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Buddhism in China was spread during its first thousand years through the influence of translator-missionaries from India and Sino-Indian Central Asia such as Lokakwema (active 147–86), the great Kumarajcva, and Paramartha, as well as by Chinese such as Faxian (c. 337–c. 418), , and Yijing (635–713) who undertook the hazardous journey to India by land or sea in order to obtain scriptures for China. Sometimes these journeys were taken with imperial patronage, and further land grants and patronage of temple building meant that as time passed so Chinese Buddhist monasteries tended to gain in power and temporal prestige. In spite of this (or partly, perhaps, because of it) the monasteries and monks were closely supervised by the government, always suspicious of foreign customs which remained for ever strange. Chinese monks for their part, after initial protest, under- took such un-Indian practices as prostrating to the emperor. Always in the background was the rivalry and opposition of Confucians and the growing Daoist church. Major persecu- tions occurred in 446, 574, and, in particular, 842–5. During this last persecution 260,500 fully-ordained monks and nuns were forcibly returned to lay life. The Period of Disunity ended with the triumph of the Sui (581–618) and then the Tang dynasties. Once more Chinese imperial control spread into Central Asia, where it eventu- ally met the forces of Islam. At the Battle of the Talas River (751), in what is now Russian Turkestan, the Tang army was decisively defeated by the Arabs. Although scholars still debate the exact importance of the battle itself, the days of Buddhism in western Central Asia were numbered. Within China itself under the Tang we see extensive state patronage, large monasteries, and a vast Buddhist literature of translated and indigenous works. The tenets of Buddhism had been more or less disentangled from indigenous concepts associated with Daoism. Tang Buddhist doctrine shows a move from introduction to absorption and creative internalization. Among the predominantly practice-oriented Buddhist traditions which become progressively more important as time passes, particularly after the 842–5 persecution, we find Chan () on the one hand, with its stress on med- itation verging sometimes on an antinomian anti-intellectualism, and deep devotion to a Buddha, particularly Amitabha, on the other. In the great Tang philosophical synthesis of we find, in the words of Wing-tsit Chan, ‘the highest development of Chinese Buddhist thought . . . [which] with the philosophy of T’ien-t’ai [], forms the metaphysical basis of in the last millennium’ (Chan 1963: 406).

The Avataãsaka Sâtra The AvataTsaka SEtra is much longer than the Bible, and a single title is apt to give a misleading impression of unity. In fact the setra as it stands is a heterogeneous work, a collection of texts some of which certainly circulated separately. Other parts were prob- ably composed at the time of compilation in order to fill obvious gaps in the composite text. Only two sections survive in their entirety in , both of which were without doubt originally separate texts – the DaZabhEmika SEtra on the 10 stages of the ’s path to enlightenment, and what is now the climax of the AvataTsaka, the GaURavyEha SEtra. The Flower Garland tradition 133

The DaZabhEmika SEtra itself was first translated into Chinese during the third century CE. A comprehensive translation of the AvataTsaka into Chinese was made by Bodhibhadra in 418–21, and a further complete translation was made by the Khotanese monk ]ikwananda during the closing years of the seventh century.9 The ]ikwananda translation is some 10 per cent longer than that by Bodhibhadra, which serves to remind us that the setras in classical times were not fixed but underwent revision, expansion, and sometimes contraction. Consequently we should be wary of referring to a setra recension as the setra. The original texts translated as the AvataTsaka SEtra were brought to China from Khotan, in Central Asia.10 The texts refer to China and Kashgar, so it is likely that com- pilation and even authorship of at least some portions of the comprehensive work took place within the Indic cultural sphere of Central Asia, perhaps in Khotan itself. The AvataTsaka SEtra sets out to portray the cosmos as it is seen by a Buddha or very advanced . As such it is not a systematically philosophical setra, although there are sec- tions which are philosophically stimulating. Luis Gómez has referred to the teaching of its climax, the GaURavyEha SEtra, as one of ‘speculative mysticism’ (Gómez 1967: lxxviii). Whereas the Buddhist philosophical schools portray a certain rivalry between Madhyamika and Yogacara the GaURavyEha speaks both of all things lacking intrinsic existence and a pure untainted awareness or consciousness (amalacitta) as the ground of all phenomena: Endless action arises from the mind; from action (arises) the multifarious world. Having understood that the world’s true nature is mind, you display bodies of your own in harmony with the world. Having realized that this world is like a dream, and that all Buddhas are like mere reflections, that all principles [] are like an echo, you move unimpeded in the world. (Gómez 1967: lxxxi) Because all things lack intrinsic existence so the Bodhisattva’s mind can, through medita- tion, ‘pervade’ or ‘enter into’ all things and he or she can move ‘unimpededly’. The GaURavyEha views the world not from the point of view of ontology but from inside the Buddha’s – or an advanced Bodhisattva’s – experience. As such, the world of the GaURavyEha is one of magic and the visionary (Beyer 1977). It is a world where things hap- pen at a distance through working on one’s own mind simply because things lack intrinsic existence and therefore (it is urged) lack concrete difference. Or, put another way (a way which may be philosophically different, but is not different for the setra), things happen at a distance according to the Bodhisattva’s will, or he can pass through walls, because there is no real distance, no mural hardness, since all is a continuum of consciousness. This is experienced through meditation. The world of the AvataTsaka SEtra, the world of the Buddha, is a world of vision, of magic, of miracle. George J. Tanabe, Jr has said of the AvataTsaka (1992: 11): [It is] known mostly for a great deal of abstruse dogmatics; but it must also be remem- bered . . . that it is primarily an account of fabulous visions backed by an ancient legacy 134 MahÖyÖna Buddhism

of visions going back to ]akyamuni himself. The [AvataTsaka SEtra], however, is not a report of undigested visions, but a sophisticated work that blends fantastic visions with interpretive discussions about them. This complex weaving of doctrine and fantasy, a characteristic of , results in a visionary statement that comes with the beginnings of its own code for interpretation. As a result of meditative absorption the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas have the power, a magical power, to manifest things or to create. The motive for their acts of magical creation is great compassion. Through visualization the mind generates an image. If all is lacking in intrinsic existence, all is held to be dream-like or akin to an illusion. Moreover if (as Buddhists have always believed) all follows the mind – as the mind is so is the world – one might infer that the images created in meditation by the Buddhas will have as much reality as anything else (Gómez 1967: lxxix; cf. lxxxv). If all lacks intrinsic existence, or all is Mind, then not only are these images, these magical interventions, as real as anything else, but also, as mind, or lacking in intrinsic existence, they reveal the true nature of things as much as anything else. Since the Buddha uses his magical interventions, his transforma- tions, solely for the benefit of sentient beings, their use will reveal the true nature of things more openly, more revealingly, than other things. In the world as seen by the Buddhas ‘fictions’ become ‘reality’ and ‘reality’ becomes ‘fiction’.11 What is the world of the Buddha? Who, for that matter, is the Buddha? The Buddha of the AvataTsaka SEtra is not primarily ]akyamuni, at least when he is understood as the so-called historical Buddha who lived and died in India. That Buddha was indeed in reality nothing more than a transformation, a magical intervention, by the actual Buddha. In general we find that the AvataTsaka SEtra’s Buddha, the actual Buddha, is Vairocana, or Mahavairocana, the Great Illumination Buddha.12 He does not teach in the setra, but approves of teachings given by his vast retinue of advanced Bodhisattvas. Vairocana is just unutterably amazing: 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. . . . The Buddha body responds to all – none do not see it. 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. . . . (Cleary 1984–7: I, Bk 1) The Flower Garland tradition 135

His deeds, his magical interventions, are equally vast and astonishing: In all atoms of all lands Buddha enters, each and every one, Producing miracle displays for sentient beings: Such is the way of Vairocana. . . . The techniques of the Buddhas are inconceivable, All appearing in accord with beings’ minds. . . . In each atom the Buddhas of all times Appear, according to inclinations; While their essential nature neither comes nor goes, By their vow power they pervade the worlds. (ibid.: I, Bk 4) We have here, I think, a two-fold approach to the Buddha. There is the Buddha as he is in himself, and also his manifestations or magical transformations – the Buddha for him- self and for others. The Buddha for himself is said or implied at various places in this vast and heterogeneous setra to be the universe itself, to be the same as ‘absence of intrinsic existence’ or emptiness, and to be the Buddha’s all-pervading omniscient awareness. As we have seen, from the visionary, experiential and magical perspective of the setra these are not necessarily contradictory. The universe of the AvataTsaka SEtra is called the – the Dharma-realm. This is not the universe as seen by us, however. Rather, the dharmadhAtu is the universe seen correctly, the quicksilver universe of the visionary per- spective wherein all is empty (or all is the play of omniscient awareness) and therefore is seen as a flow lacking hard edges. This is described by the setra as a universe of radiance and, in a wonderful image, it is said to be a world of pure luminosity with no shadows. Such is experienced by the meditator. His mind expands, ‘the solid outlines of individuality melt away and the feeling of finiteness no more oppresses (him)’ (Suzuki 1968: 149–50). In the GaURavyEha Sudhana the Pilgrim, our hero, ‘felt as if both his body and mind com- pletely melted away; he saw that all thoughts departed away from his consciousness; in his mind there were no impediments, and all intoxications vanished’ (ibid.: 199 n.). This uni- verse is the Buddha. At the same time what makes it this universe, what gives it the flow, is emptiness. It is a Universe of Truth. This is the way things really are. Thus: Clearly to know that all Are without any self-essence at all; To understand the nature of dharmas in this way Is to see Vairocana.13 Moreover, in this state where all is perceived correctly, all is seen as a mental creation. One’s mind can therefore penetrate all things, and the Buddha is this all-penetrating, all- transforming awareness.14 This penetrating awareness has many powers to help others and is, as all-penetrating, present in all beings.15 136 MahÖyÖna Buddhism

There is one particular feature of the world as seen by a Buddha which is repeatedly stressed and for which the AvataTsaka SEtra is justly famous. This is interpenetration. In a world with no hard edges, the world of luminous flow without shadows, all things infinitely interpenetrate: 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. (Gómez 1967: lxxxviii) The world as seen by the Buddhas, the dharmadhAtu, the way things really are, is one of infinite interpenetration. Inside everything is everything else. And yet no things are confused. As a description of the way things are in our unenlightened world this seems incredible. But the dharmadhAtu is the world as seen by the Buddha wherein there is no question of the world (an objectively real world ‘out there’) as distinct from med- itative vision. Thus the setra is less concerned with describing the world this way as with recounting the Bodhisattva’s attainments by which he can see the world in such a light, and the Bodhisattva’s miraculous powers by which, through his magical interven- tions in this world with no fixed hard boundaries, he can cause things to interpenetrate. The Buddha: has the miraculous power of manifesting all the images of the Dharmadhatu within one single particle of dust . . . of revealing all the Buddhas of the past with their successive doings within a single pore of his skin . . . of evolving clouds of transformation from a single pore of his skin and making them fill all the Buddha lands . . . of revealing in a single pore of his skin the whole history of all the worlds in the ten quarters from their first appearance until their final destruction. (Suzuki 1968: 157) The GaURavyEha SEtra is the climax of this extraordinary story. It is a Pilgrim’s Progress in which our hero, Sudhana, on the Bodhisattva Mañjuzrc’s advice, travels throughout India from one teacher to another, gradually advancing in spiritual growth.16 Since the AvataTsaka SEtra is a setra of spiritual experience, so the GaURavyEha is accordingly less narrative than an unfolding panorama of Sudhana’s experiences. Among his spiritual friends, his teachers (53 in all), many are lay people, from all social groups. Of particular interest is Vasumitra, the prostitute. She is nonetheless an advanced Bodhisattva. The doctrine of skill-in-means apparently knows no bounds. For some suffering sentient beings the best way to receive the teaching of the Buddha is through Vasumitra’s technique of embraces and kisses: ‘Some, with only an embrace, obtain renunciation of passion and attain the Bodhisattva meditation. . . . Some, with only a kiss . . .’ (Wilson in Paul 1979: 161). Religion, it seems, can be fun. The Flower Garland tradition 137

Eventually Sudhana meets the Bodhisattva . Maitreya shows him a great tower, the Tower of Vairocana, which represents the dharmadhAtu, the Universe itself as seen in the Buddha’s vision. Sudhana enters the tower. The experience is overwhelming: To Sudhana’s wondering gaze, the interior of the Tower reveals itself as being as wide as the sky. . . . Moreover within the tower there are hundreds of thousands of towers, each one as exquisitely adorned . . . and each one, while preserving its individual exist- ence, at the same time no obstruction to all the rest. . . . He sees Maitreya and other Bodhisattvas entering into [meditative absorption] and emitting from the pores of their skin multitudes of transformation bodies of various kinds. He also hears all the teachings of the Buddha melodiously issuing from every single pore of the skin of all the Bodhisattvas. He beholds all the Buddhas, together with their respective assem- blies, and is the spectator of their different activities. In one particularly high, spacious, and exquisitely decorated tower, of incomparable beauty, he sees at one glance the entire trichiliocosm . . . and in each one of these worlds he sees Maitreya’s descent to earth, his nativity, and all the subsequent events of his final existence. . . . He sees, moreover, pillars emitting multicoloured radiance. . . .17 Sudhana sees himself and his career in each of the towers. From the egoistic perspective it is admittedly difficult even to imagine what such an experience could possibly feel like. Finally, onto this stage which is already the dharmadhAtu we must introduce the person who, for the AvataTsaka SEtra, is the greatest Bodhisattva of them all. This is Sam- antabhadra (‘Good in All Ways’). In a sense, ’s life, experiences, and being are the underlying theme of the whole vast setra. Samantabhadra is a Bodhisattva, or Buddha (at such rarefied levels distinctions tend to get blurred), who is used by the setra as the model, the path, and the goal. The GaURavyEha’s ‘Prayer of Samantabhadra’ forms an oft-repeated set of Bodhisattva vows, a devotional hymn beginning with what is called in Tibet the ‘seven-limbed ritual’: (i) : I reverently prostrate myself before all the Victorious Ones [Buddhas], multiplying my obeisances as if with bodies as numerous as the dust particles in the earth. . . . I rejoice in the belief that the entire Universe is filled with the Victorious Ones; even on the tip of a grain of sand, Buddhas as numerous as particles of dust exist, each of them sitting in the center surrounded by bodhisattvas. (de Bary et al. 1972: 173) (ii) Making grand mental and real offerings to the Buddhas. (iii) Confession.18 (iv) Rejoicing in the of oneself and others. To rejoice in merit is itself meritorious. (v) Requesting the Enlightened Beings to turn the Wheel of the Doctrine. 138 MahÖyÖna Buddhism

(vi) Requesting them also not to enter into any selfish type of nirvaua which would aban- don sentient beings. (vii) Finally, dedication of the merit gained through performing this Seven-limbed Ritual towards the development of one’s spiritual path to enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings. Samantabhadra, and the practitioner too, following Samantabhadra’s model, then make a number of great Bodhisattva vows. For example: May all beings in the ten quarters always be happy and healthy; may they be endowed with the benefits of piety, may they be successful and their wishes be fulfilled. . . . Allow me to work for the welfare of creatures, as long as the lands and roads exist in the ten quarters, relieving anxieties, extinguishing pain. . . . Allow me to work till the end of time, adjusting myself to the lives of beings, fulfilling the life of Enlightenment. . . . May I see the Buddhas while practicing the course to Enlightenment; on the tip of a particle of dust there are fields as numerous as particles of dust, and in each of these fields there are innumerable Buddhas. . . . (ibid.: 174 ff.) Our pilgrim, Sudhana, wishes actually to see Samantabhadra. To do so he has to develop ‘a great mind vast as space, an unhindered mind relinquishing all worlds and free from attach- ments, an unobstructed mind . . . an unimpeded mind’. And: He perceives ten auspicious signs and ten kinds of light and then Samantabhadra sitting in the Buddha’s assembly. Observing Samantabhadra, he sees in every pore every feature of the mundane and spiritual worlds, and finally he sees himself in Samantabhadra’s being, traversing infinite realms, coursing in a sphere of endless, inexhaustible knowledge, ultimately becoming equal to Samantabhadra and the Buddha, filling the cosmos. (Cleary 1983: 9) And Thomas Cleary finishes: ‘This concludes what many have considered the most gran- diose, the most comprehensive, and the most beautifully arrayed of the Buddhist scriptures.’

The Huayan tradition in China The phenomenon of patriarchs is a particular feature of East Asian Buddhism, in cultures dominated by the Confucian reverence for ancestors. It perhaps originated in the concern within the Chan school for authentic transmission and legitimacy. Within the Huayan tradition in China there is said (retrospectively) to have been five patriarchs: Dushun (Tu-shun; 557–640), Zhiyan (Chih-yen; 602–68), Fazang, Chengguan (Cheng-kuan; 738– 839), and Zongmi (Tsung-mi; 780–841). This patriarchal scheme, however, is apt to be confusing for the modern scholar of Huayan. The earliest use of the expression ‘Huayan