晉水淨源=Jinshui Jingyuan; 華嚴中興之祖=Patriarch who Revived the Huayan School; 《華嚴普賢行願修證儀》=Huayen Practice and Cultivation Liturgy; 普賢十大願=Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s ten great vows; 圓融無礙=perfect interpenetration without obstruction; 帝網無盡=inexhaustible Net of Indra
The main purpose of this study is to explore the Huayan (華嚴) rituals based on Jingyuan’s (淨源, 1011–1088) Huayan Practice and Cultivation Liturgy (華嚴普賢行願修證儀 ). The discussions can be divided into four categories: 1) Jingyuan’s practice process and his contribution to the revival of Huayan; 2) The establishment background of this repentance liturgy; 3) The philosophical connotation of Samantabhadra Bodhisattva’s ten great vows in practice; and 4) The meditative approaches to the Huayan Dharmadhatu. Jingyuan started his learning of dharma from Chengqian (承遷, dates unknown), followed by Mingtan (明覃, dates unknown), and finally went to Changshui Zixuan (長水子璿, 965–1038) to study the Shurangama (楞嚴), Complete Enlightenment (圓覺), Huayan and other sutras. Furthermore, he obtained the Observations on Returning to the Source (還源觀 ) from Master Qingben (清本大師, dates unknown) and Sengzhao’s (僧肇, 384–414) Four Ways of Cutting Thoughts (四絕論 ) from Misi (秘思, 994–1056). Ultimately, as Master Ui-Chon’s (義天 , 1055–1101) came from Goryeo (高麗) for the exchange of Buddhism studies with the Song Dynasty, he brought a collection of Huayan partriarch’s works for Jingyuan. From all the masters, Jingyuan was able to collect works of Huayan Buddhism, and began to proofread, edit and annotate various books, including a series of Cultivation Liturgy for repentance. Jingyuan made great efforts to compile Huayan’s repentance liturgy for two reasons: 1) The Tiantai School was actively revived in the early Northern Song Dynasty, and Zhiyi’s (智顗, 538–597) institutional protocols created a significant impact; and 2) The controversy between the on and off the mountain branches (山家山外) caused confusion as the off-mountain shared similar religious views with Huayan, which made Huayan disciples tend to learn the Tiantai repentance practice. Therefore, in order to revive Huayan, Jingyuan devoted his life to collecting, editing and studying relevant works, actively promoting the division between the views of Huayan from that of the Tiantai School—not only from the doctrines but also from the religious characteristics of Huayan practice. At the same time, he established the patriarchal temples, confirmed the inheritance pedigree, and ceased the internal disputes in Huayan followers. Overall, Jingyuan’s contributions have been the solid facts of reviving Huayan, which makes him the “Patriarch who Revived the Huayan School” of the Song dynasty.
