Three Core Theoretical Argument In The Sui And Tang Buddhist Studies

This paper is to investigate into the Buddhist dispute happened in the period from Sui to Tang Dynasties. It focused on three nucleus doctrines of Buddhism:pratitya-samutpada,the ground of Buddha-dhatu,and the way of practicing Buddhism. A vivid scene of "a hundred schools of Buddhism contending" at that time could be seen.. The main token of Sakya-muni reaching Buddhahood under bodhi-druma is his personal experience of pratitya-samutpada. This is recorded in sutra,and it has been a common sense recognized by various schools of Mahayana and Hinayana as well. However the different understandings of pratitya-samutpada caused various perspectives within mahayana later,which caused further the disputes between the original Indian Pratitya-samutpada of alayavijnana and the pratitya-samutpada with the Chinese characters(or reform),such as tathagata-garbha,dharma-dhatu and three thousands great chilocosm in eka-citta. Among them there was the theory of vijinanamatrata an-artha. The word artha means false perspective caused by perikalpita-savbhava on the one hand,and objective perspective "depending on the others" on the other hand. According to vijnanavada. neither of the above perspectives is real. Only by getting rid off the false of perikalpita-savabhava. seeing into something "depending on the others" directely,could one reach the authenticity of everything,i.e.,the being of "parinispanna-svabhava". To be noticed,the dispute concerning pratitya-samutpada is of cosmology,which is nothing to do with ontology. The two should not be mixed up.Whether or not there is Buddhahood after all,it is an essential problem regards to whether everyone has the possibility to become a Buddha. Therefore the dispute of whether all beings have Buddhahood or panca-gotrani distinguished from each others,came to be one of the kernel disputes in the history of the Chinese Buddhism. Due to the great influence of Xuanzhang and the support from the court of Tang Dynasty,the theory of panca-gotrani seemed to have the dominate position,but it could not be handed down for the reason that it does not fit the real condition of China. Even for Master Yuanche of Ximing Temple,which belongs to one sect (Xinluo family) ofVijnanavada,he held that all men are distinguishable by panca-gotrani,but he recognized at the same time that all of them could be Buddha. This attitude made Chien sect led by Kuiji unsatisfied,hence came forth within Vijnanavada a quarrel between Ximing and Chien. It seems to be that Xinluo Family wins the quarrel at last. This shows the acceptance of the doctrine "all beings have Buddhahood" in China. However the acceptance does not mean the ultimate conclusion,rather,from the perspective of reality,it is perhaps more exact to say that the above doctrine reflects a upaya (a easy way) in Buddha's teaching. Indeed,the doctrine of "all beings have Buddhahood" should be taken as a upaya from the perspectives of one's own nature,development of the Buddha-nature doctrine,sutra,fact,as well as the principle of equality,logic,even the stand point of anatman.It was Master Zhanran who put an end to the above dispute by the doctrine of "though without life,it has Buddhahood". Although it is not an original theory,it really impact greatly on the Buddhism by his elaborating. Since the doctrine "though without life,it has Buddhahood" concerns various aspects of Buddhism and is rather complicated,it causes a lot of mistakes,hi this paper,the author tries to reach a reasonable resolve for the above difficulties by an elaborating of theory,reality,knowing and known respectively.It is theoretical work to set up the aim to become Buddha,the elaborating on the ground of the Buddhahood. The real beacon for all men to become Buddha is to point out the way of practice. The dispute on this issue among the major Buddhist schools in Sui and Tang Dynasties is mainly in two aspects:different formations about the process in reaching Buddhahood and different ways of practice. The quarrel was rather strong in the later ones. It specified in the dis...