Study Of The Amalgamation Of Chu-hung's Thoughts

Zhu Hong was one of the Four Great Masters in the late Ming Dynasty,who vigorously promote Pure Land and was honored as "the eighth master".His is profound and broad in thought and could be said to have mastered all aspects of Pure land,Zen,Huayan,Vinaya School,also had in-depth study of Confucianism and Taoism.He played an irreplaceable historical role in the development of chinese recent Buddhism,but the main features of his thought is amalgamation.From the perspective of the development of human culture,“amalgamation”is not only a philosophical concept,but also a kind of movement and development of things,phenomena and human society,implies profound philosophical and cultural significance.Chinese Buddhism has a wealth of thinking and expression on the amalgamation,and in Zhu Hong's Buddhist representative works Namo Amitabha note also showed a strong amalgamated means.In the amalgamated method,Zhu Hong made full use of Huayan perfectly fused method,especially of non-obstruction between principle and phenomena.Buddhism emphasizes the principle of "agreeing with the truth" and "coinciding with the timing",and Zhu Hong also skilled use of this.During the late Ming period,the vicissitudes of the state and religion,the sprout of the new economic mode of production,the secular development of Common People and Scholar-officials,political turmoil and social unrest have all provided a rare opportunity for the revival of Buddhism.In Buddhist theory,Zhu Hong took Pure Land as the teaching body that integrate the various religions,and around the mind,nature,Principle and phenomena elucidation,resulted in Pure Land theory has the characteristics of amalgamation.Before Zhu Hong,Pure Land Buddhism did not yet have a systematic theory of mind.Zhu Hong explained that "yi xin" had such elements as completeness,lightness,eternity,absoluteness,uniqueness and incredibleness,and as a basis for his amalgamation theory.He also used the Amitabha Sutra,Awakening of Mahayana Faith,Mahaparinirvana-sutra and “four dharmadhatu” as the classic basis of "yi xin".In this way,he highlighted the theme spirit and integration characteristics of "one heart" theory.Zhu Hong's theory of the integration of various sects within Buddhism could be described as the explaination of the Pure Land by the Huayan Studies and the integration of the various religions within the "yi xin".He elucidated the profound meaning of the Pure Land in the Namo Amitabha note and became his teaching body.In the relationship between Huayan and Pure Land,He demonstrated the equality between Huayan and Pure Land by "no obstruction in multiple circles" and also hold a convergent attitude to Cheng guan,Li Tong Xuan,Zong Mi.In therelationship between Zen School and Pure Land,he reinterpreted "self-Amitabha,Idealistic pure land" and advocated the unity of Zen School and Pure Land at the height of mind-nature theory.At the same time,he also considered Buddha Recitation as more convenient than practise meditation,integrated meditation into Buddhism Recitation,absorbed "Mind is Buddha” of zen,and integration Zen School in Pure Land.his discipline thought had the mind precept characteristic.In the relationship between Vinaya School and Pure Land,He implemented “filial piety”in all the Buddhist studies,also considered to be reborn in Amitabha's Pure Land by Buddha Recitation as a"big filial piety of big filial piety",and then guided Vinaya School to Pure Land.In the relationship between Faxiang zong and Pure Land,he put the two disputes over Western Pure Land under the argument of Essential nature and characteristic,and amalgamated Faxiang zong and Pure Land with yi xin under the principle of the perfect interfusion of nature and characteristic.In the relationship between Exoteric Buddhism and Tantric,he linked the Namo Amitabha note with Tantric theory,explained the yoga set to be used to feed the rituals with the Exoteric theory,and showed a perfect interfusion.In regard to the relationship between the three religions,he holds the view that "the three religions are one family",and actually was Integrated Confucianism and Taoism with Buddhism on the basis of "yi xin".He had different attitudes towards Confucianism and taoism.As for Confucianism,he insisted on the cooperation between Confucianism and Buddhism,at the same time emphasized Buddhism's own character,highlighted the superiority of Buddhism,and led Buddhism into Buddhism.As for Lao Tzu and Chuang-tzu's thought,which is related to Taoism,he analyzed similarities and differences on the basis of Amalgamation;For Taoism in religious form,he strictly discriminates the difference between the two approaches and states.Zhu Hong's amalgamation thoughts have an important position and significance in the history of Chinese Buddhism and even in Chinese thought.In theory,his "yi xin" view originated the extreme nature theory of Zen Buddhism,and made a model for the late Ming Buddhism to "return Buddhism to its origin",At the same time,it shows the characteristics of the perfect interfusion and is the highest level of theory in the history of the Pure Land teaching in China.In fact,he has made important historical contributions in promoting the flourishing of Pure Land Buddhism,the modern turn of Buddhism in China and the prosperity of Lay Buddhism.However,he had not changed the general process of the downward development of Chinese Buddhism,and there are no internal harmony and strong "supramundane" tendency in his thoughts,so it should be treated in a comprehensive attitude.