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Commentarial literature constitutes a cornerstone in the edifice of Chinese Buddhism, providing critical exegesis of Indian Buddhist texts. This paper examines the pivotal role of Chengguan (738–839), the fourth patriarch of the Huayan school, revered for his extensive commentarial work on the Chinese translations of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra. Chengguan not only composed a written commentary but also engaged in discourses with the monastic and lay communities at Wutaishan, prompting the creation of a sub-commentary derived from these oral elucidations. The study posits that the composition of Chengguan's audiences, comprising Confucian-educated scholars and Buddhist monks, necessitated a pedagogical strategy that integrated Chinese intellectual traditions into the Buddhist narrative to enhance comprehension. This analysis focuses on Chengguan's citations of the Analects, showcasing how he interweaves Confucian maxims into the fabric of his commentary to illuminate Buddhist doctrines. The research articulates the method he employed to make the Buddhist texts resonate with a Chinese audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism inherited the legacy of the early transmission of Yogācāra teachings through the Dilun and Shelun schools, signifying a scholarly endeavour to synthetise the Yogācāra and Tathāgatagarbha teachings. In contrast to the Indian Yogācāra tradition, which was subsequently introduced to China by the renowned monk and traveller Xuanzang 玄奘 (602-664), these arly schools emphasised a kind of actual or pure reality behind the phenomenal world and was not satisfied with the worldview that the world can be traced back to a tainted entity, the ālayavijñāna, the source of all phenomena. This distinctive Chinese viewpoint finds explicit expression in the apocryphal Chinese text the Awakening of Faith Mahāyāna (Dasheng Qixin lun 大乘起信論), which has become one of the most important philosophical treatises in the history of Chinese Buddhism. This text proposes the concept of one-mind, which has the tathatā aspect (zhenru men 真如門) and the saṃsāra aspect (shengmie men 生滅門). Huayan exegetes, who authored commentaries on the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra, the scripture that they regarded as the most perfect teaching of the Buddha, were influenced by the Awakening of Faith and the early Chinese Yogācāra schools in their understanding of this scripture. In this article, we are going to introduce the teachings of Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra that were interpreted as not only the appearance of Yogācāra thought but also as an unequivocal articulation of the concept of one-mind as it was put forward in the Awakening of Faith by Huayan scholars. We will show how this concept was further elaborated in Huayan philosophy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buddhism is a tradition that set itself decidedly against theism, with the development of complex arguments against the existence of God. I propose that the metaphysical conclusions reached by some schools in the Mahayana tradition present a vision of reality that, with some apparently small modification, would ground an argument for the existence of God. This argument involves explanation in terms of natures rather than causal agency. Yet I conclude not only that the Buddhist becomes a theist in embracing such explanations as legitimate, but also ipso facto abandons their metaphysical project and ceases to be a Buddhist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most influential contemporary Buddhist protagonists, and also a famous interpreter of Christianity. In this paper, I will focus on Thich Nhat Hanh's reading of the Holy Spirit. Nhat Hanh's Buddhist pneumatology is mainly informed by the cornerstone of his teaching, mindfulness, which in turn closely connects with the doctrine of Buddha-nature. The doctrinal framework of Nhat Hanh's conception of mindfulness is grounded in the psychology of the Yogācāra school, particularly in its eight aspects of consciousness and the notion of seeds. According to Nhat Hanh, the transformation of unwholesome and the nourishing of wholesome seeds via mindfulness practice is crucial to overcome the hindrances to enlightenment. This is possible because the seed of awakening or Buddha-nature is already ingrained in sentient beings. Nhat Hanh discerns the Holy Spirit as a functional equivalent to the Buddha-nature. I will argue that his reading of the Spirit can be described by three mutually interconnected main characteristics: as an innate, salvific potential, an all-embracing, dynamic force, and further as a foundation for ethical conduct. Finally, I will reflect on a crucial hermeneutical issue emerging from Nhat Hanh's Buddhist pneumatology: Does the right to interpret the Holy Spirit belong to Christians alone? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper discusses some problems pertaining to the spread of Sinitic Buddhism, especially of the Huayan Chan tradition in Xixia. These include issues of the transmission of the teaching as well as codicological and conceptual problems of the dissemination of the publications of Huayan Chan texts in Xixia. The paper presents evidence that the Chan Buddhist content available to the Tanguts was not limited to Huayan Chan, but included some knowledge of the Song-period Chan Buddhism. The paper introduces the previously unknown Tangut composition Suiyuan ji and discusses its structure as well as aspects of its contents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]