Huayan school

The Huayan school (; ; ) or Flower Garland is a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that flourished in China during the Tang period. It is based on the Sanskrit Flower Garland Sutra and on a lengthy Chinese interpretation of it, the Huayan Lun. The name "Flower Garland" is meant to suggest the crowning glory of profound understanding.
==History==
The doctrines of the Huayan school ended up having profound impact on the philosophical attitudes of all of East Asian Buddhism. Established during the period of the end of the Sui and beginning of Tang dynasties (c. 600-700 C.E.), this school centered on the philosophy of interpenetration and mutual containment which its founders perceived in the Huayan Jing. Yet despite basic reliance on this sutra, much of the technical terminology that the school becomes famous for is not found in the sutra itself, but in the commentaries written by its early founders.
The founding of the school is traditionally attributed to a series of five "patriarchs" who were instrumental in developing the schools' doctrines. These five are: 
#Dushun (杜順), Tu-Shun in Wade-Giles
#Zhiyan (智儼), Chih-yen in Wade-Giles
#Fazang (法藏), Fa-tsang in Wade-Giles
#Chengguan (澄觀), Ch'eng-kuan in Wade-Giles
#Zongmi (宗密), Tsung-mi in Wade-Giles, who is simultaneous a patriarch of the Chan tradition.
Another important figure in the development and popularization of Huayan thought was the lay scholar Li Tongxuan (李通玄). Some accounts of the school also like to extend its patriarchship earlier to and Nāgārjuna.
Although there are certain aspects of this patriarchal scheme which are clearly contrived, as for example, Chengguan was born 26 years after Fazang's death, it is fairly well accepted that these men each played a significant and distinct role in the development of the school. For example, Dushun is known to have been responsible for the establishment of Huayan studies as a distinct field; Zhiyan is considered to have established the basic doctrines of the sect; Fazang is considered to have rationalized the doctrine for greater acceptance by society; Chengguan and Zongmi are understood to have further developed and transformed the teachings.
After the time of Zongmi and Li Tongxuan the Chinese school of Huayan generally stagnated in terms of new development, and then eventually began to decline. The school, which had been dependent upon the support it received from the government, suffered severely during the Buddhist purge of 841-845, initiated by Emperor Wuzong, never to recover its former strength. Nonetheless, its profound metaphysics, such as that of the Four Dharmadhātu (四法界) of interpenetration, had a deep impact on surviving East Asian schools.
==Philosophy==
The most important philosophical contributions of the Huayan school were in the area of its metaphysics, as it taught the doctrine of the mutual containment and interpenetration of all phenomena: that one thing contains all things in existence, and that all things contain one.
Distinctive features of this approach to Buddhist philosophy include:
* Truth (or reality) is understood as encompassing and interpenetrating falsehood (or illusion), and vice versa
* Good is understood as encompassing and interpenetrating evil
* Similarly, all mind-made distinctions are understood as "collapsing" in the enlightened understanding of emptiness (a tradition traced back to the Buddhist philosopher Nagarjuna)
Huayan makes extensive use of paradox in argument and literary imagery. The following quote from Dale S. Wright (1982) summarizes the range of such devices a reader is likely to encounter in a first foray into Huayan literature:
==Claims of Taoist influence==
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":
==See also==
* the Hwaeom school of Korea
* the Kegon school of Japan.
==References==
* Wright, Dale S. (1983). Philosophy East and West 32 (3).
* Cleary, Thomas. The Flower Ornament Scripture (an almost complete translation of the sutra on which the Huayen School is based)
* Cleary, Thomas. Entry Into the Inconceivable (important essays by Tang Dynasty Huayen masters)
* Haiyun Jimeng. The Dawn of Enlightenment (commentary on the opening passage of the Avatamsaka Sutra by a present-day Huayen master)
* Cook, Francis H. (1977), Hua-Yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra, Penn State Press, ISBN 027102190X .
==External links==
* Huayen webpage in English
Category:Buddhist philosophical concepts
Category:Buddhism in China
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