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AVATAMSAKA SCHOOL

From Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
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Avatamsaka Sutra; Five Teachings; Six Aspects

Chin / Hua-yen; Jpn / Kegon; Vn / Hoa Nghiêm.


“Important school of Mahayana Buddhism in which the highly metaphysical doctrines represent the highest development of Mahayana Buddhist thought. The school based its principal teachings on the Hua-yen Ching or the Avatamsaka Sutra (the Flower Ornament Sutra or the Flower Adornment Sutra). This was accepted as the first discourse of Buddha on his enlightenment, preached to Bodhisattvas,

and is beyond the comprehension of mortals, to whom he proceeded to preach a simpler doctrine. Tu-shun (557-640) is reputed to be its first Chinese master, followed by Chih-yen (601-68) and Fa-tsang (643-712). Fa-tsang, who had been a disciple of Hsuan Tsang, was the greatest exponent of Hua Yen philosophy.”

Ling: 139

“The Avatamsaka school distinguishes itself from the other Mahayana schools in an important point. It concentrates on the relationship among phenomena and not on that between phenomena and the absolute. All things are in complete harmony with one another, since

they are all manifestations of one principle. They are like individual waves of the same sea. From this point of view everything in the world, whether animate or inanimate, is an expression of the highest principle and is thus one with the Buddha-mind.”

Sham: 93

“The Avatamsaka school teaches that since the true nature of all things is non-substantiality from the standpoint of the Buddha’s enlightenment, all phenomena are one with each other and interpenetrate without obstruction; one permeates all and all are contained in one.”

Sokk: 223-224

Unlike other Buddhist schools, this school is based on a single book, the Avatamsaka Sutra. The sutra is an encyclopedic work with a single theme: enlightenment. Enlightenment is presented as the understanding of emptiness, through which one comes to realize the interpenetration or non-obstruction of all things – the characteristic doctrine of the Avatamsaka school (A. J. Prince). The Sutra also teaches the doctrine of Dependent Origination (see separate entry).

The teaching is expressed in an affirmative way through the figurative language and metaphors which abound in the Sutra. The best example is the metaphor of the ‘Brahma Net.’ The school reached its apogee under Empress Wu (q.v.) of the Tang dynasty. It declined as a major separate school beginning in the 9th century with its teachings being absorbed into Zen, Esoteric and Pure Land schools. It is interesting to note that chapter 40 (last chapter) of the Avatamsaka Sutra, ‘The Vows and Practices of Samantabhadra,’ is considered as the fourth Sutra of the Pure Land school.


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