The Debate And Evalution About Awakening Of Faith In Mahayana Doctrine Which Happened In The Republic Of China

The main content of this paper is about a debate, happened in The Republic of China, which was on the authenticity of a Sutra called Awakening of Faith in Mahayana Doctrine. It tells us the main idea of this book, the source of this debate in both Ancient China and Modern Japan briefly, and then analyzes three stages of the debate in Republic of China and finds the focus of each stage, like bhutatathata, perfume ect. The author thinks it must relate to the relationship of Substance and function when come to bhutatathata, that also a problem of ’pancadharma’and’the three aspects of the nature of a thing’; and the core issue of perfume is the different understanding of bhutatathata, and if good and evil can both exist in the one original. On this basis, the author puts forward her own view that we should treat this debate as an event instead of discussing the truth and false about the book or its author endless. From this perspective, she believes that the dialogue and different points of views of the parties, form a strange Binary Matrix of Value judgments and True or Fake Judgments. Further more, the author attempts to find out the reasons of this phenomenon, first of all is the different position of views, and second is the background, the most important reason may be the continuation of the issue on Buddha-nature and Division of the Buddha’s teaching in her opinion. At the same time, the author thinks that Buddhist studies should be more objective instead of questioning the past in the future. Under the premise, the conclusion on authenticity of Awakening of Faith may be left with the mainstream views.