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Commentary to the Hua-Yan Dm Rma-Realm Meditation

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Commentary to the Hua-Yan Dm Rma-Realm Meditation COMMENTARY TO THE HUA-YAN DM RMA-REALM MEDITATION (Translated, with an Introduction and Notes) by SALLIE BEEN KING B.A., Smith College, 1973 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FTJLF1XMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of Religious Studies We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA September, 1975 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the Head of my Department or by his representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my writ ten pe rm i ss i on . Department of g_.ki.___t SJuri-tt The University of British Columbia 2075 Wesbrook Place Vancouver, Canada V6T 1W5 Date Sylt^u*, ,g /. ^ ABSTRACT This thesis is a translation, with notes and introduction, of the Commentary to the Hua-yan Dharma-realm Meditation, This text is a commentary to the Dharma-realm Meditation, which is incorporated into the former. The core text is by the first patriarch of the Hua-yan school of Buddhism in China, Du-shun (557-64-0)5 the commentary is by the fifth patriarch of the Hua-yan school, Zong-mi (780-841), The text is both philosophical and medltatlonal in nature, and is a concise statement of the key doctrines of the school. The introduction to this text prepares the reader for the translation by providing the information and concepts necessary for an understanding of the text. This includes material on the trans• lation of technical terms, a brief sketch of some Buddhist texts referred to by the authors, biographical information on the authors, historical and philosophical background to the Hua-yan school, a comment on the literary and meditational aspects of the text, and a general summary of the text by chapters, iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgement v Purpose 1 Method 2 Introduction 3 Translation of Technical Terras 3 A Comment on Some Important Texts 12 Biographical Background 14- Du-shun 14 Zong-mi 16 Background to the Hua-yan School 21 Historical Background 21 Philosophical Background 25 The Text 37 Literary Aspect 37 Meditational Aspect 38 General Summary of the Text, by Chapters 41 Footnotes to the Introduction 48 Foreword to the Translation 55 Commentary to the Hua-yan Dharma-realm Meditation Introduction 56 Chapter One The Contemplation of Real Emptiness 60 Footnotes to Chapter One 81 Chapter Two The Contemplation of the Non-Obstruction of Noumenon and Phenomena 89 Footnotes to Chapter Two 110 Chapter Three The Contemplation of Universal Inclusion 116 Footnotes to Chapter Three 135 Chinese Characters 138 Bibliography 1._ V AOCNOWLiaXJEffiNT I am grateful to a number of people who have helped me in this effort. Above all, I want to thank Professor Leon Hurvitz for the many hours of supervision, criticism, and correction which he so generously gave. The intricacies of the Chinese language are sufficient to turn away all but the most knowledgeable and experienced enquirerj to have such a person as a guide makes all the difference between possibility and impossibility in an effort such as this, I have been most fortunate, I also want to thank Professor Francis Cook of the University of California at Riverside, for originally suggesting the topic to me, and subsequently giving information and encouragement, and Professor Taitetsu Unno of Smith College, Massachusetts, for similar aid and inspiration. Thanks to Professor Joe Richardson for the guidance and general direction he provided, and to Alan Sponberg for help as only a senior graduate student can give. Finally, I would like to thank the Department of Religious Studies for the financial support I have enjoyed these years. 1 PURPOSE This thesis makes available in English a text which has played a key role in the formation of the Hua-yan school of Buddhism in China, This school is little known in the West, and less under• stood. While no longer extant in China, it took root in Japan and currently flourishes there. The present work is the translation of a core text, the Dharma-realm Meditation, and a commentary on it. While the core text is available in English (translated by Garma C. C. Chang in his The Buddhist Teaching of Totality The Philosophy of Hwa Yen Buddhism (University Parkt Pennsylvania State University Press, 1971)» PP. 207-223), it was translated without commentary, and in that form it is virtually incomprehensible. Presented here with commentary, it can be seen to be a very concise statement of a profound and comprehensive philosophy. 2 METHOD I relied on the version of the text as found in the Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo*> ed, Takakusu Junjiro and Watanabe Kaikyoku (Tokyo s Daizo Shuppansha, 1924-34) #1884, Volume 45, pp. 683-692. I compared the core text with Taisho" #1883, another commentary which incorporates the core text, I read the text and prepared a "crib", working with the aid and supervision of Professor Leon Hurvitz, Then I prepared a translation which was checked again by Professor Hurvitz, Finally, I wrote an introduction including all the background material I felt necessary to a proper understanding of the text for one familiar with the basic teachings of Buddhism, The system of transliteration used throughout the thesis is the "pinyin" system, without the marking for tones, I included many Chinese terms in the translation for the benefit of the Chinese reader, but relegated most of the characters to the end of the text, to avoid intimidating the non-Chinese reader. 3 INTRODUCTION Translation of Technical Terms There are several terms, the translation of which require a foreword of explanation. While I tried to remain faithful to standard translation whenever possible, there were instances in which this practice would have been confusing, if not misleading. Several terms require different renderings in different contexts. The most problematic terms is li gjj^, which was usually trans• lated as "noumenon*', but sometimes as "truth", I eschewed the perhaps standard translation, "principle" to avoid possible confusion with the Confucian use of the term, which denotes rational order, whether on the microcosmic level of the individual, the social level of government, or the raacrocosmic level of the universe,Though this is a use of the term which had evolved over the centuries, li was bound to evolve further, particularly when brought into the Buddhist framework, Zurcher focuses on Zhi Dun (Chih Tun), a fourth century monk, as a significant figure in this process. He states that with Zhi Dun, li "(as far as we know for the first time) acquires a new and more abstract significance, the Chinese concept of cosmic or natural order having merged with the Buddhist notion of transcen- dental Truth, Suchness (tathata,)." DeraieVille makes the same point, a bit more expansivelyt 4 Nous voila en pleine mStaphysique. De la raultlplicitS d<?.*> otres (wou^j) qui s'offrent a notre experience bornSe, de la d.VvorsitS des faits (che Jfv), des SvSnements sans cesse changeants, la Chine antique avait degage la notion d'un ordre universe!, d'une 'rationalite* structurelle qui les totalisait et les uni.C:lalt, Mais ce li restait compris dans le raondei c'ltait une explica• tion du raonde et de la nature, non pas leur negation, mOmo pas une negation niee a son tour par la dialectique des contraires, Avec Tche Touen [Zhi Dun") et le bouddhisme, on accede a una ambiance differente, Le li releve des lors d'un ordre surna- turel, 'supraraondain' a la maniere indienne ou neo-platon.Vol©nne, en somrae indo-europSene, tel que jamais la Chine n'en avait connu jusque la,3 However, the story of li does not end there, A continually evolving term, we find in the text at hand a very significant further development in its use. One of the most unmistakable points of the text is the immanence of this transcendental li. Over and ovor again we are shown that li and shi , phenomena) coalesce, enter each other, are like each other, are not different, etc. Hence, neither transcen• dence nor immanence is able to describe li, unless both terms are taken together in a dialectic, the resolution of which is li. Yet 11 remains always and inescapably the opposite of shi and thus does preserve some• thing of a transcendental flavor, especially episteraologically. Hence my translation as "noumenon". The term is actually untranslatable, but this will do as long as one does not conceive of "nouraenon" as a thing. For here, as in the rest of mainstream MahSyana thought, reification of terms that are intended only as pointers along the spiritual way, is a very serious error. That li must be so treated is evident from another of its trans• lations, "truth". Here the sense is close to "true principle", but these are always Buddhist truths, not truths of a Confucian rational 5 order. One may find scattered throughout the text such phrases as, "the Truth of the Middle Way", "the Truth of Real Emptiness", or "the Truth of no-self (ariltman) in dharmas", This is the same li that is also rendered as "noumenon" — the epistamological character of the latter, then, is clear. In short, "noumenon" and "the Truth of Real Emptiness" are interchangeable terms. I have already mentioned in passing the term shi jjl , which I have consistently rendered as "phenomenon/phenomena".
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