Study On Changxing's Hua-yen Thought

Changxing,a well-respected Buddhist monk in modern China,was an outstanding Buddhist educator and reformist as well as a renowned master of Huayan school.He proposed that "different schools of Buddhism should have an equal status,and the only difference should lie in their aptitudes",and then integrated the various branches of Buddhism by classifying the different teachings according to different periods while also understanding them from a holistic perspective of time based on the combination of Hua-yen school's "Fivefold Classification of Teachings" and a similar idea in Tiantai school.In the great debates among different schools of Chinese Buddhism,Changxing used Hua-yen school's theory of teachings classification to criticize the vijnaptimatrata school.Debating on the true meaning of Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana with Wang Enyang,a lay Buddhist who insisted the dominant position of consciousness,Changxing defended Chinese Buddhism's orthodox status against the attacks from Buddhist scholars of Zhinanei Academy that different schools of Chinese Buddhism are all similar.Influenced by modern enlightenment thoughts,he made a modern interpretation of Huayan school's core ideas such as "dharmadhatu pratityasamutpada"and "samantabhadra bodhisattva fulfilling wishes for all people" so as to undermine the unworldly inclination and mystical elements in traditional Buddhism,which contributed to the re-flourishment of Buddhist rationalism and Mahayana altruism.It was under the guidance of Hua-yen school's thoughts that Changxing came up with the idea that Buddhism was conducive to saving modern China from foreign invasion,proposed a series of reform plans and actively devoted himself into the cause of modern Buddhist education.He made remarkable contribution to the formation and development of Humanistic Buddhist theory.