongbulgyo thought.
Hwaeom principles were deeply assimilated into the Korean meditation-based Seon school, where they made a profound effect on its basic attitudes.
Influences from Silla Buddhism in general, and from these two philosophers in particular crept backwards into Chinese Buddhism.
Wonhyo’s commentaries were very important in shaping the thought of the preeminent Chinese Buddhist philosopher Fazang, and Woncheuk’s commentary on the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra had a strong influence in Tibetan Buddhism.
The intellectual developments of Silla Buddhism brought with them significant cultural achievements in many areas, including painting, literature, sculpture, and architecture.
During this period, many large and beautiful temples were built. Two crowning achievements were the temple Bulguksa and the cave-retreat of Seokguram (石窟庵).
Bulguksa was famous for its jeweled pagodas, while Seokguram was known for the beauty of its stone sculpture.
Current situation:
The Seon school, which is dominated by the Jogye order in terms of the number of clergy and adherents, practices disciplined traditional Seon practice at a number of major mountain monasteries in Korea, often under the direction of highly regarded masters.
The Taego order, though it has more temples than the Jogye Order, is second in size in terms of the number of clergy and adherents and, in addition to Seon meditation, keeps traditional Buddhist arts alive, such as ritual dance.
Modern Seon practice is not far removed in its content from the original practice of Jinul, who introduced the integrated combination of the practice of Gwanhwa meditation and the study of selected Buddhist texts.
The Korean sangha life is markedly itinerant for monks and nuns pursuing Seon meditation training: while each monk or nun has a “home” monastery, he or she will regularly travel throughout the mountains, staying as long as he or she wishes, studying and teaching in the style of the temple that is housing them.
The Korean monastic training system has seen a steadily increasing influx of Western practitioner-aspirants in the second half of the twentieth century.
It must be noted, however, that the vast majority of Korean monks and nuns do not spend 20 or 30 years in the mountains pursuing Seon training in a form recognizable to westerners.
Most Korean monks and nuns receive a traditional academic education in addition to ritual training, which is not necessarily in a formal ritual training program.
Those who do spend time in meditation in the mountains may do so for a few years and then essentially return to the life of a parish priest.
The four schools of Tibetan Buddhism are Nyingma, Kagyu, Sakya, and Gelug or Gelugpa.
Nyingma (founded in 8th century)
Kagyu (founded in the early 11th century)
Sakya (founded in 1073)
Gelug (founded in 1409)
The Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Nyingma or “ancient” tradition is the oldest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Often referred to as “the ancient translation school”, it was founded in the eighth century following the first translations of Buddhist scriptures from Sanskrit to Tibetan.
Around 760, the Tibetan king Trisong Detsen invited two Buddhist masters from the Indian subcontinent, Padmasambhava and Shantarakshita, to the “Land of Snows” to bring Buddhism to the Tibetan people. Thus began a massive translation project of all Buddhist texts into the newly created Tibetan language.
The legendary Vajrayana master Padmasambhava, who Tibetans call Guru Rinpoche, is considered the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. He supervised the translation of the tantras (the esoteric teachings of the Buddha) while Shantarakshita, abbot of the great Buddhist Nalanda University, supervised the translation of the sutras (oral teachings of the Buddha).
Together they founded the first monastery in Tibet, Samye, which became the main centre for Buddhist teaching in Tibet for around three centuries.
The Nyingma tradition classifies the Buddhist teachings into nine yanas or vehicles. The first three vehicles are common to all schools of Buddhism, the next three are common to all schools of Tantric Buddhism, and the last three are exclusive to the Nyingma tradition. The highest is known as Dzogchen or the Great Perfection.
Unlike the other schools, the Nyingma traditionally had no centralized authority or a single head of the lineage. However, since the Chinese invasion of Tibet, the Nyingma school has had representatives.
Here is a list of the 8 representatives of the Nyingma school since this practice began in the 1960s:
Dudjom Rinpoche (c. 1904–1987), served from the 1960s until his death.
Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (c. 1910–1991), served from 1987 until his death.
Penor (Pema Norbu) Rinpoche (1932–2009) served from 1991 until retirement in 2003.
Mindrolling Trichen Rinpoche (c. 1930–2008), served from 2003 until his death.
Trulshik Rinpoche (1923–2011), selected after Chatral Rinpoche declined the position.
Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche (1926-2015), appointed head in 2012 and passed away in Bodhgaya in 2015
Kathok Getse Rinpoche (1954-2018), passed away ten months after being named to a three-year term as the supreme head of the Nyingma school.
Dzogchen Rinpoche Jigme Losel Wangpo was selected in January 2019 as the eighth head of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism by the heads of the principal monasteries of the Nyingma tradition.
The Kagyu School of Tibetan Buddhism
The Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism gets its name from the Tibetan བཀའ་བརྒྱུད། meaning “oral lineage” or “whispered transmission”. While it traces its origin back to Buddha Shakyamuni, the most important source for the specific practices of the Kagyu order is the great Indian yogi Tilopa (988-1069).
The practices were passed orally from teacher to disciple through a series of great masters. The transmission lineage of the “Five Founding Masters” of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism is as follows:
Tilopa (988-1069), the Indian yogi who experienced the original transmission of the Mahamudra
Naropa (1016–1100), the Indian scholar-yogi who perfected the methods of accelerated enlightenment described in his Six Yogas of Naropa
Marpa (1012–1097), the first Tibetan in the lineage, known as the great translator for his work translating the Vajrayana and Mahamudra texts into Old Tibetan
Milarepa (1052–1135), the poet and greatest yogi of Tibet who overcame Marpa’s reluctance to teach and attained enlightenment in a single lifetime
Gampopa (1079–1153), Milarepa’s most important student, who integrated Atisha’s Kadam teachings and Tilopa’s Mahamudra teaching to establish the Kagyu lineage.
The Kagyu lineage practices have a special focus on the tantric teachings of the Vajrayana and Mahamudra teachings. Some of the most distinguished works of the Kagyu Tibetan masters are the works of Marpa, the Vajra Songs of Milarepa, the Collected Works of Gampopa, of the Karmapas, of Drikhung Kyöppa Jigten Sumgön, and of Drukpa Kunkhyen Pema Karpo.
In the Kagyu school, there are a large number of independent sub-schools and lineages.
The Sakya School of Tibetan Buddhism
The Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism dates to the 11th century. The name comes from the Tibetan ས་སྐྱ་ meaning “pale earth” describing the grey landscape near Shigatse, Tibet where the Sakya Monastery – the first monastery of this tradition and the seat of the Sakya School – was built in 1073.
The Sakya tradition developed during the second period of translation of Buddhist scripture from Sanskrit into Tibetan and was founded by Drogmi, a famous scholar and translator who had studied under Naropa and other great Indian masters.
The heart of the Sakya lineage teaching and practice is Lamdre, The Path and Its Fruit, a comprehensive and structured meditation path in Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism.
The head of Sakya School is the “Sakya Trizin” (“the holder of the Sakya throne”), who is always drawn from the male line of the Khön family. It was previously a lifetime position that rotated between the two branches of that lineage, the Phuntsok Potrang and the Dolma Potrang. The previous head of the Sakya School, His Holiness Ngawang Kunga Thekchen Palbar Samphel Ganggi Gyalpo, was born in 1945 in Tsedong, Tibet and served as Sakya Trizin from 1958 to 2017. It has now become a three-year position that rotates between the next generation of trained male offspring of those two families.
The Gelugpa School of Tibetan Buddhism
The Gelug or Gelugpa (དགེ་ལུགས་པ་) school is the newest and largest school of Tibetan Buddhism. Its story begins with Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), one of the period’s foremost authorities of Tibetan Buddhism who studied under Sakya, Kagyu, and Nyingma masters.
Tsongkhapa, the most renowned teacher of his time, founded Ganden Monastery in 1409 and, though he emphasized a strong monastic sangha, he did not announce a new monastic order. Following his death, his followers established the Gelug (“the virtuous tradition”) school. The Gelug school was also called “New Kadam” for its revival of the Kadam school founded by Atisha.
The Throne-Holder of Ganden (Ganden Tripa) is the official head of the Gelug school, a position that rotates between the heads of the two Gelug tantric colleges. Its most influential figure is the Dalai Lama, who is a monk of the Gelug tradition, but as the spiritual and temporal leader of Tibet for over fifty years has always represented all Tibetans.
The Dalai Lamas are considered manifestations of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the Bodhisattva of Compassion and the patron saint of Tibet. Bodhisattvas are enlightened beings who have chosen to be continuously reborn to end the suffering of sentient beings.
The current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, is the 14th reincarnation. He was born in 1935, two years after the death of the 13th Dalai Lama. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama encourages non-sectarianism.
The central teachings of the Gelug School are the lamrim (stages of the path to enlightenment) teachings of Tsongkhapa, based on the teachings of the 11th-century Indian master Atisha.
Source: “BRIEF GUIDE TO MAJOR SCHOOLS OF BUDDHISM.”
Brief Guide to Major Schools of Buddhism
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Buddhism is not a monolithic tradition. As it spread through Asia over more than two millennia, it divided into several sects, each with its own liturgies, rituals, and canon of scriptures. There are also doctrinal disagreements. However, all are founded on the same basic teachings of the historical Buddha.
Buddhism can be divided into two major schools: Theravada and Mahayana. Today, Theravada is the dominant form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma (Myanmar) and Laos. Mahayana is dominant in China, Japan, Taiwan, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Korea and most of Vietnam.
You will sometimes hear there are three major schools of Buddhism, the third being Vajrayana. Vajrayana is associated with Tibetan Buddhism as well as a Japanese school called Shingon. But Vajrayana is founded on Mahayana philosophy and is more accurately understood as an extension of Mahayana. Further, you can find elements of Vajrayana in many schools of Mahayana beside Tibetan and Shingon.
Note that if you come across a discussion of schools of Buddhism called Sthaviravada or Hinayana, most of the time this refers to Theravada.
Anatta – The Doctrinal Divide Between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist Schools
The basic doctrinal difference that divides Theravada from Mahayana is an interpretation of anatta, the teaching that there is no soul or self. The self that seems to inhabit our bodies continuously through our lives is an illusion. All schools of Buddhism support this teaching.
However, Mahayana Buddhism takes anatta further and teaches a doctrine called shunyata, or emptiness. According to Mahayana, all phenomena take identity to us only in relation to other phenomena and cannot be said to either exist or not exist. The difference in interpretation of anatta impacts how many other doctrines are understood.
If you are scratching your head at this point, you are not alone. These are extremely difficult doctrines to understand, and many will tell you they cannot be understood by intellect alone. If you’re a beginner there’s not much point spinning your wheels over which school is right. Practice awhile, and come to your own conclusions as you gain more understanding.
If you are new to Buddhism, the most obvious difference you might see is that in Theravada, the ideal of practice is the arhat, the individual who has realized enlightenment. In Mahayana, the ideal of practice is the enlightened being who is dedicated to bringing all beings to enlightenment.
Divisions of Theravada
In Asia, there is a bigger difference between monastic and lay Theravada Buddhism than among different orders or sects of Theravada Buddhism. Monks meditate, study and teach; laypeople, on the whole (there are exceptions), do not. Laypeople practice by supporting the monasteries with alms, donations, chants, and prayers. They are encouraged to keep the five precepts and observe uposatha days.
In the West, those who come to Theravada as adults — as opposed to growing up with it in an ethnic Asian community — most commonly practice Vipassana or “insight” meditation and study the Pali Canon, which is the main body of scripture for Theravada. The more traditional monastic-lay symbiosis found in Asia hasn’t yet emerged among non-ethnic-Asian Western practitioners.
There are a number of different Theravada monastic orders in Asia. There are also beliefs and practices associated with Buddhism, often taken from local folk cultures, that are found in some parts of Southeast Asia but not others. But compared to Mahayana, Theravada is relatively homogenous.
Divisions of Mahayana
The distinctions among different sects of Mahayana Buddhism are so pronounced they might seem to be entirely different religions, yet they are all built on the same philosophical and doctrinal foundation.
The doctrinal differences tend to be minor compared to differences in practice, such as meditation, ritual, and chanting. Most people who come to Mahayana choose a school because its practices resonate well with them.
Here are some of the Mahayana traditions you are most likely to find in the West, but it is not an exhaustive list, and there are many variations and sub-sects. There are also traditions that combine elements of more than one sect. The practices described are all long-established means to enable practitioners to actualize the Buddha’s teaching.
Amitabha or Amida Buddhism also called Pure Land Buddhism. Pure Land emphasizes faithful devotion to the Buddha Amitabha. By the grace of Amitabha, one may be reborn in the Pure Land, where enlightenment may be realized and Nirvana is close at hand. The most distinctive practice of Pure Land Buddhism, called Nianfo in Chinese and Nembutsu in Japanese, is the mindful recitation of Amitabha’s name.
Nichiren Buddhism is a Japanese tradition that has gained a large following in the West. It emphasizes a mindful chanting practice that evokes the mystical power of the Lotus Sutra to bring all beings to enlightenment. Probably the largest Nichiren group in the West is Soka Gakkai International (SGI), a lay organization, but there are others.
Tendai is less widespread in the West than many other traditions but is a long-established Mahayana tradition in Asia. Tendai offers a number of meditation and other practices to enable enlightenment.
Tibetan Buddhism has gained a huge following in the West in recent years. There are four major schools and many sub-schools of Tibetan Buddhism. Tibetan Buddhism combines meditation with ritual, chanting, and other practices. The most distinctive feature of Tibetan Buddhism is tantra or deity yoga. This is most simply translated as “a means to enlightenment through identity with tantric deities.”
Zen is the Japanese name of Chan, a sect that originated in 6th century China. Chan Buddhism also spread to Korea and Vietnam. The most basic practice of Zen is a mindful, silent meditation practice called zazen in Japanese. Zen has been predominantly a monastic school for most of its history, although there is a long tradition of lay practice also.
Not every temple you might visit will fit neatly into one of these sectarian niches. It’s not at all unusual to find temples that combine practices of more than one tradition, for example. There are many sects not listed, and those that are listed come in many denominations.
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All Mahayana schools adopt some version of the Two Truths theory, with one exception: the Tiantai school, which alone among all Buddhist schools moves from the Two Truths epistemology to a Three Truths model of truth. The Three Truths are actually three different ways of looking at any object or state. Each implies the other two, and each is one way to describe the whole of that object, including its other two aspects. This cup is a cup: that is provisional truth, conventional truth, local coherence. This cup is not a cup: that is ultimate truth, its emptiness, its global incoherence. To be a cup is not to be a cup: that is its Centrality, its Non-duality, its Absoluteness. This cup is all things, all possible ways of being, all universes, as this cup.
The Buddhist idea of two “truths” (Pāli: sacca; Sanskrit: satya) refers to the idea that there is a “conventional” (Pāli: sammuti; Sanskrit: saṃvṛti) truth that must be distinguished from the “ultimate” (Pāli: paramattha; Sanskrit: paramārtha) truth. The two truths distinction may have emerged initially as a hermeneutic device which later interpreters employed to reconcile apparent inconsistencies among statements in the Buddhist scriptures. The two truths doctrine nevertheless came to hold a central philosophical position in Buddhist semantics, ontology, epistemology, and soteriology in the majority of philosophical schools including Theravāda, Vaibhāṣika, Sautrāntika, and Madhyamaka.
Emptiness is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy; however, it has multiple meanings. The purpose of this chapter is to identify the most prominent meanings of emptiness in Mahāyāna Buddhism and highlight some important interpretive disputes. This chapter is also an exercise in comparative philosophizing; it discusses similarities between the emptiness concept and some Western philosophical ideas. The Madhyamaka assertion that all things are empty means that they are all dependently originating; they lack or are empty of autonomous existence because they are reliant on causes to bring them into and sustain their existence. Another concept of emptiness occurs in the buddha-nature teaching. The chapter presents Yogācāra as a form of ontological idealism, which claims that the external world of objects is actually a creation of the mind. It explains that the concept of emptiness in Mahāyāna Buddhism is contested and open to a variety of interpretations.
This chapter examines the six forms that the teaching of emptiness takes in Zen. Before doing this, the chapter comments briefly on Zen’s relation to the doctrinal sources upon which it critically and creatively draws. The Zen tradition understands itself to be based on Śākyamuni Buddha’s profoundest teaching of Mahāyāna Buddhism, which has been passed down not through texts and doctrines but by way of face-to-face acknowledgment of awakening. The six rubrics which the notion of emptiness is used in the Zen tradition are lack of ownbeing, formlessness of ultimate reality, distinctionless state of meditative consciousness, no-mind in the action of non-action, emptiness (or emptying) of emptiness, and emptiness of words. Each of the six rubrics contains a cluster of closely related teachings. Moreover, there are certainly many interconnections, and arguably some tensions, among the rubrics.
Chinese Buddhist Philosophy.
Ziporyn, Brook (2011).
In The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy. Ed. Jay Garfield and William Edelglass. New York: Oxford University Press, 68– 81.
Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jeweled Net of Indra.
Cook, Francis H. (1977).
University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press.
The culminating philosophy and practice for Buddhist traditions in Tibet is what is found in tantra, or Vajrayāna. Yet Tibet is unique in the Buddhist world in that it is a place where not only the traditions of tantra are practiced, but where the epistemological traditions of valid cognition and what came to be known as Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka also took root. This chapter briefly surveys a range of ways in which Madhyamaka is represented in Tibet. Madhyamaka takes the place of the highest philosophical view among Tibetan Buddhist sects, and seeing how different traditions formulate the view of Madhyamaka is an important part of understanding how these traditions relate to tantra and negotiate the relationship between Madhyamaka and Vajrayāna. Vajrayāna in Tibet is pantheist to the core, for, in its most profound expressions all dualities between the divine and the world are radically undone.
Iconographic imagery in the Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Tantric (i.e., Vajrayāna) tradition is replete with polymorphic symbolic forms. Tantric texts themselves are multivalent, addressing astronomy, astrology, cosmology, history, embryology, physiology, pharmacology, alchemy, botany, philosophy, and sexuality. The Sr? Kaālacakra, a medieval Indo-Tibetan manuscript of great import, describes ritual visualization sequences in which practitioners visualize elaborate manidiala designs and deified yab-yum (father-mother) consort couples. The Kālacakra system is the preeminent conduit for the globalization of Tibetan Buddhism, and contemporary enactments of its initiation ceremony incorporate a variety of aesthetic genres, including sand manidiala construction and ritual dance.
Practical Applications of the Perfection of Wisdom Sūtra and Madhyamaka in the Kālacakra Tantric Tradition.
The Kālacakra tradition positions itself in the philosophical system of Madhyamaka, from whose perspective it criticizes the doctrinal tenets of Hindu philosophical schools and of Buddhist schools other than Madhyamaka. The concept of emptiness is the most essential tenet of the Kālacakratantra practice. Before analyzing the practical applications of the doctrine of emptiness in the Kālacakra tantric tradition, it may be useful to examine first the ways in which emptiness is defined and explained in this tantric system. Diverse manners of explaining emptiness result from the various contexts in which this tradition applies and actualizes the doctrine of emptiness. In conclusion, one can say that the sole purpose of the intricate system of the Kālacakratantra’s yogic practices is to awaken the yogi to the gnosis of emptiness. The tantra’s expositions on emptiness are adopted from the Perfection of Wisdom literature and from Madyamaka.
Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics, Vol. 3
Deepen your understanding of meaning and truth with the third volume of the Dalai Lama’s esteemed series Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics.
Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics compiles classical Buddhist explorations of the nature of the material world, the human mind, reason, and liberation, and puts them into context for the modern reader. This ambitious four-volume series-a major resource for the history of ideas and especially the history of science and philosophy-has been conceived by and compiled under the visionary supervision of His Holiness the Dalai Lama himself. It is his view that the exploratory thinking of the great masters of classical India still has much that is of interest to us today, whether we are Buddhist or not. These volumes make those insights accessible.
In this third volume the focus turns to exploring the philosophical schools of India. The practice of presenting the views of various schools of philosophy dates back to the first millennium in India, when proponents of competing traditions would arrange the diverse sets of philosophical positions in a hierarchy culminating in their own school’s superior tenets. Centuries later, relying on the Indian Buddhist treatises, Tibet developed its own tradition of works on tenets (grub mtha’), often centered on the four schools of Buddhist philosophy, using them to demonstrate the philosophical evolution within their own tradition, and within individual practitioners, as they progressed through increasingly more subtle expressions of the true reality.
The present work follows in this venerable tradition, but with a modern twist. Like its predecessors, it presents the views of seven non-Buddhist schools, those of the Samkhya, Vaisesika, Nyaya, Mimamsa, Vedanta, Jaina, and Lokayata, followed by the Buddhist Vaibhasika, Sautrantika, Cittamatra, and Madhyamaka schools, arranging them like steps on a ladder to the profound. But rather than following in the sharply polemical approach of its ancient predecessors, it strives to survey each tradition authentically, relying on and citing the texts sacred to each, allowing the different traditions to speak for themselves. What, it asks, are the basic components of the world we experience? What is the nature of their ultimate reality? And how can we come to experience that for ourselves? See how the rich spiritual traditions of India approached these key questions, where they agreed, and how they evolved through dialogue and debate.
This presentation of philosophical schools is introduced by His Holiness and is accompanied by an extensive introduction and survey by Professor Donald Lopez Jr. of the University of Michigan, who is uniquely qualified to communicate the scope and significance of this literary and spiritual heritage to modern readers.
A History of Indian Logic (ancient, Mediæval and Modern Schools.)
By Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana
Buddhist Philosophy in India and Ceylon
By Arthur Berriedale Keith
The Golden Age of Indian Buddhist Philosophy
By Jan Westerhoff
Oxford University Press, 2019, ISBN 9780198732662.
Reviewed by Ethan Mills, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Dr. R. Gopalakrisnan, M.A., Ph.D. Professor and Head, (Retired), Department of Philosophy, University of Madras, Chennai—600 005 +91 98411 71138 Email: gopalki_rls@yahoo.com
Nagarjuna is one of the most famous Buddhist philosophers and was even considered as the greatest Buddhist philosopher after Lord Buddha himself. According to Buddhist tradition, Nagarjuna was the founder of the Madhyamika School. Madhamaka School is one of the important schools where Buddhist monks and disciples are preached and taught about Mahayana Buddhism. It is said that Nagarjuna together with his disciple Aryadeva founded this famous school and Mahayana Buddhismthus became popular and famous. One of the greatest achievements of Nagarjuna was his work on the Middle Way. He wrote “Mula-Madhyamaka-karika” for Madhyamaka School which is also known as “Fundamental Verses on the Middle Way”. The Mula-Madhyamaka-karika is considered as the best-known work of Nagarjuna. In Mahayana Buddhism, Nagarjuna is depicted as the “titanic figure” and also depicted as Buddhist monk with naga characteristics. Many Buddhist scholars have praised him for his influence in the foundation of Mahayana Buddhism. According to Mahayana Buddhism, Nagarjuna was born in a Brahmin family and became Buddhist monk later.
Nagarjuna’s Philosophy
Nagarjuna was considered as the most important philosopher after Gautama Buddha in the history of Mahayana Buddhism. One of the most important philosophies that Nagarjuna contributed to Buddhism was the concept of Sunyata. The sunyata simply means “emptiness” and Nagarjuna concept of Sunyata was about bringing together main Buddhist doctrines. Nagarjuna particularly tried to bring Buddhist doctrines such as Anatman “not-self” and Pratityasamutpada “dependent origination”. According to Nagarjuna’s Concept on Sunyata, all sentient beings cannot exist independently thus these sentient beings are without any self-nature. Another greatest philosophy proposed by Nagarjuna was the concept of Two Truths. According toNagarjuna, there are two truths or two levels of reality in Buddha’s teachings. Thus, the concept of Two Truths was the key things in the development of Two Truths Doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism. The Two levels of reality or Truths represent two types of truths in Buddhist Course. These two truths are relative truth and absolute truth. The relative truth is also known as the commonsensical truth and the relative truth describes the experience in the concrete world or life. The absolute truth is also known as the ultimate truth and the absolute truth refers to the reality of Sunyata.
Nagarjuna as Friend of Nagas
The legend of Nagas can be found in the myths of Hinduism as well as Buddhism. Nagas are the snake beings and according to Buddhist tradition, they are from the unseen realms. According to legend related to Nagarjuna, nagas were keeping and protecting sutras that contained the teachings of Buddha and they are hiding these sutras from mankind. Nagas entrusted these sutras to Nagarjuna and asked him to take the sutras back to the human realm. The sutras entrusted to Nagarjuna were called Wisdom Sutras and Nagarjuna collected these sutras under the Prajnaparamita Sutra (Perfection of Wisdom). That’s why Nagarjuna is remembered for his work on Wisdom Sutras.
Madhyamaka School
Madhyamaka School is the school that refers to Mahayana Buddhist School that is based on the philosophy of Nagarjuna on Middle Way.
““Whatever is dependent arising; We declared that to be emptiness. That is dependent designation And is itself the middle way.””
– Nagarjuna
According to Madhyamaka, all phenomena are dependent and are empty and without essence. They have no independent reality of their own.
An Account of the Philsophical Schools of Buddhism
Honen, Pure Land Buddhism, Japan
by Jayaram V
Prior to the emergence of Mahayana school and its expansion beyond the borders of the Indian subcontinent, Buddhism developed along many paths. After the passing away of the Buddha, for the next few centuries, several schools of Buddhism emerged in in ancient India on account of differences in the interpretation of the teachings of the Buddha.
Although their total number was actually said to be 25 or 26, Buddhist tradition recognizes only 18 early schools formed between 5th century B.C.E and 4th century C.E. Of them presently the Theravada school only survives. The list of the 18 schools is provided below1
In the beginning there were only two schools, the Mahasanghikas and the Sthaviras. The former further split into
Branch-Mahasanghikas
Ekavyavaharins
Lokottaravadins
Bahusrutiyas
Nityavadins
Caityakas
Purvasailikas
Uttarasailikas
The Sthaviras were further split into
Haimavatas
Sarvastivadins
Hetuvadins
Vatsiputriyas
Dharmadesakas
Bhadrayanikas
Sammitiyas
Bahudesakas
Dharmadesakas
Bhadravarsikas
All the eighteen schools are grouped under Sravakayana branch of Hinayana (the smaller vehicle). In course of time there developed in Buddhism four major lines of thought namely the Vaibhasikas, the Sautrantikas, the Yogacaras and the Madhyamikas. The Vaibhasikas, who are also known as “existential dualists” interpreted existential reality in terms of experiential knowledge arising out of contact with substances, some of which they considered as transitory and some as eternal.
The Sautrantikas, who based their knowledge on the sutras, distinguished reality into that which was real and existing and that which was real but non-existing. The acknowledged the existence of phenomenal world but considered it to be transient. The Yogacara school, which is also called the vijnanavada school, held the opinion that the whole world was an ideal. They argued that all phenomena existed because of consciousness and that the illusion of existence was a fabrication of the mind or consciousness alone.
The school recognized various levels or gradations within consciousness created by the activity of the senses and the mind. The Madhyamika philosophy was based on the original teachings of the Buddha and the middle path suggested by him. One of the chief proponents of this school was Nagarjuna whose interpretation of reality borders on skepticism or agnosticism. This school had to major branches, the Svatantrikas and the Prasangikas.
Although there are essentially at present two major branches of Buddhism, namely Mahayana and Hinayana, Buddhism developed several local characteristics in each geographical area where it spread. Thus today Buddhism goes by several names such as Tibetan Buddhism, Burmese Buddhism, Sri Lankan Buddhism, Thai Buddhism, Korean Buddhism, Cambodian Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhism and so on.
1. This classification is based on the Buddhist Philosophy In Theory and Practice by Herbert V.Guenther 1971, Penguin Books
Although the ideas and literature of many different forms of Buddhism reached China – including Sarvāstivāda, Mahīśāsika, Saṃmitīya, Dharmaguptaka, Sautrāntika and others – only Madhyamaka and Yogācāra developed Chinese schools and lineages. Madhyamaka disappeared as an independent school after Jizang, but its influence and the preeminence of Nāgārjuna never abated. The sixth century was basically a battleground of competing Yogācāric theories.
In the seventh century the famous Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang (600–64) spent sixteen years travelling in Central Asia and India. He returned to China in 645 and translated seventy-four works. Due in part to his accomplishments as a traveller and translator, and in part to the eminent favour bestowed on him by the Chinese emperor upon his return, Xuanzang became the most prominent East Asian Buddhist of his generation. He promoted an orthodox form of Yogācāra as it was then being practised in India, and students flocked to him from Japan and Korea as well as China. Not everyone was enamoured of the Buddhist ideology he had brought back. Zhiyan (602–68), who would later be considered one of the patriarchs of the Huayan school, was openly critical of Xuanzang’s teachings, and Fazang had joined Xuanzang’s translation committee late in Xuanzang’s life, only to quit in disgust at Xuanzang’s ‘distorted’ views. While in India, Xuanzang had discovered how far Chinese Buddhism had deviated from its Indian source, and his translations and teachings were deliberate attempts to bring Chinese Buddhism back in line with Indian teachings. The ideas he opposed (primarily but not exclusively those that had been promoted by Paramārtha’s school) were already deeply entrenched in Chinese Buddhist thinking. While he was alive his pre-eminence made him unassailable, but once he died his detractors attacked his successor, Kuiji (632–82), and successfully returned Chinese and East Asian Buddhism to the trajectory established by the conflationists. (Wônch’ūk, a Korean student of Xuanzang, was a rival of Kuiji who fared better with the revivalists since he attempted to harmonize the teachings of Paramārtha and Xuanzang.) The underlying ideology of this resurgence, which reached its intellectual apex over the course of the Tang and Song Dynasties (sixth–twelfth centuries), was neatly summarized by the label ‘dharma-nature’ (faxing), that is, the metaphysical ground of Buddha-nature quadharma-dhātuqua mind-nature quatathāgatagarbha. Fazang argued that orthodox Yogācāra only understood dharma characteristics (faxiang), that is, phenomenal appearances, but not the deeper underlying metaphysical reality, ‘dharma-nature’. After Fazang, all the Sinitic Buddhist schools considered themselves dharma-nature schools; Yogācāra and sometimes Sanlun were considered merely dharma characteristics schools.
Four dharma-nature schools emerged. Each school eventually compiled a list of its patriarchs through whom its teachings were believed to have been transmitted. Modern scholarship in Japan and the West has shown that these lineages were usually forged long after the fact, and frequently were erroneous or distorted the actual historical events. For instance, while Huiyuan was an active promoter of the Sarvāstivādin teachings introduced during his time by Sanghadeva and Buddhabhadra, the later Pure Land schools dubbed him their initial Chinese patriarch on the basis of his alleged participation in Amitābha rituals, allegations that were probably first concocted during the Tang Dynasty. Similarly, the lineage of six Chan patriarchs from Bodhidharma to Huineng is unlikely; the Huayan lineage (Du Shun to Zhiyan to Fazang to Chengguan) was largely an invention of the ‘fourth’ patriarch, Chengguan: his predecessors were unaware that they were starting a new lineage and rather thought that they were reviving the true old-time religion of Paramārtha. It was also during the Tang dynasty that Tantra briefly passed through China, from whence it was brought to Japan and became firmly established as the Shingon school.
The entry explores the introduction and development of Buddhist philosophy in China, with a focus on the classical systems that became dominant during the medieval period and continue to shape modern conceptions of Buddhist theory and practice. It covers the main traditions of Mahāyāna doctrine, initially developed in India, which were transmitted into China together with other aspects of Buddhism: Madhyamaka (Middle Way), Yogācāra (Yoga Practice), and Tathāgatagarbha (Embryo of Buddhahood). The translation, study, and exegesis of canonical texts that expound these central doctrines gave rise to a number of distinct Chinese schools, which represent discrete traditions of Buddhist philosophy. Some of the early schools are usually described as Chinese versions of Indian systems of Buddhist philosophy. For instance, Shelun, Dilun, and Faxiang are closely associated with Yogācāra philosophy, while Sanlun is said to be a Chinese version of Madhyamaka. In contrast, during the late medieval period (from the late sixth to the tenth century) there was the emergence of uniquely Chinese systems of Buddhist philosophy, which were subsequently exported to other parts of East Asia. The last two sections of the entry describe the two most notable philosophical systems of that kind, developed by the Tiantai and the Huayan schools, which represent the pinnacles of ingenious philosophical thinking within Chinese Buddhism.
Mahayana Maha Ati (Dzogchen) tradition of Buddhism
eighteen schools, the division of the Buddhist community in India in the first three centuries following the death of the Buddha in c. 483 BC. Although texts speak of the “18 schools,” the lists differ considerably; and more than 30 names are mentioned in various chronicles.
The first division in the Buddhist community occurred as a result of the second council, said to have been held 100 years after the Buddha’s death, at Vaisali (Bihar state), when the Acariyavadins (followers of the traditional teaching) split away from the Sthaviravadins (followers of the Way of the Elders) and formed their own school, known as the Mahasanghikas. The Mahasanghikas’s views on the nature of the Buddha and the arhat (“saint”) foreshadowed the development of the Mahayana form of Buddhism. Further subdivisions of the Mahasanghikas over the next seven centuries included the Lokottaravadins, the Ekavyavaharikas, and the Kaukkutikas.
A subdivision within the Sthaviravadins emerged in the 3rd century BC, when the Sarvastivadins (followers of the Doctrine That All Is Real) broke away from the Vibhajyavadins (Those Who Make Distinctions). Other prominent offshoots of the Sthaviravadins were the Sammatiyas and the Vatsiputriyas, both known for their theory of pudgala (“person”); the Sautrantikas, who recognized the authority of the sutras (words of the Buddha) but not of the Abhidharma, the more schematic part of the canon; the Mahisasakas and the Dharmaguptas, whose names probably reflect their place of origin and founding teacher; and the Theravadins (Pali form of Sthaviravadins), the school that traveled to Sri Lanka and gave origin to the modern Theravadins, now prevalent in Sri Lanka, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, and Cambodia.
All the Tibetan schools emerged from the Mahayana School of Buddhism, which is also the dominant form of Buddhism in China, Korea and Japan. Theravada (Hinayana) is the dominant school in southern India, Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. The emergence and development of competing sects in Tibetan Buddhism is best viewed as a struggle between the clerical side of Buddhism, with its emphasis and textual study, and the Tantric side, which emphasizes shaman-style rituals and techniques. Each Tibetan school addresses this struggle and in most cases emphasizes either the clerical side or the Tantric side over the other.
All the different schools struggled for dominance as they emerged. But for the most part the ones that remain today complement one another; don’t compete and try to remain in harmony. All of the “Four Major Schools of Tibetan Buddhism” follow the core beliefs of Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths and other teachings. Each school traces its founding in Tibet to a particular person, who in turn is connected to a particular tradition in India.
There are four principal schools within modern Tibetan Buddhism: 1) Nyingmapa founded by Padmasambhava, 2) Kagyupa, founded by Tilopa (988-1069), 3) Sakyapa created by Gonchok Gyelpo (1034-1102) and his son Gunga Nyingpo (1092-1158), 4) Gelugpa (The Virtuous School, Yellow Hat) founded by Tsong Khapa Lobsang Drakpa (also called Je Rinpoche) (1357 – 1419) and headed by the Dalai Lama.
The Nyingmapa Order is the oldest, dating back to the 8th century. The Kagyupa order and the Sakyapa order emerged around the same time in the 11th century. The Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) order emerged in the 15th century as a purer form of Buddhism at a time when the other schools were regarded as corrupt. It became the dominant school in the 17th century. The previously thought-to-be-defunct Tibetan Buddhist school of Jonang turns out to be very much alive in Dzamthang.
The Gelugpa order is often called the Yellow Hat school while the Kagyupa is called the White Hat or Red Hat school. The hats refer to the elaborate crescent-shaped hats worn by followers during ceremonies. The Chinese originated the terms to help them sort out the different schools in easy-to-remember terms, the same reason the terms are widely used by foreigners today. Sometimes the Red Hat term is used to describe all non-Yellow Hat schools. The term Black Hats refers to the Karma Kagyupa, a suborder of the Kagyupa school. This is because the leader of the Karma Kagyupa, the Karmapa Lama, is often referred to as the Black-Hat Lama because that is the color of his ceremonial hat.
The Nyingmapa Order traces its origins to Guru Rinpoche, an Indian sage who arrived in Tibet in the 8th or 9th century, and King Songtsen Gampo (630-649), who helped to establish Buddhism in Tibet. See Above
In the 11th century Tibetan Buddhism became stronger and more politicized. The power of the ruling monks increased and the religion splintered into several sects. This period was marked by fierce rivalry between sects: first between the Kagyupa order established by Milarepa (1040-1123) and the Sakyapa order which emerged in 1073 from the Sakya monastery, a monastery funded by the Kon family, and later between Yellow, Red and Black Hat schools.
In the 13th century, with the help of Mongolian supporters, the Sakyapa school took control of much of Tibet. The Mongols under Genghis Khan had raided Tibet but converted to Tibetan Buddhism after a meeting between Genghis Khan’s grandson, Kokonor, and the head of the Sakya monastery. Sakyapa rule lasted for about 100 years. Three secular dynasties — the Phgmogru, the Ripung and the Tsangpa — followed between the years 1354 and 1642, when the Yellow Hat (Gelugpa) school emerged as the dominant order.
Gelupa (Yellow Hat) School and the Fifth Dalai Lama
Fifth Dalai Lama
The Yellow Hats (Gelupa) emerged in the 15th century. They were given a big boost in the 16th century when the Mongols decided to support them. The school became preeminent in the middle of the 17th century, through the efforts of Mongolian supporters and Tibetan supporters inspired by the charismatic 5th Dalai Lama. The Yellow Hats took control of the central plateau and maintained control until British and Chinese incursions into Tibet in 19th century.
The 5th Dalai Lama, Ngawang Lobsang Gyatso (1617-82) is regarded as the greatest of the Dalai Lamas. Born in Chongye in the Yarlung Valley, he unified Tibet and set the precedent for future Dalai Lamas. He was the first Dalai Lama to exercise temporal power and ruled benevolently as both a spiritual and political leader and initiated construction of the Potala palace. In paintings he wears a yellow hat and holds a thunderbolt in his right hand and a bell in his left hand. He is sometimes shown holding a lotus flower, a Wheel of Law or another sacred object.
See Yellow Hats, Below
Nyingmapa (Red Hats)
Nyingmapa (or Nyingma) is the oldest of the Tibetan Buddhist schools and the second largest school of Tibetan Buddhism. The Nyingma school is based primarily on the teachings of Padmasambhava, called Guru Rinpoche, “Beloved Master,” who is the founder of Nyingmapa and revered by the Nyingma school as the “second Buddha.” Featured Nyingmapa monasteries in Tibet include: Samye Monastery, Mindroling Monastery and Dorje Drak Monastery. It is said Nyingmapa was founded by Padmasambhava and is recognized in the West for the teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
Sometimes referred to among Tibetans as the Old School, the Nyingmapa Order was surpassed by the other major orders in the 11th century and remained in villages under shaman-like figures until the rebirth of Buddhism, also in the 11th century, when it experienced a revival after the “discovery” of hidden texts and “power places” visited by Guru Rinpoche revealed in Tantric visions by Nyingmapa masters.The Nyingmapa Order was never centralized and organized to the extent of the others and was considered too extremist. The Nyingmapa order was given a lift by the 5th Dalai Lama, who encouraged the expansion of the Mindroling and Dorje Drak monasteries, in U, which became the main Nyingmapa monasteries.
The Nyingmapa Order places great importance on the Dzogchen, or Great Perfection, teachings, which deeply influenced the other schools but is largely sneered at by them today. Dzogchen philosophy argues that there was a state of purity that existed at the beginning of time that pre-dated the duality of enlightenment and earthly living and this offers a Tantric shortcut to nirvana.
Padmascambhava’s system of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism was synthesized by Longchenpa in the 14th century. Along with tantric practices, Nyingma emphasizes revealed teachings attributed to Padmasambhava plus the “great completion” or Dzogchen doctrines, also known as ati-yoga (extraordinary yoga). It also makes wide use of shamanistic practices and local divinities borrowed from the indigenous, pre-Buddhist Bon religion. Nyingma monks are not generally required to be celibate. The most recent head of the Nyingma tradition was Mindrolling Trichen, who died in 2008. A successor has not been named.
Kagyupa (White Hats)
Marpa Kagyupa (“Whispered Transmission”) is the third largest school of Tibetan Buddhism. It was founded by Tilopa (988-1069) and important teachers include Naropa, Marpa, and Milarepa. Some trace Kagyupa’s origin back to Marpa the Translator,(1012-1123), a married Tibetan yogi famous for his Tantric power, and Milarepa (1040-1123). One of Milarepa’s disciples, Gampopa (1079-1153) established a number of monasteries. The Kagyupa order initially emphasized the Tantric side of Tibetan Buddhism over the clerical, textual side. As it became more organized it emphasized the textual, clerical side more and became hierarchal, and at this stage was accused of placing to much power in the hands of lamas and being corrupt Over time several Kagyupa suborders emerged. The most well known of these is the Karma Kagyupa (see Below). Others include the Drigungpa and Taglungpa schools, which are based respectively at the Drigung Til and Talung Monasteries in U.
Kagyupa teachings were brought to Tibet by Marpa in the 11th century. He was a Tibetan householder who traveled to India to study under the master yogin Naropa and gather Buddhist scriptures. Marpa’s most important student was Milarepa, to whom Marpa passed on his teachings only after subjecting him to trials of the utmost difficulty. In the 12th century, the physician Gampopa synthesized the teachings of Marpa and Milarepa into an independent school. As its name indicates, this school of Tibetan Buddhism places particular value on the transmission of teachings from teacher to disciple. It also stresses the more severe practices of hatha yoga. The central teaching is the “great seal” (mahamudra), which is a realization of emptiness, freedom from samsara and the inspearability of these two. The basic practice of mahamudra is “dwelling in peace,” and it has thus been called the “Tibetan Zen.” Also central to the Kagyupa schools are the Six Doctrines of Naropa (Naro Chödrug), which are meditation techniques that partially coincide with the teachings of the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
The Kagyupa tradition is headed by the Karmapa Lama. The current head is the Seventeenth Gyalwa Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, who was born in 1985 in the Lhathok region of Tibet. Important Kagyupa teachers include Naropa, Marpa, and Milarepa. Some accounts name Marpa “The Translator” (1012-1099) as the founder of the Kagyu school, while other accounts name as the founder Gampopa (1084-1161), also known as Dagpo Lhaje, who was a student of Marpa’s disciple Milarepa. Kagyu is best known for its system of meditation and practice called Mahamudra.
Karmapa (Black Hats)
The Black Hat school is properly known as Kagyu Karma or Karmapa. It is a suborder of the Kagyupa (Red Hat) order and is led by the Karmapa Lama. It was once Tibet’s most politically powerful school but it was supplanted by the Yellow Hats of the Dalai Lama 350 years ago.
The Kagyo Karma order is credited with inaugurating the tradition of passing on leadership through the reincarnations of lamas when Dusim Khyenpa (1110-93), the abbot of Tsurphu Monastery, announced he would keep his position after death in a reincarnated form as someone else.
The Black Crown is the symbol of authority of the Karmapa Lama. Said to have been woven from the hair of female angels, it was presented to the 5th Karmapa by the Chinese emperor Yong-le in the 15th century. The 16th Karmapa Lama deposited it at Rumtek Monestray in Sikkim.
Tsurphu Monastery (70 kilometers northwest of Lhasa in Gurum in Doilungdêqên District) is a 12th century monastery in the Drowolung valley in central Tibet. It is the traditional seat of the Karmapa Lama, the head of the Karma Kagyu (Black Hat) lineage of Tibetan Buddhism. The last Karampa Lama was enthroned in a ceremony here. See NEAR LHASA factsanddetails.com
Sakyapa
Sakya Pandita Sakyapa is today the smallest of the four schools of Tibetan Buddhism. It is named for the Sakya (“Gray Earth”) monastery in sourthern Tibet. In 1073, Khon Konchok Gyelpo (1034-l102) built Sakya Monastery in southern Tibet. His son and successor, Sakya Kunga Nyingpo (1092-1158)., founded the Sakya school. The abbots in the Sakya Monastery were devoted to the transmission of a cycle of Vajrayana central teaching and practice called Lamdrey, or “path and goal”, the systemization of Tantric teachings, and Buddhist logic.
The Sakya school had great political influence in the 13th and 14th centuries. Sakya teachers converted the Mongol leaders Godan Khan and Kublai Khan to Buddhism. Over time, the Sakya school gave rise expanded to two subsects called the Ngor lineage and the Tsar lineage. Sakya, Ngor and Tsar constitute the three schools (Sa-Ngor-Tsar-gsum) of the Sakya tradition. The headquarters of the Sakya sect today are at Rajpur in Uttar Pradesh, India. The current head is Ngawang Kunga Theckchen Rimpoche (b. 1945). Featured monasteries of Sakyapa in Tibet: Sakya Monastery
The Sakyapa Order emerged in the 11th and 12th centuries at monasteries where Indian Buddhist texts were being studied and translated into Tibetan. Its most well known figure was Kunga Pandita (1182-1251), who is often called Sakya Pandita (literally “Scholar for Sakya”). Regarded as manifestation of Jampelyang (Manjushri), the Bodhisattva of Insight, he served as a spiritual advisor for Kublai Khan and was involved in Chinese, Tibetan and Mongol politics.
The Sakyapa Order emphasizes the clerical-textual side of Tibetan Buddhism over Tantrism. It has largely been overshadowed by the Yellow Hat and Red Hat orders but remains alive today. Important Sakyapa lamas include Sakya Trizin, Ngawang Kunga, (head of the Sakyapa order), Chigye Trichen Rinpoche (head of the Tsarpa suborder) and Ludhing Khenpo Rnpoche (head of the Ngorpa suborder).
The Sakyapa Order established a number of monasteries that stressed the study of Buddhist scriptures. Among those who studied there was Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) school.
Gelugpa (The Yellow Hats)
The Gelugpa (Yellow Hat) order is the youngest school of Tibetan Buddhism, but is today the largest and the most important. It is lead by the Dalai Lama and was founded by Tsongkhapa (also called Je Rinpoche) (1357-1419), a lama who established a monastery at Ganden. Tsongkhapa attracted a number of followers who were disgusted by the corrupt rule of the Sakyapa and Kagyupa orders. After his death his followers established more monasteries and their movement came to be called the Gelugpa (“Virtuous”) order and the their leaders, the Dalai Lama. Featured Gelugpa monasteries in Tibet include: Drepung Monastery, Sera Monastery, Ganden Monastery, Tashilunpo Monastery.
Gelugpa practices are centered on achieving concentration through meditation and arousing the bodhisattva within. Three large monasteries were quickly established near Lhasa: at Dga’ldan (Ganden) in 1409, ‘Bras-spungs (Drepung) in 1416, and Se-ra in 1419. The abbots of the ‘Bras-spungs monastery first received the title Dalai Lama in 1578. The Gelugpa school has held political leadership of Tibet since the Dalai Lamas were made heads of state by the Mongol leader Güüshi Khan in 1642.
The Yellow Hats have dominated Tibetan Buddhism since the 17th century, when they pushed their rivals, the Black Hats, from power with the help of a Mongol prince. The Mongols coined the name Dalai Lama and helped the Yellow Hats gain dominance over the their rivals. The Red Hats have also traditionally been rivals of the Yellow Hats. The yellow hats are worn with red robes by monks during religious ceremonies. The hats look like large yellow bird claws or crescent moons and are worn with the concave side facing forward.
Tsong Kapa, Founder of the Yellow Hats
Tsong Kapa
Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) is the founder of the Yellow Hat order. He was a reformist monk who preached monastic discipline and doctrinal purity and called for a return to conservative doctrines. He called for stricter rules that prohibited monks from getting married (some did before then) and drinking wine.
Tsongkhapa is one of Tibet’s greatest scholars. He “enforced strict monastic discipline, restored celibacy and the prohibition of alcohol and meat, established a higher standard of learning for monks, and, while continuing to respect the Vajrayana tradition of esotericism that was prevalent in Tibet, allowed Tantric and magical rites only in moderation.” The first Gelug monastery, Ganden, was also built by Tsongkhapa in 1409.
Tsongkhapa is regarded as a manifestation of Jampelyan (Manjushri), the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. In paintings he is usually pictured with a yellow hat, holding two lotus flowers with his hands in the “teaching” mudra. He is often portrayed in a triad with his two main disciples, Kenrud Je and Gyastab Je.
Tsongkapa was born in Kokonor near present-day Xining in Qinghai Province. He left home at 17 and studied at all the major schools that existed in his time, but was particularly taken by the Sakyapa and Kadampa orders.
After moving to Netang (the home of the Ganden monetary) near Lhasa, his mother wrote him and asked him to return. He wrote her saying he couldn’t but, according to legend, around the same he wrote the letter, a pipal tree miraculously sprang up at his birthplace in Xining, the same way a Bodhi tree arose on the place where Buddha received the enlightenment. Taer monastery was established there in 1560. At Netamg Tsongkapa had a vison with the Indian scholar Atisha in it. The Ganden monastery was established there. The nephew of Tsongkhapa became the first Dalai Lama
Yellow Hat and Red Hat Beliefs
The Yellow Hat school emphasizes the scholarly approach to Buddhism and advocates following the traditional monastic code as a means of reaching nirvana. The Yellow Hats are regarded as a strict school. Their monks are known for their martial arts skills. By contrast its main rivals, the Red Hat school, emphasize a more Tantric approach.
Some have compared the Yellow Hats to Catholics and the Red Hats to Calvinists because the Yellow Hats donned colorful robes, lived in grand palaces, conducted elaborate ceremonies and put a great emphasis on following religious doctrines and texta like the Catholics while Red Hats are austere and mystical and look to the inner self rather than doctrines and books for answers.
The Yellow Hats are greatly influenced by the teachings of Atisha. They merged Mahayana doctrine with Tantric practices, while emphasizing scholarly study. The group does not condemn Tantric practices but argues that they take years to master and should not be viewed merely as shortcuts to enlightenment and nirvana.
Shugden
Some Yellow Hat Tibetan Buddhists, known as Shungdens, revere an avenging angel called Dorje Shugden. Mainstream Tibetan Buddhists and the Dalai Lama regard them as cultish and divisive. Shugden worship is particularly big around Litang.
The Shugdens have been called the Taliban of Tibetan Buddhism because of their extreme views. Dorje Shugden is regarded as a vengeful protector god. He is often depicted as a sword-wielding warrior who wears a necklace of human heads and rides a snow lion through boiling blood. The Dalai Lama has been trying to discourage worship of Dorje Shugden since he first appeared in the 1600s.
Dorje Shugden is the renamed spirit of Tukla Dragpa Gyaltsen, a powerful 17th-century monk who challenged the 5th Dalai Lama and was murdered’suffocated to death by having ceremonial silk scarves stuffed down his throat — in his palace in 1656 by a close aide of the Dalai Lama. The name Dorge Shugen (“hurler of thunderbolts”) — is reference to his great power.
A senior monk named Kelsang Gyatso established a new Dorje Shugden order in England in 1991 and called it the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT). Followers of this school believe that the Dalai Lama is a traitor for being too compromising with China and too friendly with the Red Hat school (the Shugdens consider it a sin to talk to members of the Red Hat school or touch their religious objects).
Criticism the Shugdens
In 1996, the Dalai Lama denounced the NKT of being a dangerous and greedy commercial cult and warned followers of Tibetan Buddhism to stay clear of them. Two decades earlier he stop praying to the spirit of Dorje Shugden because he believed its negative energy worked against him and he was told by the oracle that Shugden was really an “evil spirit.”
The NKT is believed to be behind the murder of close associates of the Dalai Lama (SEE Above). Police believe the Dalai Lama’s condemnation of the NKT may have been the motive for the murder.
The NKT has also been accused of bilking its followers out of large amounts of money. One of it newsletters told followers” “if you are in the market for some merit (and who isn’t) here is a perfect opportunity” and then said buying a $4,800 NKT shrine cabinet, $3,200 NKT Buddha statue and a $48 tea-cup and saucer with mark of a senior monk were easy ways in which people could earn lots of merit..
Serthar Buddhist Institute
Serthar (Sertar) — a place in the remote, barren 13,000-foot-high Larung valley in the Tibetan region of western Sichuan — is the home of a unique Buddhist community. Founded in 1980 by Khenpo Jigme Phuntsog, who claims to be a reincarnation of the teacher of the previous Dalai Lama, the community boasted 10,000 followers who lived in spartan log cabins and mud huts, making it the largest group of its kind in the Tibetan regions. Most of the members were Tibetans but there were 1,000 ethnic Chinese members in the group.
The community was called Larung Gar (Gars means encampment) and Serthar Buddhist Institute. Located near the border with Tibet and Qinghai Province and 500 miles from the nearest city, it was surrounded by towering mountains and reached by dirt road Before the Buddhists arrived no one lived in the valley.
Larung was not a monastery. Its members included nuns, red-robed monks, scholars and laymen and women. It was not associated with any of the Tibetan schools. Doctrines from all three of the major Tibetan Buddhist schools are taught. The group was tolerated for while because Jigme Phuntosg went out of his way not to do anything to offend Beijing. Even so the “evil cult” law passed to combat Falun Gong in 2000 was used to crack down on the group, because it had grown so large and was perceived as a threat.
In 2001, armed police evicted hundreds of Tibetan nuns, monks and scholars from the Serthar. Houses were burned down and people who were evicted were forced to sign documents denouncing the Dalai Lama and threatened with arrest if they returned. Some nuns threatened to commit suicide rather than leave. The aim was not to close the community but to limit its size. See Places.
After the crackdown the community managed to survive. Many monks who were ordered to leave simply walked down te road and turned around and returned, sneaking past police. Members seemed to not care about the risks. After the crack down new members showed up. Their resistance called into question Beijing’s ability to crush religious and dissident groups.
As of early 2004, there were about 3,000 people at Serthar. Jogme Phuntsok continued to meet with small groups of students until his death in January 2004.
Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, Lonely Planet Guides, Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.
Numerous Buddhist Acts emerged after the mid-11th century, including the Nyingma, Gatang, Sagya, Gagyu, Zhigyed, Gyoyul, Gyonang, Kodrag and Xalhu sects. The latter five were rather weak owing to the lack of political support. They were thus forced to join force or were otherwise annexed by other sects, and as individual entities fell into the oblivion of the long flow of history. The following five sects enjoyed impressive popularity:
Nyingma Sect. The sect, founded in the 11th century, is also known as the Red Sect and is the oldest sect of Tibetan Buddhism. The sect paid great attention to absorbing the fine points of the Bon religion and, at the same time, did its best to locate Buddhist sutras secreted away when Darma moved to suppress Buddhism. Based on its practice of Buddhism deeply rooted in the Tubo Kingdom of the 8th century, the sect called itself Nyingma, a word meaning ancient and old in the Tibetan language. Monks of the Nyingma Sect wore red hats, hence the name the Red Sect. The Red Sect mainly advocates the study of Tantrism. Its theory was strongly influenced by Han Chine language Buddhism, and is quite similar with the theory of Ch’an School of Buddhism in China’s hinterland. Today, the Red Sect is not only active in Tibetaninhabited areas in Ghina, but also in India, Bhuttan, Nepal, Belgium, Greece and France, as well as in the Unite States.
Gatang Sect. The Gatang Sect, founded in 1056, primarily advocated the study of Exoteric teachings, with later emphasis on Tantrism. In the Tibetan language, Ga refers to the teachings of Buddha, with tang meaning instruction. The combination Gatang thus refers to advising people to accept Buddhism based on the teachings of Buddha. Its doctrines were promoted far and wide and thus exerted great influence on various Tibetan Buddhist sects. However, along with the rise of the Gelug Sect in the 15th century, the Gatang Sect dissolved with its monks and monasteries merging with the former.
Sagya Sect. Sagya means “white land” in the Tibetan language. The Sagya Sect, founded in 1703, derived its name from the fact that the Sagya Monastery, the sect’s most important monastery, is grayish white in color. Enclosures in the sect’s monasteries are painted with red, white and black stripes, which respectively symbolize the Wisdom Buddha, the Goddess of Mercy and the Diamond Hand Buddha. Hence, the sect is also known as the Stripe Sect. The ever increasing influence of the sect and the expansion of feudal forces throughout its formation led to the increasing fame of the “five Sagya Sect Forefathers”. The Fourth Forefather Sapan Gonggar Gyaincain was summoned to Liangzhou in 1247 by the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) ruler to dialup matters concerning Tibet pledging allegiance to the Yuan Dynasty. This was followed by Sapan bringing various feudal forces in Tibet under control of the Mongols. Following the death of Sapan, Pagan, the Fifth Forefather of the Sagya Sect, emerged as a high-ranking official in the Yuan court. Pagba Was granted honorary titles such as “State Tutor”, ”Imperial Tutor” and ”Great Treasure Prince of Dharma.” Thereafter, the Sagya Sect emerged as the Yuan Dynasty representative in Tibet. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) , Gonggar Zhaxi, an eminent monk with the Sagya Sect, journeyed to Nanjing, capital of the Ming Dynasty, to pay homage to Emperor Yongle. Gongar was granted an honorary title as the “Mahayana Prince of Dharma”, one of the three Princes of Dharma.
Gagyu Sect. The Gagyu Sect, founded in the 11th century, stresses the study of Tantrism and advocates that Tantrist tenets be passed down orally from one generation to another. Hence the name Gagyu, which in the Tibetan language means “passing down orally.” Marba and Milha Riba, the founders of the Gagyu Sect, wore white monk robes when practicing Buddhism , leading to the name White Sect. In the early years, the White Sect was divided into the Xangba Gagyu which declined in the 14th and to 15th centuries, and the Tabo Gagyu. The Tabo Gagyu was powerful and its branch sects were either in power in their respective localities or otherwise dominant amongst feudal forces.
Gelug Sect. The Gelug Sect, founded in 1409, was the most famous Buddhist sect in Tibetan history dating to the 15th century. The sect was founded during the reform of Tibetan Buddhism initiated by Zongkapa. Zongkapa himself was born at a time when the Pagmo Zhuba replaced the Sagya Regime in power. At that time, upper-class monks involved in political and economic power struggle led a decadent life, and rapidly lost popularity with society. Faced with this situation, Zongkapa called for efforts to follow Buddhist tenets. He proceeded to undertake lecture tours in many areas and wrote books accusing decadent monks of failing to abide by Buddhist tenets. Zongkapa spared no effort to press ahead with Buddhist reform. For example, in the first month of 1409 according to Tibetan calendar, Zongkapa initiated the Grand Summons Ceremony in Lhasa’s Jokhang Monastery. The ceremony remains in practice even today. This effort was closely followed by the construction of the famous Gandain Monastery and the founding of the Gelug Sect which was famous for its strict adherence to commandments. The Tibetan language meaning of Gelug is “commandments”. Zongkapa and his followers wore yellow hats, and thus the Gelug Sect is also known as the Yellow Sect. Since its founding, the Yellow Sect has built the Zhaibung, Sera, Tashilhungpo, Tar and Labrang monasteries, which join the Gandain Monastery as the six major monasteries of the Gelug Sect. The Yellow Sect is also known for formation of the two largest Living Buddha reincarnation systems – the Dalai and Bainqen systems.
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Throughout the history of mankind, people have been occupied with the pursuit of understanding their environment, themselves, and the nature of whatever reality may exist beyond. The answer to these questions has evolved into two great philosophies, which are usually designated by the geographical division of East and West. Western philosophy looks outward to external data, while Eastern philosophy turns inward to internal experience; one method is based primarily on dialectics and discursive deductive speculation, while the other is based on introspection and direct intuitive insight.
In this work Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, provides Western students with an easily understandable view of the seven schools of Eastern philosophy traditionally studied in India:
Each school of Eastern philosophical thought is explained in accord with the strict standards of tradition and scholarship, allowing Western readers to achieve a proper understanding of Eastern wisdom. See what the Eastern view on life’s deepest questions has to offer you. Purchase your copy of Seven Systems of Eastern Philosophy today.
About the Author
Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, PhD, is a modern-day master and living link to the unbroken Himalayan Tradition. He is the successor to Sri Swami Rama, Himalayan yogic master and the founder of the Himalayan Institute. As a leading voice of YogaInternational.com and the author of 15 books, Pandit Tigunait offers practical guidance on applying yogic and tantric wisdom to modern life. Over the past 35 years he has touched innumerable lives around the world as a teacher, humanitarian, and visionary spiritual leader. You can view more of his teaching on the Himalayan Institute Wisdom Library.
Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness
Author Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche Editor S. K. Hookham Translated by S. K. Hookham Edition 3 Publisher CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016 ISBN 153740900X, 9781537409009 Length 122 pages
Tathagatagarbha — Buddha Nature — is a central concept of Mahayana Buddhism crucial to all the living practice traditions of Tibetan and Zen Buddhism. Its relationship to the concept of emptiness has been a subject of controversy for seven hundred years. Dr. Hookam’s work investigates the divergent interpretations of these concepts and the way the Tibetan tradition is resolving them.
In particular she does this with reference to the only surviving Indian commentary on the Tathagatagarbha doctrine, the Ratnagotravibhaga. This text addresses itself directly to the issue of how to relate the doctrine of emptiness (the illusory nature of the world) to that of the truly existing, changeless Absolute (the Buddha Nature).
This is the first work by a Western writer to present an analysis of the Shentong tradition based on previously untranslated sources. The Shentong view rests on meditative experience that is inaccessible to the conceptualizing mind. It is deeply rooted in the sutra tradition of Indian Buddhism and is central to an understanding of the Mahamudra and Dzogchen traditions and Tantric practice among Kagyupas and Hyingmapas.
Acknowledgments
Yogin Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso’s Spontaneous Verses on the Subject of Rangtong and Shentong
1: General Introduction
The Omniscient Dolpopa’s Prayer that Unties the Vajra Word Knots
Section One—The Issues
2: Introduction to the Rangtong-Shentong Distinction
2.1 The Origin and Significance of Buddhist Commentarial Traditions 2.2 The Rangtong/Shentong Distinction 2.3 The Meaning of Rangtong 2.4 The Meaning of Shentong 2.5 The Importance of the Rangtong-Shentong Distinction
3: Emptiness from the Shentong Point of View
3.1 Progressive Stages of Meditation on Emptiness 3.2 The Final Stage—Shentong (Yogacara Madhyamaka) 3.3 No Shentong Without a Proper Understanding of Rangtong 3.4 Problems of Definitions of Terms
4: The Shentong View of Absolute Reality
4.1 Buddhajnana 4.2 Inseparable Qualities
i. Inseparable Qualities of the Dharmakaya ii. The Concept of Uncompoundedness iii. Inseparability and the Spontaneous Existence of the Buddha Qualities
4.3 Buddha Activity
5: Means of Apprehending Absolute Reality
5.1 Faith
i. Faith and Buddhajnana ii. Faith and Direct Experience iii. Direct Experience as Valid Cognition
5.2 Non-conceptuality (nisprapanca)
i. Nisprapanca as Awareness Experienced in Meditation ii. Nisprapanca as Freedom from Extremes iii. Nisprapanca as Non-conceptuality in the RGV [1.9] iv. Nisprapanca in the Tantras
5.3 The Two Realities and the Two Visions
i. Satya ii. Paramarthasatya iii. Samvrtisatya iv. Ultimate Reality is not Dependent Arising v. Own Nature and Other Nature (Svabhava and Parabhava ) vi. The Two Realities Inseparable vii. The Two Senses of Manifestation and Emptiness viii. The Importance of the Distinction ix. The Relationship Between the Two Realities x. The Two Visions—Precisely What Is and the Extent of What Is (Yathavadbhavikata and Yavadbhavikata )
6: The Nature of Beings
6.1 Base, Path and Fruit 6.2 Tathagatagarbha
i. The Shentong and Rangtong Approaches Compared ii. The Term “Tathagatagarbha”
6.3 Self 6.4 Gotra
i. The ‘Cut-off’ Gotra and the Three Yanas ii. Gotra as both Cause and Emptiness
7: The Third Dharmacakra: Neyartha or Nitartha
7.1 The Third Dharmacakra
i. The Three Dharmacakras ii. The Third Dharmacakra as Nitartha iii. Kongtrul’s Distinction Between the Two Kinds of Nitartha Sutra of the Third Dharmacakra iv. Dolpopa’s Analysis v. The Third Dharmacakra is Not Cittamatra
7.2 Neyartha and Nitartha
i. Rangtong Explanations of Neyartha and Nitartha ii. The Terms “Neyartha” and “Nitartha” iii. The Ratnagotravibhaga —Neyartha or Nitartha?
Section Two—Historical Background 8: The Shentong Tradition
8.1 The Jonangpas
i. The Jonangpa Lineage ii. Some Opponents and Supporters of Shentong iii. The Mountain Dharma—Ocean of Nitartha (Ri chos nges don rgya mtsho, RC) iv. Comparison With Later Shentongpas v. The Essence of the Controversy vi. Shentong is Secret Oral Instruction
8.2 Sources of Shentong
i. The Tibetan Inheritance ii. Some of Dolpopa’s Indian Sources of Shentong iii. Other Views on the Indian Sources of Shentong iv. The Brhattika v. Nagarjuna’s Stotra and Karikas vi. How Shentong Relates to Later Developments of Buddhism in India vii. The Term “Great Madhyamaka” viii. Tantric Shentong
8.3 Kongtrul and the Rimay Tradition
i. Kongtrul ii. The Rimay Tradition
9: Traditions of Interpretation of the RGV and RGVV
9.1 Introduction to the Ratnagotravibhaga and Ratnagotravibhagavyakhya and Associated Traditions.
i. Authorship and Rediscovery ii. Maitreya iii. The Importance of the Maitreya-Asanga Connection iv. The RGV as a Synthesis of the Tathagatagarbha Sutras and the Prajnaparamita Sutras v. The Vyakhya (RGVV) vi. Transmission to Tibet
9.2 Matters Arising from the Introduction to Kongtrul’s Commentary on the RGV.
i. The Two Tibetan Transmission Lineages of the RGV ii. Questions Arising from Kongtrul’s Commentary iii. Other Commentators Not Mentioned in the Initial Praises iv. Gampopa and the Sutra and Tantra Mahamudra v. Rangjung Dorje and the Mahamudra-Dzogchen Synthesis
Section Three—A Shentong Interpretation of the RGV and RGVV and a Translation of Kongtru!’s Introduction to His RGV Commentary
10: A Shentong Interpretation of the RGV and RGVV—A Paraphrase With Comments
10.1 The Title and its Implications 10.2 General Introduction to the Seven Vajra Bases 10.3 Vajra Bases 1–3: The Three Jewels 10.4 Vajra Base 4: The Dhatu (Element)
Causes and Conditions for Purification The Four Paradoxes The Three Reasons The Element Arranged in Ten Points The Nine Examples The Essence of the Doctrine The Purpose of the Instruction
10.5 Vajra Base 5: Enlightenment 10.6 Vajra Base 6: Qualities 10.7 Vajra Base 7: Activity 10.8 The Benefits
11: Translation of the Introduction to Kongtrul’s RGV Commentary 12: Conclusion Appendix 1: Works by Western Scholars Appendix 2: Prakrtisunyata, Svabhavasunyata and Parabhavasunyata in Rangtong and Shentong Terms Appendix 3: Further Details on the Three Svabhava and the Three Kinds of Emptiness as Found in the SNS Appendix 4: The Sandhinirmocanasutra: Résumé Appendix 5: Some Points of Comparison Between Rangtong Commentators on RGV Appendix 6: The Five Dharmas of Maitreya Abbreviations Notes Conventions Used Glossary of Terms Bibliography Index
A BUDDHA WITHIN: THE TATHAGATAGARBHASUTRA
THE EARLIEST EXPOSITION OF THE BUDDHA-NATURE TEACHING IN INDIA
MICHAEL ZIMMERMANN
The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology
This book brings together perspectives of leading international Tibetan studies scholars on the subject of zhentong or “other-emptiness.” Defined as the emptiness of everything other than the continuous luminous awareness that is one’s own enlightened nature, this distinctive philosophical and contemplative presentation of emptiness is quite different from rangtong—emptiness that lacks independent existence, which has had a strong influence on the dissemination of Buddhist philosophy in the West. Important topics are addressed, including the history, literature, and philosophy of emptiness that have contributed to zhentong thinking in Tibet from the thirteenth century until today. The contributors examine a wide range of views on zhentong from each of the major orders of Tibetan Buddhism, highlighting the key Tibetan thinkers in the zhentong philosophical tradition. Also discussed are the early formulations of buddhanature, interpretations of cosmic time, polemical debates about emptiness in Tibet, the zhentong view of contemplation, and creative innovations of thought in Tibetan Buddhism. Highly accessible and informative, this book can be used as a scholarly resource as well as a textbook for teaching graduate and undergraduate courses on Buddhist philosophy.
Michael R. Sheehy is Director of Scholarship at the Contemplative Sciences Center and Research Assistant Professor in Tibetan Buddhist Studies at the University of Virginia. Klaus-Dieter Mathes is Professor of Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna, Austria. His books include A Direct Path to the Buddha Within: Gö Lotsāwa’s Mahāmudrā Interpretation of the Ratnagotravibhāga and A Fine Blend of Mahāmudrā and Madhyamaka: Maitrīpa’s Collection of Texts on Non-conceptual Realization (Amanasikāra).
Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Philosophical Grounds and Literary History of Zhentong Klaus-Dieter Mathes and Michael R. Sheehy
*Bodhigarbha: Preliminary Notes on an Early Dzokchen Family of Buddha-Nature Concepts David Higgins
On the Inclusion of Chomden Rikpai Raldri in Transmission Lineages of Zhentong Tsering Wangchuk
The Dharma of the Perfect Eon: Dolpopa Sherab Gyaltsen’s Hermeneutics of Time and the Jonang Doxography of Zhentong Madhyamaka Michael R. Sheehy
Buddha-Nature in Garungpa Lhai Gyaltsen’s Lamp That Illuminates the Expanse of Reality and among Tibetan Intellectuals Dorje Nyingcha
Zhentong Views in the Karma Kagyu Order Klaus-Dieter Mathes
Buddha-Nature: “Natural Awareness Endowed with Buddha Qualities” as Expounded by Zhamar Kacho Wangpo Martina Draszczyk
“There Are No Dharmas Apart from the Dharma-Sphere”: Shakya Chokden’s Interpretation of the Dharma-Sphere Yaroslav Komarovski
Tāranātha’s Twenty-One Differences with Regard to the Profound Meaning: Comparing the Views of the Two Zhentong Masters Dolpopa and Shakya Chokden Klaus-Dieter Mathes
Zhentong Traces in the Nyingma Tradition: Two Texts from Mindroling Matthew T. Kapstein
Zhentong as Yogācāra: Mipam’s Madhyamaka Synthesis Douglas Duckworth
Where Buddhas and Siddhas Meet: Mipam’s Yuganaddhavāda Philosophy Dorji Wangchuk
Along the Middle Path in the Quest for Wisdom: The Great Madhyamaka in Rime Discourses Marc-Henri Deroche
The Zhentong Lion Roars: Dzamtang Khenpo Lodro Drakpa and the Jonang Scholastic Renaissance Michael R. Sheehy
Translation from Tibetan by Brigitte Lause under guidance from Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen. The section on Rangtong Madhyamaka was provided by Miguel Sawaya. Edited by blaze mason September 2021
Self and Other: Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity
Key Terms
Self
No Self
Self and Other
Primacy of the We
Intentionality
Individual Intentionality
Collective Intentionality
Subjectivity
Phenomenology
Transcendental Subjectivity
Transcendental Phenomenology
Being of Dasein
Being in the World
Life World
Mundane Phenomenology
Phenomenological Sociology
Intersubjectivity
Transcendental Intersubjectivity
Selfhood
First-person perspective
Empathy
Second-person perspective
We-identity
Social Cognition
Social Ontology
Shame
Self Culture Nature
Self Mind Society
I We It Its
AQAL Model of Ken Wilber
Community
Samaj
Solipsism
We Intentionality
Phenomenology of the We
Social Phenomenology
Self Consciousness
Consciousness
Self Reference
Knots
Mobius Strip
Triadic Phenomenology
Charles Sanders Peirce
Niklas Luhmann
Subjectivity Intersubjectivity World
Key Scholars
Edmund Husserl (1859 – 1938)
Max Scheler (1874 – 1928)
Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
Emmanuel Levinas (1906 – 1980)
Jean-Paul Sartre (1906 – 1980)
Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908 – 1961)
Alfred Schutz (1899 – 1959)
Edith Stein
Dan Zahavi
Shaun Gallagher
Evan Thompson
Books by Dan Zahavi
Husserl and Transcendental Intersubjectivity 1996
Husserl’s Phenomenology 1997
Alterity and Facticity: New Perspectives on Husserl 1998
Self-Awareness, Temporality, and Alterity: Central Topics in Phenomenology 1998
Self-awareness and alterity: a phenomenological investigation. 1999
Exploring the Self: Philosophical and Psychopathological Perspectives on Self-Experience 2000
One Hundred Years of Phenomenology: Husserl’s Logical Investigations Revisited 2002
Metaphysics, Facticity, Interpretation: Phenomenology in the Nordic Countries 2003
Subjectivity and Selfhood: Investigating the First Person Perspective 2005
Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions 2011
The Phenomenological Mind: An Introduction to Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science 2008/2012
The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Phenomenology 2013
Self and Other: Exploring Subjectivity, Empathy, and Shame 2014
Husserl’s Legacy: Phenomenology, Metaphysics, and Transcendental Philosophy. 2017
Phenomenology: The Basics 2018
Lived Time: Phenomenological and Psychopathological Studies
The Oxford Handbook of the History of Phenomenology 2018
Source: Intersubjectivity
Has phenomenology anything of interest to say on the topic of intersubjectivity? As one frequently stated criticism has it, due to its preoccupation with subjectivity, phenomenology has not only failed to realize the true significance of inter-subjectivity, but it has also been fundamentally incapable of addressing the issue in a satisfactory manner (see Habermas 1994). As a closer scrutiny of the writings of such figures as Scheler, Stein, Husserl, Heidegger, Gurwitsch, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty and Levinas is bound to reveal, however, this criticism is astonishingly misguided. The truth of the matter is that intersubjectivity, be it in the form of a concrete self–other relation, a socially structured lifeworld, or a transcendental principle of justification, is ascribed an absolutely central role by phenomenologists. It is no coincidence that the first philosopher ever to engage in a systematic and extensive use of the very term intersubjectivity (Intersubjektivität) was Husserl. Ultimately, it is difficult to point to a philosophical tradition that has been more concerned with doing justice to the different aspects of intersubjectivity than phenomenology.
Source: Varieties of Phenomenology
Phenomenology counts as one of the most influential philosophical movements in twentieth-century philosophy. Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) was its founder, but other influential proponents were Max Scheler (1874–1928), Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980), Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908–1961), and Emmanuel Lévinas (1906–1995). Over the years, phenomenology has made major contributions to many areas of philosophy, including transcendental philosophy, philosophy of mind, social philosophy, philosophical anthropology, aesthetics, ethics, philosophy of science, epistemology, theory of meaning, and formal ontology. It has offered important analyses of topics such as intentionality, embodiment, self-consciousness, intersubjectivity, temporality, historicity, truth, evidence, perception, and value theory. It has delivered a targeted criticism of reductionism, objectivism, and scientism, and argued at length for a rehabilitation of the lifeworld.
Source: Subjectivity and Selfhood: Investigating the First Person Perspective
What is a self? Does it exist in reality or is it a mere social construct—or is it perhaps a neurologically induced illusion? The legitimacy of the concept of the self has been questioned by both neuroscientists and philosophers in recent years. Countering this, in Subjectivity and Selfhood, Dan Zahavi argues that the notion of self is crucial for a proper understanding of consciousness. He investigates the interrelationships of experience, self-awareness, and selfhood, proposing that none of these three notions can be understood in isolation. Any investigation of the self, Zahavi argues, must take the first-person perspective seriously and focus on the experiential givenness of the self. Subjectivity and Selfhood explores a number of phenomenological analyses pertaining to the nature of consciousness, self, and self-experience in light of contemporary discussions in consciousness research.
Philosophical phenomenology—as developed by Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, and others—not only addresses crucial issues often absent from current debates over consciousness but also provides a conceptual framework for understanding subjectivity. Zahavi fills the need—given the recent upsurge in theoretical and empirical interest in subjectivity—for an account of the subjective or phenomenal dimension of consciousness that is accessible to researchers and students from a variety of disciplines. His aim is to use phenomenological analyses to clarify issues of central importance to philosophy of mind, cognitive science, developmental psychology, and psychiatry. By engaging in a dialogue with other philosophical and empirical positions, says Zahavi, phenomenology can demonstrate its vitality and contemporary relevance.
Source: Self and Other: Exploring Subjectivity, Empathy, and Shame
Can you be a self on your own or only together with others? Is selfhood a built-in feature of experience or rather socially constructed? How do we at all come to understand others? Does empathy amount to and allow for a distinct experiential acquaintance with others, and if so, what does that tell us about the nature of selfhood and social cognition? Does a strong emphasis on the first-personal character of consciousness prohibit a satisfactory account of intersubjectivity or is the former rather a necessary requirement for the latter?
Engaging with debates and findings in classical phenomenology, in philosophy of mind and in various empirical disciplines, Dan Zahavi’s new book Self and Other offers answers to these questions. Discussing such diverse topics as self-consciousness, phenomenal externalism, mindless coping, mirror self-recognition, autism, theory of mind, embodied simulation, joint attention, shame, time-consciousness, embodiment, narrativity, self-disorders, expressivity and Buddhist no-self accounts, Zahavi argues that any theory of consciousness that wishes to take the subjective dimension of our experiential life serious must endorse a minimalist notion of self. At the same time, however, he also contends that an adequate account of the self has to recognize its multifaceted character, and that various complementary accounts must be integrated, if we are to do justice to its complexity. Thus, while arguing that the most fundamental level of selfhood is not socially constructed and not constitutively dependent upon others, Zahavi also acknowledges that there are dimensions of the self and types of self-experience that are other-mediated. The final part of the book exemplifies this claim through a close analysis of shame.
Source: Husserl and transcendental intersubjectivity: a response to the linguistic-pragmatic critique.
__Husserl and Transcendental Intersubjectivity __analyzes the transcendental relevance of intersubjectivity and argues that an intersubjective transformation of transcendental philosophy can already be found in phenomenology, especially in Husserl. Husserl eventually came to believe that an analysis of transcendental intersubjectivity was a _conditio sine qua non_ for a phenomenological philosophy. Drawing on both published and unpublished manuscripts, Dan Zahavi examines Husserl’s reasons for this conviction and delivers a detailed analysis of his radical and complex concept of intersubjectivity, showing that precisely his reflections on transcendental intersubjectivity are capable of clarifying the core-concepts of phenomenology, thus making possible a new understanding of Husserl’s philosophy. Against this background the book compares his view with the approaches to intersubjectivity found in Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty, and it then attempts to establish to what extent the phenomenological approach can contribute to the current discussion of intersubjectivity. This is achieved through a systematic confrontation with the language-pragmatical positions of Apel and Habermas.
Source: Ontology, Otherness, and Self-Alterity: Intersubjectivity in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty
Source: Ontology, Otherness, and Self-Alterity: Intersubjectivity in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty
Source: Ontology, Otherness, and Self-Alterity: Intersubjectivity in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty
Source: Ontology, Otherness, and Self-Alterity: Intersubjectivity in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty
Source: Ontology, Otherness, and Self-Alterity: Intersubjectivity in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty
Source: Ontology, Otherness, and Self-Alterity: Intersubjectivity in Sartre and Merleau-Ponty
Source: BEYOND EMPATHY: PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO INTERSUBJECTIVITY
Drawing on the work of Scheler, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Husserl and Sartre, this article presents an overview of some of the diverse approaches to intersubjectivity that can be found in the phenomenological tradition. Starting with a brief description of Scheler’s criticism of the argument from analogy, the article continues by showing that the phenomenological analyses of intersubjectivity involve much more than a ‘solution’ to the ‘traditional’ problem of other minds. Intersubjectivity doesn’t merely concern concrete face-to-face encounters between individuals. It is also something that is at play in simple perception, in tool-use, in emotions, drives and different types of self-awareness. Ultimately, the phenomenologists would argue that a treatment of intersubjectivity requires a simultaneous analysis of the relationship between subjectivity and world. It is not possible simply to insert intersubjectivity somewhere within an already established ontology; rather, the three regions ‘self’, ‘others’, and ‘world’ belong together; they reciprocally illuminate one another, and can only be under- stood in their interconnection.
Source: Transcendental Co-originariness of Subjectivity, Intersubjectivity, and the World: Another Way of Reading Husserl’s Transcendental Phenomenology
‘Thin, Thinner, Thinnest: Defining the Minimal Self’,
Zahavi, Dan,
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We as Self: Ouri, Intersubjectivity, and Presubjectivity
By Hye Young Kim
The Experiential Self: Objections and Clarifications.
Zahavi, D. (2011).
In M. Siderits, E. Thompson, & D. Zahavi (Eds.), Self, No Self?: Perspectives from Analytical, Phenomenological, and Indian Traditions (pp. 56-78). Oxford University Press.
Music and social bonding: “self-other” merging and neurohormonal mechanisms
Bronwyn Tarr*, Jacques Launay and Robin I. M. Dunbar Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group, Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
In P. Gordon & W. Breckman (Eds.), The Cambridge History of Modern European Thought (The Cambridge History of Modern European Thought, pp. 102-127). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316160879.005
“We-Subjectivity”: Husserl on Community and Communal Constitution
Ronald McIntyre / California State University, Northridge
From Intersubjectivity and Objectivity in Adam Smith and Edmund Husserl, ed. by Christel Fricke and Dagfinn Føllesdal, Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2012, pp. 61-92.
A motivational hierarchy within: Primacy of the individual self, relational self, or collective self?☆
Lowell Gaertner a,⁎, Constantine Sedikides b, Michelle Luke b, Erin M. O’Mara c, Jonathan Iuzzini a, Lydia Eckstein Jackson a, Huajian Cai d, Quiping Wu e a University of Tennessee, USA b University of Southampton, UK c University of Dayton, USA d Chinese Academy of Sciences, China e The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 48 (2012) 997–1013
Zahavi, Dan (2009). Is the Self a Social Construct? Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 52 (6):551-573.
Zahavi, Dan (2010). Empathy, Embodiment and Interpersonal Understanding: From Lipps to Schutz. Inquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 53 (3):285-306.
Zahavi, Dan (2011). Empathy and Direct Social Perception: A Phenomenological Proposal. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2 (3):541-558.
Taylor, Charles (1989). Sources of the self: the making of the modern identity. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
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Prinz, Wolfgang (2003). Emerging selves: Representational foundations of subjectivity. Consciousness and Cognition 12 (4):515-528.
Metzinger, Thomas (ed.) (2003). Being No One: The Self-Model Theory of Subjectivity. MIT Press.
Morrow, Glenn R. (1935). Mind, Self, and Society from the Standpoint of a Social Behaviorist. Philosophical Review 44 (6):587-589.
Hobson, R. Peter (2008). Interpersonally situated cognition. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 16 (3):377 – 397.
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Fink, Charles K. (2012). The ‘Scent’ of a Self: Buddhism and the First-Person Perspective. Asian Philosophy 22 (3):289-306.
Dretske, Fred (2003). How do you know you are not a zombie. In Brie Gertler (ed.), Privileged Access: Philosophical Accounts of Self-Knowledge. Ashgate. pp. 1–14.
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Rudd, Anthony (2012). Self, value, and narrative: a Kierkegaardian approach. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
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Schutz, Alfred (1967). Phenomenology of the Social World. Northwestern University Press.
Zahavi, Dan (2014). Self and Other: Exploring Subjectivity, Empathy, and Shame. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carr, David (1986). Time, Narrative, and History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Gurwitsch, Aron (1979). Human Encounters in the Social World. Duquesne University Press.
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Cialdini, Robert B. ; Brown, Stephanie L. ; Lewis, Brian P. ; Luce, Carol & Neuberg, Steven L. (1997). Reinterpreting the Empathy-Altruism Relationship: When One Into One Equals Oneness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73 (3):481-494.
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Source: Awakening of Geometrical Thought in Early Culture
Source: Awakening of Geometrical Thought in Early Culture
Source: The ritual origin of geometry
Let us sum up the history of geometry from its beginnings in peg-and-cord constructions for circles and squares.
The circle and square were sacred figures and were studied by the priests for the same reason they studied the stars, namely, to know their gods better. The observation that the square on the diagonal of a rectangle was the sum of the squares on the sides found an immediate ritual application. Its elaboration in the sacrificial ritual gave it a dominant position in ancient thought and ensured its conservation for thousands of years. This initial elaboration took place well before 2000 B.C. By 2000 B.C., it was already old and had diffused parts of itself into Egypt and Babylonia (unless, indeed, one of these places was the homeland of the elaboration). These parts became the basis of a new development in these centers. The new, big development was the solution of the quadratic. A thousand years and more later, Greece inherited algebra from Babylonia, but its geometry has more of an Indian than a Babylonian look. It inherited geometric algebra, the problem of squaring the circle, the problem of expressing √2 rationally, and some notions of proof.
Source: Mathematics in India / Part 1: Geometry in Vedic and Sūtra literature
Source: The ritual origin of geometry
Source: The ritual origin of counting
Source: On the volume of a sphere
Source: The Ritual Origin of the Circle and Square
The penultimate version of the chapter to appear in: Sriraman, Bharat (ed) Handbook of the History and Philosophy of Mathematical Practice. Springer, Cham, 2022.
Philosophical Problems of Mathematics in the Light of Evolutionary Epistemology
YEHUDA RAV
Séminaire de Philosophie et Mathématiques, 1988, fascicule 6 « Philosophical problems of mathematics in the light of evolutionary epistemology », , p. 1-30
Variations of the Vedic Unit “Prakrama” (Step) Applied for Measuring Length at Ritual Sites (With Excursus: “Prakramas in the Kerala Vedic Tradition”)
TESHIMA Hideki Manuscript for contributing “Sciences of the Ancient World Matter 2” (ed. Karine CHEMLA, Agathe KELLER, et al., in preparation for publishing)
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/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/e9/c1/e9c15919-8a57-4e02-ac39-252b17953dba/acropolis.jpeg)
White Horse Temple, Luoyang, Henan
Buddha Statues in Maiji Caves, Tianshui
Eastern Han Dynasty – Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 – 420): Buddhism was introduced to China during this period. The early Chinese Buddhist temples followed Indian style, which set the stupa as its center. They once had a traditional Chinese name – Ci (ancestral temple) and the number was very limited. 
Mahavihara_©https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-heritage-culture/architecture/buddhist-architecture/
Stupas_©https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-heritage-culture/architecture/buddhist-architecture/
Amaravati stupa_©https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-heritage-culture/architecture/buddhist-architecture/
Sirpur in Chhattisgarh_©https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-heritage-culture/architecture/buddhist-architecture/
Chaityas_©https://www.insightsonindia.com/indian-heritage-culture/architecture/buddhist-architecture/
@法门寺 (famensi.com)
@牛首山风景区 (niushoushan.net)
) on bimba (
) and pratibimba (
) in His Commentary on the Saṃdhinirmocana–sūtra.” Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (Indogaku bukkyōgaku kenkyū), 59: 1272– 1280.
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Viewpoints which Matter 
