Responsibility
(author): Sharf, Robert H.
Title
(): Coming to Terms with Chinese BuddhismA Reading of the Treasure Store Treatise
Details
(place)Honolulu: (publisher)Univ. of Hawaii Press, 2002
Identifier
SHARF 2002
Topics
Comments
This is a very interesting study of the BAOXINGLUN and the development of the concepts centering around the notion of inherent Buddha-nature; includes an annotated translation
Information basis
CA
Electronic Version
Referred from
ZEN PHRASES: 無情說法 (p.247, 335)[her inanimated objects possessed Buddha-nature was a source of controversy in the medieval period and especially in the debates between the northern and southern factions of Cha2n. The theory that also inanimated objects possess Buddha-nature is possibly based on the writings of Ji4ngyi3ng Hui4yua3n 淨影慧遠 (523-592) who "[...] distinguished between the buddha-nature that abides at all times in all places and the buddha-nature that is actualized in enlightened sentient beings. But Hui4yua3n stopped short of explicitely claiming that inanimate objects possess budha-nature. The first person to do so appears to have been the Sa1nlu2n 三輪 exegete Ji2za1ng 吉藏 (549-623), who argued that the very distinction between sentient and insentient is illegitimate, and thus, if budda-nature can be said to exist at all, then it must be possessed by both the sentient and the insentient." (Sharf 2002: 247) The doctrine was also taken up by members of the Tia1nta2i school, escpecially Zha4nra2n 湛然 (711-782). Many adherents of the early Cha2n school seem to have supported the doctrine, e.g. the Fourth Patriarch Da4oxi4n 道信 (580-651), the Fifth Patriarch Ho2ngre3n 弘忍 (601-674), possibly also She2nxiu4 神秀 (605?-706); see ibid.: 247-248. References on secondary works on this doctrine see in ibid.: 335, fn. 55....]