Huayan

Huayan
The Three Worthies of Huayan (Manjushri (left), Vairocana (center), and Samantabhadra (right)), a triad venerated in Huayan – Dazu Rock Carvings, Chongqing, China
Chinese name
Chinese华严宗
Traditional Chinese華嚴宗
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinHuáyán zōng
Wade–GilesHua-yen tsung
Yue: Cantonese
JyutpingFa4-yim4 zung1
Southern Min
Tâi-lôHua-ngiam tsong
Vietnamese name
Vietnamese alphabetHoa Nghiêm tông
Chữ Hán華嚴宗
Korean name
Hangul화엄종
Hanja華嚴宗
Transcriptions
McCune–ReischauerHwa-eom jong
Japanese name
Kanji華厳宗
Kanaけごん しゅう
Transcriptions
RomanizationKegon-shū
Sanskrit name
SanskritAvataṃsaka

The Huayan school of Buddhism (traditional Chinese: 華嚴; simplified Chinese: 华严; pinyin: Huáyán, Wade–Giles: Hua-Yen, "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit "Avataṃsaka") is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty (618-907).[1] The Huayan worldview is based primarily on the Buddhāvataṃsaka Sūtra (Chinese: 華嚴經; pinyin: Huáyán jīng, Flower Garland Sutra) as well as on the works of Huayan patriarchs, like Zhiyan (602–668), Fazang (643–712), Chengguan (738–839), Zongmi (780–841) and Li Tongxuan (635–730).[2][1]

Another common name for this tradition is the Xianshou school (Xianshou being another name for patriarch Fazang).[3] The Huayan School is known as Hwaeom in Korea, Kegon in Japan and Hoa Nghiêm in Vietnam.

The Huayan tradition considers the Flower Garland Sutra to be the ultimate teaching of the Buddha.[1] It also draws on other sources, like the Mahayana Awakening of Faith, and the Madhyamaka and Yogacara philosophies.[4] Huayan teachings, especially its doctrines of universal interpenetration, nature-origination (which sees all phenomena as arising from a single ontological source), and the omnipresence of Buddhahood, were very influential on Chinese Buddhism and also on the rest of East Asian Buddhism.[5][4] Huayan thought was especially influential on Chan (Zen) Buddhism, and some scholars even see Huayan as the main Buddhist philosophy behind Zen.[6][2]

  1. ^ a b c Yü, Chün-fang (2020). Chinese Buddhism: A Thematic History, p. 160. University of Hawaii Press.
  2. ^ a b Van Norden, Bryan; Jones, Nicholaos (2019). "Huayan Buddhism". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Center for the Study of Language and Information.
  3. ^ Hammerstrom, Erik J. (2020). The Huayan University network: the teaching and practice of Avataṃsaka Buddhism in twentieth-century China, chapter 1. Columbia University Press.
  4. ^ a b Van Norden, Bryan and Nicholaos Jones, "Huayan Buddhism", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hamar, Imre 2007, page 189 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Fox, Alan. (2013). The Huayan Metaphysics of Totality. In A Companion to Buddhist Philosophy, S.M. Emmanuel (Ed.). doi:10.1002/9781118324004.ch11