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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION

The Avamtasaka Sutra (Huayen jing), a key Mahāyāna Scripure, is among

the most influential texts in the history of Asian Buddhism. The scripture’s

cosmic, vision of infinite and perfectly interfused world and its exalted depictions

of an all-encompassing realm of reality inspired the formation of the Huayen

School, which adopted its name.

In Chinese, its full title is Dafangguang fo Huayen jing. It is often referred

to as the Avatamsaka Sūtra, and is also known by the English titles Flower

Ornament Scripture.

Traditionally, the Avatamsaka Sūtra (Huayen jing) is considered to the first

scripture preached by the Buddha, directed toward an audience of advantaged

Bodhisattvas, Its contents were supposedly revealed just after the Buddha’s

realization of awakening as he was deeply immersed in a profound Samadhi that

illuminates the true nature of reality.

In accordance with the text’s arcane purport, its main Buddha is Vairocana,

the cosmic embodiment of the Buddha’s body of truth (dharmakāya),

When Śākyamuni Buddha got enlightened at Bodha Gaya, He said without

a second thought, “what a wonder! What a wonder! All sentient beings, grass, tree

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and lands, are not endowed without the features of Tathāgata’s virtue and

wisdom.” The Buddha reveals to us what the Avatamsaka Sūtra tries to tell us that

human beings, all other creatures, natural things, nothing is not the unfolding of

the Buddha Nature in this world. This truth is not limited by the space and time,

and it goes beyond all verbal and literary description.

The contents of the Scripture take on monumental proportions covering a

wide range of Mahāyāna beliefs, doctrines, and practices. The scripture makes

extensive use of visual metaphors, especially images of light and space in its

depictions of an infinite universe in which all things interpenetrate without

obstruction.

The very first chapter of the thesis delineates the origin and development of

the Avataṁsaka Sūtra (Huayen Sūtra). The Avataṁsaka Sūtra is the second

longest sutra in the Mahāyāna canon. It consists of large important, independent

sutras, namely: Gaṇḍavyūha Sūtra, Daśabhūmika Sūtra, Amitāyurdyhāna Sūtra,

etc. It records the higher teachings of the Buddha to Bodhisattvas and other high

spiritual beings.

Here it is also necessary to give an explanation regarding the title of the

sutra. As we know, the Gaṇḍavyūha and the Avataṁsaka have been more or less

indiscriminately used for the Chinese Huayen. Gaṇḍavyūha so far appears to

correspond to the Chinese Huayen. Gaṇḍa means hua or flower, i.e; ordinary

flower, and Vyuha mean yen, i.e., chuang-yen or ornament, array. According to

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Fa-tsang’s commentary on the Huayen Sutra, its original Sanskrit title is given as

chien-na- p’iao- ho, which stands as nearly as the Chinese phonetics for the

transliteration of Gaṇḍavyūha. Then chien-na is understood as “common flower”

and p’iao-ho as “decoration”. Avataṁsaka, on the other hand, means “garland”, or

“flower decoration”, and may be regarded as an equivalent to Huayen.1

Chapter two depicts the special feature of the Avataṁsaka Sūtra which

offers human beings, the way of the life or conception of life. The central teaching

of the Huayen Sūtra is the dharmadhātu doctrine, or more specifically, the

dharmadhātu-pratītyasamutpāda (fa-chieh yuan-ch’i). The Sanskrit term

dharmadhātu2, which is a compound consisting of dharma and dhātu, has been

variously translated as “the Element of the Elements,” “The Realm of All

Elements,” “the Dharma-Element,” the “Reality or Essence of Dharma-s,” “the

Nominal Ground of Phenomena,” “the Essence of Reality,” “the Ultimate

Reality,” “Supreme Reality,” “Totality,” and so on. It is, in short, a designation of

the “Ground of all Being.” The term pratītyasamutpāda means “dependent co-

origination.”

1 Hua-yen Sutra (Sanskrit: Avataṁsaka or Ganḍavyūha Sutra): there are various Chinese translations of thistext. The selections made for this book are taken from the translation of Śikṣānanda’s version, Taisho 279.

2 Dharmadhātu (Chinese:Fa Chich): the realm of dharma-s. Here, Dharmadhātu refers to the realm ofTotality or Infinity in the light of the highest insight and spiritual perspective of Buddhahood.

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This idea of dharmadhātu-pratītyasamutpāda which was originally found

in the Avataṁsaka-sūtra or Huayen jing, was fully developed by the Huayen

school into a systematic doctrine palatable to the Chinese intellectual taste.

“The Conception of the Ten Stages of the Bodhisattva” is the third chapter

of the thesis. The concept of Bodhisattva, along with that of Buddha and of the

Cakravartin (world-ruler), was in vogue in India even before the appearance of

Gautama the Buddha. When Prince Siddhartha, who later became Gautama

Buddha, took conception in the womb of Queen Maya, a seer predicted that

Suddhodana's future son would be either a world-ruler (Cakravartin) or a Buddha.

Sammāsambodhi or Perfect Enlightenment is an impersonal universal

phenomenon occurring in a particular context both in time and in space and a

Buddha is thus a person who re-discovers the Dhamma, which had become lost to

the world and proclaims it anew. When Gautama Buddha appeared, however, he

himself as well as others used the term Bodhisattva to indicate his career from the

time of his renunciation up to the time of his enlightenment. Later, its use was

extended to denote the period from Gautama's conception to the enlightenment

and, thereafter, to all the Buddha-s from their conception to Buddhahood. By

applying the doctrine of karma and of rebirth, which had general acceptance even

in pre-Buddhist India, the use of the term was further extended to refer to the past

lives not only of Gautama Buddha, but also of those rare beings who aspire for

Perfect Enlightenment.

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The Ten Stages Sūtra (Sankrit: Daśabhūmikasūtra-śāstra, Dasabhūmika-

bhāsya; also known as the Sūtra of the Ten Stages or Daśabhūmika Sutra, is an

early, influential Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture written by Vasubandhu in Sanskrit

and translated into Chinese by Bodhiruci and others during the 6th century.

The most important sections are the Daśabhūmika, which describes the

levels (bhūmi) traversed by a Bodhisattva, and the final chapter, the Gaṇḍavyūha,

which depicts the journey of a youth named Sudhana as he visits one teacher after

another, eventually seeing a total of fifty three. The ten stages are:

1. The first is the stage of Joy (Pramuditā).

2. The second is the stage of Purity (Vimalā).

3. The third is the stage of Illumination (Prabhā-kari).

4. The fourth is the stage of Flaming Insight in which one attains the

perfection of bravery or effort (Virya).

5. The fifth is the stage of Utmost Invincibility (Sudurjaya).

6. The sixth is the stage of Mental Presence (Abhimukhi).

7. The seventh is the stage of Far-Going (Duraṅgama).

8. The eighth is the stage of Immovability (Acalā).

9. The ninth is the stage of Good Wisdom (Sādhumati).

10. The tenth is the stage of Ideal Cloud (Dharma-megha).

These ten stages are given in the “wreath” text and are special to the

Mahāyāna Buddhism. Although they are an enumeration of the ascending stages

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of the Bodhisattva, they can be used for practical purposes by any aspirant who is

studying or practicing meditation in order to proceed to the holy stages in the

future.

Chapter four is the “Conception of the Universe in the Avataṁsaka Sūtra

(Huayen Sūtra)”. The proper attitude and the point of view of the universe have

been discussed in this chapter. “Dharmadhātu is the realm of reality in which all

dharma-s or things in the universe arise simultaneously. In other words, it is the

creation of the universe by the universe itself. Furthermore, according to the

classification of Hua-yen school, this Dharmadhātu can be divided into four

fold3”. For the two aspects of all Dharma-s, both 'Li' and 'Shih' are interpenetrated

with each other, and all phenomena are mutually identified. All phenomena are the

manifestations of noumenon, and each individual phenomenon embraces every

other phenomenon. Thus, the Four Dharmadhātu are identified.

1. The Dharmadhātu of”'Shih”. This is a realm of phenomena, in which all things

are seen as distinct, discrete and different objects, matter, events and Dharma-s

occur in the empirical worlds.

2. The Dharmadhātu of “Li”. This is a realm, in which the principles underlying

all phenomena and the immanent reality upholding all Dharma-s are seen. It is

a realm beyond the perceptions of human beings, but can be visualized by the

enlightened ones through intuition.

3 Junjiro Takakusu, Essentials of Buddhist Philosophy, pp. 123-4.

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3. The Dharmadhātu of Non-obstruction of”'Li” against “Shih”. This is a realm, in

which “Li” and “Shih” are regarded as the inseparable unity. That means,

without one, the other would be meaningless. They are mutually

interpenetrating and completely identical, i.e. they are non-dual.

4. The Dharmadhātu of Non-obstruction of “Shih against Shih”. This is the

ultimate and the only Dharmadhātu that truly exists, as the first three

Dharmadhātu are merely explanatory expediencies to approach this realm. In

this realm, each and every individual “Shih” enters into and merges with all

other 'Shih' in perfect freedom, without the aid of “Li”.

The doctrine of the Absolute Śūnyatā has also been discussed in this chapter.

In this final chapter the summary of the studies done in the previous chapters has

been presented. It also includes the discussion related to the different aspects of

our life.

A central theme that runs throughout the whole text is the cultivation of

Bodhisattva path, with its distinct stages, practices and realizations.

From the initial determination, the process should go through fifty-two

stages, which include ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, and ten

stages. The path culminates with the attainment of the two levels of equal and

sublime enlightenment. To practice what one preaches, one has to practice each

stage diligently, with the great wisdom of Manjusri to conduct the myriad practice

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of Samantabhadra, a practitioner is supposed not to stay away from birth and

death, not to enter into Nirvana, not to forsake all the sentient beings. Namely, a

practitioner should not pursuer personal enjoyment, but vow to lead all sentient

beings across the sea of mundane life inherently full of sufferings. Such a mind-set

is qualified as what a Huayen Bodhisattva should put into action.

The Bodhisattva is an actual religious goal for lay and monastic Buddhists,

as well as the name for a class of celestial beings who are worshiped along with

the Buddha. The Mahayana developed doctrines of the eternal and absolute nature

of the Buddha, of which the historical Buddha is regarded as a temporary

manifestation.

The Bodhisattva path in the final chapter, i.e., The Entry into the Realm of

Reality (Gandhavyūha Sūtra in Sanskrit), which relates the journey of the pilgrim

Sudhana to a sequence of fifty-three different Bodhisattva teachers.

This is the story of the youth Sudhana , Who represents all sentient beings

aspiring to enlightenment, and of his long pilgrimage, during which he takes

instruction from a number of spiritual advisers (fifty-two to fifty-four, depending

on how one counts) and in effect accomplishes the Bodhisattava path charted

throughout the rest of the scripture. It is especially rich in the symbolism of fusion,

interpenetration, and unity within multiplicity that would later inspire Huayen

doctrine.

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During his travels from guru to guru, Sudhana contemplates what he has

just learnt and then integrates each new-found piece of knowledge into his

spiritual practice. The underlying message of the text is that the spiritual practice

of enlightening beings is not to be found in any one place or embodied in any

single individual.

Sudhana says, “Bodhisattvas are navigators showing the way on the ocean

of truth; Bodhisattvas are bridges conveying all sentient beings across the sea of

mundane life; enlightening beings are a pathway to the holy for all sentient

beings.”4

Among Sudhana's other teachers is the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara, and a

host of other saints, monks, and sages. At each stage of the journey, the young

man is shown inconceivable miracles, vast treasures, a multiplicity of worlds,

visions of innumerable Buddha-s and Bodhisattvas, incomparable magical powers,

and the infinity of space and time itself. But perhaps the most important revelation

is that the ultimate truth is not only to be found in heaven, but also in meetings

with ordinary people from all walks of life. In the Gandavyuha, the mundane

world of everyday life is transformed into a luminous existence that consists of

one continuous and miraculous teaching.

4 "Entry into the Realm of Reality," from the Avatamsaka Sutra, Thomas Cleary translation, p. 1138

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“From a fisherman he learned the lore of the sea. From a doctor he learned

compassion toward sick people in their suffering. From a wealthy man he learned

that saving pennies was the secret of his fortune and thought how necessary it was

to conserve every trifling gained on the path to Enlightenment.

From a meditating monk he learned that the pure and peaceful mind had a

miraculous power to purify and tranquilize other minds. Once he met a woman of

exceptional personality and was impressed by her benevolent spirit, and from her

he learned a lesson that charity was the fruit of wisdom. Once he met an aged

wanderer who told him that, to reach a certain place, he had to scale a mountain of

swords and pass through a valley of fire. Thus Sudhana learnt from his

experiences that there was a true teaching to be gained from everything that he

saw or heard.

He learnt patience from a poor, cripple woman, he learnt a lesson of simple

happiness from watching children playing in the street; and from some gentle and

humble people, who never thought of wanting anything that anybody else wanted,

he learnt the secret of living at peace with the world. He learnt a lesson of

harmony from watching the blending of the elements of incense, and a lesson of

thanksgiving from the arrangement of flowers.

One day, passing through a forest, he took a rest under a noble tree and

noticed a tiny seedling growing nearby out of a fallen and decaying tree and it

taught him a lesson of the uncertainty of life. Sunlight by day and the twinkling

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stars by night constantly refreshed his spirit. Thus Sudhana profited by the

experiences of his long journey.”5

The Sutra therefore begins by presenting a vision of Enlightenment which

is intended to awaken faith in the heart of its readers and inspire them with the

desire to achieve this Enlightenment themselves. The following chapters then

deepen the readers' understanding of the nature of Enlightenment and go on to

explain in detail the practices that Bodhisattvas must undertake if they are to

develop their wisdom and compassion to the point where they will be able to

fulfill the vows and emulate the conduct of Samantabhadra, liberating beings

everywhere from their delusions and opening their eyes to the ultimate truth.

Finally, in the story of Sudhana, the Sutra provides the concrete example of a

practitioner who followed the Bodhisattva path from beginning to end, from the

first Aspiration to Enlightenment through a long period of training under many

teachers until the achievement of final realization.

When seen in this light, the Sutra itself becomes a guru, a spiritual teacher,

and for the Huayen School this is one of the qualities that make this particular text

unique. Other Buddhist sutras, no matter how profound and authoritative they may

be, are still venerated simply and primarily as a record of the Buddha’s teaching.

The Avatamsaka Sutra however is much more than this, for it is also a direct

manifestation of the Buddha's Enlightenment. That is to say, it is not just a text but

5 The Teaching of Buddha by Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, Tokyo, 1966.

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also a Nirmanakaya, an embodiment of the all-embracing awareness of

Buddhahood in the form of paper and ink. The Huayen tradition affirms that those

who have faith in this Sutra, listen carefully to what it has to say and open their

hearts to its inner meaning will, like Sudhana, be infallibly guided by the wisdom

of Manjushri through the commitments and practices of Samantabhadra to the

state of complete Enlightenment that is Vairocana.

These great Bodhisattvas present a democratic vision of Dharma, as they

include women and men, laypeople and priests, beggars and kings and queens.

The chapter culminates with Sudhana's entry into the inconceivably vast tower of

Maitreya Bodhisattva, the next future Buddha, a lofty mind-boggling episode that

even the special effects wizardry of George Lucas and his colleagues could not

begin to capture. Maitreya's tower, as extensive as all of space, contains a vast

number of equally spacious towers overflowing with amazing sights, each without

interfering with the space of any of the others.

Although these two sutras within a sutra stand out, any chapter of the larger

Flower Ornament Sūtra can serve as an entryway to its awareness, because of the

holographic quality of the text, in which each part in itself fully exemplifies the

entirety of the whole. This interfusion of the particular with the totality becomes

the heart of the Huayen philosophy and practice. The larger sutra is replete with

myriad Buddha-s and Bodhisattvas, described as filling every grass-tip or atom.

But the primary Buddha of the Flower Ornament Sūtra is Vairocana, the Reality

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Body Buddha (Dharmakāya in Sanskrit) whose body is the equivalent of the entire

phenomenal universe, which is known in Buddhism as the Dharmadhātu.

Vairocana is also the primary Buddha in many Mandalas in Vajrayana, or Tantric

Buddhism. The heroic Bodhisattva most prominently featured in the sutra is

Samantabhadra, whose name means “Universal Virtue.” Often depicted riding an

elephant, Samantabhadra with his calm dignity specializes in performing

devotional observances and artistic, aesthetic expressions of the sacredness. He

also resolutely practices the Bodhisattva Vow through accomplishing many

varieties of helpful projects, all aimed at benefiting all beings and engaging all the

societal systems of the world. As a result, Samantabhadra can serve as a great

encouragement and resource both for artists and for modern “engaged” Buddhism

and its renewal of Buddhist societal ethics.

In the “Avatamsaka Sutra”, the Eighty Volumes, particularly the practice of

Bodhisattva Samantabhadra, teaches the integration of Buddhist practice with all

aspects of life, and is suitable and practical for the modern age.

As a Samantabhadra practitioner, there are Four Endless Beneficence

Aspirations:

1. Until the infinite space exhausted,

2. Until the sphere of sentient beings comes to an end,

3. Until the klesa of sentient beings comes to an end,

4. Until the karma of sentient beings comes to an end.

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Our Beneficence shall never cease by indefatigable deeds of action, speech and

volition.

The Huayen doctrine shows the entire cosmos as a single nexus of conditions

in which everything simultaneously depends on, and is depended on by,

everything else. Seen in this light, then, everything affects and is affected by, more

or less immediately or remotely, everything else; just as this is true of every

system of relationships, so is it true of the totality of existence. In seeking to

understand individuals and groups, therefore, Huayen thought considers the

manifold as an integral part of the unit and the unit as an integral part of the

manifold; one individual is considered in terms of relationships to other

individuals as well as to the whole nexus, while the whole nexus is considered in

terms of its relation to each individual as well as to all individuals. The ethic of the

Huayen teaching is based on this fundamental theme of universal interdependence;

while the so-called Bodhisattva, the person devoted to enlightenment, constantly

nourishes aspiration and will going beyond the world, nevertheless the striving for

completion and perfection, the development of ever greater awareness, knowledge,

freedom, and capability, is continually reinvested, as it were, in the world,

dedicated to the liberation and enlightenment of all beings. The awakening and

unfolding of the complete human potential leads to realms beyond that of

conventional experience, and indeed to ultimate transcendence of all conditional

experience, yet the bodhisattva never maligns the ordinary and does not forsake it,

instead translating appropriate aspects of higher knowledge into insights and

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actions conducive to the common weal. It is generally characteristic of Mahāyāna

or universalistic Buddhism that the mundane welfare of beings is considered a

legitimate, if not ultimate, aim of Bodhisattva activity, and many aspects of the

ethical and practical life of bodhisattvas may be seen in this light… Bodhisattva-s

therefore strive to benefit all equally, without losing sight of the diversity and

complexity of the means necessary to accomplish this end.

The Doctrine of Emptiness or Dependent Co-arisen Unity or Non-duality

makes us fully aware that each and every one of us is part and parcel of the

interdependent cosmic ecosystem. All contingent beings in the macro-ecosystem

are supporting others and are being supported by others too. Such a holistic

worldview is consonant with Huayen Buddhist Doctrine of Identity and

Interdependence (Dharmadhātu pratītyasamutpāda). All phenomena are

apparently diverge and distinct. In actuality, they are all identical ultimately

because all phenomena are empty of self-natures (niḥsvabhāva-s) and are thus

ultimately formless. The forms perceived conventionally are illusive and unreal.

Emptiness of self-natures or forms denotes interdependent existence or unity of

existence. Huayen Buddhism promulgates that every thing is Vairocana or has a

Buddha-nature. Such knowledge of Dharma enables one to understand relationship

between Man and the natural environment.

The Huayen school was officially founded by Fa-tsang (or Shan-shiang

643-712) based on his scholarly contribution to the Huayen theory. His religious

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work attracted a lot of attention and eventually produced significant influence on

the emperor. With strong political support from the emperor, Fa-tsang was able to

create a new school system that outspread quickly during the time. Even this

school was started from Fa-tsand, its earliest theory and structure go back to the

masters Tu-shun(or Fa-shun, 557-640) and Chih-yen (602-668), who are

considered the first two patriarchs of the Huayen school. Tu-shun's “Five levels of

teaching” and “Ten profound gates” formed the root of the school system. And he

was regarded by his successors as an incarnation of Manjushri.

Further important representatives were Cheng-kuan (or Ching-liang 738-

839), under whom the school gained great influence. Cheng-kuan was the master

of several emperors. With his special relationship to the political leaders, Cheng-

kuan earned the title “the Huayen Bodhisattva” and was regarded as the fourth

patriarch. The fifth patriarch of the school was Tsung-mi (780-841), who initiated

the concept of merging Zen and Huayen in one school. After the death of Tsung-

mi, Huayen declined during the general suppression of Buddhism in China.

The Huayen school distinguishes itself from the other Chinese Buddhist

schools in an important viewpoint. The practice in this school concentrates on the

relationship between phenomena and not on that between phenomena and the

absolute. This notion is called the “universal causality of the Dharmadhātu

(universal principle),” i.e., everything in the universe arises out of itself and the

principles of all activities (phenomena) are essentially one, and that unity is

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essentially plural. Since all things participate in a unity and this unity divides into

the many, therefore the manifold is unified in this one. Based on the theory, there

are an infinite number of Buddha-s and Buddha realms in the universe and they all

share the same true Buddha body and live with the same principle in the similar

Buddha realm, they are just like individual waves of the same sea and these waves

cannot exist independently. Because the equality of all things and the dependence

of all things upon one another are so essential in this school, this teaching is

known as the “teaching of totality”.

From this point of view everything in the world, whether animate or

inanimate, is an expression of the highest principle (Dharmadhātu) and is thus one

with Buddha -mind. This view is explained in the division of the universe into four

realms and in the thesis of the six characteristics of things. They are in either a

state of “true suchness” (tathatā). The static aspect of which is the realm of

“principle” (“li”). The dynamic aspect of which is the realm of phenomena

(“Shih”). These two realms are so interwoven and dependent on each other that the

entire universe arises as an interdependent conditioning. The four realms of the

universe are as follows:

1. The realm of phenomena: The Small teaching and Begin teaching define this

realm as the world of Dharma.

2. The realm of the principle (absolute): The Begin and Sudden teachings define

this realm as the world of Dharma.

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3. The realm in which phenomena and principle mutually interpenetrate: The End

teaching defines this realm as the world of Dharma. It touches the basis of

Middle Way and provides the integrated system for the phenomena and

principle realms.

4. The realm in which all phenomena exist in perfect harmony: This is the

teaching of totality. Based on the theory, the Round teaching is able to resolve

the different viewpoints from results of different phenomenal experiences.

To explain these many-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many

relationships of phenomena, Huayen's teaching defines that the dharma possesses

the six characteristics:

1. Universality: The view of corresponding object as a whole.

2. Specificity: The parts of the object only fulfill the specific function and are

distinct from each other.

3. Similarity: All the parts consist in the fact that they are part of the object.

4. Distinctness: All the parts express the distinct functions in the object.

5. Composition: The characteristic of integration that all parts together make up

the object.

6. Decomposition: Every part takes its own particular place and the object can be

completed only if each part shows the nature of their differentiation.

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Like the Tien-tai school, Huayen undertakes a division of the Buddha's

teaching into different categories. Unlike Tien-tai's intention of integrating

different Indian Buddhism theories, Huayen's focus was more on synthesizing

different viewpoints of Chinese schools during early Tang Dynasty. This school

classified Buddhist scriptures and doctrines on five levels. With its own teaching

as the highest and most complete teaching of all. These five levels are:

1. Small teaching: The Hīnayāna teaching. It is considered the "small vehicle"

teaching because it only focuses on individual liberation and it appears in the

Agamas period.

2. Begin teaching: The beginning teachings of the Mahāyāna, which sees all

dharma-s are emptiness because they arise in a conditioned fashion. And

because it denies all beings possess Buddha-nature (with the potential of being

an enlightenment one) therefore it is considered an elementary (or begin)

teaching. As advocated by the Fa-hsiang and San-lun schools.

3. End teaching: The end teaching of the Mahāyāna. On this level all things are

considered to arise with causality by emptiness nature, and their individual

independent existence is admitted. As presented by the Tien-tai school.

4. Sudden teaching: Unlike the previous two teachings that require gradual

practice, enlightenment can be attained suddenly through special techniques

taught in the teaching. This is the stage of Zen.

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5. Complete (Round) teaching: The ultimate and complete teaching of the

Buddha's teaching, the teaching of the Huayen school. Where all beings and

activities (phenomena) exist in perfect harmony.

The Huayen teachings present splendorous, inspiring visions of the

wonders of the universal reality, far beyond the limited perspectives caught within

the physical details and conditioned awareness of our everyday life. This teaching

first of all encourages the possibility of a fresh, deeper way of seeing our world

and its wonders. With the encouragement of these teachings, we can sense levels

of spiritual interconnection with others and with the wholeness of reality that lift

us beyond our ordinary attachments and prejudices. Such vision can help to heal

our individual confusion, grasping, and sense of sadness or loss. But beyond this

deeper connection with wholeness, the Huayen teachings also offer guidance for

more complete balance in practice. The emphasis on integration of glimpses into

the ultimate with the particular problems and challenges of our everyday situations

can help practitioners not get caught up in blissful absorption in awareness of

ultimate reality. Attachment to the ultimate is considered the most dangerous

attachment. But attending to the conventional realities of our world with some

sense of the omnipresence of the totality helps to balance our practice, and can

also further inform our deeper sense of wholeness.

The Huayen tools for bringing the universal into our everyday experience

are gatha-s, or verses, which include many practice instructions to be used as

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enlightening reminders in all kinds of everyday situations. Specifically, the

eleventh chapter of the Flower Ornament Sutra, called “Purifying Practice,”

includes one hundred forty distinct verses to be used to encourage mindfulness in

particular circumstances. Some of the following situations are cited: awakening

from sleep; before, during, and after eating; seeing a large tree, flowing water,

flowers blooming, a lake, or a bridge; entering a house; giving or receiving a gift;

meeting teachers, or many various other kinds of people; or proceeding on

straight, winding, or hilly roads.

All the verses use the situation mentioned to encourage mindfulness and as

reminders of the fundamental intention to help ourself and others more fully

express compassion and wisdom, as in the following example:

Seeing grateful people they should wish that all beings Be able to know the

blessings of the Buddhas and enlightening beings.

Historically, a selection of these verses has been recited in East Asian

monasteries as rituals before and after bathing, brushing teeth, taking meals, or

while doing begging rounds. Huayen models of interconnectedness point to the

experience of wholeness that is one of the great joys of zazen. From the

perspective of zazen, meditation practice is not about attaining some special, new

state of mind or being, but rather of fully realizing the inner dignity of this present

body and mind. Huayen further explicates the importance of the relationship of

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wholeness to everyday activities, matching the central emphasis of Zen training on

expressing clear awareness amid ordinary conduct.

Among the most important applications of these ideas with Mahayana has

been to expose the emptiness and the co-dependently arisen qualities of even

Buddhism itself. Mahayana claims itself to be an important vehicle to liberation,

but it also points to its own provisional character. Mahayana does not see itself as

an end, but as means to an end. That end is liberation, enlightenment, and an end

to suffering. However, as with all religions, there is a tendency for the religion to

reinforce itself as real, as an end in itself, within the minds of its adherents. The

philosophical traditions of emptiness and dependent co-origination are important

correctives to this tendency. There is an important saying within Zen: “If you meet

the Buddha on the road, kill him.” When people come to see the Buddha as a

being to be revered merely for the sake of piety itself, or when Buddhism itself

becomes the chief focus of its practitioners, then it is time to “kill the Buddha”, to

point to the emptiness and provisional quality of Buddhism itself.

The Huayen school uses the analogy of a golden lion to illustrate the idea of

emptiness. Therefore, emptiness is phenomena being dependent on causation. The

Huayen school illustrates the interpenetration of all things: “Only when the one is

completely the many may be called the one, and only when the many is

completely the one can be called the many”. Here arises another paradox – The

All is One, and the One is All. Parts are only a construction, a creation of human

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perception. The Universe requires all of its parts to be the Universe, just as a

building requires all of its rafters. This interdependence has its foundation in

emptiness.

It is quite apparent understanding emptiness effects our interaction with the

world and all we hold dear. In understanding the universality of all things, one

shifts from an ego-centric state to a state of selflessness. This is epitomized in the

Bodhisattva vow to put off liberation until all beings are enlightened. What is there

to desire, to suffer from or for, when you have infinity within yourself, when you

are infinity? It is not through gain that we end suffering, but rather through a

turning inward of the mind – a dissolution of ego illusion, our self-created prisons.

All external desires, all sense gratification, can no longer compete with the infinite

bliss which is realizing the Self, our true nature – emptiness.

Emptiness (śūnyatā) signified the absence of an eternal, independent, self-

causing, invariant, essential self-nature (svabhāva) or selfhood (ātman) in any

thing or person. Whatever existed did so by virtue of a perpetually changing web

of causes and conditions that themselves were products of other causes and

conditions. Stated simplistically, emptiness does not mean that a table is unreal or

nonexistent, or that its solid texture or colour are unreal; it does mean that the

concept of tableness is unreal, and that the abstractions “solidity” and “colour” are

unreal apart from the discrete and particular sensations one has at specific

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moments due to specific causes and conditions. Buddhist emptiness is not a primal

void, but the absence of self-essence.

Emptiness is neither the origin nor terminus for forms; forms themselves at

any moment are emptiness. Since everything is causally connected with

everything else, and there are no independent identities beyond or behind such

causes and conditions, everything, according to Huayen, mutually interpenetrates

and conditions everything else. Every thing defines and is defined by every other

thing.

The teaching of Śūnyatā which was taught by the Buddha. It has been for

us a perfect view about the individual and world. . Following the doctrine of

Śūnyatā, Buddhism usually opens a way to liberation. Buddhism does not promise

man heaven or a remote paradise or sin realm. Buddhism only guides man should

know clearly who he is, why he gets suffering and shows him the way of freedom.

According to Buddhism, deliberation does not mean that it helps man to escape

from this life to dream to the promised lands, liberation in Buddhism is to guide

man face daily life, himself, five aggregations to reflect on them, to unveil their

form of true reality. It means that the liberation is built on the enlightenment and

comprehension of true wisdom. With such wisdom, a Bodhisattva freed from all

bonds, gains more determinable, effort, enthusiastic to work and serve mankind

without hope or desire for any reward or return from his noble action.

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The concept of Śūnyatā (Emptiness) – as explained in Buddhism –

questions our belief that we have a separate self and helps us see ourselves in

terms of relationships that connect us with the rest of the Universe.

When we look at a flower and think a little we can perceive that the flower

could not have had its existence without the Earth, the Sun, the rain, and the

gardener who tends the plant, the fertilizer and the clouds. In a way of speaking

the entire Universe has come together to bring forth the flower. The flower could

not exist without each and every element of the Universe that has helped bring it

into existence. It is in this sense that we say that the flower is empty of a separate

self. It is in no way separate from the clouds, the sunshine, the rain and all the

other elements in the Universe that have caused it to have its being. As I said

earlier this is the concept of Emptiness and it is basic to Buddhism.

The concept of Śūnyatā of Buddhism religion forces us to look at the

flower in relation to the rest of existence. It forces us to perceive the relationships

between the flower and the rest of the Universe. We see that the flower arises out

of these relationships; that the flower has no self and no being apart from its

relationship to the Earth, the Sun, the rain and so on. And thus we are able to gain

a very significant insight. We begin to see the world in terms of relationships that

are interdependent. One cannot exist without all the others.

This way of regarding ourselves – as empty of a separate self and as

composed of interdependent relationships with the rest of existence – could

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transform our ways of dealing with the world, for example the environment. We

would not be as ready as we are now to pollute the air, the seas, or the rivers and

to destroy the forests. This is Buddhism with social relevance as well as being a

path to Nirvāna.

A central idea to Buddhism is the concept of emptiness. In understanding

emptiness, which some traditions view as an ultimate or fundamental reality to

which matter owes its existence, one begins to view one’s self and world in an

entirely different light. Realizing emptiness has a profound effect on what we

value in life, what we identify as the Self, and ultimately, it is claimed, provides a

remedy for suffering.

The Buddhist concept of emptiness and its relation to personal identity is

best illustrated by the Bodhisattva ideal in the Mahāyāna tradition. The

quintessence of the idea of the Bodhisattva is that Buddhahood could be achieved

by a human being.

Given how much Avatamsaka teachings has to offer contemporary

practitioners seeking to deepen their experience and understanding, even in realms

outside of practice, it is fortunate that more material about this ancient teaching is

becoming available. We can perhaps look forward to a renaissance of this

profound teaching of interconnectedness in response to the pressing needs of our

day.

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Avatamsaka teaches that the mind of every single being is identical with the

mind of the Buddha, and that recognition of this truth is what constitutes

Enlightenment. In other words, all beings are primordially enlightened and their

failure to perceive this is just a kind of illusion that needs to be dispelled. It

follows that for Buddhist practice to be effective, it must be grounded in some

degree of awareness of the enlightened mind that is already present within us. This

is why Avatamsaka says that the cause must be based on the result -- that the

ethical and spiritual practices of Buddhism should be understood as having

Enlightenment as their source rather than their goal.

Buddhist practice in Avatamsaka, therefore, while not necessarily differing

in form from the practices taught by other schools of Buddhism, is guided by a

different understanding. Practice in Avatamsaka is not a way to achieve

Enlightenment but a way to actualize Enlightenment, to make it manifest in the

world through one’s own conduct. In traditional Mahayana Buddhist terminology,

this is referred to as “adorning the Buddha-realm”, or acting so as to transform this

limited world of ignorance, ugliness and suffering into a limitless realm of

wisdom, beauty and compassion.

For this reason Avatamsaka places great importance on awakening the

aspiration to Enlightenment (Bodhicitta). Perhaps the best-known saying in the

Sutra itself is that “the moment the aspiration to Enlightenment arises, perfect

Buddhahood has already been attained.” If we believe that Enlightenment is

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something separate from us, a distant goal to be aimed at, we will never achieve it.

But if we can understand that Enlightenment is our own true nature, we will come

to see that all our activities should be Buddha-activities and that their sole purpose

is to enable all other beings to realize this same enlightened nature. This

understanding is what Bodhicitta really means, and it is only in its realization or

manifestation in the world through practices grounded in wisdom and compassion

that Enlightenment is to be found.

In order to complete the Bodhisattva Vows and to witness the truth od

Dharma realm, a great mind of Bodhi has to be taken to research the truth,

cultivating what the Buddha talk. Further, the Bodhisattva deed can be actually

performed for the beneficences of the sentient beings to accumulate the sources for

attaining Bodhi.

The message of the Sutra is entrusted to worldings so that they may become

enlightened and come to understand this teaching. They will then be born into the

Buddha's household and transmit the Doctrine, so that the seed of Enlightenment

will not be cut off. If the Sutra had been entrusted to the great bodhisattvas,

worldlings would have no share in it and the sages would become enlightened by

themselves. If there were no worldlings studying and practising it, the seed of

Enlightenment would disappear from worldly life and the Sutra itself would

become scattered and lost.