Fa-tsang

Home > Philosophy and Religion > Eastern Religions > Buddhism

Fa-tsang (643–712). Although tradition lists him as the third patriarch of the Hua-yen school in China (after Tu-shun (557–640) and Chih-yen (602–68)), Fa-tsang is in fact the real founder and consolidator of this school. Although his family was of Sogdian ancestry, by the time he was born in the capital of Ch'ang-an, it had become completely sinicized. He joined the monastic order as a novice, and studied the Hua-yen ching with Chih-yen. Apparently his ethnic background gave him some facility with Sanskrit and central Asian languages, and he went to work with I-ching's translation bureau after the death of Chih-yen. Later, in the capital, he brought his previous training in the teachings of the Hua-yen ching to bear as he assisted with the retranslation of the scripture being carried on by Śikṣānanda. He also worked with the great translator and Fa-hsiang master Hsüan-tsang (596–664), but broke with him over the Fa-hsiang teaching of icchantikas, beings with no potential at all to achieve Buddhahood (see Fa-hsiang). Despite this extensive experience working on translations, he is primarily remembered for his original writings expounding Hua-yen philosophy and his efforts to organize the Hua-yen school and set it on an enduring foundation. Some of his works, such as the Essay on the Golden Lion, remain classics of clear exposition and the imaginative use of metaphor to convey the subtleties of Hua-yen philosphy in accessible language. He also followed the example of Chih-i (538–97) of the T'ien-t'ai school in setting up a system for organizing all of the disparate teachings of Buddhism then known in China into a single hierarchical scheme, based on the extent to which they conveyed the entire truth of the nature of reality. See also p'an-chiao.

Fa-tsang or Hsien-shou (643–712). Third patriarch and major organizer of the Hua-yen school of Chinese Buddhism. He arranged Buddhist teachings into ‘five levels and ten qualities’, with Hua-yen at the height, and he integrated different teaching by affirming the interdependence and interpenetration of all phenomena.