Huaigan
| Part of a series on |
| Pure Land Buddhism |
|---|
 |
Huaigan (懷感; c. 7th century) was a Chinese Buddhist monk who was the leading student of the Pure Land patriarch Shandao (613–681) and key systematizer of Chinese Pure land thought.[1][2] The Japanese Pure Land teacher Hōnen designated Huaigan as the fourth patriarch of Pure Land Buddhism in the Jōdo-shū tradition.[3][4]
According to Ming-wood Liu "his representative and only extant work, the Shì Jìngtǔ Qún Yí Lùn [釋淨土群疑論, Treatise Explaining a Number of Doubts on Pure Land, T 1960], was a brilliant attempt at Pure Land apologetics, providing replies to virtually all the criticisms which had been raised against Pure Land ideas and practices."[1]
Huaigan's work remained influential well into the Song dynasty, as can be seen by its impact on figures like Yongming Yanshou and the Tiantai monk Zunshi (964-1032 C.E.).[5][6] Huaigan's text was also an important source for Japanese Pure Land authors, including Genshin (942–1017) who cites it extensively.[7]
Life
[edit]The details of Huaigan's life are not clear. The dates of his birth and death not well known.[8] Early in his monastic career, Huaigan practiced at Qianfu Temple (千福寺) in Chang'an, studying Yogācāra philosophy and the monastic precepts (Vinaya). Later, he became a follower of Shandao, who strongly encouraged him to devote himself to the practice of Pure Land meditation and the recitation of Amitābha Buddha's name (nianfo).[9]
The earliest source on his life, the Wangsheng xifang jingtu ruiying shan zhuan (往生西方净土瑞应刪傳 T 2070), contains a short account of his training under Shandao. The text states:[10]
Dharma-master Gan resided in Chang’an at Qianfu Monastery. Although he possessed an extensive knowledge of the sutras, he did not believe in (the practice of) nianfo. He questioned the Buddhist monk Shandao, asking, “What is the method for nianfo?” Shandao responded, “If you practice it whole-heartedly, you will soon have realization.” Huaigan replied, “Then I will see the Buddha, right?” The teacher said, “The Buddha has spoken it, so how could you doubt it?” After three weeks of practice he did not yet have a response. Huaigan resented himself for his grave sins and wished to fast himself to death. The master stopped Huaigan and would not permit it. For three years Huaigan concentrated intensely. As a result, he obtained a vision of the Buddha’s golden light emitting from the spot between his eyebrows. Huaigan obtained [nianfo] samādhi to validate his experience. He then began writing the seven volumes of the Wangsheng jueyi lun [i.e. Qún Yí Lùn]. At the moment of his death, the Buddha Amitābha came to greet him. Huaigan placed his hands together and went westward [toward the Pure Land].
Huaigan spent most of his teaching career in Chang'an, the capital city of the Tang empire.[8] He was likely the abbot of Qianfu and also at Da’anguo, another monastery at the capital.[11]
Huaigan main work and only surviving writing is the extensive seven fascicle Treatise on Resolving Doubts About the Pure Land (Shì Jìngtǔ Qún Yí Lùn), which is one of the longest and most comprehensive texts of early Chinese Pure Land.[12] According to Mengxian, the author of the preface to this work, Huaigan wrote it in order to defend Pure Land from numerous critics who were slandering and attacking the tradition.[13] During the 7th century Pure Land Buddhism was growing in popularity, among monastics and laypersons, and this led to numerous critiques from various quarters, which in turn led to apologetic works.[14]
Huaigan passed away before fully completing the work, which was later finished by his friend and fellow Shandao disciple Huaiyun.[15] The text is organized in a question and answer format and answers one hundred and twenty one questions and critiques about Pure Land practice and theory, especially those which were commonly discussed by critics of Pure Land Buddhism.[16]
Huaigan also may have worked on a collection of rebirth stories, the Wangsheng zhuan, as well as on some lost commentaries to the Pure Land sutras.[17]
According to Marchman, it is likely that Huaigan died sometime between 695 and 701.[11]
Thought
[edit]Huaigan's thought closely follows the Pure Land thought of his teacher Shandao, but he also expands on it, drawing on Chinese Buddhist philosophies to add "significant philosophical depth" to it.[18] In particular, Huaigan is especially known for drawing on East Asian Yogācāra Buddhism in his development of a comprehensive Pure Land philosophy.[19]
A key principle of Huaigan's Pure Land thought is the universal applicability of Pure Land practice. As Huaigan writes, Pure Land can encompass:
the worldling and the āryan, covers both the small and the great [vehicles], can be done with or without characteristics, within both focused and scattered states of mind by those of sharp or dull capacities, within long or short time frames with much practice or only a little.[20]
Huaigan draws on the Yogacara triple body teaching (trikaya) to explain the nature of the Buddha Amitabha and of the pure land, arguing that just as the Buddha has three bodies, there are three corresponding pure lands (a nirmana land, a sambhoga land and a Dharmakaya land).[21] The Dharmakaya and its land are really the same ultimate reality, the Dharmadhatu, the ultimate truth.[22]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Liu; Ming-wood (2002-09-01). "The Life of Huaigan and His Conception of the Nature of the Buddha Amitabha and the Pure Land [懷感的生平和佛身、佛土思想]". Bulletin of the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy [中國文哲研究集刊] (in Chinese) (21): 117–140.
- ^ Marchman, Kendall R. Huaigan and the Growth of Pure Land Buddhism During the Tang Era, Phd Diss. 2015.
- ^ "The Five Pure Land Patriarchs". Koloa Jodo Mission- Buddhist Temple. Retrieved 2024-09-02.
- ^ Marchman 2015, pp. 15-16.
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 143.
- ^ Lopez, Donald (editor). Buddhism in Practice, pp. 274-275. Princeton Readings in Religions, Princeton University Press.
- ^ Rhodes, Robert F. (2017). Genshin's Ōjōyōshū and the Construction of Pure Land Discourse in Heian Japan (Pure Land Buddhist Studies). University of Hawaii Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0824872489.
- ^ a b Marchman 2015, pp. 87-88
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 18.
- ^ Marchman 2015, pp. 89-90
- ^ a b Marchman 2015, p. 131.
- ^ Liao Minghuo. "Huai Gan’s Treatise on Rebirth". Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 15, (2002) Taipei: The Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies ISSN: 1017-7132
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 99
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 132.
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 16.
- ^ Marchman 2015, pp. 15-20, 127
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 130.
- ^ Jones (2019), p. 25.
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 21.
- ^ Jones (2019), p. 27.
- ^ Marchman 2015, p. 149.
- ^ Marchman 2015, pp. 151-152
Sources
[edit]- Marchman, Kendall R. Huaigan and the Growth of Pure Land Buddhism During the Tang Era. Phd Diss. 2015.
- Jones, Charles B. (2019) Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, Understanding a Tradition of Practice, University of Hawai‘i Press / Honolulu.
.svg){kind=small}