Summary by Bruce Maltz. Edited by Mark Unno, 1/29/02

(See also, Mark Unno, "Key Ideas: Taitetsu Unno, 'Philosophical Schools: San-lun, T'ien-t'ai, and Hua-yen'" 1-3 (CR8).

"Philosophical Schools: San-lun, T'ien-t'ai, and Hua-yen" by Taitetsu Unno

These three schools are represented by founders or prominent patriarchs who have their own "distinctive legacies [lineages], practical agendas and historical limitations: Chi-tsang [643-712 AD] of the San-lun- tsung [Three Treatises School, or literally 'clan']. Chih-I [538-597 AD] of the T'ien-t'ai-tsung [Heaven Terrace School] and Fa-tsang [643-712 AD] of the Hua-yen-tsung [Flower Garland School]. [[p.343]. I have personally noted that Chih-i [Tien-t'ai tradition] predates the other two, and in fact,

Chih-i's teachings greatly influenced the other two schools.

Contextually, these three schools cannot be separated from their historical [i.e. 6th -7th C. AD] and cultural [Sui and T'ang Dynasty, China] environments. Initially, Indian Buddhism was introduced to China by Indian/Kushan scholar/translators [Kumarajiva] and it was an alien philosophy. With the development of Chinese schools of Buddhism, there is an evolution of Sinified Buddhist thought, as exemplified by the above three Chinese patriarchs. By sinification, I mean "made more Chinese-like, with a 'this-world' orientation which affirms the phenomenal and reflects the Confucian ideal of the 'secular as sacred' [p.344]. The Chinese attitude favors a propensity toward cosmic and social harmony and sees "otherworldliness" in this very world. This was in contrast to the Indian predilection for unabashed otherworldly speculation.

 

KEY POINTS:

1. All three of these Chinese Buddhist schools inherited Indian Mahayana via Nagarjuna. They are Middle Way adherents who affirm the emptiness of all dharmas and the Middle Way of realizing ultimate reality [i.e. Middle Way is non-emptiness and non-existence which avoids the 2 extreme views of emptiness and existence] but their interpretations differ somewhat.

2. San-lun thought sought the "middle path of the 8-fold negation" [i.e. by negating false views, the truth is revealed...the apophatic [negating] tradition] and adhered to the 2-fold truth, expounded on four levels.

3. T'ien-t'ai thought seees the Middle Path as the doctrine of jisso [suchness, ultimate existence] and the 3 Truths [emptiness and provisional form are interdependent aspects of the Middle Way. When these aspects are seen simultaneously, this is true reality.] Chih-i's notion of "innate evil" (hsing-e) is also important for understanding his contribution.

4. Hua-yen thought is still based on emptiness and the Middle Way but the lineage is different and the most prominent tenet is Tathagata-garbha [Buddha nature in all things.

5. The three schools base themselves on different sutras and writings. In Chinese thinking, there is harmonious classification and orderliness, but there must be a hierarchy with one highest teaching, like only one king in a country. This position was also transferred to Japan.

a.) San-lun based itself on:
i. Middle Way Treatise [Mulamadhaymaka-shastra, attributed to Nagarjuna, with commentary by Pingala.

ii. 12-Gate Treatise [Ch. Shih-erh-men-lun, Skt. Dvadasha-nikaya-shastra, Jpn. Ju-ni-mon Ron], also attributed to Nagarjuna.

iii. Ch. Pai-lun, Jpn. Hyaku-Ron, Skt. Shata-shastra, attributed to Aryadeva [Daiba, J.], a 3rd C. disciple of Nagarjuna.

b) T'ien-t'ai based itself on:

i. Lotus Sutra [Jpn. Hokekyo or Myo-ho-renge-kyo, Skt. Saddharma-pundarika sutra]

ii. Skt. Mahaparanirvana Sutra, Jpn. Dai-nehangyo, Great Ultimate Nirvana Sutra.

c) Hua-yen based itself on:

i. Flower Garland Sutra [Ch. Hua-yen-ching, Jpn. Kegon-gyo, Skt. Avatamsaka Sutra]

d). All three schools devised their own form of classification for all of the Buddhist teachings. T'ien-t'ai used "Five Periods, Eight kinds of Buddha Teachings", Hua-yen used "Four Tenets, Five Teachings".

6. All three schools agree that the highest truth (emptiness) and mundane truth (form) are inseparable, and that mundane truth is empty but real when viewed through prajna [wisdom] insight [i.e. the Buddha eye]. Hence the ultimate reality [dharma-as-it-is] is seen in non-duality realization [with the Buddha eye, which must be cultivated through practice and study]. They also agree that delusion and enlightenment penetrate each other, that they exist inseparably.

Here are salient quotes that I picked from the reading:

From San-lun school: "When the absolute [non-dualist] middle is realized, spontaneously there appears the pristine reality of individual phenomenon, manifesting its suchness and radiating its own light." [p.349]

"In the highest truth, there are two aspects. First is the true nature of reality, second is the penetrating insight of the wise in which there is true understanding." [from Chung-kuan lun-shu, quoted on p. 349]

From the T'ien-t'ai school: "Samsara is nirvana; there is no extinction of blind passions [Skt. klesha, Jpn. bonno] to be realized. Because there is no suffering and its cause there is no such thing as the mundane world. Because there is no path and no extinction, there is no such thing as the supra-mundane world...All is one true nature of reality; ..there are no separate dharmas. [Mo-ho-chih-kuan, quoted on p. 356].

 

From the Hua-yen school: "Hua-yen focuses on the world of phenonmenal particulars, although on its own terms. That is, Hua-yen sees all things from the standpoint of the accomplished stat of Buddhahood; this world, lokadhatu, and the world of enlightenment, dharmadhatu, are not two separate worlds within the cosmic samadhi of Vairocana Buddha. The only difference between the two worlds is the ignorant attachments of beings to the self, misperceived as enduring, to words and concepts mistaken as absolute, and to external forms misconceived as substantial...Hua-yen chooses to see the world as it is transparently illuminated by Vairocana Buddha. "The real embraces the ramifications of delusion, and delusion penetrates to the fountainhead of the real. Essential nature and phenomenal aspects are mutually harmonized without hindrance and without impediment."[Fen-ch'i-chang, quoted on p. 357, rt.]

 

The most intriguing portion of the whole reading was the concept of the "mutual containment of the ten realms" [T'ien t'ai] and the "3000 worlds in a momentary state of existence" [ichinen sanzen in Japanese]. In the T'ien-t'ai's viewpoint, the beings in the six lower worlds see reality as being, the hearers and solitary Buddhas see reality as emptiness, and the Buddhas see reality as the Middle [true reality]. All of the ten realms are interdependent and interpenetrating and each realm contains the other nine realms.