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The Huayan school of Buddhism (, Wade–Giles: Hua-Yen, "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit " Avataṃsaka") is a Mahayana tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty.Yü, Chün-fang (2020). Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, p. 160. University of Hawaii Press. The Huayan worldview is based primarily on the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra (p=Huáyán jīng, Flower Garland Sutra) as well as on the works of Huayan patriarchs, like Zhiyan (602–668), Fazang (643–712), Chengguan (738–839), Guifeng Zongmi (780–841) and Li Tongxuan (635–730).
Another common name for this tradition is the Xianshou school ( Xianshou being another name for patriarch Fazang). Hammerstrom, Erik J. (2020). The Huayan University network: the teaching and practice of Avataṃsaka Buddhism in twentieth-century China, chapter 1. Columbia University Press. The Huayan School is known as Hwaeom in Korea, Kegon in Japan and Hoa Nghiêm in Vietnam.
The Huayan tradition considers the Flower Garland Sutra to be the ultimate teaching of the Buddha. It also draws on other sources, like the Mahayana Awakening of Faith, and the Madhyamaka and Yogachara philosophies.Van Norden, Bryan and Nicholaos Jones, "Huayan Buddhism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.). Huayan teachings, especially its doctrines of universal interpenetration, nature origination (which sees all phenomena as arising from a single ontological source), and the omnipresence of Buddhahood, were very influential on Chinese Buddhism and also on the rest of East Asian Buddhism. Huayan thought was especially influential on Chan Buddhism (Zen) Buddhism, and some scholars even see Huayan as the main Buddhist philosophy behind Chan/Zen.Fox, Alan. (2013). The Huayan Metaphysics of Totality. In A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, S.M. Emmanuel (Ed.).
There are various versions of the Chinese Avataṃsaka (Chinese: Huāyán Jīng 華嚴經, "Splendid Flower Adornment Sutra") . The full sutra was translated into Chinese three times (in versions of 40, 60, and 80 fascicles or ) .Yü, Chün-fang (2020). Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, p. 161. University of Hawaii Press. The earliest Chinese texts associated with the Avataṃsaka are the Dousha jing (Taisho 280), produced by Lokaksema (Floruit 147–189) in the latter part of the second century CE, and the Pusa benye jing ( Book of the Original Acts that Adorn the Bodhisattva, T. 281), translated by Zhi Qian (fl. ca. 220–257 CE) in the early to mid third century. There is evidence that these smaller or partial Avataṃsaka sutras circulated on their own as individual scriptures.Hamar, Imre (Editor). Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (ASIATISCHE FORSCHUNGEN), 2007, page 110.
As soon as the large Huāyán Sūtra appeared in China, an Exegesis tradition grew up around the text in order to explain it. The first translation of the larger Huāyán Sūtra (in 60 fascicles) is often dated to the Southern Dynasties era (c. 420–589), when a translation team led by Gandharan master Buddhabhadra produced a full Chinese translation of the text.Hamar (2007), pp. 169-170. There is also evidence of a Huāyán Sūtra tradition in the Northern Dynasties (386-581) era. The Avataṃsaka teachings are associated with figures like Xuangao (402-444) who led a community with Daorong at Binglingsi cave, and Zhidan (c. 429–490), who argued that only the Huāyán Sūtra teaches the "sudden teaching" (while other Mahayana texts teach the gradual teaching).
Xuangao, a disciple of Buddhabhadra, was associated with the teaching of the "Huāyán Samadhi" which is said to have been passed on to him by Buddhabhadra.Hamar (2007), pp. 171. According to Hamar, Xuangao's tradition is a precursor to the Huayan school and may have even composed the apocryphal Brahma's Net Sūtra (Fanwang Jing T1484).Hamar, Imre (Editor) (2007). Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (Asiatische Forschungen), p. 174 Xuangao's tradition is also associated with Chinese meditation cave grottoes such as the Yungang Grottoes, Maijishan Grottoes and the Bingling Temple Grottoes.Chen Jinhua Sen, "Meditation Traditions in Fifth-Century Northern China: With a Special Note on a Forgotten “Kaśmiri” Meditation Tradition Brought to China by Buddhabhadra (359-429)", in Tansen (editor) (2014). Buddhism Across Asia: Networks of Material, Intellectual and Cultural Exchange, pp. 101-130. ISEAS Publishing.
The origins of some of the teachings of the Huāyán school proper can also be traced back to the Dashabhumika, which was based on the Shidijing lun (十地經論), Vasubandhu commentary to the Daśabhūmikā-sutra (which is part of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra) translated by Bodhiruci and Ratnamati.Hamar, Imre. "The Exegetical Tradition of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra." Journal of East Asian Cultures 2022/1: 1–16. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0517-3512 Dilun figures like Ratnamati's disciple Huiguang (468–537) emphasized the study of the entire Avataṃsaka and Dilun masters likely had their own commentaries on the text (but none have survived in full). Only a few extracts remain, such as parts of Huiguang's commentary and parts of Lingyu's (518–605).
Lingbian (靈辨, 477–522) was another early figure who studied and commented on the Avataṃsaka. He is referred to by Fazang as a great devotee of Manjushri, and 12 fascicles of Lingbian's commentary to the Avataṃsaka survive, being the earliest significant Chinese commentary on the Avataṃsaka which is extant . Jingying Huiyuan (523-592) was another prominent Dasabhūmika master in the North. Huiyuan's lineage was a major force in transmitting the Dasabhūmika tradition in Chang'an during the early Sui dynasty. Other monks like Pu'an also focused on Huayan sutra study during the Sui. The integration of different Huayan sutra lineages at Zhixiang temple became a key base for the future Huayan School.Wei Daoru, Shi Sherry (trans. 2025). A Study on the General History of Huayan School in Chinese Budhism.
These five patriarchs are:Hamar, Imre (Editor). Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (ASIATISCHE FORSCHUNGEN), 2007, page 5.
Another important Huayan figure of the Tang era was Fazang's main disciple Huiyuan (慧苑, 673–743) who also wrote a commentary on the Avatamsaka Sutra. Because Huiyuan modified some of Fazang's interpretations, he was retroactively sidelined from the Huayan lineage of patriarchs by later figures like Chengguan who criticized some of his doctrinal positions . According to Imre Hamar, Huiyuan compared the Daoist teachings on the origination of the world to the Huayan teaching on the dependent arising of the tathagatagarbha. Huiyuan also incorporated Daoism and Confucianism into his panjiao (doctrinal classification) system. Chengguan disagreed with this.Hamar, Imre 1999. “Buddhism and the Dao in Tang China: The Impact of Confucianism and Daoism on the Philosophy of Chengguan,” Acta Orientalia Hungaria 52.3–4, 283–292.
The school stagnated even further in the conflicts and confusion of the late Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (907-979) era. After the fall of the Tang dynasty several Huayan commentaries were lost. However, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms era, Huayan remained influential, being part of the "Huayan-Chan" lineages influenced by Zongmi which were very popular in the north, especially in the Khitan people Liao dynasty (916-1125) and the Tangut people kingdom (1038-1227) of the Western Xia.Gimello et al. (2012), pp. 137-138. Various masters from these non-Chinese kingdoms are known, such as Xianyan (1048-1118) from Kailong temple in Khitan Upper capital, Hengce (1049-1098), Tongli dashi from Yanjing, Daoshen (1056?-1114?), Xianmi Yuantong, from Liao Mount Wutai, Zhifu (fl. during the reign of Liao Daozong, 1055–1101).Gimello et al. (2012), p. 139.
The Liao and Xia Huayan traditions were more syncretic, adopting elements of Zongmi's Heze School influenced Huayan, as well as Chinese Esoteric Buddhism ( zhenyan), Hongzhou school, and even Tibetan Buddhism in some cases. Several texts from the Liao Huayan tradition have survived, such as master Daochen's (道㲀) Chan influenced Account of Mirroring Mind ( Jingxin lu, 鏡心錄) and his esoteric influenced Collection of Essentials for Realization of Buddhahood in the Perfect Penetration of the Exoteric and Secret Teachings ( Xianmi Yuantong chengfo xinyao, 顯密圓通成佛心要 T no. 1955).劉泳斯（LIU Yongsi). 道㲀《顯密圓通成佛心要》新考（A New Study on Xianmi Yuantong Chengfo xinyao
nowiki/>/HIJBS.202004_3(1).0003 （本文屬於專刊《宗教石刻研究與玄奘研究》). Another important Huayan esoteric source of this period is Jueyuan's sub-commentary on Yixing’s commentary to the Mahāvairocana sūtra.Hun Yeow Lye. Feeding Ghosts: A Study of the Yuqie Yankou Rite, p. 303 . University of Virginia, 2003
According to Daochen, the best approach to Buddhahood is the “combined practice of the exoteric and esoteric” (xianmi shuangxiu, 顯密雙修) which is for those of the highest capacity. However, he also recommended that those of "middling and lesser faculties...can choose to practice a single method according to their preference, be it the exoteric or esoteric.”Hun Yeow Lye. Feeding Ghosts: A Study of the Yuqie Yankou Rite, p. 306 . University of Virginia, 2003 Daochen's esoteric teachings focused on the dharani of Cundi which he saw as "the mother of all Buddhas and the life of all bodhisattvas" and also drew on the Mani mantra. The combined use of both of these is found in the Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra.Hun Yeow Lye. Feeding Ghosts: A Study of the Yuqie Yankou Rite, p. 307 . University of Virginia, 2003
Another Liao Tangut work which survives from this period is The Meaning of the Luminous One-Mind of the Ultimate One Vehicle ( Jiujing yicheng yuan-ming xinyao 究竟一乘圓明心要) by Tongli Hengce (通理恆策, 1048–1098).Solonin, Kirill; Zhang Yongfu. "The Tangut Text of Suiyuan ji and the History of Chan Buddhism in Xixia" In: Journal of Chan Buddhism, 2 (2020) 1–28 Brill. The works of the Liao tradition are important because they served as one of the sources of the later Huayan revival during the Song.
Jingyuan is known for his sub-commentary to Chengguan's Huayan sutra commentary, while Zixuan is famed for his twenty-fascicle Notes on the Meaning of the Śūraṅgama Sūtra (首楞嚴義疏注經). While the Huayan school is generally seen as having been weaker than Chan or Tiantai during the Song, it still enjoyed considerable support from Chinese elites and from Buddhist monastics.Yang Xiaodong (楊曉東) (2018), Review of Wang Song (王頌). A Study of the Thoughts of the Song dynasty Huayan School (宋代華嚴思想研究) (2008). Harvard-Yenching Institute. Another important figure in the Song revival of Huayan was Guangzhi Bensong (廣智本嵩, fl. 1040), a master from the from Kaifeng. He is well known for his Thirty gāthās on the Contemplation of the Dharma-realm and Seven syllables of the title of the Huayan ( Huayan qizi jing ti fajie guan sanshi men song 華嚴 七字經題法界觀三十門頌, Taisho no. 1885). Some of his other works have survived in Tangut.
New Huayan practice and ritual manuals were also written during the Song, such as Jinshui Jingyuan's " Rites on Practicing the Vows of Samantabhadra" (Chinese language: 華嚴普賢行願修證儀; Pinyin: Huáyán Pǔxián Xíngyuàn Xiūzhèng Yí, Taisho Supplement no. X1473).Lagerwey, John; Marsone, Pierre (editors). Modern Chinese Religion I (2 vols.): Song-Liao-Jin-Yuan (960-1368 AD), pp. 365-366. BRILL, 2014. These rites were influenced by Tiantai ritual manuals, as well as by earlier Huayan materials. Song era Huayan monks also developed distinctly Huayan forms of "concentration and contemplation" ( zhi guan), inspired by Tiantai methods as well as the Avatamsaka sutra and Huayan thought.
Jinshui Jingyuan also helped organize some state recognized Huayan public monasteries, like Huiyin temple. Jingyuan is known for his association with Mount Wutai, which has been a key center for Huayan Buddhism since the Song dynasty.
In the Song, Huayan studies also thrived within the Chan School. Chan monks like Yongming Yanshou (904-975) drew on Huayan in their works. Yanshou quoted extensively from Huayan works in his Zong Jing Lu (宗镜录). Prominent Chan masters like Keqin (1063-1135) also incorporated Huayan doctrine into their teachings and writings.
In the later Song, there were also four great Huayan masters: Daoting, Shihui (1102-1166), Guanfu, and Xidi.
During the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), the government encouraged the integration between Chan and doctrinal teaching. While Chan records incorporated more Huayan content, the main force transmitting Huayan theories was from doctrinal schools. Figures like Datong and Purui were active in promoting Huayan studies, often following the style of Tang masters like Chengguan.
During the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), Huayan philosophy continued to develop and exert a strong influence on Chinese Buddhism and its other traditions, including Chan and Pure Land. During the Qing, the most influential Huayan figures were Baiting Xufa (柏亭續法 1641-1728) and Datian Tongli (1701-1782). Xufa wrote various works on nianfo, including: Short Commentary on the Amitabhasutra, and Straightforward Commentary on the Amitāyurdhyāna Sūtra”. Another influential figure was the lay scholar Peng Shaosheng (彭紹升, 1740–1796).Liu, Kuei-Chieh (劉貴傑). On the Synthesis of Huayan Thought and Pure Land Practice by Early Qing Dynasty Buddhist Scholars (清初華嚴念佛思想試析——以續法與彭紹升為例). Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies, Volume 20.
Baiting Xufa and Peng Shaosheng were known for their synthesis of Huayan thought with Pure Land practice which is termed "Huayan-Nianfo". For the scholar monk Xufa, the practice of nianfo (contemplation of the Buddha) was a universal method suitable for everyone which was taught in the Avatamsaka Sutra and could lead to an insight into the Huayan teachings of interpenetration. Xufa generally defended the mind-only Pure land view which saw the Pure land and Amitabha Buddha as reflections of the “one true mind” (yixin 一心, zhenxin 真心) or the "one true dharmadhatu." Similarly, for Peng Shaosheng, Amitabha was synonymous with the Vairocana Buddha of the Avatamsaka sutra, and the pure land was part of Vairocana's Lotus Treasury World. As such, the practice of nianfo and of the methods of the Avatamsaka would lead to rebirth in the Pure land (which is non-dual with all worlds in the universe) and see Buddha Amitabha (which is equal to seeing all Buddhas).
After the passing of these two early monks, the Hwaôm school eventually became the most influential tradition in the Silla Kingdom until the end of the kingdom.McBride, R.D.I. (2008). Domesticating the Dharma: Buddhist Cults and the Hwaom Synthesis in Silla Korea, p. 109. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Royal support allowed various Hwaôm monasteries to be constructed on all five of Korea's sacred mountains, and the tradition became the main force behind the unification of various Korean Buddhist cults, such as those of Manjushri, Maitreya and Amitabha. Important figures include the Silla monk Pŏmsu who introduced the work of Chengguan to Korea in 799, and Sŭngjŏn, a disciple of Uisang.McBride, R.D.I. (2008). Domesticating the Dharma: Buddhist Cults and the Hwaom Synthesis in Silla Korea, pp. 90, 95. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Another important figure associated with Hwaôm was the literatus Ch’oe Ch’iwŏn. He is known for his biographies of Fazang and Uisang, along with other Huayan writings.McBride, R.D.I. (2008). Domesticating the Dharma: Buddhist Cults and the Hwaom Synthesis in Silla Korea, p. 101. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press. Towards of the end of Silla, Gwanhye of Hwaeomsa and Master Heuirang (875-927 CE) were the two most important figures. During this period Hwaeomsa and Haeinsa Temples formed two sub-sects of Hwaeom who disputed with each other on matters of doctrine.
The Hwaôm school remained the predominant doctrinal school in the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392).Djun Kil Kim, 《The History of Korea: 2nd edition》, ABC-CLIO, 2014. , p.9 An important figure of this time was Gyunyeo (923–973).Pyong-jo Chong, 《History of Buddhism》, Jimoondang, 2007. p.83Madhusudan Sakya, 〈Current Perspectives in Buddhism: Buddhism today / issues&global dimensions〉, Cyber Tech Publications, 2011. . p.108 He is known for his commentary on Uisang's Diagram of the Realm of Reality.McBride (II), Richard D.; Vermeersch, Sem (2012). Hwaom I: The Mainstream Tradition, p. 7. Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. He also unified the southern and northern factions of Hwaeomsa and Haeinsa. Korean Buddhism declined severely under the Confucian Joseon (1392–1910). All schools were forced to merge into one single school, which was dominated by the Seon (Korean Zen) tradition. Within the Seon school, Hwaôm thought would continue to play a strong role until modern times and various Hwaôm commentaries were written in the Joseon era .
Kegon thought would later be further popularized by Myōe (1173–1232), the abbot and founder of Kōzan-ji Kegon temple. Myōe combined the Kegon lineage with Tendai and Shingon Buddhism esoteric lineages.Silk, Jonathan A. (ed. in chief) et al. (2019.) Brill's Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume II: Lives, pp. 1071-1075. BRILL, Leiden|Boston.Unno, Mark (2004). Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light, p. 55. Simon and Schuster. He was a prolific scholar monk who composed over 50 works.Unno, Mark (2004). Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light, p. 14. Simon and Schuster. Myōe promoted the practice of the mantra of light (kōmyō shingon) as simple efficacious practice that was available to all, lay and monastic. He also promoted the idea that this mantra could lead to rebirth in Amitabha's pure land, thus providing a Kegon alternative to popular Japanese Pure Land methods.Unno, Mark (2004). Shingon Refractions: Myoe and the Mantra of Light, pp. 25-45. Simon and Schuster.
Over time, Kegon incorporated esoteric rituals from Shingon Buddhism, with which it shared a cordial relationship. Its practice continues to this day, and includes a few temples overseas.
Another important Kegon figure was Gyōnen (1240–1321), who was a great scholar (who studied numerous schools including Madhyamaka, Shingon Buddhism, and Risshu Vinaya) and led a revival of the Kegon school in the late Kamakura period era.Gimello, Robert M. Ch'eng-kuan on the Hua-yen Trinity 中華佛學學報第 9 期 (pp.341-411)：(民國 85年)， 臺北：中華佛學研究所，http://www.chibs.edu.tw Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 9, (1996) Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies ISSN: 1017─7132. He was also known as a great historian of Japanese Buddhism and as a great Pure Land thinker. His Pure Land thought is most systematically expressed in his Jōdo hōmon genrushō (淨土法門源流章, T 2687:84) and it was influenced by various figures of his day, such as the Jodo monk Chōsai, and the Sanron figure Shinkū Shōnin, as well as by his understanding of Huayan thought.
In the Edo period, another Kegon scholarly revival occurred under the Kegon monk Hōtan (1657-1738. a.k.a. Sōshun, Genko Dōjin) and his disciple Fujaku (1707-1781).
In 1914, Huayan University, the first modern Buddhist monastic school, was founded in Shanghai to further systematize Huayan teaching and teach monastics. It helped to expand the Huayan tradition into the rest of into East Asia, Taiwan, and the West. The university managed to foster a network of educated monks who focused on Huayan Buddhism during the 20th century. Through this network, the lineage of the Huayan tradition was transmitted to many monks, which helped to preserve the lineage down to the modern day via new Huayan-centred organizations that these monks would later found.
Several new Huayan Buddhist organizations have been established since the latter half of the 20th century. In contemporary times, the largest and oldest of the Huayan-centered organizations in Taiwan is the Huayan Lotus Society (Huayan Lianshe 華嚴蓮社), which was founded in 1952 by the monk Zhiguang and his disciple Nanting, who were both part of the network fostered by the Huayan University. Since its founding, the Huayan Lotus Society has been centered on the study and practice of the Huayan Sutra. It hosts a full recitation of the sutra twice each year, during the third and tenth months of the lunar calendar. Each year during the eleventh lunar month, the society also hosts a seven-day Huayan Buddha retreat (Huayan foqi 華嚴佛七), during which participants chant the names of the buddhas and bodhisattvas in the text. The society emphasizes the study of the Huayan Sutra by hosting regular lectures on it. In recent decades, these lectures have occurred on a weekly basis.
Like other Taiwanese Buddhist organization's, the Society has also diversified its propagation and educational activities over the years. It produces its own periodical and runs its own press. It also now runs a variety of educational programs, including a kindergarten, a vocational college, and short-term courses in Buddhism for college and primary-school students, and offers scholarships. One example is their founding of the Huayan Buddhist College (Huayan Zhuanzong Xueyuan 華嚴專宗學院) in 1975. They have also established branch temples overseas, most notably in California's San Francisco Bay Area. In 1989, they expanded their outreach to the United States of America by formally establishing the Huayan Lotus Society of the United States (Meiguo Huayan Lianshe 美國華嚴蓮社). Like the parent organization in Taiwan, this branch holds weekly lectures on the Huayan Sutra and several annual Huayan Dharma Assemblies where it is chanted. It also holds monthly memorial services for the society's spiritual forebears.
In Mainland China, Huayan teachings began to be more widely re-propagated after the end of the Cultural Revolution. Various monks from the network of monks fostered by the original Huayan University, such as Zhenchan (真禪) and Mengcan (夢參), were the driving factors behind the re-propagation as they travelled widely throughout China as well as other countries such as the United States and lectured on Huayan teachings. In 1996, one of Mengcan's tonsured disciples, the monk Jimeng (繼夢), also known as Haiyun (海雲), founded the Huayan Studies Association (Huayan Xuehui 華嚴學會) in Taipei, which was followed in 1999 by the founding of the larger Caotangshan Great Huayan Temple (Caotangshan Da Huayansi 草堂山大華嚴寺). This temple hosts many Huayan-related activities, including a weekly Huayan Assembly. Since 2000, the association has grown internationally, with branches in Australia, Canada, and the United States.
Huayan thought had a noticeable impact on East Asian Esoteric Buddhism. Kukai (774-835) was deeply knowledgeable of Huayan thought and he saw Huayan as the highest exoteric view.Makio, Takemura, "Kukai's Esotericism and Avatamsaka Thought", in Gimello at al. (2012), pp. 339-344. Some of Kukai's ideas, such as his view of Buddhahood in this body, was also influenced by Huayan ideas.Makio, Takemura, "Kukai's Esotericism and Avatamsaka Thought", in Gimello at al. (2012), pp. 353-55.
During the post-Tang era, Huayan (along with Chan) thought also influenced the Tiantai school.Ziporyn, Brook (1994). Anti-Chan Polemics in Post-Tang Tiantai. Journal of the international Association of Buddhist Studies 17 (1), 26-65 Tiantai school figures who were influenced by Huayan and Chan were called the "off mountain" ( shanwai) faction, and a debate ensued between them and the "home mountain" ( shanjia) faction.
Huayan thought was also an important source for the Pure land doctrine of the Yuzu Nembutsu sect of Ryōnin (1072–1132).Hamar, Imre (Editor). (2007) Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (Asiatische Forschungen), p. 312. Likewise, Huayan thought was important to some Chinese Pure Land thinkers, such as the Ming dynasty exegete Zhu Hong (1535–1615) and the modern lay scholar Yang Wenhui (1837–1911).Jakub Zamorski (2020). "Rethinking Yang Wenhui's identity as a ‘Chinese’ Pure Land Buddhist in his polemics against Jōdo-Shinshū," Studies in Chinese Religions,
Dongshan Liangjie (806–869), the founder of the Caodong lineage, formulated his theory of the Five Ranks based on Huayan's Fourfold Dharmadhatu teaching. (2025). 9780415359177, Routledge. ISBN 9780415359177 The influential Caodong school text called Cantongqi, attributed to Shitou Xiqian, also draws on Huayan themes. In a similar fashion, Linji Yixuan, the founder of the Linji school, also drew on Huayan texts and commentaries, such as Li Tongxuan's Xin Huayan Jing Lun (新華嚴經論, Treatise on the new translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra).Kirchner, Thomas Yuho (2008). The Record of Linji, pp. 204-205, 253, 283 . University of Hawaii Press. This influence can also be seen in Linji's schema of the "four propositions". According to Thomas Cleary, similar Huayan influences can be found in the works of other Tang dynasty Chan masters like Yunmen Wenyan (d. 949) and Qingliang Wenyi (885-958).
During the Song dynasty, Huayan metaphysics were further assimilated by the various Chan lineages. Cleary names Touzi Yiqing (1032-1083) and Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163) as two Song era Chan figures which drew on Huayan teachings.Cleary, Thomas (1993). Entry into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism, pp. 17-18. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. The Ming era Chan master Hanshan Deqing (1546-1623) is known for promoting the study of Huayan and for his work on a new edition of Chengguan's commentary on the Huayan sutra.Cleary, Thomas (1993). Entry into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism, p. 18. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
A similar syncretism with Zen occurred in Korea, where the Korean Huayan tradition influenced and was eventually merged with Korean Seon (Korean Zen). The influence of Huayan teachings can be found in the works of the seminal Seon figure Jinul.Buswell, Robert E. (2016). Numinous Awareness Is Never Dark: The Korean Buddhist Master Chinul's Excerpts on Zen Practice, pp. 45, 178, 230. University of Hawaii Press. Jinul was especially influenced by the writings of Li Tongxuan.
Huayan thought has also been influential on the worldview of Thich Nhat Hanh, particularly his understanding of emptiness as "Interbeing".Holst, Mirja Annalena. “To Be is To Inter-Be”: Thich Nhat Hanh on Interdependent Arising. Journal of World Philosophies 6 (Winter 2021): 17–30. e-ISSN: 2474-1795. http://scholarworks.iu.edu/iupjournals/index.php/jwp
The sutra is filled with mystical and visionary imagery, focusing on figures like the Samantabhadra and Manjushri, and the Buddhahood The Buddha, and Vairocana. Vairocana is the universal Buddha, whose body is the entire universe and who is said to pervade every atom in the universe with his light, wisdom, teachings, and magical emanations.
According to the ''Huayan sutra'':The realm of the Buddhas is inconceivable, no sentient being can fathom it....The Buddha constantly emits great beams of light, in each light beam are innumerable Buddhas....The Buddha-body is pure and always tranquil, the radiance of its light extends throughout the world....The Buddha's freedom cannot be measured— It fills the cosmos and all space....With various techniques it teaches the living, sound like thunder, showering the rain of truth....All virtuous activities in the world come from the Buddha's light....In all atoms of all lands Buddha enters, each and every one, producing miracle displays for sentient beings: Such is the way of Vairocana....In each atom are many oceans of worlds, their locations each different all beautifully pure. Thus does infinity enter into one, yet each unit's distinct, with no overlap....In each atom are innumerable lights pervading the lands of the ten directions, all showing the Buddhas’ enlightenment practices. The same in all oceans of worlds. In each atom the Buddhas of all times appear, according to inclinations; While their essential nature neither comes nor goes, by their own power they pervade the worlds.Yü, Chün-fang (2020). Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, p. 163. University of Hawaii Press. All these awakened activities and skillful techniques (upaya) are said to lead all living beings through the bodhisattva stages and eventually to Buddhahood. These various stages of spiritual attainment are discussed in various parts of the sutra (book 15, book 26).Takeuchi Yoshinori (editor). Buddhist Spirituality: Indian, Southeast Asian, Tibetan, and Early Chinese, p. 161.
An important doctrine that the Huayan school drew from this sutra is the idea that all levels of reality are interrelated, interpenetrated and interfused, and so "inside everything is everything else". As the Huayan sutra states:
They . . . perceive that the fields full of assemblies, the beings and aeons which are as many as all the dust particles, are all present in every particle of dust. They perceive that the many fields and assemblies and the beings and the aeons are all reflected in each particle of dust.Williams, Paul, (2008). Mahayana Buddhism: The Doctrinal Foundations, p. 136. Routledge.According to Dumoulin, the Huayan vision of "unity in totality allows every individual entity of the phenomenal world its uniqueness without attributing an Svabhava to anything". According to Williams, this interfused vision of the cosmos is the total realm of all phenomena, the "Dharma realm" (Dharmadhatu) as seen from the point of view of a Buddha. The focus of the Huayan sutra is thus how to attain this contemplative universal vision of ultimate reality, as well as the miraculous powers of Buddhas and bodhisattvas with which they communicate their vision of the ultimate truth.
Furthermore, because all things are interconnected and interfused, the Buddha (and his cosmic body and universal light) is present everywhere and so is his wisdom, which is said to be all pervasive. As chapter 32 of the sutra states: "in the class of living beings there is no place where the wisdom of Tathagata is not present."
Perhaps the most important commentaries for the Chinese Huayan school are Fazang's commentary on the Avatamsaka Sutra, the Huayan jing tanxuan ji (華嚴經探玄記, Record of Investigating the Mystery of the Avatamsaka sutra) in 60 fascicles and Chengguan's Extensive Commentary on the Buddhāvataṃsaka sutra ( Da fang-guang fo huayan jing shu, 大方廣佛華嚴經疏 , T. 1735), and his sub-commentary (T. 1736) .Chen, Jinhua (2007). Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: The many lives of Fazang (643-712), pp. 66-325. Leiden: Brill. Other Huayan figures like Zhiyan, and Li Tongxuan also wrote influential commentaries on the Huayan sutra.
Fazang wrote a number of other original Huayan treatises, such as Treatise on the Golden Lion, which is said to have been written to explain Huayan's view of interpenetration to Empress Wu.Williams, Paul. Mahayana Buddhism the doctrinal foundations, 2nd edition, 2009, page 141. Another key Huayen treatise is On the Meditation of the Dharmadhātu attributed to the first patriarch Dushun.
Peter N. Gregory notes that the Huayan commentarial tradition was: "not primarily concerned with a careful exegesis of the original meaning of the scripture." Instead it was concerned with specific doctrines, ideas and metaphors (such as nature origination, the dependent arising of the dharmadhatu, interfusion, and the six characteristics of all dharmas) which was inspired by scripture.Gregory, Peter N. Tsung-Mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, University of Hawaii Press, 2002, p. 9-10.
Huayan philosophy is influenced by the Huayan sutra, other Mahayana sutras like the Awakening of Faith and the Lotus Sutra, as well as by the various Chinese Buddhist traditions like Chinese Yogacara, the buddha-nature schools like Shelun and Dilun, and Madhyamaka (Sanlun). Huayan patriarchs were also influenced by non-buddhist Chinese philosophy.Fox, Alan (2015). The Practice of Huayan Buddhism,
Some key elements of Huayan philosophy are: the interpenetration and interfusion ( yuanrong) of all phenomena (dharmas), "nature origination," ( xingqi) - how phenomena arise out of an ultimate principle, which is buddha-nature, or the "One Mind", how the ultimate principle ( li) and all phenomena ( shi) are mutually interpenetrated, the relation between parts and the whole (understood through the six characteristics), a unique Huayan interpretation of the Yogachara framework of the three natures ( sanxing) and a unique view of Vairocana Buddha as an all pervasive cosmic being.Hamar, Imre. "Chengguan's Theory of Four Dharma-dhātus Imre Hamar", Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hung. Volume 51 (1-2), 1-19 (1998).Cook, Francis Harold (1977). Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra, pp. 90-91. Pennsylvania State University Press.
According to Fazang, since the sum of all things determines any individual thing, “one is many, many is one” ( yi ji duo, duo ji yi). Furthermore, according to Fazang “one in many, many in one” ( yi zhong duo, duo zhong yi), because any dharma penetrates and is penetrated by the totality of all things.Cua, Antonio S. (2003). Encyclopedia of Chinese philosophy, pp. 254-257. Routledge. Thomas Cleary explains this Buddhist holism as one which sees the universe "as one single nexus of conditions in which everything simultaneously depends on, and is depended on by, everything else. Seen in this light, then, everything affects and is affected by, more or less immediately or remotely, everything else; just as this is true of every system of relationships, so is it true of the totality of existence."Cleary, Thomas (1993). Entry into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism, p. 2. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. In this worldview, all dharmas are so interconnected that they are fused together without any obstructions in a perfectly harmonious whole (which is the entire universe, the Dharmadhatu).
In the Huayan school, the teaching of interpenetration is depicted through various metaphors, such as Indra's net, a teaching which may have been influenced by the Gandhavyuha chapter's climax scene in Vairocana's Tower.Yü, Chün-fang (2020). Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, p. 164. University of Hawaii Press. Indra's net is an infinite cosmic net that contains a multifaceted jewel at each vertex, with each jewel being reflected in all of the other jewels, ad infinitum. Thus, each jewel contains the entire net of jewels reflected within.
Other Huayan metaphors included a hall of mirrors, the rafter and the building, and the world text.Van Norden, Bryan and Nicholaos Jones, " Huayan Buddhism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).Fox, Alan. (2013). The Huayan Metaphysics of Totality. In A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, S.M. Emmanuel (Ed.). The rafter-building metaphor can be found in Fazang's famous “ Rafter Dialogue”. Fazang argues that any rafter (any part) is essential to the existence of its building (standing in for the universe, the dharmadhatu). Likewise, the identity and existence of any rafter is also dependent on it being part of a building (otherwise it would not be a rafter).Van Norden, Bryan and Nicholaos Jones, "Huayan Buddhism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The second discernment, which Dushun entitles the "mutual non-obstruction of li and shi," marks a distinctive turn in Huayan metaphysics and introduces new terminology unique to East Asian Buddhism.Gimello, Robert M. (1976). "Chih-Yen, (602-668) and the foundations of Huayan Buddhism", pp. 10-18. Dissertation: Columbia University Dushun presents ultimate reality as a patterned activity, introducing the term li (principle or pattern) to characterize the underlying structure of reality as it is perceived in Buddhahood. This reframing of the ultimate as a regular universal principle presents the ultimate as an immanent reality manifest as the patterns of all phenomena. This is significantly different than the purely apophatic truth of emptiness which communicates a lack of self-existence. Dushun also employs the term shi (phenomena, events, or things) to refer to the multiplicity of empirical reality, to all things. By doing so, he broadens the focus of contemplation from the elementary dharmas alone to all types of things, including composite entities.
The second discernment elaborates ten interrelated themes organized into five dialectical pairs: mutual pervasion, mutual manifestation, mutual concealment, identity, and distinction between li and shi. These thematic pairs collectively articulate the paradoxical claim that the universal ( li) and the particular ( shi) not only coexist but also interpenetrate and pervade each other fully. The analogy of waves and water (where each wave both arises from and pervades the ocean) serves to illustrate how discrete things can appear distinct while lacking fixed boundaries. This framework preserves individual differentiation while affirming a radical ontological interdependence. Thus, according to the second discernment, each particular thing, due its empty, fluid and indeterminate nature, is filled with the ultimate principle of all things, and likewise the ultimate principle contains all particular things.Gimello, Robert M. (1976). "Chih-Yen, (602-668) and the foundations of Huayan Buddhism", pp. 20-22. Dissertation: Columbia University
The third and highest contemplative discernment, the “total pervasion and accommodation,” shifts the main focus of contemplation to phenomena ( shi), and the relationships among them, abandoning any mention of principle ( li) altogether.Gimello, Robert M. (1976). "Chih-Yen, (602-668) and the foundations of Huayan Buddhism", pp. 25-30. Dissertation: Columbia University This final discernment emphasizes the value of the phenomenal world and presents phenomena as self-sufficient, and groundless. Phenomena are presented here as having no ultimate base, support or source but themselves as interrelated things. Thus, in this final discernment, all things appear due to a radical interrelatedness with all other things, not due to any absolute reality that undergirds them. Furthermore, in this discernment, each phenomenon is understood to encompass and be encompassed by all other phenomena. This is because the emptiness of all phenomena entails their total fullness, since their emptiness entails that they lack any essential boundaries. As such, even the smallest particle reflects and contains all other particles in the cosmos, in a Recursion and fractal-like structure of relations.
Dushun summarizes the discernments through the following short phrases: one is in one (common sense worldly view), one is in all (first discernment), all are in one (second discernment), all are in all (third discernment). Dushun's threefold discernment formed the conceptual basis for later Huayan theories of perfect interfusion and totalistic harmony. Though Dushun’s articulation remains suggestive rather than fully systematic, it laid the groundwork for further philosophical elaboration by later figures such as Fazang.
The Huayan doctrines of interfusion and non-duality also lead to several seemingly views. Some examples include: (1) since any phenomenon X is empty, this implies X is also not X; (2) any particular phenomenon is an expression of and contains the absolute and yet it retains its particularity; (3) since each phenomenon contains all other phenomena, the conventional order of space and time is violated.
Fazang’s theory of causation also reduces causality to a relative and relational phenomenon, rather than a fixed law. Thus, Fazang affirms that causation flows not only from past to future but also from future to past, allowing the present to be both the recipient and generator of karmic influence. This acceptance of retrocausality is understood in a framework in which the "present" has active power ( youli) while the past and future are “without power” ( wuli), yet still influenced by the present. Although causality is asymmetrical within each causal relationship, Fazang maintains that no single causal relationship or temporal perspective is ontologically privileged. Instead, all relational connections are equally valid, and their truth becomes fully evident only from the standpoint of enlightened wisdom, which transcends conventional notions of “before” and “after”, or "cause" and "effect". Thus, while Fazang's model includes temporal symmetry across relations and asymmetry within them, he does not claim that either is ontologically superior. A major implication of this view of causality is that one's future mindstream as a Buddha in the future can aid in the liberation of oneself in the present. As Fazang writes: "If we follow the logic of dependent origination, if there is not that (future) Buddha, then there is no me now. And if there is no me now, then there is not that Buddha."
In Fazang influential Essay on the Golden Lion (Taishō no. 1881), Fazang uses the statue of a golden Chinese lion as a metaphor for reality. The gold itself stands in for the ultimate principle, while the appearance and relative shape of the lion statue is the relative and dependent phenomena as they are perceived by living beings. Because the ultimate principle is boundless, empty and ceaseless, it is like gold in that it can be transformed into many forms and shapes.Chen, Jinhua (2007). Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: The many lives of Fazang (643-712), p. 176. Leiden: Brill. . Also, even though phenomena appear as particular things, they lack any independent existence, since they all depend on the ultimate principle.
Furthermore, Huayan sees the ultimate principle and the relative phenomena as interdependent, unified and interfused, that is to say, they are non-dual.Williams, Paul (2009). Mahayana Buddhism the doctrinal foundations, 2nd edition, p. 143. Referring to the analogy of the golden lion, Paul Williams states:
/ref> Therefore, any phenomenon is necessarily dependent upon all phenomena in the universe, and because of this, all phenomena lack any metaphysical independence or essential nature (svabhava). (2025). 9781624661907, Hackett Publishing. ISBN 9781624661907
Threefold Discernment of the Dharmadhatu
The Discernments of the Dharmadhatu attributed to Dushun, the founding patriarch of the Huayan school, is structured around three meditative insights, or “discernments,” that distill the experiential and metaphysical implications of the Huayan Sutra. Rather than offering a textual exegesis, this work aims to render the Huayan teachings accessible for contemplation and practice. The first discernment affirms the identity of form (rūpa) and emptiness (śūnyatā), a theme rooted in Indian Mahayana thought. His presentation of the idea follows classic presentations of emptiness found in Indian Prajnaparamita and Madhyamaka texts.Gimello, Robert M. (1976). "Chih-Yen, (602-668) and the foundations of Huayan Buddhism", pp. 6-9Dissertation: Columbia University
The six characteristics
One framework which is used by the Huayan tradition to further explain the doctrine of interpenetration is the "perfect interfusion of the six characteristics" ( liuxiang yuanrong 六相圓融).Hamar, Imre (Editor) (2007). Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism, p. 189. Asiatische Forschungen 191. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag. Each element of the six characteristics refers to a specific kind of metaphysical relation. The six characteristics are:
Ten mysterious gates
The second patriarch Zhiyan taught an important doctrine called the ten mysterious gates, or ten profound principles (十玄門 Shí Xuán Mén). These ten statements provide a further explication of the main implications and significance of the Huayan interfusion theory. The ten profound gates are: 十玄門 ten profound approaches Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
Implications of perfect interfusion
The Buddhist doctrine of interpenetration also has several further implications in Huayan thought:Hamar, Imre (Editor). (2007) Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (Asiatische Forschungen), pp. 190-93.
Furthermore, according to the lay Huayan master Li Tongxuan, all things are just the one true dharma-realm (Ch. yi zhen fajie), and as such, there is no ontological difference between sacred and secular, awakening and ignorance, or even between Buddhahood and living beings. Because of the unity of ordinary human life and enlightenment, Li also held that Chinese sages like Confucius and Laozi also taught the bodhisattva path in their own way.
Time and causality
A radical implication of the Huayan view is their view of philosophy of time. As per Fazang, time is not as an independent entity but is entirely constituted by the interdependent relationships among all phenomena (dharmas). For Fazang, dharmas and their relations are time; they do not exist "in" time. Each dharma's temporal designation as past, present, or future is relative and contingent on its relationship to other dharmas, expressed through the binary relation “earlier than–later than.” In his Sanbao zhang, Fazang subdivides each of the three main tenses into three subcategories (e.g., past-past, past-present, past-future, etc.), emphasizing that temporal designations are mutually interdependent and context-dependent, with no absolute temporal identity. Tense arises only within specific relational pairings of dharmas and can change when the relational context changes, though within any given two-place relation, temporal roles remain fixed. Thus, Fazang affirms that a single dharma may be simultaneously past, present, and future when viewed from different relational standpoints.
Ultimate principle
An important metaphysical framework used by Huayan patriarchs is that of principle ( li 理, or the ultimate pattern) and phenomena ( shi 事). 'Principle' is the ultimate reality ( paramārtha-satya) which is endless and without limits, while phenomena ( shi) refers to the impermanent and relative dharmas.
Both gold and lion exist simultaneously; both, Fazang says, are perfect and complete. There are two ways of interpreting this obscure point. First, noumenon and phenomena mutually interpenetrate and are (in a sense) identical. There is no opposition between the two. The one does not cancel out the other. Second, Fazang explains elsewhere that since all things arise interdependently (following Madhyamika), and since the links of interdependence expand throughout the entire universe and at all time (past, present, and future depend upon each other, which is to say the total dharmadhatu arises simultaneously), so in the totality of interdependence, the dharmadhatu, all phenomena are mutually interpenetrating and identical.
The ultimate principle is associated with various Mahayana terms referring to ultimate reality, such as the "One Mind" of the Awakening of Faith, Suchness, the Buddha-nature (the womb of tathagatas), buddha-nature, or just "nature". This nature is the ontological source and ground of all phenomena .
Nature origination
Nature origination ( xingqi) is a key idea in Huayan thought. The term derives from chapter 32 of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, titled "Nature Origination of the Jewel King Tathāgata" ( Baowang rulai xingqi pin, Skt. Tathāgata-utpatti-sambhava-nirdesa-sūtra). Hamar, Imre. The Manifestation of the Absolute in the Phenomenal World: Nature Origination in Huayan Exegesis. In: Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient . Tome 94, 2007. pp. 229-250; Nature origination refers to the manifestation of the ultimate nature in the phenomenal world and its interfusion with it. That is to say, the ultimate, pure nature, is interdependent on and interpenetrates the entire phenomenal universe, while also being its source. For Huayan patriarchs like Fazang, the ultimate nature is thus seen as non-dual with all relative phenomena. Because the ultimate source of all things is also interdependent and interconnected with them, it remains a ground which is empty of self-existence (svabhava) and thus it is not an independent essence, like a Monotheism God. LIN Weiyu 林威宇 (UBC): Vairocana of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra as Interpreted by Fazang 法藏 (643-712): A Comparative Reflection on "Creator" and "Creation" 法藏（643-712）筆下《華嚴經》中的盧舍那：談佛教中的創世者和創世
In the preface to his Hsing yüan p'in shu, Chengguan wrote, "How great the true dhatu ( ta-tsai chen-chieh)! The myriad dharmas owe their inception to it ( wan-fa tzu-shih)." Guifeng Zongmi elaborates on this, laying out his explanation of nature origination. For Zongmi, the "true dhatu" refers to the essential nature of the mind of the one dharmadhātu ( yi fajie xin), while the myriad dharmas refer to its phenomenal appearances. "The one true dharmadhātu" is thus the pure mind that is the source of both buddhas and sentient beings. As Zongmi says, "There is not a single dharma that is not a manifestation of the original mind. Nor is there a single dharma that does not conditionally arise from the true dhatu."Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, pages 187-188. Hawai'i University Press, 2002
Zongmi explains that this one dharmadhātu gives rise to all phenomena through two orders of causation: 1 nature origination ( xingqi), and 2 conditioned origination ( yuanqi). Regarding the former, where "nature" refers to the source qua the pure mind, "origination" refers to its manifestation as phenomenal appearances.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 242. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 This also refers to "the arising of functioning ( yung) based on the essence ( t'i)." For Zongmi, this means that "the entire essence of the dharmadhatu as the nature arises ( ch'i) to form all dharmas."Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 188. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 Conditioned origination, on the other hand, refers to the manner in which phenomena arise contingent upon other phenomena. As each phenomenon is linked to every other phenomenon, all phenomena are infinitely contingent. But while every phenomenon is connected to every other phenomenon, nature origination means that each of these phenomena is simultaneously based on the nature ( xing), which is the ultimate source. In this way, conditioned origination is made possible by nature origination.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, pages 242-243. Hawai'i University Press, 2002
On the other hand, while Chengguan upheld Fazang's position that shih-shih wu-ai represents the highest teaching of the Buddha, he emphasized li-shih wu-ai, the unobstructed interpenetration of principle and phenomena, as that which made shih-shih wu-ai possible. That is, it is only because all phenomena ( shih) are formed from principle, or the absolute ( li), that phenomena do not obstruct one another. Guifeng Zongmi went even further than his teacher Chengguan in emphasizing li-shih wu-ai over shih-shih wu-ai, excluding the perfect teaching (referring to shih-shih wu-ai) from his panjiao scheme, or classification of Buddhist doctrines, altogether.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, pages 163-164. Hawai'i University Press, 2002
As an example of this shift in emphasis, where Chengguan understands the ten profundities, or ten mysteries ( shi xuan), to be the paradigmatic expression of shih-shih wu-ai and subjects them to an extensive analysis, Zongmi gives them little attention, mentioning them only in passing without bothering to list or discuss them any further. Moreover, where Chengguan had made use of the vocabulary of shih and li to elaborate his theory of the fourfold dharmadhātu (that of: 1 phenomena, shih; 2 principle, li; 3 the non-obstruction of principle and phenomena, li-shih wu-ai; and 4 the non-obstruction of phenomenon and phenomenon, shih-shih wu-ai), Zongmi eschews the language of li and shih altogether. Zongmi instead refers to a passage in which Chengguan emphasized the "one true dharmadhātu" ( i-chen fa-chieh) as the essential reality and source of the four. This one true dharmadhātu is the One Mind embacing manifold existence. Zongmi identifies this with the tathāgatagarbha, the highest teaching in his doctrinal classification system.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, pages 164-165. Hawai'i University Press, 2002
For Zongmi, the principal teaching of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra is the tathāgatagarbha, or buddha-nature, and not the unobstructed interpenetration of phenomena. However, he says the principal teaching which "reveals the nature" makes up only one part of the Avataṃsaka.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 167. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 Zongmi accordingly displaces the Avataṃsaka in favor of the Awakening of Faith (which emphasizes the One Mind).Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 154. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 For Zongmi, the unobstructed interpenetration of all phenomena is seen as less important than the one true dharmadhātu upon which those phenomena are based.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, page 68. Hawai'i University Press, 2002 In emphasizing li-shih wu-ai over shih-shih wu-ai, as well as nature origination over conditioned origination, Zongmi was also concerned to provide an ontological basis for Chan Buddhism practice, thus reflecting the wider context of Zongmi's thought.Gregory, Peter. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism, pages 173, 295. Hawai'i University Press, 2002
According to Fazang, while the nirmanakaya Shakyamuni taught the other Mahayana sutras, Vairocana teaches the Avatamsaka Sutra through his ten bodies which are: the All-Beings Body, the Lands Body, the Karma Body, the Śrāvakas Body, the Pratyekabuddha Body, the Bodhisattvas Body, the Tathāgatas Body, the Wisdom Body, the Dharma Body, and the Space Body.Lin, Weiyu (2021). : introduction to Fazang's (643-712) commentary on the Huayan jing (60 juans) [Skt. Avataṃsaka Sūtra; Flower garland sūtra] — the Huayan jing tanxuan ji [record of investigating the mystery of the Huayan jing]. p. 33. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library. Fazang sees these ten bodies as encompassing all phenomena (animate and inanimate) in the "three realms", i.e. the entire universe.Lin, Weiyu (2021). Exegesis-philosophy interplay Exegesis-philosophy interplay : introduction to Fazang's (643-712) commentary on the Huayan jing (60 juans) [Skt. Avataṃsaka Sūtra; Flower garland sūtra] — the Huayan jing tanxuan ji [record of investigating the mystery of the Huayan jing]. p. 34. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Library.
Fazang also differs from standard Yogācāra "pivot" models of the three natures, in which the imagined and the perfected pivot on the dependent. That is, in the Yogācāra pivot model, the imagined and perfected are merely different ways of apprehending the dependent. For Fazang, on the other hand, the dependent and the imagined natures pivot on the perfected (which is equated with the One Mind), as its unconditioned and conditioned aspects.Peter Gregory. The Three Truths in Huayan Thought, in Avatamsaka Buddhism in East Asia: Huayan, Kegon, Flower Ornament Buddhism—Origins and Adaptation of a Visual Culture, edited by Robert Gimello, Frederic Girard and Imre Hamar, page 102, Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden, 2012
Unlike the classical Yogachara model which regards self-cognition as an effect of consciousness' subjective aspect perceiving its objective aspect, Huayan treats self-cognition as the cause of consciousness' subjective and objective aspects.Zhihua Yao, "Suddenly Deluded Thoughts Arise": Karmic Appearance in Huayan Buddhism, pages 207-208, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 37:2 (June 2010) Where the Yogācāra model is concerned with epistemology, the Huayan model is cosmogony-oriented.Zhihua Yao, "Suddenly Deluded Thoughts Arise": Karmic Appearance in Huayan Buddhism, pages 208-209, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 37:2 (June 2010) That is, according to Fazang, self-cognition is the original karmic appearance which causes the delusive world of samsāra with all its suffering.Zhihua Yao, "Suddenly Deluded Thoughts Arise": Karmic Appearance in Huayan Buddhism, page 207, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 37:2 (June 2010) It is a state in which the mind is aware only of itself.Zhihua Yao, "Suddenly Deluded Thoughts Arise": Karmic Appearance in Huayan Buddhism, page 208, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 37:2 (June 2010) According to Zhihua Yao, "It is not contributed by an external agency because the arising or awareness is inherent to the mind or reality itself."An English Translation of Fa-Tsang's Commentary on the Awakening of Faith, translated by Dirck Vorenkamp, page 212, Edwin Mellen Press, 2004 However, although this arising is based on reality itself, Fazang says it is karmic since 1 it is an action and 2 it is the cause of suffering.Zhihua Yao, "Suddenly Deluded Thoughts Arise": Karmic Appearance in Huayan Buddhism, pages 206-207, Journal of Chinese Philosophy 37:2 (June 2010) Of this karmic activity, Fazang states that, "Although this is (a form of) active conceptualization, it is exceedingly subtle and in a dependently originated single characteristic, that which can (cause) and that which is (caused) are not divided."An English Translation of Fa-Tsang's Commentary on the Awakening of Faith, translated by Dirck Vorenkamp, page 168, Edwin Mellen Press, 2004
The active role of suchness
According to Fazang, a semblance of suchness arises which stirs the Mind-as-Suchness to produce the karmic consciousness. This has two aspects which are simultaneous: 1 based on a semblance of suchness there arises delusion, and 2 based on delusion there arises a semblance of suchness. Fazang explains the karmic consciousness in terms of the essence of mind having become activated by the perfuming of ignorance.An English Translation of Fa-Tsang's Commentary on the Awakening of Faith, translated by Dirck Vorenkamp, pages 181-182, Edwin Mellen Press, 2004 As such, Fazang held that suchness plays an active role in creating the realm of perception and the world of phenomena. This is unlike the Yogācāra view of Xuanzang, for whom suchness plays only a passive role in the evolution of the phenomenal world.Imre Hamar. Deconstructing and Reconstructing Yogacara: Ten Levels of Consciousness-only/One-mind in Huayan Buddhism, in Avatamsaka Buddhism in East Asia: Huayan, Kegon, Flower Ornament Buddhism—Origins and Adaptation of a Visual Culture, edited by Robert Gimello, Frederic Girard and Imre Hamar, page 59, Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden, 2012 According to the faxiang (dharma characteristics) view associated with Xuanzang's Yogācāra, the relationship of phenomena to suchness is that of "house and ground" in which the ground (suchness) supports the house (phenomena), but the two are nonetheless distinct. On the other hand, according to the faxing (dharma nature) view of Huayan, the relationship between suchness and phenomena is one of "water and wave" in which the wind of ignorance stirs the water (suchness) to produce waves (phenomena).Imre Hamar. A Huayan Paradigm for the Classification of Mahayana Teachings: The Origin and Meaning of Faxingzong and Faxiangzong, in Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism, edited by Imre Hamar, page 208, Harrassowitz Verlag Wiesbaden, 2007
The singular nature of the shared sensory world
Other differences between Huayan and classical Yogācāra were highlighted during Ming dynasty debates over the nature of the bhājanaloka, or container world (i.e. the shared world of sensory experience). According to classical Yogācāra, strictly speaking, each being occupies its own sensory world, which nonetheless overlaps with those of other beings with whom a suitable karmic connection is shared. Thus, according to this view, there are technically as many sensory worlds as there are beings. Huayan exegetes such as Kongyin Zhencheng (1547–1617) in the Ming dynasty rejected this. Drawing on Huayan notions, such as that of an all-encompassing holistic dharmadhātu, Zhencheng argued that there is just a single sensory world which is shared by all beings.Brewster, Ernest Billings. "What is Our Shared Sensory World?: Ming Dynasty Debates on Yogacara versus Huayan Doctrines." Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies (2018, 31: 117–170) New Taipei: Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies. ISSN: 2313-2000 e-ISSN: 2313-2019
Objective idealism versus subjective idealism
According to Feng Youlan, where Xuanzang's classical Yogācāra is a system of subjective idealism, Huayan is one of objective idealism.Wing-Tsit Chan. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, page 408, Princeton University Press, 1963 Regarding the Huayan position, Fung says, "the central element in Fa-tsang’s philosophy is a permanently immutable 'mind' which is universal or absolute in its scope, and is the basis for all phenomenal manifestations. That is to say, his philosophy is a system of objective idealism. As such, it approaches realism more closely than does an idealism which is purely subjective. This is because, in a system of objective idealism, it is possible for the objective world to survive even when separated from a subject."Fung Yu-lan. A History of Chinese Philosophy, Vol. 2, The Period of Classical Learning (from the Second Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.), translated by Derk Bodde, page 359, Princeton University Press, 1953 Regarding the Yogācāra and Huayan schools, Wing-tsit Chan says, "in both schools, the external world, called external sphere by Hsüan-tsang and the Realm of Facts by Fa-tsang, is considered manifestations of the mind. In both schools, these manifestations have universal and objective validity, although the degree of validity is higher in Hua-yen. The interesting thing is that Hua-yen presupposes a preestablished harmony while the Consciousness-Only School does not."
The Huayan school patriarch Zhiyan developed a five tiered doctrinal classification of the Buddha's teaching which was expanded on by later figures such as Fazang. The five tiers are:Ming-Wood, L. (1981). The P'an-Chiao System of the Hua-Yen School in Chinese Buddhism. T'oung Pao, 67(1), 10-47. Yü, Chün-fang (2020). Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, pp. 160-161. University of Hawaii Press.
Huayan and Chan Buddhism had doctrinal arguments regarding which would be the correct concept of sudden awakening. The teachings of the Chan school were regarded as inferior by Huayan masters, a characterization which was rejected by Chan masters.
Regular chanting of important passages from the sutra is also common, particularly the Bhadracaryāpraṇidhāna (The Aspiration Prayer for Good Conduct), sometimes called the "Vows of Samantabhadra" . Solo chanting practice was also common, and another common element of reciting the sutra was bowing to the sutra during the chanting. Since this practice is time-consuming, it was also often done in solitary retreats called biguan, which could last years.
Copying the entire sutra (or passages from the sutra) by hand was also another key practice in this tradition and some sutra copyists were known for their excellent calligraphy. This practice was also sometimes combined with chanting and bowing as well. Sutra copying is a traditional Buddhist practice which remains important in modern Chinese Buddhism. Another element that was sometimes added to this practice was to use one's own blood in the process of sutra copying (sometimes just blood mixed with the ink). This blood writing was rare, but it was done by a few celebrated figures, like Hanshan Deqing (1546-1623) and the Republican Period monk Shouye.
The practice of Buddha contemplation was promoted by various figures, such as the Huayan patriarchs Chengguan, Guifeng Zongmi, the Goryeo monk Gyunyeo (923–973) and Peng Shaosheng, a householder scholar of the Qing dynasty.Cheon-hak, Kim. "The cult of the Hwaom pure land of the Koryo period as seen through self-power and other-power." Journal of Korean Religions, vol. 6, no. 1, Apr. 2015, pp. 63+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A493448486/AONE?u=googlescholar&sid=googleScholar&xid=91a4c878. Accessed 3 May 2023.
The patriarch Guifeng Zongmi taught four types of buddhānusmṛti ( nianfo), a schema that was also adopted by later Chinese figures: These four types of nianfo are the following:Jones, Charles B. (2021). Pure Land: History, Tradition, and Practice, pp. 132-135. Shambhala Publications,
Another leading figure in the teaching of Huayan Nianfo was the 12th century Song monk Yihe (義和) who combined the method of nianfo with Huayan meditation teachings and the practice of the ten vows of Samantabhadra and saw this practice as a method of realizing the Huayan vision of ultimate reality. During the Qing, Baiting Xufa (1641-1728) and the lay scholar Peng Shaosheng (1740–1796) further promoted Huayan-Nianfo methods. Huayan Pure Land practice also sometimes included devotion to bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara. This promoted by figures like the Korean monks Uisang and Ch'ewŏn.
Another visualization type meditation was promoted by the Korean Huayan monk Ch’ewŏn. Ch’ewŏn taught visualization meditation (kwansang 觀想) on bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara.Cheon-hak, Kim. "The Cult of the Hwaŏm Pure Land of the Koryŏ Period as seen through Self-Power and Other-Power." Journal of Korean Religions, vol. 6 no. 1, 2015, p. 63-92. Project MUSE, 二人は李通玄の華厳思想に何を求めたのか――宋代中国の張商英と鎌倉時代の明恵―― [What did Zhang Shangying and Myōe Find in Li Tongxuan's Huayan Thought?].. According to Ch’ewŏn, this is effective because Avalokiteśvara’s sphere of realization, the essence of one's own mind and Avalokiteśvara and one’s own body are mutually interfused and interpenetrating.
The theory of the "fourfold Dharmadhatu" ( sifajie, 四法界) eventually became the central meditative framework for the Huayan tradition. This doctrinal and meditative framework is explained in Chengguan's meditation manual titled " Meditative Perspectives on the Huayan Dharmadhatu" ( Huayan Fajie Guanmen, 華嚴法界觀門) and its commentaries. The Dharmadhatu is the goal of the bodhisattva's practice, the ultimate nature of reality which must be known or entered into. According to Fox, the Fourfold Dharmadhatu is "four cognitive approaches to the world, four ways of apprehending reality".
These four ways of seeing reality are:
According to Fox, "these dharmadhatus are not separate worlds – they are actually increasingly more holographic perspectives on a single phenomenological manifold...they more properly represent four types or orders of perspectives on experience." Furthermore, for Huayan, this contemplation is the solution to the problem of suffering which lies in the "fixation or attachment to a particular perspective. What we think are the essences of objects are really therefore nothing but mere names, mere functional designations, and none of these contextual definitions need necessarily interfere with any of the others."
Regarding the practical application of this teaching, Baiting Xufa correlated the practice of nianfo with the fourfold Dharmadhatu as follows:
The synthesis of Huayan with Chinese Esoteric Buddhist practices was a feature of the Buddhism of the Khitan people Liao dynasty.Orzech, Charles D; Sorensen, Henrik Hjort; Payne, Richard Karl (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the tantras in East Asia, p. 459. Leiden; Boston: Brill. Jueyuan, a Huayan monk from Yuanfu Temple during the Liao Dynasty and author of the Dari jing yishi yanmi chao, practiced esoteric rituals like Homa and Abhiseka based on the Vairocanābhisaṃbodhi Sūtra and the tradition of Yi Xing.Orzech, Charles D; Sorensen, Henrik Hjort; Payne, Richard Karl (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the tantras in East Asia, pp. 460-461. Leiden; Boston: Brill. Furthermore, according to Sorensen, the iconography of the Huayan Vairocana Buddha and the Esoteric Mahavairocana also became fused during the post-Tang period.Orzech, Charles D; Sorensen, Henrik Hjort; Payne, Richard Karl (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the tantras in East Asia, p. 92. Leiden; Boston: Brill. .
Perhaps the most important figure in the synthesis of Huayan and Chinese Esoteric Buddhism was the 11th century monk Daoshen (道蝗), author of the Xianmi yuantong chengfo xinyao ji (顯密圓通成佛心要集 Collection of Essentials for the Attainment of Buddhahood by Total Inter-Penetration of the Esoteric and the Exoteric, T1955).Gimello, Robert (2004). ″Icon and Incantation: The Goddess Zhunti and the Role of Images in the Occult Buddhism of China." In Images in Asian Religions: Texts and Contexts ed. Phyllis Granoff and Koichi Shinohara: pp. 71-85. The work is divided into three parts. Part one summarizes the Huayan philosophy, which Daoshen sees as the highest form of the explicit or manifest Buddhist teachings. It also discusses the praxis of Huayan, here called “cultivating the ocean of Samantabhadra’s practices”, which includes numerous exoteric Buddhist practices such as breath meditation, meditation on emptiness, prostrations, offerings, confession rites, vows, and buddha name recitation.
The second part of this work teaches esoteric Buddhism or mantra method (Mijiao, Zhenyan), with a focus on the Cundi dharani and other mantras (like the Mani mantra) which are said to have many powerful effects and is recommended even for laypersons. Finally, the third part promotes "the systematic integration of exoteric doctrine and occult practice, arguing that each is incomplete without the other, whether they are practised in sequence or in tandem."
According to Gimello:
Daozhen’s central thesis in the work is that the “body” of Huayan doctrine and the envisaged image of Cundi are somehow co-inherent, and that by invoking the presence of the goddess we somehow confirm the truth of the doctrines and render them practically efficacious. In other words, Daozhen holds that if one recites Cundi dharani and/or visualizes the dharani in its graphic form as an array of Sanskrit letters or Chinese characters, and then imagines the goddess’s anthropomorphic bodily image emerging from the intoned and envisioned syllables of the spell, all the while performing the corresponding manual gestures (mudra), one will thereby both quicken and verify the truth of the doctrines, and one will do this not merely allegorically but also, if I may say so, sacramentally.Important esoteric texts used in the Liao tradition included the: Cundī-dhāraṇī, the Usṇīsavijayā-dhāranī, the Nīlakaṇthaka-dhāranī and the Sutra on the Great Dharma Torch Dhāraṇī ( 大法炬陀羅尼 經, Da faju tuoluoni jing) among others. In the Liao, , and statues were often empowered with dharanis and . These structures would often be filled or inscribed with dharanis, sutras, or mantras like the Six syllable mantra of Avalokiteshvara. Pillars inscribed with dhāraṇīs and mantras were also common.Orzech, Charles D; Sorensen, Henrik Hjort; Payne, Richard Karl (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the tantras in East Asia, pp. 462-463. Leiden; Boston: Brill. .
The synthesis of Esoteric Buddhist practice with Huayan Buddhism remained popular during the Jin dynasty (1115–1234), where Usṇīsavijayā and Cundī practices were some of the most popular.Orzech, Charles D; Sorensen, Henrik Hjort; Payne, Richard Karl (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the tantras in East Asia, pp. 482-484. Leiden; Boston: Brill. . A similar synthesis of Huayan-Chan Buddhism (derived from Zongmi) with esoteric Buddhist teachings and practices from Tibetan Buddhism (mainly Sakya and Kagyu) also occurred in Buddhism of the Western Xia dynasty.Orzech, Charles D; Sorensen, Henrik Hjort; Payne, Richard Karl (2011). Esoteric Buddhism and the tantras in East Asia, pp. 466-469. Leiden; Boston: Brill. .
Dharanis like the Cundī-dhāraṇī, the Usṇīsavijayā-dhāranī, and the Nīlakaṇthaka-dhāranī remain important in modern Huayan Buddhism and are chanted in modern Dharma assemblies. Another dharani / esoteric practice in modern Huayan is the contemplation of the 42 Avatamsaka syllables (a version of the Kharosthi alphabet, which is a contemplation found in various Mahayana sources).
The Japanese Kegon school was known for adopting many esoteric mantras and practices from the Shingon Buddhism school. The Kegon monk Myōe was known for his widespread promotion of the popular Mantra of Light ( kōmyō shingon, 光明眞言). Due to influence from the Shingon school, today's Kegon school retains numerous esoteric Buddhist elements.
Similarly, according to Gimello, Huayan master Li Tongxuan understands the path as follows:
The first access of faith in the mind of the practitioner is in itself the culmination of the entire path, the very realization of final Buddhahood.... ‘Faith’ or confidence in the possibility of enlightenment is nothing but enlightenment itself, in an anticipatory and causative modality.Gimello, R. M. (1983) ‘ Li T’ung-hsüan and the practical dimensions of Hua-yen’, p. 335. Quoted in Williams, Paul. Mahayana Buddhism the doctrinal foundations, 2nd edition, 2009, p. 144-45.This interpenetration of all elements of the path to awakening is also a consequence of the Huayan view of time, which sees all moments as interfused (including a sentient being's present practice and their eventual future Buddhahood aeons from now). Since time itself is empty, all moments (past, present, and future) are interfused with each other.Cook (1977) , pp. 112-113. As Fazang writes, "beginning and end Interpenetrate. On each bodhisattva stage, one is thus both a Bodhisattva and a Buddha."
As such, Huayan does not understand a bodhisattva's progress through the bodhisattva stages (bhumis) as being linear. Instead, as soon as one reaches the earlier stages of "perfection of faith" (which is part of Huayan's 52 bhumi model), one has also acquired all the stages, as well as Buddhahood. This doctrine of "enlightenment at the stage of faith" (信滿成佛, xinman cheng fo) was a unique feature of Huayan and was first introduced by Fazang though it has a precedent in a passage of the Avatamsaka Sutra.Hamar, I. "Faith, Practice and Enlightenment in the Avataṃsaka-sūtra and the Huayan School", in Imre Hamar and Takami Inoue (eds.) Faith in Buddhism. Budapest Monographs in East Asian Studies 6. Budapest: Institute of East Asian Studies, Eötvös Loránd University 2016.
In Huayan, Buddhahood transcends all concepts, times and stages. Because practice cannot create something that is not immanent, Huayan sees the bodhisattva path as simply revealing what is already there (buddha-nature, which is buddhahood itself concealed within sentient beings). In spite of this doctrine, Huayan patriarchs also argued that the gradual practices of the bodhisattva stages are still necessary. This is because all stages retain their particularity even while being wholly interfused and only through the practice of the bodhisattva path does the immanent Buddhahood manifest.Cook (1977) , pp. 113-114.Prince, Tony (2014). Universal Enlightenment, An introduction to the teachings and practices of Huayen Buddhism, p. 141. Kongting Publishing Company Ltd. Taiwan.
Thus, according to Li Tongxuan "there is no other enlightenment" than simply following the bodhisattva path, and furthermore:
Primordial wisdom is made manifest through meditation; cultivation does not create it or bring it into being. If one simply follows the Bodhisattva Path and learns the bodhisattva practices, primordial wisdom will shine forth of itself....Similarly, patriarch Guifeng Zongmi held that Buddhahood is reached through "sudden awakening followed by gradual cultivation" and he also held that "sudden and gradual are not only not contradictory, but are actually complementary".
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