Search Results (8)

Yinyuan Longqi 隱元隆琦 was a pivotal figure in Sino–Japanese cultural exchange. His journey to Japan to propagate Buddhism, founding of the Ōbaku sect (Huangbo zong 黃檗宗), emphasis on the orthodoxy of his Zen teachings, and crafting of an “authentic” identity profoundly influenced Japanese Buddhism and culture. While existing studies have predominantly explored the socio–historical dimensions of Yinyuan’s construction of “authenticity” (benzhen 本真), his extensive corpus of Zen verses remains understudied. By tracing the “Huangbo” (Ōbaku) 黃檗 imagery in his writings, this study addresses how Yinyuan constructed “authenticity” through his poetic works. Before his journey to Japan, Yinyuan employed “Huangbo” imagery to articulate his personal situation and sentiment, elevating it into a symbolic representation of inner “authenticity”. In the early days after Yinyuan went to Japan, driven by the dual imperatives of promoting orthodox Zen and responding to Japanese expectations of Zen origins, he intricately intertwined “Huangbo” with Zen doctrines, transforming the imagery into a marker of “authenticity” that embodied both orthodox Zen philosophy and sectarian identity. Following the establishment of Kyoto’s Mount Huangbo, Yinyuan further reshaped the “Huangbo” imagery into a trans-geographical and cultural symbol of sectarian dharma lineage, thereby ensuring the spiritual continuity of “authenticity” across Chinese and Japanese Huangbo traditions. This process not only reflects the cross-cultural transmission of Buddhism from China to Japan but also serves as a critical lens for examining the interplay between globalization and localization in religious development. Full article

Zhiyan 智儼 (602–668) is considered the second patriarch of the Chinese Huayan 華嚴 (Jp. Kegon) school. Zhiyan gave his scholarly attention to the Dilun School 地論宗 and Shelun School 攝論宗. By his period, the reunification of the North and South had permitted the Dilun and Shelun lineages to begin to merge, and the texts on which they were based had a common origin in the Indian Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha. In this article, I focus on Zhiyan’s conceptual innovations and their background. My chief concerns are twofold: the first is to review several terms and teachings as representative examples of the creative practice of Zhiyan and the second is to identify his roots in the earlier traditions of Indian and Chinese Buddhism. I focus on the translation and understanding of the term zhenru 真如 (Skt. tathatā; suchness/thusness), which is a crucial expression used in descriptions of ultimate truth in Buddhism. By investigating the terms through the lens of the Ratnagotravibhāga (=RGV), I consider what tathatā, dhātu and gotra signified in their Indian usage and how these meanings evolved in the process of the appropriation of these concepts in China, especially in Zhiyan’s writings. Furthermore, through this analysis, I aim to explore Zhiyan’s attitude towards the Jiujing yisheng baoxing lun 究竟一乘寶性論 (=BXL), the Chinese translation of the RGV, and examine how he absorbed and utilized this significant treatise, which was compiled in India and translated in Northern China. We cannot find even one clear interpretation defining suchness as unconditioned dharma in the Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論 (=AF; Awakening of Mahāyāna Faith). In the AF, it is stated that suchness is initially pure. However, due to the fumigation of ignorance, the marks and features of defilement will appear on pure suchness. Suchness, being connected with foundation consciousness, has been regarded as the foundation or origin of conditioned arising in the She dasheng lun chao 攝大乘論抄 (T2806), a significant commentary on the She dasheng lun 攝大乘論 translated by Paramārtha 真諦 (499–569), who has been associated with the AF. Building on this trend in the interpretation of suchness, Zhiyan employs both the AF and the BXL to expound his theory of suchness. He initially utilizes the theory of suchness from the AF and the BXL to argue that all phenomena, including delusion, could arise from suchness. Zhiyan asserts the fumigation/perfume of suchness. The background of Zhiyan’s theory of suchness is based on the AF. However, while the AF only mentions the fumigation/perfume of suchness, Zhiyan adds that suchness does not inherently maintain its self-nature but arises conditionally. This marks a significant difference, or development, between the theory of suchness in the AF and that in Zhiyan’s Huayan doctrinal system. In my view, the answer lies in the BXL, which Zhiyan himself regards as a key text alongside the AF as the basis for his theory of suchness. Zhiyan finds an intimation of the precious truth in the commentaries of Huiguang 慧光, who was a disciple of Ratnamati, the translator of the BXL, and the founder of the southern branch of the Dilun School. Zhiyan finds the doctrine of infinite dependent arising according to the one vehicle of the distinct teaching (Ch. biejiao yisheng 別教一乘) in Huiguang’s commentaries. It indicates that the renderings and interpretations of Ratnamati and Huiguang seem to have deeply influenced Zhiyan. For a long time, many scholars have believed that the RGV had only a minimal impact on East Asian Buddhism, and few have pointed out its influence on Zhiyan. However, through the analysis in this article, I find that Zhiyan places significant importance on the RGV and its Chinese translation BXL. Full article

The corridor-enclosed cloister characterized Buddhist monasteries during the Sui and Tang periods. This architectural form was first introduced by Emperor Liang Wudi from the palace and continued to prevail until the eleventh century, when a gradual transformation occurred, resulting in the corridor evolving into a long, narrow image hall. This paper examines the ritual and pictorial programs of the Sui-Tang Buddhist corridor to gain insight into this transformation and its ceremonial significance. Specifically, it explores how the corridor was empowered by the state-sponsored maigre feast as a place of worship and how the monastic community of a particular school appropriated the space to celebrate an unbroken dharma-transmission lineage from the Buddha to a specific group of Chinese patriarchs. Lastly, the paper aims to comprehend the adaptation of the corridor into an image hall, which was influenced by political and religious shifts in the eleventh century when Buddhist monasteries were no longer designated as the ritual arena for the state-sponsored maigre feast. Full article

The maritime route connecting the Chinese continent and the Japanese archipelago facilitated a significant exchange of commercial goods and sociocultural knowledge throughout the Southern Song dynasty. Within this context, Japanese pilgrim monks traveling along this route acted as key conduits for the transmission of Buddhist teachings. Their journeys profoundly influenced the establishment and development of new Buddhist monasteries in Japan. Focusing on biographical accounts that portray the experiences of these pilgrim monks during their twelfth- and thirteenth-century sea voyages, this paper aims to explore how these accounts drew on intertextual links with existing Buddhist records to fulfill the compilers’ intentions. Specifically, this paper examines the structure and sources of biographical accounts detailing miraculous encounters between pilgrim monks and Buddhist deities during perilous situations at sea. By interpreting the role of these deities in the corpus of Buddhist literature and within Japanese Buddhist monasteries founded by pilgrim monks, this paper argues that the increasing emphasis on pilgrim monks’ attainment of divine protection in their biographical records suggests a growing concern for reinforcing the authority of their dharma lineages. Moreover, the composition and reception of these miraculous accounts reflected the changing religious needs and reshaped strategies for promoting specific Buddhist sects in subsequent periods. Full article

This article continues the investigation of my previous paper ‘Wan Ming Qing chu dongnan yanhai gangkou Fosi de biqiuni shenying’ 晚明清初東南沿海港口佛寺的比丘尼身影 (‘The Historic Image of the Bhikkhuni Who Lived at Buddhist Monasteries of Seaport Cities of Southeast China during the Late Ming and Early Qing Period’). While discussing the space of port city Buddhist monasteries and their urban environment, and how they aided or hindered the bhikkhuni monastic community, or individual bhikkhuni in their practice, life, and personal achievements, I also realized that a bhikkhuni’s family background and her connections with local gentry and eminent persons indeed contributed to the rise of her prestige. The publication and distribution of the recorded sayings of several women Chan monastics residing in the Buddhist monasteries of port cities during the late Ming and early Qing periods can be regarded as a commendable breakthrough in the Buddhist history of this period. To further clarify the resource structure that helped support these Chan bhikkhuni, including the multifaceted interplay between their blood ties, dharma connections, and regional connections, I aim here to particularly examine the backgrounds, dharma lineages, activity regions, and ultimate achievements of these women Chan monastics. I will consider how it is that these Chan bhikkhuni were able to use such resources to achieve the distinction of having their deeds recorded, while so many more of their fellow bhikkhuni have been forgotten. While in real life, there were a rather large number of bhikkhuni, only a few have been able to have their names passed down to posterity. Women have always faced greater challenges than men in having their voices known and receiving social recognition, and even for men, this has never been easy without a relevant support system—one’s own personal cultivation, the prestige of one’s family, the power of one’s dharma lineage, the strength of one’s personal connection, the disparity in the resources that one has access to in their urban or rural society, etc.; all these various factors affect one’s achievements and performance. Especially in Chan Buddhist texts, where women are greatly underrepresented, I aim to explore in this paper how a women Chan monastic could be included in the Chan historical record, have her recorded sayings published, and have a place in Buddhism or the dharma lineages of Chan. Full article

According to available biography materials, Fazang had six disciples, namely, Hongguan (宏觀), Wenchao (文超), Zhiguang (智光) of Huayansi in the East Capital (東都華嚴寺), Zongyi (宗一) of He’ensi (荷恩寺), Huiyuan (慧苑) of Jingfasi (靜法寺), and Huiying (慧英) of Jingxingsi (經行寺). Most studies on Fazang’s dharma lineage have only focused on Huiyuan because only Huiyuan’s works on Buddhism are still extant. However, Huiyuan has been criticized because “he rebelled against his master’s doctrines, and then was taken placed by Chengguan (澄觀) who was born a hundred years later 弟子慧苑悉叛其說, 滅后百年而得澄觀”. Therefore, research on Huiyuan is not mainstream either. This has led to a lack of studies on the Huayan School during the time between Fazang and Chengguan. In fact, Wenchao, a disciple of Fazang, authored ten volumes of Zifang Yiwangji (自防遺忘集) and one volume of Huayanjing Guanmai Yiji (華嚴經関脈義記) (hereinafter referred to as Guanmai (関脈)), and Guanjian (関鍵: the number of its volumes is unknown, and its text is most likely to be part of Zifang Yiwangji); Fashen (法詵), a disciple of Huiyuan, wrote Huayanjing Shu(華嚴經疏, thirty-one volumes); Kuaiji Shenxiu (會稽神秀), a disciple of Fashen, wrote the Commentary on the Avataṃsaka Sūtra (Huayanjing Shu (華嚴經疏), thirty volumes) and Miaoli Yuanchengguan (妙理圓成觀, three volumes). However, research on these figures is limited. This paper aims to enrich and supplement the study of the Dharma lineage of Fazang by examining the writings of Wenchao, Fashen, and Kuaiji Shenxiu and the ideas revealed by their manuscripts, which may further contribute to the study of the history of Huayan Buddhism and the history of Buddhist schools. Full article

The eighteenth century witnessed the continuity of Geluk growth in Amdo from the preceding century. Geluk inspiration and legacy from Central Tibet and the accompanying political patronage emanating from the Manchus, Mongols, and local Tibetans figured prominently as the engine behind the Geluk influence that swept Amdo. The Geluk rise in the region resulted from contributions made by native Geluk Buddhists. Amdo native monks are, however, rarely treated with as much attention as they deserve for cultivating extensive networks of intellectual transmission, reorienting and shaping the school’s future. I therefore propose that we approach Geluk hegemony and their broad initiatives in the region with respect to the school’s intellectual and cultural order and native Amdo Buddhist monks’ role in shaping Geluk history in Amdo and beyond in Tibet. Such a focus highlights their impact in shaping the trajectory of Geluk history in Tibet and Amdo in particular. The historical and biographical literature dealing with the life of Jikmed Wangpo affords us a rare window into the pivotal time when every effort was made to cultivate a vast network of institutions and masters across Tibet. This further spurred an institutional growth of Buddhist transmission, constructing authenticity and authority thereof, as they were closely tied to reincarnation lineage, intellectual traditions, and monastic institutions. In doing so, we also have a good grasp of the creation processes of Geluk luminaries such as Jikmed Wangpo, an exemplar scholar and visionary who faced great opposition from issues with his lineage legitimation at Labrang and among the larger Geluk community. Full article

In this article, I explore the prostration accumulation portion of the Preliminary Practices of a specific group of Tibetan Buddhist women in Bongwa Mayma, a rural area of Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province. I focus specifically on the nuns and lay women who utilize this set of teachings and practices. The Preliminary Practices not only initiate practitioners into a specific tradition (that of the Drikung Kagyu and more specifically the Amitabha practices of this lineage), but also more fundamentally into Vajrayāna Buddhism as it is practiced in contemporary Tibet. Although monks and male lay practitioners in this region also tend to perform the same Preliminary Practices, I focus specifically on women because of their unique relationship with bodily labor. I begin this article with a discussion of the domestic and economic labor practices of contemporary Tibetan women in rural Yushu, followed by an analysis of Preliminary Practices as understood through the Preliminary Practice text and oral commentaries utilized by all interviewees and interviews (collected from 2016–2020) with female practitioners about their motivations, experiences, and realizations during the Refuge and prostration accumulation portion of their Preliminary Practices. Women themselves view bodily labor as a productive and inevitable aspect of life. On the one hand, women state openly that their domestic duties impede upon their ability to achieve religious realization. On the other, they frequently extol the virtues of hard work, perseverance, patience, and fortitude that their lives of labor helped them to cultivate. Prostration is meant to embody the act of going for Refuge, of submitting oneself to the teachings of the Buddha, to the path of the dharma, and to the community of religious practitioners with whom they will study and grow. Prostrations are meant to embody the extreme difficulty of Refuge, to remove obscurations, to crush the ego, and to confirm a dedication to endure the hardships on the path to realization. Buddhist women, despite their ambiguous relationship with physical labor, see the physical pain of this process as a transformative experience that allows them a glimpse of the spaciousness of mind and freedom from attachment-filled desire promised in the teachings they receive. Full article