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Misunderstandings about Zhanran 湛然 and Their Causes

2019; Japanese Association of Indian and Buddhist Studies; Volume: 68; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.4259/ibk.68.1_202

1884-0051

Akihiro Kashiwagura,

Japanese History and Culture

A persistent misunderstanding about Zhanran 湛然 holds that he criticized other schools using terminology of the Huayan school, and thus promoted the Tiantai sect. This is wrong, first, because it does not touch upon Zhanran’s essential understanding, and second, because Zhanran reinterprets the teaching of the Huayan school by going back to the intention of the Buddha’s sermons, and there is no difference in meaning due to differences in wording. There are three reasons for this misunderstanding: (1) we are unconsciously influenced by the Anlelu 安楽律 sect and are critical of the Huayan school, (2) we cannot escape from the view that the Lotus Sūtra is special and (3) we do not understand the inconceivable as inconceivable but understand it from the standpoint of the conceivable.