Zhanran
Zhanran (Chinese: 湛然; pinyin: Zhànrán; Wade–Giles: Chan-jan; 711-782), Jingxi Zhanran, sometimes called Miao-le[1] (or Miaolo) was the sixth patriarch of the Tiantai school of Chinese Buddhism and helped to revive the school's proéminence after a period of decline.[2] His lay surname was Qi 戚 and he was also known as Jingqi 荊溪 after his birthplace (in modern-day Yixing 宜興 county, Jiangsu province). Early in his monastic training, traditional biographies stated that he thoroughly studied the Vinaya in Four Parts before being ordained by precepts master T'an-i (曇一, 692-771).
As head of the Tiantai order, Zhanran spent much time and energy writing commentaries on the works of Zhiyi, and writing defenses of the Tiantai school against the newer Faxiang and Huayan schools.[2] Zhanran is best known for his scriptural exegesis of such works as Zhiyi's Mohe Zhiguan (The Great Calming and Contemplation), as well as his promotion of the doctrine of universal Buddha-nature.
Zhanran is the author of The Adamantine Scalpel (金剛錍 Jin'gang Pi) among other works, which is the key source for the doctrine of "the Buddha-nature of Insentient Beings." According to Shuman Chen, Zhanran:
provides his rationale primarily from the perspective of the all-pervasive quality of Buddha-nature, which he considers synonymous with suchness. This rationale indicates that external tangible objects like water, buildings, and flora, formless sounds and smells, and internal thoughts or ideas all possess Buddha-nature. This is because Sakyamuni Buddha and any other Buddha's meritorious qualities in their practice leading to enlightenment and in the resultant realization do not reject anything, instead embracing all. In the Tiantai terminology, the Buddha and all beings mutually include, inter-pervade, and are identical to each other.[3]
As Zhanran writes:[4]
Every blade of grass, tree, pebble, and particle of dust is perfectly endowed with buddha nature ...The practitioner of the perfect teaching, from beginning to end, knows that ultimate principle is nondual and that there are no objects apart from mind. Who then is sentient? What then is insentient? Within the assembly of the Lotus, there is no discrimination.
Zhanran's view of Buddha-nature also shows traces of Huayan influence (particularly from Fazang), particularly in his discussion of the theory of "Suchness according with conditions" (真如随縁).[5] Zhanran's Diamond Scalpel contains the following passage:
The myriad dharmas are none other than Suchness, because it is unchanging. Suchness expresses itself as the myriad dharmas, because it accords with conditions. Isn’t your belief that insentient beings lack Buddha-nature the same as saying that the myriad dharmas do not participate in Suchness?[5]
References
[edit]- ^ Buswell, Robert E., ed. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism. Princeton University Press. pp. 391–392. ISBN 9781400848058.
- ^ a b Groner, Paul (2000). Saicho : The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 228–229. ISBN 0824823710.
- ^ Shuman Chen. Buddha-Nature of Insentient Beings. Encyclopedia of Psychology and Religion, 2nd ed., vol. 1, pp. 208–212, 2014
- ^ Stone, Jacqueline Ilyse (2009), Realizing this World as the Buddha Land; in: Teiser, Stephen F.; Stone, Jacqueline Ilyse; eds. Readings of the Lotus Sutra, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 209–236, ISBN 9780231142885.
- ^ a b Asai Endō 浅井円道, "The Lotus Sutra as the Core of Japanese Buddhism Shifts in Representations of its Fundamental Principle." Japanese Journal of Religious Studies 41/1: 45–64 © 2014 Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture
Bibliography
[edit]- Chen, Shuman (2011). Chinese Tiantai Doctrine on Insentient Things’ Buddha-Nature, Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal 24, 71-104
- Pap, Melinda (2011). Demonstration of the Buddha-nature of the Insentient in Zhanran's The Diamond Scalpel Treatise. Doctoral Dissertation, Budapest: Eötvös Loránd University
- Tseng, Chih-Mien, Adrian (2014). A Comparison of the Concepts of Buddha-Nature and Dao-Nature in Medieval China, PhD Thesis, Hamilton, Ontario: McMaster University, pp. 189-246
External links
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