Hua-yen School's "Soul-only" Theory In Tang Dynasty

The nature of soul is one of the most popular questions in Chinesephilosophy. In Chinese Buddhism, it is regarded as an important part anddifferent sects have talked about it. Huayan is one of the sects whichfocus on explaining the conception of soul. The theory of Huayan sectconsists of two orientations: judgments and doctrines. The doctrines arecharacterized by the thoughts of satisfactory circulation and dependentorigination, and the judgments emphasize on differing five religiousgroups. If we merely study philosophical doctrines, it is likely to begeneralized carelessly. If we purely study religious, it will bediametrically opposite to Chinese philosophy. How to wholly explain thenature of soul characterized by Huayan sect is an urgent issue.The theoretical origin of Huayan is based on Hua-yen-jing whichdisplays the idealism touch. In Hua-yen-jing"Weixin ji","heart,Buddha,being are no difference","Shidi pin"the theories of three worldssoul-only are regarded as the main document resource of idealism by laterresearchers.But these propositions were not given systematical and explicitlyexplanation. Even though the words such as the world made by soul-onlyand "Heart is Buddha" were repeated in Hua-yen-jing, it hadn't explainwhether the mind will lead to extrication and what the nature of soul is.Shiqin, an Indian Buddhist, wrote shi-di-jing-lun to develop further theconception of idealism in three worlds, who combined the theory ofalaya-pratitya-samutpada and the theory of soul-only to explain the natureof the world and set the aim of alaya. But the theoretical shortage of alayawas exploded because it didn't explain the nature of unconditioned Dharmas, in spite of successfully explaining the nature of UnconditionedDharmas by formation and separation of karma. Later researchers focusedon leng-jia-jing because it considered human being had innately cleansoul-----tathagata-garbha which was a complement to the theory ofalaya-pratitya-samutpada and it is regarded an indispensible documentwhich Zhiyan and Fazang, the second and the third founder of the Huayansect had noted on. In addition, qi-xin-lun had a try to combineconditioned dharmas,unconditioned into soul-only theory by using thetheory mode of one mind and two gates.Dilun schools were classified into two groups, south groups andnorth groups, basing on their opinions on the mind in the classicaldoctrine shi-di-jing-lun. North groups considered the nature of alayaontology was dirty and all living beings would extricate successfully andbecame a Buddhist by changing the dirty soul into the clean soul throughacquired cultivations. South groups considered the nature of alayaontology was clean, and all living beings would become a Buddhist bywiping up the dirtiness which covered alaya.In the mahayana sutras such as Hua-yen-jing,,di-lun,qi-xin-lun,leng-jia-jing, the founders of Huayan sect discussed the conception of thesoul which were transformed from formation and separation of karmainto clean ontology. They improved the notion that the soul had the natureof"impermanence","voidness"and"no-self"and it was spiritual substanceinstead of material one. So the judgments of Huyan established thecreative distributions for the sect as well as these sutras laid thephilosophical foundation for it. As two sides of a coin, Huayan sectdisplayed two orientations of philosophy and religious. Huyan inheritordevoted themselves to explaining the basic effect of the soul from the twoorientations to emphasize the theory of soul-only in its teaching. Dushun, the first founder, whose judgment was characterized by concentratedobservations of five religious groups revealed the inclination to center thesoul and differed the five religious groups firstly; Zhiyan not only tried tomerge the two theories of consciousness-only and tathagata-garbha, butalso had noticed the basic effect of the soul to show the systematicalworld outlook of Huayan. Fazang, as the real founder, established tensteps and the basic foundation of the soul by his judgment whichinherited Dushun's thought and he changed the philosophical foundationof Huayan's theory from the birth-and-death origin into the clean soul byhis explaining tenfold consciousness-only and three worlds soul-only.Chenguan, the fourth founder, finished the theoretical framework of thesoul-only doctrine and intensified the ontological activity of the soul.Zongmi, the fifth founder, concluded the previous teaching and learningtheory and established the systematical theory of primary awareness sincehe based the judgment and four worlds on the pure soul and mergedtogether intelligent and nature.In Song Dynasty, Jingyuan named"the revival leader of Huayansect"wrote ce-men-san-dao to conclude the three theories of soul-only,judgment and the nature of soul between Confucian and Buddhism inTang. It could clearly be seen that the soul-only played an important roleand the comparison between Confucian and Buddhism on the nature ofmind was still a concerned question among theoretical workers at thattime. In addition, the monks of Song Dynasty, not only discussed thesoul-only theory in Hua-yen-jing, but also explained the Buddhism sutraswith Huayan theory, among which Jingyuan was a representative whoexplained zhao-lun with Huayan soul-only theory. The researches ontheory in Song didn't surpass the level of Tang Dynasty.After Tang Dynasty, Huayan soul-only theory developed its sect, atthe same time it influenced Chan sect. Yanshou, a Chan master in yongming period, introduced the soul-only theory into the teaching andlearning of Chan.In a word, Huayan soul-only theory developed the idealism ofHuayan Jing, which formed the philosophical theory and judgmentsystem of Huayan sect, and enlightened the further study on Buddhismand the nature of mind of Confucian. It is wisdom in the history ofChinese philosophy and Buddhism.