Lushan Huiyuan
Lushan Huiyuan (廬山慧遠) (334–416), or "Huiyuan of Mount Lu", was a Chinese Buddhist teacher who founded Donglin Temple at Lushan ("Mount Lu") and wrote the text On Why Monks Do Not Bow Down Before Kings. He was an early advocate of the pure land practices.[1]
His correspondence with the eminent translator Kumārajīva is collected in the Dasheng dayi zhang (“Compendium of the Great Purport of the Mahāyāna”).[1][2]
Life
Huiyuan was born in Yanmen, Shanxi province. As a youth he studied Confucianism and Daoism, but abandoned these for Buddhism after reading the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras. He is said to have begun teaching these scriptures quite young, and to have had a tendency for explaining them in Daoist terms when his audiences ran into difficulties.[2]
He became a close disciple of Dao'an, with whom he studied until circumstances forced their parting in 378, when Huiyuan went south after the fall of Xiangyang. He traveled south and settled down in Lushan (Mount Lu), at the invitation of Huiyong (慧永), who had already established himself there. In Lushan, the authorities built Donglin Temple for him. The temple was completed in ca. 386.[2]
Huiyuan stayed in Lushan for the remainder of his life. He invited the Kashmiri monk Gautama Saṃghadeva to Lushan, to encourage the latterʼs translation work, which included the Apitan xin lun, the Jñānaprasthāna and other works.[2]
From 401, he struck up a lasting correspondence with Kumārajīva, who had arrived for a long stay in Chang'an.[2][3]
In 402, Huiyuan assembled a group of followers in front of an image of Amitabha Buddha, and together they took a vow to be born in the Amitabha's pure land (Sukhāvatī).[2] According to tradition, at this time the group formed the 'White Lotus Society' (白蓮社); however the name 'White Lotus' only appears in accounts dating from the Tang and later, and in conjunction with many implausible historical details and apparent anachronisms.[2]
In the year 404, Huiyuan wrote On Why Monks Do Not Bow Down Before Kings (Shamen bujing wangzhe 沙門不敬王者論),[4] in which he famously (and successfully) argued that monks need not pay obeisance to kings, in counter-argument to the theories of Huan Xuan 桓玄 (a statesman of the Eastern Jin).[2]
This book symbolized his efforts to assert the political independence of Buddhist clergy from the courts of monarchic rulers. At the same time, it was a religious and political text that aimed to convince monarchs and Confucian-minded ministers of state that followers of Buddhism were ultimately not subversive. He argued that Buddhists could make good subjects in a kingdom due to their beliefs in retribution of karma and the desire to be reborn in paradise. Despite the Buddhists' reputation of leaving their family behind for a monastic life, Huiyuan stated "those who rejoice in the Way of the Buddha invariably first serve their parents and obey their lords."[5]
Huiyuan had disciples who went back and forth between Lushan and Chang'an, assisting in the translation projects of Kumārajīva in the latter city; and he established a famous correspondence with Kumārajīva, collected in the Dasheng dayi zhang, examining Mahayana topics such as the nature of the dharmakāya.[2]
In 410, Huiyuan welcomed the Indian monk/translator Buddhabhadra to Lushan. Buddhabhadra had been chased out of Kumārajīvaʼs Chang'an translation group, apparently over a dispute about monastic discipline. (Buddhabhadra objected to the harem Kumārajīva kept.) Huiyuan also promoted and emphasized dhyāna practice, and Buddhabhadra was an important figure in religious life at Lushan in this respect, also, introducing the works of his master Buddhasena (Hôbôgirin Répértoire 238 ascribes 達摩多羅禪經 T 618 to Buddhasena, claiming that the canonical attribution to Dharmatrāta 達摩多羅 is an error).[2]
In addition to the above mentioned texts, Huiyuan also composed the Tanfu lun 袒服論, Mingbao lun 明報論 the Nianfo sanmei shijixu 念佛三昧詩集序 and other works.[2]
His disciples included Huiguan (慧觀), Sengji (僧濟), and Faan (法安).[6]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Buswell & Lopez 2014, s.v. Lushan Huiyuan.
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10
廬山慧遠, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
- ↑ Jones, Charles B. (2008). Was Lushan Huiyuan a Pure Land Buddhist? Evidence from His Correspondence with Kumārajīva About Nianfo Practice, 周文廣 - Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal 21, 175-191
- ↑ For a translation, see Leon Hurvitz, " 'Render unto Caesar' in Early Chinese Buddhism," Sino-Indian Studies, V, 4 (Santininketan), 80-114.
- ↑ Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 97.
- ↑ Wikipedia.
Sources
Buswell, Robert E.; Lopez, Donald S. (2014), The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism, Princeton University- Ebrey, Patricia Buckley (1999). The Cambridge Illustrated History of China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Further reading
- Bary, Theodor de (1999). Huiyuan: A monk does not bow down before a king. In: Sources of Chinese tradition, vol. I, New York: Columbia University Press, pp 426-432
- Zheng, Changji (972). "The Tale of Master Yuan of Mount Lu". In Mair, Victor H.; Steinhardt, Nancy S.; Goldin, Paul R. Hawai'i Reader in Traditional Chinese Culture. Translated by Sen, Tansen; Mair, Victor H. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press (published 2005). pp. 304–339.
- Zürcher, E. and Teiser, Stephen F. (2007). Buddhist Conquest of China : The Spread and Adaptation of Buddhism in Early Medieval China (3rd Edition). Boston, MA: Brill Academic Publishers, pp. 204–53.
External links
Lushan Huiyuan, Wikipedia- 廬山慧遠, Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (to sign in, see DDB sign-in)
