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The Avataṃsaka Sūtra (Chinese: 華嚴經; pinyin: Huáyán Jīng; Japanese: Kegon Kyō) is one of the most influential scriptures in East Asian Buddhism. The title is rendered in English as Flower Garland Sutra, Flower Adornment Sutra, or Flowers Ornament Scripture.
This text describes a cosmos of infinite realms upon realms, mutually containing each other. The vision expressed in this work was the foundation for the creation of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism, which was characterized by a philosophy of interpenetration. Hua-yen is known as Kegon in Japan.
The sutra is also well known for its detailed description of the course of the bodhisattva's practice through fifty-two stages.
Three full Chinese translations of the Avatamsaka Sutra were made. Fragmentary translation probably began in the second century CE, and the famous Ten Stages Sutra (十地經), often treated as an individual scripture, was first translated in the third century. The first complete Chinese version was completed by Buddhabhadra around 420, the second by Śikṣānanda around 699, and the third by Prajñā around 798.
The last chapter of the Avatamsaka also circulates as a separate text known as the Gandavyuha Sutra. The Gandavyuha Sutra details the journey of the youth Sudhana, who undertakes a pilgrimage at the behest of the bodhisattva Manjushri. Sudhana will converse with 52 masters in his quest for enlightenment. The penultimate master of Sudhana's pilgrimage is Maitreya. It is here that Sudhana encounters "The Tower of Maitreya," which along with "Indra's net" is one of the most startling metaphors of the infinite to emerge from India.
- "In the middle of the great tower... he saw the billion-world universe... and everywhere there was Sudhana at his feet... Thus Sudhana saw Maitreya's practices of... transcendence over countless eons, from each of the squares of the check board wall... In the same way Sudhana... saw the whole supernal manifestation, was perfectly aware it, understood it, contemplated it, used it as a means, beheld it, and saw himself there."[1]
The final master that Sudhana visits is Manjushri. The grandest and most exotic of Indian pilgrimages ends where it began. The Gandavyhua suggests that with a slight shift of perspective we may come to see that the enlightenment that the pilgrim so fervently sought was not only with him at every stage of his journey, but, as well, before he began:
- "When this done, the world of the Gandavyuha (ceases) to be a mystery, a realm devoid of form and corporeality, for now it overlaps this earthly world; no, it becomes that 'Thou art it' and there is a perfect fusion of the two... Samantabhadra's arms raised to save sentient beings become our own, which are now engaged in passing salt to a friend at the table and Maitreya's opening the Vairocana Tower for Sudhana is our ushering a caller into the parlor for a friendly chat."[2]
Kang-nam Oh (2000: p.287) discusses how Taoism influenced Hua-yen Buddhism and how dharmadhatu became qualified with the Taoist term and concept "hsüan":
The first Taoist element that can easily be pointed to in the Hua-yen system is the idea of hsüan. For Hua-yen the hsüan or mystery, profundity, deep truth, darkness, subtleness and the like, is the key word used to represent the whole truth of the dharmadhātu. Chih-yen uses the word hsüan in the title of his magnum opus, Hua-yen ching Sou-hsüan-chi (The Record of Probing the Hsüan of the Avataṁsaka -sūtra).[3] This implies that the aim of his probing into the Avataṁsaka -sūtra was to get into the hsüan mystery. Fa-tsang’s monumental commentary on the Avataṁsaka also has the title T’an-hsüan-chi. And Ch’eng-kuan also calls his commentary on the Fa-chieh-kuan-men “Fa-chieh-hsüan-ching.” Above all, the cardinal doctrine in connection with the dharmadhātu has been throughout these patriarchs of the Hua-yen school, the “ten mysteries” or ten hsüans.[4]
See also
Further reading
References
- ^ Thomas Cleary's translation of the Gandavyuha Sutra, Entry Into the Realm of Realty
- ^ D.T. Suzuki, Essays in Zen Buddhism, Series 3
- ^ The term “sou-hsuan” appears in Seng-chao’s work. Cf. T.45, p.159b, 1. 12.
- ^ Oh, Kang-nam (2000). The Taoist Influence on Hua-yen Buddhism: A Case of the Sinicization of Buddhism in China. Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 13, (2000). Source: [1] (accessed: January 28, 2008) p. 287
External links
cs:Avatansaka sútra
de:Avatamsaka-Sutra es:Sutra de la Guirnalda fr:Sūtra Avatamsaka ja:華厳経 pl:Avatamsaka Sutra vi:Đại Phương Quảng Phật Hoa Nghiêm kinh
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