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A study of Master Yinshun's hermeneutics: An interpretation of the tathagatagarbha doctrine Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Hurley, Scott Christopher Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 24/09/2021 19:57:12 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279857 INFORMATIOH TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. 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ProQuest Information and Leaming 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 A STUDY OF MASTER YINSHUN'S HERMENEUTICS: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE TATHAGATAGARBHA DOCTRINE by Scott Christopher Hurley Copyright ® Scott Christopher Hurley 2001 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF EAST ASIAN STUDIES In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 200 1 UMI Number: 3031364 Copyright 2001 by Huriey, Scott Christopher Ail rights reserved. (R UMI UMI Microform 3031364 Copyright 2002 by Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microfomn edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor. Ml 48106-1346 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Scott Christopher Hurley entitled A STUDY OF MASTER YINSHUN'S HERMENEUTICS: AN INTERPRETATION OF THE TATHAGATAGARBHA DOCTRINE and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy : M. Gimeii'o Diti — ^0I ;onaj.ci Harper ' Date _ n-z^-o! tioyt AjJ/evexa i.llman Date Date Date Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify chat I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. Cr—r-l^ Dlssertatlotf Dlrectd©/ Robert M. Gimello Date J STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation firom or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: 4 ACBCNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to begin by thanking my main advisor. Professor Robert Gimello for all of his help and guidance not only during my work on this project, but also throughout my career as a graduate student. I am especially grateful to him for his patience in what has been a very long and at times difficult project. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee for providing me with helpful feedback as I was writing this dissertation. Professor Donald Harper. Professor Hoyt Tillman, and Professor Dian Li deserve special mention. I owe much gratitude particularly to Professor Elizabeth Harrison who has not only been my teacher, but also my friend and confidant at times when I was not sure I would survive graduate school. Although many other individuals provided valuable assistance, I have room to mention only a few. I would like to give special thanks to Wang Huixin and Yen Shifu for patiently helping me translate many difficult passages from Yinshun's texts, to the Yinshun Foundation for their financial assistance, and to my fellow graduate students who provided unending emotional support. I am particularly indebted to my dear fnend and colleague Hiroshi Aoyagi for rekindling within me my passion for study and showing me how to love my work. However, by far my greatest appreciation goes to my wife and son who have endured my late hours, preoccupations, and irritable moods. They have provided unquestioning support for my work in the face of some very difficult times. I love them both dearly. DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this work to Dr. Hiroshi Aoyagi, without whom I would have learned the joy of study. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES 10 ABSTRACT 11 INTRODUCTION 13 CHAPTER 1. THE CONTROVERSY: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE DOCTRINE OF EMPTINESS AND THE TATHAGATAGARBHA 25 CHAPTER 2. YINSHUN'S INTERPRETATION OF THE "ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND" AND ITS ROLE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TATHAGATAGARBHA DOCTRINE 43 2.1. "ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND" IN PRE- MAHAYANA BUDDHISM 45 2.1.1. THE "ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND" AND THE CULTIVATION OF SAmOHl 46 2.1.2. CANONICAL SOURCES FOR THE "ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND- DOCTRINE 49 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued 2.L3. YINSHUN'S INTERPRETATION OF THE "ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND": THE SARVASTIVADIN POSITION 52 2.L4. THE ROLE OF METAPHORS IN THE EXPLICATION OF THE ••ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND" 57 2.L5. UNITY OF THE MIND 60 2.2. "ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND" IN EARLY MAHAYANA 64 2.2.1. NO-MIND AND THE "ORIGINAL PURITY OF THE MIND" 65 2.2.2. THE BODHISATTVA MIND 69 2.2.3. BODHICITTA. LUMINOUS PURITY. AND EMPTINESS 72 CHAPTER 3. YINSHUN'S ANALYSIS OF THE TATHAGATAGARBHA S RELATIONSHIP TO THE PERFECTION OF WISDOM SUTR.AS. THE HUAYAN SCTR.A. AND THE TATHAGATAGARBHA SOTR.A 79 3.1. THE "EQUALITY OF ALL DHARMAS" AND THE "NON-OBSTRUCTION OF PHENOMENA" 81 3.LI.THEPRAMPARAMTTA LITERATURE 81 3.1.2. HUAYANSOTRA 84 3.2. THE IMPLIED MEANINGS OF THE TATHAGATAGARBHA THEORY FOUND IN THE HUAYAN SUTRA 86 3.2.1. TATHAGATA'S NATURE ORIGINATION CHAPTER 86 3.2.2. THE TEN STAGES CHAPTER 90 8 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued 3.2.3. THE VAIROCANA CHAPTER 93 3.3. MIND. BODHICITTA, BODHI, AND SENTIENT BEINGS 98 3.3.1. BODHICITTA AND BODHI. 99 3.3.2. BODHICITTA, BODHI AND THE DOCTRINE OF EMPTINESS 103 3.3.3. BODHICITTA, BODHL AND THE JEWEL METAPHOR 107 3.4. THE TATHAGATAGARBHA SUTR.A 110 CHAPTER 4. THE TATHAGATAGARBHA AS THE WOMB OF THE TATHAGATA: YINSHUN'S EXPLANATION 118 4.1. TATHAGATA AND TATHAGATAGARBHA (RULAIYURULAIZ-iNG 123 4.2. THE SELFHOOD OF TATHAGATAGARBHA (RULAIZANGWO 131 4.3. TATHAGATAGARBHA IS NOT EUVTY (RULAIZANGBUKONG CHAPTER 5. YINSHUN'S INTERPRETATION OF THE JEWEL NATURE TREA TISE 'S TREATMENT OF THE TATHAGATAGARBHA 148 TREATISE 5.1.1. THE JEWEL NATURE TREATISE (JIUJING YISHENG 9 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued BAOXINGLUN) 150 5.1.2. THE WUSHANGYIJING 154 5.1.3. THE DASHENG FAME WUCHABIE LUN 155 5.2. THE TEXTS AND TREATISES ON WHICH THE HATNAGOTRAVIBHAGA ARE BASED 157 5.3 AN ANALYSIS OF THE MEANING OF THE RATNAGOTIL-iVIBHAGA ... .160 5.3.1 THE TATHAGATAGARBHA 160 5.3.1.1. THE PERVASIVE D/i4^AA4A:-fK-I 160 5.3.1.2. SUCHNESS WITHOUT DISTINCTION 161 5.3.1.3. THE BUDDHA'S SEED NATURE 162 5.3.2. THE ORIGINALLY PURE MIND 163 5.3.3. NON-EMPTINESS AND THE SEED NATURE 168 5.3.4. "TRANSFORMING THE BASE" (SKT. ASR^AYAPAR^AVRTTh CHN. ZHUAm'im\ti) 170 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION: YINSHUN'S HERMENEUTICS 173 6.1. OVERVIEW OF YINSHUN'S INTERPRETATION OF TATHAGATAGARBHA DOCTRINE 174 6.2. WHERE TO GO FROM HERE 193 / REFERENCES 205 10 LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1. CHART COMPARING THE "FOUR DHARMAS" OF THE BENLUN. THE "SEVEN ADAMANTINE PHRASES" OF THE SHILUN, AND THE "ELEVEN CHAPTERS" OF THE ENTIRE CHINESE TRANSLATION OF THE MTNAGOTHAVIBHAGA 153 II ABSTRACT This study is an examination of Master Yinshun's hermeneutics. It focuses especially on his interpretation of the Buddhist concept known as the tathagatagarhha. which refers to the idea that all sentient beings intrinsically possess the "womb of the Buddha." In some explanations of this teaching, the tathagatagarhha is symbolic of the practitioner's potential for attaining enlightermient. In others, it fiinctions as a synonym for the Ultimate and becomes the etemalistic substrate for all of existence. It is this latter view to which Yinshun takes exception, seeing it as antithetical to the doctrine of emptiness which espouses the notion that all things, including ideas, material objects, and living beings, lack a permanent and independent nature and thus cannot possess an unchanging, etemalistic form.