Fazang

Fazang ( Chinese  法 藏 , Pinyin Fǎzàng , W.-G. Fa-tsang ; * 643 in Chang'an , † 712 in Chang'an) was the third patriarch of the Huayan Buddhist school in China . He is considered the most important scholar of the Avatamsaka Sutra .

His family is originally from Central Asia. At the age of seventeen he began his Buddhist studies in Tai-po.

Fazang ordained in 674 as a novice at Taiyuan Temple. A few years later he received full ordination and was awarded the title of Xianshou ( Most Able ) and taught the Avatamsaka Sutra at Empress Wu Zetian's Taiyuan Temple . In 695 he assisted Sikshananda with the translation of the eighty-volume Avatamsaka Sutra from Sanskrit into Chinese. He wrote numerous commentaries on the Avatamsaka Sutra and contributed significantly to the systematization of the Buddhist texts. Building on the work of Dushun - the first patriarch of the Huayan school - Fazang classified the Buddhist teachings into five groups:

• Hinayana
• Mahayana basics
• Final Mahayana teachings (e.g. Lankāvatāra Sutra , Nirvana Sutra )
• Spontaneous Mahayana teachings (enlightenment is not achieved through practice, but occurs spontaneously)
• Teaching of the One Vehicle ( Ekayana ) based on the Avatamsaka Sutra.

Fazang was one of the most important scholars of his time and contributed significantly to the further spread of Huayan Buddhism in China. He was highly regarded at the Empress's court. The Huayan temples in Luoyang and Chang'an were built with his support.

Fazang was known for explaining Buddhist wisdom with powerful and vivid examples. To demonstrate the mutual interpenetration of all phenomena, he had a mirror room built. Not only all walls, but also the ceiling and the floor were provided with mirrors. Then he placed a Buddha statue in the center of the room. The Buddha statue was reflected in all mirrors, and their mirror images are in turn endlessly reflected in all mirrors. He took his students into this room and showed them what is meant by interpenetration.

Another time he used a golden lion to demonstrate that everything is contained in everything. He explained that the figure is in the shape of a lion but is made entirely of gold. The lion represents the cosmos, the individual parts the various phenomena in the universe. The gold represents emptiness ( Shunyata ). This lion is made up of different parts - head, fur, paws, etc. But all parts contain gold as a basic substance, just as the entire lion is made of gold. So it can be said that part of the lion - for example, a single tip of hair - contains the entire lion. With this he demonstrated the emptiness of all phenomena.

literature

• Chen, Jinhua (2007). Philosopher, practitioner, politician: The many lives of Fazang (643-712). Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-15613-5 .
• Chen, Jinhua. "More Than a Philosopher: Fazang (643-712) as a Politician and Miracle-worker." History of Religions 42.4 (May 2003): 320-358.
• Chen, Jinhua (2005). Fazang: The Holy Man ( Memento of March 21, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 28 (1), 11–84
• Wright, Dale. "The 'Thought of Enlightenment' In Fa-tsang's Hua-yen Buddhism." The Eastern Buddhist (Fall 2001): 97-106.

Web links

• Norman Harry Rothschild:  Fazang (Fa-tsang) (643-712 CE). In: Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
• Alan Fox: Fazang ( Memento from June 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
• Ming-wood Liu: The Harmonious Universe of Fa-tsang and Leibniz: A Comparative Study (English)
• Fazang in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy