The writings of Li Tongxuan (李通玄,7–8th century), a Chinese lay Huayan practitioner, left various influences on later Buddhists throughout East Asia. This paper focuses on a lay Chan practitioner and bureaucrat Zhang Shangying (張商英,11–12th century) of China and Myōe (明恵,12–13th century) of Japan to illustrate how the diversity of Li’s Huayan thought can be found in their reception of Li’s ideas.
While Zhang Shangying saw in Li’s writings a theory of “sudden enlightenment and gradual practice”(頓悟漸修), Myōe practiced Buddha Ray Observation (仏光観) based on Li’s writings to realize swift enlightenment which captures the whole scope of a bodhisattva’s practices in one contemplation of faith. Zhang, who spent his life between promotions and demotions in a politically charged age, looked for balanced ways both in his quest for social reforms and in his search for his own spiritual development. On the other hand, Myōe, who held a deeply pessimistic view of himself being born in a degenerate age and a place far removed from the Buddha’s motherland, India, turned to Li’s writings with a more pressing anxiety.
For Myōe, Li’s writings provided him with a definitive tool of meditation to realize buddhahood, while for Zhang Shangying, Li became a mentor who taught him a steady, gradual way to the perfection of buddhahood.
