Philosopher
Zhiyan
602–668 CE
Second patriarch of Huayan Buddhism, teacher of Fazang and the Korean monk Uisang, who ranked the Buddhist teachings in five tiers with the Huayan vision at the top.
Zhiyan became a monk under Dushun, who introduced him to the Avatamsaka Sutra at the Zhixiang Temple, but he also studied widely with masters of other schools. Unsure how all these doctrines cohered, he left public life for about twenty years, wandering the countryside and preaching.
Returning to Chang’an in the late 640s, he attracted many disciples, and in 661 a prince appointed him chief lecturer. He spent his last years teaching and refining his earlier work. Tradition counts him the second patriarch of the Huayan school.
Key ideas
- Five tiers of teaching
- Zhiyan ranked Buddhist teachings in five tiers. At the bottom are Abhidharma teachings that give dharmas a self-nature; above them, Mahayana schools that see everything as empty but in differing ways; at the top, the teaching of the Avatamsaka Sutra.
- From confusion to synthesis
- His wide learning left him unsure how the doctrines of the many schools fitted together, and troubled by the charge that Buddhism neglected practical life. He spent some twenty years preaching to lay people in the countryside before returning to teach.
- Teacher of a tradition
- Back in Chang’an in the late 640s he trained Fazang, later the third patriarch, and Uisang, who took Huayan to Korea.
- Tradition
- Chinese
- Region
- Zhongnan Mountain and Chang'an, China
Influences
Influenced by
Zhiyan602–668 CE
Influenced
Influenced by
Zhiyan602–668 CE
Influenced
Where these links come from
- Zhiyan studied with Dushun. Source: Bryan Van Norden and Nicholaos Jones, Huayan Buddhism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Uisang studied with Zhiyan. Source: Bryan Van Norden and Nicholaos Jones, Huayan Buddhism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Fazang studied with Zhiyan. Source: Bryan Van Norden and Nicholaos Jones, Huayan Buddhism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Essays on Sundry Topics in the Huayan Sutra (Huayan jing nei zhang men deng za kong mu zhang)
Sources
- Bryan Van Norden and Nicholaos Jones, Huayan Buddhism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy