Hua Yan
(Avatamsaka) school
Hua Yan is the Chinese translation of Avatamsa, the Sanskrit term for "garland." The Hua Yan school is that branch of Chinese Buddhist thought centered on the Flower Garland (Avatamsaka) Sutra. The school is also focused on worship of the bodhisattva Manjusri. It was sometimes called the Dharma nature school because of its focus on Dharma nature (dharmata, faxing). It was founded by Dixin Dushun (557-640), who was succeeded by four major patriarchs: Yunhua Zhiyan, Xian-shou Fa Zang (643-712), Qingliang Chengguan (737-820), and Guifeng Zong Mi (780-841). In 740, Shen Xiang (Shinso) introduced Hua Yan teachings to Japan, where the school was known as Kegon. Although the school continued as a presence in Japanese Buddhism, in China the Hua Yan did not survive long past the death of Zong Mi, who represents the culmination of this strand of Chinese Buddhism. As an intellectual current, however, Hua Yan teachings continue as an integral part of Chinese Mahayana.
The Avatamsaka Sutra is a massive work of Mahayana Buddhism. It was translated three times into Chinese, first by Buddhabhadra (c. 406 c.e.), in 60 volumes; second by Siksananda (c. 700) in 80 volumes; and finally by Prajna (c. 800) in 40 volumes. The depth of this work created numerous treatises, called collectively in Chinese the Hua Yan Bu.
Hua Yan starts with a complete understanding of the absolute interdependence of all phenomena. This unity of the universe, the dharmadhatu (dharma realm,fajie), is the source of multiplicity; all phenomena ultimately unite into and spring from this single unifying principle. The concept of dharmadhatu was in fact held by most East Asian Mahayana schools of the time, such as Tian Tai and, in Japan, Shingon. The dharmadhatu is static and dynamic, as an ocean can be still in parts and produce waves in others. The static state of phenomena is that of the TATHATA (suchness), which is also equal to SUNYATA (emptiness). The dynamic state equates with all phenomena. In experience the two realms interact, a situation described by the Buddha’s teaching of codependent arising (pratitya-samutpada).
The Hua Yan used two terms taken from Chinese philosophy to describe the static and dynamic nature of all dharmas (phenomena): li (principle) and shi (phenomena, things). The interaction of the two principles was famously illustrated by Fa Zang’s description of the golden lion, in which the gold is the principle (li) and the lion is the lion (shi). The aspects of "gold-nature" and "lion-nature" exist together in the reality of the golden lion.
As did other schools of Chinese Buddhism in the Tang dynasty (618-907 c.e.), Hua Yan developed an elaborate PANJIAO (classification of doctrine) system. In the Hua Yan system there were five types of Buddhist teachings, each associated with particular branches or schools: Hinayana, as reflected in earliest writings, the Agamas; elementary Mahayana (Fa Xiang and San Lun schools); fully formed Mahayana (the Tian Tai school); sudden teachings of Chan (Zen); and rounded teachings of Mahayana, as found in Hua Yan itself. unsurprisingly, Hua Yan writers considered their own teachings to be the most sublime teachings of Buddhism.
Hui Chang persecution
Between 845 and 847 the Chinese state vigorously and openly suppressed Buddhist and Daoist institutions, the temples and monasteries. The events of persecution had been prepared for by a regulation issued by the government after the An Lu-shan Rebellion (755-764). To raise quick money, authorities allowed anyone to be ordained as a monk or nun who applied and paid a flat fee, regardless of preparation for or motivation to live the religious life. While the regulation raised the necessary cash for the treasury, it was never taken off the books and over decades allowed many to enter the religious life to avoid paying taxes. The monasteries became filled with tax dodgers.
A succession of emperors avoided dealing with the problem prior to Emperor Wu Zong (r. 840-846) of the Tang dynasty (618-908), a dedicated Daoist. He found a variety of reasons to move against the Buddhist community including his frustration at the bickering between the different sects and the urging of Taoist and Confucian scholars, some of whom saw a chance to wipe Buddhism out of China.
Wu Zong began issuing edicts in 842 that ordered all monks and nuns to return to lay life (and hence the tax rolls), along with the destruction of monasteries and shrines and the confiscation of the property upon which they had rested. The destruction of the Buddhist community was thorough except in areas where Buddhist government officials refused to carry out the edicts’ directives. Much of what we know of the effects of the persecution is from Ennin, the Japanese monk visiting China at the time, who left behind an account of what he saw.
Wu Zong died in 846, seemingly of the effects of an immortality medicine he was taking at the direction of his Daoist advisers. He was but 32, and Buddhists were quick to blame his actions against their community for his early demise. Xuan Zong (r. 846-859) moved immediately to reverse the effects of Wu Zong’s actions as much as he could.
Hui Ke (Hui-k’o)
(c. 487-c. 593) successor to Bodhidharma and the second Chan (Zen) patriarch
As for his predecessor, little is known of the life of Hui Ke, the second patriarch of Chan Buddhism, and what is known is thoroughly mixed with legendary tales. Possibly the most famous story concerns his initial encounter with Bodhidharma, the first Chan patriarch. In a vision Hui Ke was encouraged to seek out Bodhidharma, then residing at the Shaolin temple in Henan, in central China. To show the sincerity of his request to become a student he waited for many days, eventually even in the snow. Finally, as the story goes, to convince Bodhidharma of his desire to become his disciple, he cut off his arm, which he showed to his future master.
Hui Ke witnessed much political turmoil, including the Northern Zhou emperor Wu’s suppression of Buddhism and Daoism in 574. After Bodhidharma’s death, Hui Ke spent the remainder of his long life wandering among temples and mountain residences in central China, in particular the capital of Luoyang, and An Yang.
Hui Neng (Caoqi Huineng)
(638713) sixth patriarch of Chinese Chan Buddhism
One of the most important Chinese Chan Buddhist teachers is Hui Neng, the sixth Chan patriarch of the Southern line of Chan. He is the key link connecting India, previous intellectual Chan, and later irrational Chan. All of the later Chan Buddhist and Zen teachers and sects trace their lineage and origins to Hui Neng and two of his students. However, most of what we think we know about Hui Neng is legend, originating from two problematic sources: a text entitled the Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch and the potentially biased sermons of a student of Hui Neng named Shen Hui, and his followers.
The basic biography of Hui Neng originates in the introduction to the Platform Sutra, which tells us that Hui Neng was born in the Tang dynasty (618-906) in southern China in 638 c.e. and describes numerous miracles that accompany his birth and early years. Then at age 24, he heard a sutra and was awakened to the Buddha’s pathway. He went to the northern temple of Hong Ren (602-675), called the fifth patriarch, where Hui Neng defeated the chief priest, Shen Xiu (605?-706), in a poetry contest.
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Shen Xiu’s verse: |
The body is like the Bodhi tree, |
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the mind is like a clear mirror. At all times we must strive to polish it, And do not let any dust land on it. |
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Hui Neng’s verse: |
originally there is no tree of Awakening, Nor is there a stand for the clear mirror. From the very beginning, not one thing; Where could the dust land? |
According to the legend created by Shen Hui, Hong Ren acknowledged Hui Neng’s deep understanding, named him the successor and sixth patriarch, and gave Hui Neng two important symbols of authority: the robe of Bodhidharma and the begging bowl of Bodhidharma. Hui Neng then returned to the south of China and remained in obscurity for 16 years, until he was finally ordained as a monk in 676. He established the Baolin (treasure forest) temple in the mountains, taught students, and gave talks about the Buddha teachings. He received honors from the court and trained 10 great disciples, including the monk Heze Shenhui. Eight months before his death, he predicted his passing; then, accompanied by many miracles, he died in 713.
As Philip Yampolsky persuasively argues, most of the preceding account is legend and it is very unlikely that the Platform Sutra quotes the actual words of Hui Neng. The student of Hui Neng, Heze Shenhui, never once quotes from the Platform Sutra or mentions its existence, and even the epitaph for Hui Neng written by Wang Wei makes no mention of the Platform Sutra. Shen Hui’s own writings are so similar to the Platform Sutra that it has been suggested that sermons and talks by Shen Hui were incorporated to create the document we now know as the Platform Sutra. A hypothesis is that the Platform Sutra attributed to Hui Neng was a compilation of Shen Hui’s ideas mixed with a shorter text belonging to the ox-head school of Chan, and perhaps some other sources.
In addition, in genuinely early sources the name Hui Neng appears as merely one of 10 disciples of Hong Ren, the fifth Chan patriarch, and not a particularly important disciple. The poetry contest appears impossible, since reliable biographical data show that the head monk, Shen Xiu, left the monastery of Hong Ren before Hui Neng arrived.
The teachings attributed to Hui Neng in the Platform Sutra place emphasis upon sudden awakening (dun wu), no-mind (wu xin, being free from conceptualization), the prajna wisdom of the Prajnaparamita Sutras (especially the Diamond Sutra), the claim that all things are empty of essence (sunyata) including one’s true Buddha nature (from the Nirvana Sutra), and the identity of wisdom and focused concentration. Echoing Heze Shenhui, it says that people of lesser talent pursue a gradual path, and people of greater spiritual talent take the sudden path, but the truth itself is neither sudden nor gradual.
As a result of the political maneuvering of Heze Shenhui, disciple of Hui Neng, Hui Neng was declared the official sixth patriarch of Chan Buddhism. In the early ninth century, there were already numerous "houses" of Chan. The Chinese place great stress on genealogy, and we see this in the new Chan, called the "patriarchal chan." The patriarchs start with Bodhidharma as the first patriarch in China and reach the apogee with Hui Neng, the sixth patriarch. Since through Hui Neng each Chan school could connect itself to the Buddha, the method for legitimization was to connect one’s own "house" with Hui Neng’s disciples. There were two disciples of Hui Neng about whom very little was and is known. These two names provided the necessary link. one was Nanyue Huaijing (677-744) and the other Chingyuan Xingsi (660-740). Each of the surviving branches of Chan Buddhism tracks its own genealogy and legitimacy through these two names, perhaps by making their own prior generation of teachers in turn students of one of these two teachers.
Hui Si (Nanyue Huisi)
(515-577) teacher of Zhi Yi, the founder of Tian Tai Buddhism
Hui Si was a meditation specialist from northern China who settled in the south at Nanyue, near present-day Heng Shan, Hunan, southern China, one of China’s most sacred mountains. Here he built Fu Yan Temple (Temple of Blessings through Persevering in Cultivation) and Can Jin Hall (The Hall of Buddhist Scriptures Library). They still exist on Mount Heng to the present. While there, he transmitted his meditation techniques to Zhi Yi (Chih-i), founder of the Tian Tai school of Buddhism.
Hui Yuan (1)
(334-416) founder of Pure Land Buddhism in China
Hui Yuan was born in northern China, and became a Buddhist priest and later a disciple of Dao An (312-385), who had established a center for translating Buddhist texts with the patronage of the Chinese emperor at Chang An. After his teacher’s death, he traveled into southern China and in 402 founded a community on Mt. Lu called the Bailianshe, or White Lotus Society. The emphasis of this group was to cultivate in order to gain entry into the Western Paradise of Amithaba. Hui Yuan was thus the founder of Pure Land Buddhism in China. The Dong Lin Monastery on Mt. Lu became the initial major center for the dissemination of Pure Land Buddhism across China.
In later periods other groups, some Buddhist, some political, borrowed the name White Lotus. There does not appear to be any direct link between these later groups and Hui Yuan’s community.
Hui Yuan
(2) (523-592) monk who restored Buddhist traditions during the Sui dynasty
Hui Yuan (not to be confused with the other Chinese monk of the same name, who founded Pure Land Buddhism) was born in northern China, where he became a priest of the Di Lun school. He emerged out of obscurity when he attempted to persuade the emperor Wu (502-549) to stop any planned actions against the Buddhist community. Failing initially, he worked to restore Buddhism after Wu died and later found favor with Emperor Wen (541-604) of the Sui dynasty (589-618).
Hui Yuan was a scholar of note. He authored commentaries on a number of sutras and a widely read text, a Treatise on the Meaning of the Mahayana. In his last years he lived at Jingyingsu Temple.
Humphreys, Christmas
(1901-1983) English judge and writer who established the Buddhist Society
A key figure in the development of Buddhism in Britain, Christmas Humphreys was born in London. He studied law at Cambridge, eventually becoming a barrister and a circuit judge (1968-75). In the meantime, at age 17, Humphreys had discovered Buddhism and soon afterward joined the Theosophical Society, one of the few organizations that would nurture his interest. His continued pursuits led to the formation of the Buddhist Lodge as an association within the society with Humphreys its president. Two years later, the lodge disaffiliated from the Society and emerged as the Buddhist Lodge, London. Though the lodge broke with the society, Humphreys did not and remained active in the organization for the rest of his life.
Over the next years, Humphreys worked closely with Angarika Dharmapala, who had founded a chapter of the Mahabodhi Society in London in the mid-1920s. Humphreys continued to lead the fledgling group through the years of World War II. In 1943, the organization changed its name to the Buddhist Society.
As the war closed, Humphreys began to work on a document that would delineate the basic teachings of Buddhism and be representative of both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism while honoring each’s unique perspective. The result was a brief statement, "Twelve Principles of Buddhism," the publication of which set the tone for Humphreys’s world tour soon after the war. The document was welcomed by Buddhist leaders and has been used in subsequent efforts to draw Buddhists together across national and school lines.
While serving as the leader of an organization serving Buddhists of all persuasions, Humphreys was himself drawn to Zen, a fact that became evident in his 1949 book, Zen Buddhism. Three years later he welcomed Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki to the society to give classes and instruct the Zen subgroup that had emerged.
During his last years, he was honored both nationally and internationally for his decades of work in building Buddhism in England. He also wrote a host of books, including an autobiography, Both Sides of the Circle (1978).
Hunt, Ernest
(1878-1967) pioneer American Buddhist leader
Ernest Hunt, a European American Buddhist priest in Hawaii in the middle of the 20th century, worked to reconcile the Japanese community with the larger English-speaking population that dominated the islands. Hunt, an Englishman by birth, had converted to Buddhism just as he completed his studies for the priesthood in the Church of England. Then in 1915, he and his wife moved to Hawaii. In the 1920s, the pair opened Buddhist Sunday school classes for English-speaking children, and in 1924, Hunt was ordained by Bishop Yemyo Imamura, the head of the Hawaiian branch of the Honpa Hongwanji Buddhists. At that time he assumed the religious name Shinkaku. Two years later Imamura named him the head of the Honpa Hongwanji’s English Department.
By 1928, some 60 students had formally been initiated into Buddhism through Hunt’s efforts. Hunt also promoted a nonsectarian approach to Buddhism, whose Japanese community was divided among a half-dozen competing Japanese groups. His ideal was pursued through the Hawaiian branch of the International Buddhist Institute, which he and Imamura founded. Hunt served as the organization’s first vice president.
The direction of Hunt’s work suddenly changed in 1932 when Bishop Imamura died. Three years later, Bishop Giyko Kuchiba became the new leader. The opposite of Imamura in both temperament and belief, he was a dedicated Japanese nationalist and a rigid advocate of Shin Buddhism. He soon fired Hunt and disbanded the English Department. Fortunately, Hunt, who had made many friends, soon found shelter in the Soto Zen temple. He would eventually be ordained as a Soto priest and later receive recognition for his accomplishments in Zen. until shortly before his death, he remained the Buddhist ambassador to the English-speaking community and frequently met with and gave talks to the islands’ many tourists.
Hu Shi (Hu Shih)
(1891-1962) Chinese modernizer
Hu Shi is a key figure in early modern Chinese history. A leader of the New Culture movement in China, he also served as ambassador to the United States (1938-42) and chancellor of Peking University (1946-48). He was an early proponent of the use of the vernacular language (in today’s term, putong hua) in Chinese writing, as opposed to the traditional use of literary Chinese. In a series of path-breaking articles he also traced the development of Zen (Chan) Buddhism in China. Although he was eventually bypassed as China’s history turned toward war and revolution, his influence as a literary figure was immense.
Born in Shanghai, Hu received his early education in China. Sent to the United States in 1910, he studied at Cornell university and Columbia university and was strongly influenced by the pragmatic philosophy of John Dewey (18591952). Hu returned to China in 1917.
Hu was highly critical of both Confucianism and Buddhism. These traditional systems were unsuited to the modern era, he felt. He was highly skeptical in general. However, this attitude was not simply slavish copying of overseas fashions. His skeptical outlook was based on the writings of the great Song dynasty historian Sima Guang (1019-86 C.E.). As a writer Hu Shi was active in interpreting and investigating China’s religious traditions. He was generally opposed to the extreme expressions of superstitions and such expressions of devotion as self-sacrifice and worshipping of Buddha’s relics. He valued, in contrast, China’s humanist tradition.
Hwaom Buddhism
Hwaom Buddhism is the Korean form of the Chinese Hua Yan, or Flower Garland, school of Mahayana Buddhism. In Korea, Hwaom Buddhism became one of the five doctrinal schools that stood in contrast (because of their emphasis on study of the sutras and doctrinal teachings) to Son Buddhism, the Korean form of the medita-tional approach (generally called Zen).
The Flower Garland school takes its name from the Avatamsaka (Flower Garland) Sutra, which had been translated into Chinese as early as the fifth century. The Avatamsaka Sutra is a philosophical treatise on the nature of phenomena. It was and is mainly studied by monastic adherents as a means of understanding ultimate reality. Hua Yan developed in China complementing the Tian Tai school (which favored the Lotus Sutra) under five patriarchs—Du Shun (557-640), Chih-yen or Zhi Yan (600-668), Fa-tsang or Fa Zang (643-712), Cheng Guan, and Zong Mi. The Tian Tai had developed a classification of Buddhist schools and sutras, ranking them from the lowest to the highest, with the Lotus Sutra at the top. The Hua Yan adopted a similar system but placed the Avatamsaka Sutra on top.
Uisang (625-702) traveled to China and studied with Zhi Yan and upon his return to Korea introduced Hua Yan teachings there. He also founded Pusok Temple, which became the group’s headquarters. He stayed in touch with the Chinese leadership and later corresponded with Fa Zang.
In Korea, Hwaom Buddhism would be caught up in the periodic Korean endeavor to synthesize and harmonize all the different approaches to Buddhism. Wonhyo (617-686), Uisang’s colleague and a leader in the harmonization process, suggested all phenomena are merely products of the mind, and as one awakens to that fact, doctrinal disputes are resolved.
In 740, Sinjo, a Korean Hwaom priest from the Korean kingdom of Silla and student of Fa Zang, introduced the Flower Garland school to Japan. Here it would be called Kegon and would become institutionalized at Todai-ji, the main temple in Nara.
