大乘佛教=漢傳佛教=北傳佛教=Mahayana Buddhism; 大般涅槃經=Mahaparinibbana-Sutta; 判教=教判=classification of Buddhist teachings; 五種種性=five lineages; 五時說法=five periods of teaching; 正因佛性=direct cause of Buddha-nature; 理心=ture mind; 全分有性=all sentient beings possessing Buddha-nature; 變易生死=existence qua transformation; 佛性=Buddha Nature=Buddha-dhatu=Buddha-gotra
Whether all sentient beings possess Buddha-nature, and so can attain Buddhahood, has been a central problem in Mahayana Buddhism in China since its inception; and theoretical interest in this issue deepened from the early fifth century. Generally speaking, early Chinese theories of Buddha-nature were based on the Mahaparinirvana-sutra, which held that all beings possess Buddha-nature and can attain Buddhahood. A major controversy developed over this issue in the mid-seventh century, when Xuanzang (ca. 602-664) and his followers in the Faxiang sect put forward the theory of five lineages, maintaining the existence of three types of sentient beings incapable of realizing Buddhahood due to their lack of Buddha-nature. Among the critics of this theory, the most vocal and versatile was one who had been his former student, but who had also been deeply influenced by tathagatagarbha teachings, Fabao (ca. 627-ca. 705). This paper is a study of Fabao's teachings about the Buddha-nature. It is made up of six sections. Section one provides a succinct account of the life and writings of Fabao. Section two gives a brief outline of the Buddha-nature teachings of the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana-sutra, on which Fabao's teachings about the Buddha-nature are based. Section three comprises a detailed study of Fabao's creative attempt to establish a correlation between various opinions on the subject of lineages and various periods of Buddhist teachings, with a view to relegating Xuanzang's theory of five lineages to an earlier, inferior form of Buddhist teachings. Section four examines various definitions, including Fabao's, of the term "Buddha-nature," his analysis of Buddha-nature into different types, and his interpretation of a number of ideas closely connected with the idea of Buddha-nature; it highlights the centrality of the tathagatagarbha doctrine to Fabao's Buddha-nature teachings. Section five analyzes Fabao's critiques of several key notions underlying Xuanzang's theory of five lineages, and surveys Fabao's disparagements of Xuanzang's interpretation of a number of popular Mahayana concepts (such as "existence qua transformation" and "icchantika") in his expositions of the theory of five lineages. The paper concludes with a discussion of Fabao's view about the relation between the Buddha-nature and non-sentient objects.
