Huayan Jing

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HUAYAN JING

The Huayan jing, a key MahĀyĀna scripture, is among the most influential texts in the history of East Asian Buddhism. The scripture's cosmic vision of infinite and perfectly interfused worlds and its exalted depictions of an all-encompassing realm of reality inspired the formation of the Huayan school, which adopted its name. In Chinese its full title is Dafangguang fo huayan jing. It is often referred to as the Avataṃsakasūtra (an abbreviation of Buddhāvataṃsaka-nāmamahāvaipulya-sūtra, a reconstruction of the Sanskrit title), and is also known by the English titles Flower Garland Scripture or Flower Ornament Scripture. The exact provenance of the text is uncertain. It was probably compiled around the third or fourth century c.e., perhaps in Central Asia. The scripture is of encyclopedic proportions and was composed by bringing together a number of shorter scriptures, some of which are preserved in extant Sanskrit versions or Chinese translations. The two best known of these constituent texts are the Daśabhūmika-sūtra (Ten Stages Scripture) and the Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra, both of which circulated widely as independent texts.

The first Chinese translation, in sixty fascicles and thirty-four chapters, was completed by Buddhabhadra (359–429) from 418 to 421. Another translation, in eighty fascicles and thirty-nine chapters, was finished during the 695 to 704 period by the Khotanese monk ŚikṣĀnanda (652–710). A third forty-fascicle translation, consisting of only the final chapter of the other two versions, was done from 795 to 798 by Prajña. There is also a Tibetan translation, which has forty-five chapters and is similar in scope to ŚikṢānanda's version. Chinese scholars wrote a number of commentaries on the scripture, the most important of which are those by Fazang (643–712) and Chengguan (738–840), two patriarchs of the Huayan school.

Traditionally the Huayan jing is considered to be the first scripture preached by the Buddha, directed toward an audience of advanced bodhisattvas. Its contents were supposedly revealed just after the Buddha's realization of awakening, as he was deeply immersed in a profound samādhi that illuminates the true nature of reality. In accord with the text's arcane purport, its main buddha is Vairocana, the cosmic embodiment of the Buddha's body of truth (dharmakaya). The contents of the scripture take on monumental proportions, covering a wide range of Mahayana beliefs, doctrines, and practices. Drawing heavily on rich traditions of Buddhist cosmology, the text is replete with mythical elements, including elaborate descriptions of otherworldly realms where limitless buddhas and bodhisattvas manifest sublime spiritual powers and perform the work of universal salvation. The scripture makes extensive use of visual metaphors, especially images of light and space, in its depictions of an infinite universe in which all things interpenetrate without obstruction.

A central theme that runs throughout the whole text is the cultivation of the bodhisattva path, with its distinct stages, practices, and realizations. Chinese exegetical works analyze the scripture's depiction of the bodhisattva path in terms of fifty-two stages, which include ten faiths, ten abodes, ten practices, ten dedications, and ten stages. The path culminates with the attainment of the two levels of equal and sublime enlightenment. The bodhisattva path is retold in a dramatic fashion in the last (and by far longest) chapter, which relates the pilgrimage of the youth Sudhana who, during his search for enlightenment, meets various teachers, each of whom represents one of these specific stages. With respect to its doctrinal orientations, the scripture makes extensive use of the tathĀgatagarbha doctrine and the attendant concept of Buddha nature, which are integrated into a larger theoretical framework that also incorporates the Madhyamaka school's teachings on ŚŪNYATĀ (emptiness) and the YogĀcĀra school's theories of consciousness and reality.