The 80-Chapters Buddhāvatajsaka-mahāvaipulya-sūtra or Hua-yen Sutra was translated in the year 699 during the Tang Dynasty. Before Fa-zang was able to complete the annotation, he passed away. His eldest disciple, Hui-yuan took over his unfinished task of checking the 60-Chapters and 80-Chapters of the Hua-yen Sutra, against the Sanskrit versions, paying particular attention to the aspects of 宗lineage and 教teachings, and eventually completed documenting his works《續華嚴經略疏刊定記》. Subsequently, due to the following reasons: Hui-yuan re-composed the lineage as: 杜順 (Du-shun), 智儼(Zhi-yan) ,法藏 (Fa-zang), 慧苑 (Hui-yuan), 法詵(Fa-shen), 澄觀Cheng-guan, 宗密Zong-mi, and because of this, was thus expelled. In the history of Chinese documentations, such incidents are rarely written. Hui-yuan was of the opinion that Fa-zang’s five division of Buddhism (as mentioned above) was ranked higher than the teachings of 天台 (Tian-tai)’s 藏Hinayana, 通Interrelated, 別Differentiated ,圓Perfect, mainly due to the 頓教: Immediate and Intuitive Teachings. He was questioning the principle behind the theory of Immediacy or intuitive direct teachings: since the intuitive teaching does not clearly reveal reasons of Buddhist teaching how can it be established as being able to clearly explain? If this is a teaching, what is it trying to explain ? If a teaching is void of speech/language and be termed Immediate and Intuitive, then, is it not true that終 final stage of Mahayana, and 圓Perfect teachings are also free from speech or language; are they not immediate teachings too? Being such how could there be five divisions of teachings? The gradual transformation of the ideas from Hua-yen sutra [that all sentient beings have the nature of the Tathāgata] and Ratnagotra-vibhāgo Mahāyānottaratantra-śāstra《寶性論》(Bao Xing Lun)’s stand [on whether consciousness is of the nature of the Tathāgata] was able to effectively classify the entire holy teachings of the Buddha into four divisions: mainly 迷真異執, 真一分半, 真一分滿, 真具分滿教. 太虛大師 (Venerable Master Tai-xu) did agree to Hui-yuan’s four-division’s all embracing teachings as it has its appropriate points. Following this, those teachings that Hui-yuan’s disagreed to such as 頓教Immediate and Intuitive Teachings’s concept of “no speech cuts off worries”, 澄觀Cheng-guan’s 即順禪宗 (accordance to Ch’an Sect), 宗密 Zong-mi’s 北宗禪雖漸調伏 (The Northern School of Ch’an belongs to the gradual adjustment), all of which do not involve speech or language, but all are within the teachings of Immediate and Intuitive頓教, were classified as 順禪宗 (in accordance to the Ch’an School) of Teachings. After the Tang Era, the 賢首Xian-shou School in comparison to the頓教Immediate and Intuitive Teachings, each had their own varied explanations.
