Buddha-nature; Dao-nature; Chinese Buddhism; Mahāyāna Buddhism; Medieval Chinese Buddhism
摘要
This thesis, a comparison of the concepts of buddha-nature and dao-nature in the medieval period (from the 5th to the 10th centuries) of China, presents a historical investigation of the formation of the idea that insentient things are able to possess buddha-nature in medieval Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism. In Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism, the concept of buddha-nature was originally defined as a potential possessed by sentient beings that enabled them to achieve buddhahood. From the 6th century, the concept was reinterpreted within the Chinese Buddhist tradition so that insentient things were also able to possess buddha-nature. Recent scholarship has pointed out that the idea of insentient things having buddha-nature is a combination of Buddhist and Daoist ideas based on the concept of the all-pervading Dao found in the Zhuangzi 莊子. In this sense, buddha-nature seems to be interpreted as equivalent with the Dao of Daoism. My project suggests that the reinterpretation of buddha-nature in association with the insentient realm should be elucidated in a more nuanced way than the idea of all-pervasiveness of the Dao. A historical, doctrinal investigation of the intellectual formation of the concept of buddha-nature in Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism demonstrates a new interpretation of buddha-nature in the context of insentient things having buddha-nature. Further, through a historical investigation of intellectual exchange between Buddhism and Daoism, some evidence provided in this project illustrates that the idea of insentient things having dao-nature in Daoism was not inherited from Buddhism, but drawn from Daoist tradition. This new perspective is different from that of some contemporary scholars who have claimed that the idea of insentient things having dao-nature was borrowed from Chinese Buddhism. A chronological investigation of the discussion of nature in Chinese thought demonstrates that the idea of insentient things having buddha-nature incorporates earlier Daoist traditions found in Arcane Study.
目次
Abstract iii Acknowledgements v Introduction 1 1. Discussion of previous scholarship 2 2. Methods and questions addressed in this project 8 3. The significance of the idea that insentient things have buddha-nature for East Asian Buddhism 15 4. Background: The legitimacy of the idea that insentient things have buddha-nature in non-Chinese sources 17 5. The definition of “sentient beings” 25 6. Chapter summaries 32
Chapter 1: An Examination of the Relationship between Human Nature and the Nature of Inanimate Things in Chinese Thought 36 1. The discussion of xing 性 in terms of the nature of mind before Xuanxue 玄學 (Arcane Study) 38 2. The discussion of xing in terms of ontology 49 2.1 The discussion of xing in terms of Daoist ontology before Arcane Study 49 2.2 The discussion of xing in terms of ontology in Arcane Study 58 3. The taxonomy of Daoism 81 4. Conclusion 84
Chapter 2: A Discussion of Dao-Nature in Practical Daoism 87 1. The discussion of dao-nature in practical Daoism 91 1.1 Tao Hongjing’s 陶弘景 discussion of dao-nature 92 1.2 Song Wenming’s 宋文明 discussion of dao-nature 98 1.2.1 The authorship of the Daode yiyuan 道德義淵 98 1.2.2 Song Wenming’s discussion of dao-nature 108 2. The discussion of dao-nature in the Tang dynasty (618–907 A.D.) 114 3. Conclusion 128
Chapter 3: A Discussion of Jizang’s 吉藏 Argument that Grasses and Trees Have Buddha-Nature 130 1. Sentient beings: Are they buddha-nature or do they have buddha-nature? 136 2. Jizang’s definition of buddha-nature 138 3. An examination of Jizang’s argument of buddha-nature in an ontological view 157 3.1 The meaning of the word li 理 (principle) and the method of linei-liwai 理內理外 (within li, beyond li) 157 3.2 An examination of Jizang’s argument that insentient things have buddha-nature 177 4. A comparison of Jizang’s discussion of buddha-nature with the dao-nature of Daoism 182 5. Conclusion 184
Chapter 4: An Examination of Zhanran’s 湛然 Discussion of Buddha-Nature 189 1. An examination of Zhanran’s argument of insentient things having buddha-nature 195 2. Zhanran’s definition and interpretation of buddha-nature 203 2.1 Zhanran’s discussion of nature 203 2.2 Zhanran’s definition of buddha-nature 205 2.3 The relationship between unity and diversity 220 3. An investigation of Chinese thought in Zhanran’s Fuxing 輔行(止觀輔行傳弘決) and its association with Zhanran’s discussion of buddha-nature 223 4. Conclusion 243
Conclusion: A Comparison of Buddha-Nature and Dao-Nature 247 Bibliography 266
