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56-574: The name Bahuśrutīya means literally "those who have heard much," meaning "well-learned." The Chinese translation for the name of this sect, Duowen Bu (多聞部), literally the "much-heard sect," also corresponds to this etymology. Vasumitra's history, the Samayabhedoparacanacakra , records the following explanation of the name and characteristics of the Bahuśrutīya sect: Paramārtha , a 6th-century monk from Ujjain in central India , wrote that

112-667: A progression of twenty-seven stations for cultivating realization, based upon the teachings of the Tattvasiddhi Śāstra . The Tattvasiddhi School took Harivarman as its founder in India, and Kumārajīva as the school's founder in China. The Satyasiddhi School is counted among the Ten Schools of Tang Dynasty Buddhism. From China, the Satyasiddhi School was transmitted to Japan in 625 CE, where it

168-489: A supportive following of disciples, many of whom traveled great distance to hear his teachings, especially those from the Mahāyānasaṃgraha . In 569 CE, at the age of 70, he died, and a stūpa was built in his honor. Paramārtha's interest ranged across a wide variety of Buddhist teachings, from Abhidharma , to Yogacara Buddhism, Buddha-nature teaching and Nagarjuna's ethical teachings . However, Paramārtha

224-522: A translation team of twenty accomplished monks. Paramartha's work was interrupted by political events and the general chaotic state of China during this period, which included the murder of Emperor Wu. Several years later, Paramārtha was able to continue translation efforts in earnest with his translation team, beginning with the Golden Light Sutra (Skt. Suvarṇaprabhāsa Sūtra ). Despite his success in China, Paramārtha wished to return to India toward

280-518: Is also seen as a key figure of the Shelun School (攝論宗) and he possibly was the main force behind the promotion of the Awakening of Faith as Paramārtha's work . The Shelun School based itself off Paramārtha's translation of Vasubandhu’s Mahāyānasaṃgrahabhāṣya. As Paramārtha's work became more influential, it also became central to the so called Faxing school (法性宗, “School of Dharma-nature”), which

336-457: Is associated with some unique doctrines. He is traditionally seen as having taught the doctrine of the "immaculate consciousness" ( amalavijñāna , Ch: amoluoshi 阿摩羅識). He is also seen as the source of the doctrine of “ original awakening ” (benjue [本覺]). Paramārtha is also associated with various works on Buddha-nature that became extremely influential in Chinese Buddhism . These include

392-525: Is most well known for introducing his unique Yogacara doctrine of the "pure consciousness" or "immaculate consciousness" ( amalavijñāna , Ch: amoluoshi 阿摩羅識 or wugou shi 無垢識). This doctrine expands on the Yogacara school's doctrine of eight consciousnesses by introducing the immaculate consciousness as a ninth consciousness. The term amalavijñāna was not a new term and had been used by Vasubandhu in his Abhidharmakośa (at 5.29) . In this text,

448-503: Is quite difficult. There are many disagreements and discrepancies between the main Chinese Buddhist catalogs regarding Paramārtha's translations and modern scholarly opinion on which works to attribute to him also remain divided. Some scholars have also argued that the term “Paramārtha" should often be regarded not as a single individual, but as a group of scholars, the “Paramārtha group” or translation workshop. This helps explain why

504-811: Is still much scholarly debate regarding which works can be attributed to him. Scholars have noted that some of Paramārtha's translations contain deviations from their Indic or Tibetan counterparts. Some scholars such as Funayama Tōru have argued that this difference is due to Paramārtha's "lecture notes" being included as part of the translations of the Indian source texts. Some of Paramārtha's various lost works, including some of his oral commentaries written by his students, have survived in fragmentary form as quotations in later texts. Modern scholars are still working on collecting these fragments. After Paramārtha's death, his various students dispersed and attempted to spread his teachings, but they were not very successful . It

560-479: Is traditionally seen as a key figure of the Shelun School (攝論宗), a major tradition of Chinese Buddhist thought in the 6th and 7th centuries as well as a major figure of the Faxing school (法性宗, “School of Dharma-nature”). The distinctive doctrine of the Faxing school was "the existence of a pure and transcendent element within the mind, in which case liberation would simply be a matter of recovering that innate purity." This

616-565: The Awakening of Faith . The influence of the Awakening of Faith on the immaculate consciousness doctrine can already be seen in the work of Jingying Huiyuan (淨影慧遠, 523-592). For Huiyuan, the amalavijñăna and the ălayavijñăna are both two aspects of the same "true" consciousness, reminiscent of the "One Mind" of the Awakening of Faith . The doctrine is also further developed in the Vajrasamādhi sūtra. Faxiang school thought also commented on

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672-577: The Ratnagotravibhāga (both texts share many similarities). Because of this, Paramārtha is seen as an important figure in the development of the Yogacara- tathagatagarbha synthesis. Since the status of the various texts attributed to Paramārtha are still up for debate, attempting to extract Paramārtha's original doctrine from later interpolations and the ideas of other figures in Paramārtha's tradition

728-510: The Ratnagotravibhāga and thus with the doctrine of Buddha nature ( foxing 佛性). This purity is also linked with the dharmadhātu and, according to Radich, "this is the beginning of a process that links *amalavijñāna into a chain of identifications for (aspects of) the Mahāyāna “absolute”. Some modern scholars also consider the " Treatise on Buddha Nature" (Foxing lun 佛性論, T. 1610 ) to be an original work of Paramārtha, based on his reading of

784-537: The Buddhist context, this refers to the absolute, as opposed to merely conventional truth. Paramārtha became a Buddhist monk in India, most likely in the Sāṃmitīya Vinaya . He received support from royalty for his travels to spread the teachings of Buddhism. He most likely received royal patronage from Bālāditya II or Kumāragupta III. The Maukhari ruler Dhruvasena I may have also supported Paramārtha, as his kingdom

840-749: The Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna teachings. According to Paramārtha, the Bahuśrutīya school was formed in order to fully embrace both "conventional truth" and "ultimate truth." According to Sree Padma and Anthony Barber, the Bahuśrutīya understanding of this full exposition included the Mahāyāna teachings. According to Vasumitra, the Bahuśrutīyas considered the Buddha's teachings of impermanence, suffering, emptiness, anātman , and Nirvāṇa to be supramundane, while his expositions on other subjects were to be considered mundane. K. Venkata Ramanan writes: The credit of having kept alive

896-629: The Six Dynasties era . He is known as one of the four great translators in Chinese Buddhist history (along with Kumārajīva and Xuanzang ). He is also known for the various oral commentaries he gave on his translations which were written down by his disciples (and now only survive in fragmentary form). Some of Paramārtha's influential translations include Vasubandhu 's Abhidharmakośa , Asaṅga’s Mahāyānasaṃgraha , and Dignāga's Ālambanaparīkṣā & Hastavālaprakaraṇa . Paramārtha

952-624: The Treatise on Buddha Nature ( Foxing lun 佛性論) and the Mahayana Awakening of Faith ( Dasheng qi xin lun 大乘起信論), a key work for Huayan and Chan Buddhism . However, modern scholars have expressed doubts about the attribution of the Awakening of Faith to Paramārtha (as well as numerous other texts), and scholarly opinion remains divided, often due to discrepancies between ancient Chinese catalogs . Due to his teachings which synthesize Yogacara thought with Buddha-nature ideas, Paramārtha

1008-454: The amalavijñāna is a pure and permanent ( nitya ) consciousness that is unaffected by suffering or mental afflictions . This immaculate consciousness is not a basis for the defilements (unlike the ālayavijñāna ), but rather is a basis for the noble path ( āryamārga ). It is thus a purified vijñāna skandha (consciousness aggregate). As Michael Radich notes, Paramārtha holds that there are two different types of basic consciousnesses, "one

1064-560: The Bahuśrutīya school, but the Tattvasiddhi contains teachings more similar to those of the Sautrāntika Sarvāstivādins . This abhidharma is now contained in the Chinese Buddhist canon in sixteen fascicles ( Taishō Tripiṭaka 1646). Paramārtha cites this abhidharma text as containing a combination of Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna doctrines, and Joseph Walser agrees that this assessment is correct. Ian Charles Harris also characterizes

1120-514: The Mahāsāṃghika school those who propagated these teachings, and others who did not propagate them. The former formed a separate school called "Those who have heard much" (Bahuśrutīya). [...] It is from this school that there has come the Satyasiddhiśāstra . That is why there is a mixture of ideas from the Mahāyāna found there. The translator Paramārtha wrote that the Bahuśrutīyas accepted both

1176-400: The Yogacara doctrine of vijñaptimātra ( weishi ), which posits not just the unreality of non-mental phenomena, but also the unreality of the defiled consciousness itself . According to Radich, some sources attributed to Paramārtha also identify the immaculate consciousness with the “innate purity of the mind” (prakṛtiprabhāsvaracitta) and this links the concept with the pure Thusness of

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1232-506: The age of 18, he became the provincial martial arts champion after studying several Chinese martial arts including swordsmanship with the jian . Nan studied social welfare at Jinling University (now merged with Nanjing University ), and later went on to teach at the Republic of China Military Academy in Nanjing . In the late 1930s at the age of 21 years, Nan became a military commander at

1288-502: The age of 94 on Sept. 29th, 2012 in Suzhou , China. Nan Huai-Chin was born March 18, 1918, to a scholar-official family in Yueqing county, Wenzhou city, Zhejiang province. In his youth, Nan received a classical education that included various Confucian and Daoist works, as well as traditional Chinese medicine , literature , calligraphy , poetry , and other subjects. In his youth at

1344-598: The age of 94 on September 29, 2012. In Wujiang District, Suzhou , in 2006, Nan founded the 200-acre (0.81 km ) Taihu Great Learning Center ( 太湖大學堂 ), which contains the Wujiang Taihu International School. The school curriculum is meant to combine the best approaches of traditional China and the West. It has unique emphases such as meditation , ethics and etiquette , traditional Chinese medical theory , and Chinese and English recitation. The name of

1400-410: The basis for worldly and defiled dharmas, and the other the basis of transcendent ( lokôttara ) dharmas." Furthermore, the phenomena produced by the immaculate consciousness act as the counteragent to all the defilements and the amalavijñāna is said to be attained by the cultivation of the wisdom that knows Thusness ( tathatā ). According to Paramārtha, Buddhahood is achieved when, after practicing

1456-582: The border regions of Sichuan , Xikang , and Yunnan during the Second Sino-Japanese War . There, he led a local group of 30,000 men against the Japanese invasion. While still young, Nan left his military career so that he could commit himself fully to his study of Buddhism and to meditation . In 1942 at age 24, he went on a three-year meditation retreat in the Emei Mountains . It is said that it

1512-542: The capital are described in a Chinese introduction written by Pao Kuei in 597 CE: During the Ta-t'ung period the emperor sent a rear guard Chang Szu to Funan to send back to China eminent monks and Mahayana sastras and sutras of various kinds. This country [Funan] then yielded in turning over the western Indian Dharma Master from Ujjain, namely Paramartha, who in Liang was called Chen-ti, and many sutras and sastras in order to honor

1568-642: The current scholarly debate as to its provenance. An important source for Paramārtha's doctrine of the immaculate consciousness is the Jueding zang lun (決定藏論, the beginning of the Viniścayasaṃgrahaṇī portion of the Yogācārabhūmi , T. 1584). This text is not included in all catalogs of Paramārtha's works but is considered to be by Paramārtha by various modern scholars including Michael Radich. There are numerous other works attributed to Paramārtha and there

1624-425: The doctrine of immaculate consciousness as a ninth consciousness. The idea is used by numerous influential East Asian Buddhist authors like Zhiyi (智顗, 538-597), Wŏnch’uk (圓測, 613-696); Wŏnhyo (元曉, 617-686); Amoghavajra (不空金剛, 705-774), Chengguan (澄觀, 738-839); and Zongmi (宗密, 780-841). Many later authors interpreted Paramārtha's doctrine of the immaculate consciousness through other works, especially

1680-904: The doctrines associated with Paramārtha, the immaculate consciousness and the "ninth consciousness". Kuiji , a key disciple of Xuanzang , saw the doctrine as heterodox and criticized it in his works. Wŏnch’uk meanwhile used the term untainted consciousness as just a synonym for ālayavijñāna. Nan Huai-Chin The way The "goal" Background Chinese texts Classical Post-classical Contemporary Zen in Japan Seon in Korea Thiền in Vietnam Western Zen Nan Huai-Chin ( simplified Chinese : 南怀瑾 ; traditional Chinese : 南懷瑾 ; pinyin : Nán Huáijǐn ) (March 18, 1918 – September 29, 2012)

1736-575: The early 1990s, Nan changed his place of residence from Taiwan to Hong Kong . Some secret cross-strait meetings were held at Nan's private residence in Hong Kong. In January 1992, Nan signed a contract with the Chinese government and invested 92 million RMB in the Jinhua–Wenzhou Railway , which is the first joint-stock railway in China. In 2004, Nan returned to the mainland near Suzhou. Nan died at

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1792-606: The emperor. After Dharma Master Paramartha had traveled to many kingdoms he had settled in Funan. His manner was lively and intelligent and he relished details in scriptural texts and profound texts, all of which he had studied. In the first year of T'ai-ch'ing (547) he went to the capital and had a visit with the emperor who himself bowed down to him in the Jeweled Cloud quarters of the palace in reverence to him, wishing for him to translate sutras and sastras. In China, Paramārtha worked with

1848-476: The emphasis on the ultimacy of the unconditioned reality by drawing attention to the non-substantiality of the basic elements of existence ( dharma-śūnyatā ) belongs to the Mahāsāṃghikas. Every branch of these clearly drew the distinction between the mundane and the ultimate, came to emphasize the non-ultimacy of the mundane and thus facilitated the fixing of attention on the ultimate. The Bahuśrutīyas distinguished

1904-409: The end of his life, but felt that this journey back to the west would be "impossible." Instead, he accepted the patronage of Ouyang Ho and continued his translation efforts at a rapid pace. During much of his later life, Paramārtha continued a pattern of continually translating texts while traveling from region to region in China. He also continued to review his older translations for any areas in which

1960-680: The formation of its own school of Buddhism in China, the Tattvasiddhi School , or Chéngshí Zōng (成實宗), which was founded in 412 CE. As summarized by Nan Huai-Chin : Various Buddhist schools sprang to life, such as the school based on the three Mādhyamaka śāstras, the school based on the Abhidharmakośa , and the school based on the Satyasiddhi Śāstra . These all vied with each other, producing many wondrous offshoots, each giving rise to its own theoretical system. The Tattvasiddhi School taught

2016-414: The founder of the Bahuśrutīya sect was named Yājñavalkya. In Paramārtha's account, Yājñavalkya is said to have lived during the time of the Buddha, and to have heard his discourses, but was in a profound state of samādhi during the time of the Buddha's parinirvāṇa . After Yājñavalkya emerged from this samādhi 200 years later, he discovered that the Mahāsāṃghikas were teaching only the superficial meaning of

2072-591: The mainland and Taiwan. Thomas Cleary , who has translated several of his books into English, has written the following about Nan's works and methodology: There is no question that Master Nan's work is a cut above anything else available from modern authors, either academic or sectarian, and I would like to see his work gain its rightful place in the English speaking world. ... [His] studies contain broad learning in all three main traditions of Chinese thought, Confucian, Taoist, and Buddhist. Although this comprehensive purview

2128-421: The mundane from the transmundane teachings of the Buddha and held that the latter directly lead one to freedom from defilements. Like the other Mahāsāṃghika sects, the Bahuśrutīyas believed that arhats were fallible. The Tattvasiddhi -Śāstra , also called the Satyasiddhi Śāstra , is an extant abhidharma text written by Harivarman, a 4th-century monk from central India. Harivarman is often thought to come from

2184-412: The noble path, the mind experiences the “revolutionary transformation of the basis” ( āśrayaparāvṛtti ) during which the storehouse consciousness ( ālayavijñāna ) ceases to exist, leaving only the immaculate consciousness free of all evil ( dauṣṭhulya ), suffering and all outflows ( asrava ). Thus, according to Michael Radich "Paramărtha understood *amalavijñăna to be the counteragent to ălayavijñăna, and

2240-476: The sūtras, and he therefore founded the Bahuśrutīya sect in order to expound their full meaning. Paramārtha links the origins of the Bahuśrutīya sect to the Mahāyāna teachings: In the Mahāsāṃghika school this Arhat recited completely the superficial sense and the profound sense. In the latter, there was the sense of the Mahāyāna. Some did not believe it. Those who believed it recited and retained it. There were in

2296-507: The term refers to a “consciousness without outflows” (anăsravavijñăna). This is a consciousness that has been purified of all defilement through insight into the four noble truths and which brings freedom from rebirth. Likewise, the Yogacarabhumi contains teachings on purified consciousness ( visuddha vijñāna ). It is likely that these earlier sources influenced Paramārtha's conception of immaculate consciousness. Paramārtha's concept of

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2352-451: The text as a synthesis of Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna, and notes that its doctrines are very close to those in Mādhyamaka and Yogācāra works. The Tattvasiddhi includes the teaching of dharma - śūnyatā , the emptiness of phenomena. This text also mentions the existence of a Bodhisattva Piṭaka . The Tattvasiddhi Śāstra maintained great popularity in Chinese Buddhism , and even lead to

2408-423: The two to be in a temporal relationship to one another, whereby ălayavijñăna existed only until liberation, and was then succeeded by fully realised *amalavijñăna." Some texts attributed to Paramārtha also identify the Yogacara idea of the perfected nature ( pariniṣpannasvabhāva ) with the amalavijñāna. Some of these texts also see the teaching of the immaculate consciousness as a superior or higher version of

2464-409: The various catalogs diverge in many ways. According to Keng Ching and Michael Radich, the following key texts are agreed upon by all catalogs (with minor differences in dating etc) as being translations of Paramārtha (and his team of translators): Regarding the famous Mahayana Awakening of Faith ( Dasheng qi xin lun 大乘起信論, T. 1666), it is cited as "dubious" in one of the Chinese catalogs, hence

2520-636: The words and the general meaning were in conflict. During his later years (562–569) Paramārtha finally attained a stable patronage and could remain in one single place to work - Guangzhou . It was during this late period that he and his main students, like Huikai, Sengzong (僧宗), Fazhun (法准), and Sengren (僧忍), produced the most important translations, like the Abhidharmakośabhāṣya and the Mahāyānasaṃgraha . In this later period, Paramārtha had become famous throughout southern China and had acquired

2576-486: The “ninth consciousness” (jiushi 九識), an extension of the Yogacara doctrine of eight consciousnesses ). While numerous later sources claim that Paramārtha taught the immaculate consciousness as a “ninth consciousness”, this is not found in any of Paramārtha's extant works and Michael Radich writes that the truth of the issue is impossible to determine. Later sources also drew on a passage in the Laṃkâvatăra sūtra to defend

2632-535: Was a Chinese Buddhist monk, religious scholar, and writer. A well-respected spiritual teacher in contemporary China, he was considered by many to be the major force in the revival of Chinese Buddhism . While Nan was regarded by many in China as one of the most influential Chan Buddhist teachers and Vajrayana teachers, particularly in the Cundī practices , he was little known outside the Chinese cultural sphere . Nan died at

2688-438: Was a Chinese form of Yogacara that also placed much emphasis on the doctrine of tathagatagarbha . Paramārtha's doctrine of the immaculate consciousness was a particularly influential teaching which was widely adopted by many later Chinese Buddhist thinkers. Beginning with the work of Huijun (慧均, d.u., fl. 574-580s?), the immaculate consciousness began to be widely called the untainted consciousness (wugoushi 無垢識) as well as

2744-473: Was a well-known bastion of the type of Yogācāra teachings advocated by Paramārtha. The first destination of Paramārtha was the kingdom of Funan , or pre- Angkor Cambodia . Here in Funan, Paramārtha's reputation grew to the extent that Emperor Wu of Liang sent ambassadors to bring Paramārtha to the Chinese imperial court. Paramārtha arrived in China through Guangdong (then called Nanhai) on 25 September 546 CE.23 The conditions of Paramartha's arrival at

2800-595: Was common to the greatest minds of China since the T'ang dynasty, it is rare among scholars today. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Nan mediated secret cross-strait communications between the mainland China and Taiwan. Two of Nan's students were close confidants of Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui , and Nan was approached by his student Jia Yibin about creating a communication channel between Lee Teng-hui and mainland China's President Yang Shangkun . Both Jia and Nan mediated cross-straight negotiations, and successfully realized secret chamber meetings between special envoys. In

2856-517: Was known as Jōjitsu-shu (成實宗). The Japanese Satyasiddhi school is known as one of the six great schools of Japanese Buddhism in the Nara period (710-794 CE). Paramartha Paramārtha ( Sanskrit , Devanagari : परमार्थ; traditional Chinese : 真諦 ; simplified Chinese : 真谛 ; pinyin : Zhēndì ) (499-569 CE) was an Indian monk from Ujjain , who is best known for his prolific Chinese translations of Buddhist texts during

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2912-490: Was one of the few multidisciplinary experts in the world to be versed in the cultivation schools of Confucianism, Daoism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Chan Buddhism. Nan's Dharma name was Tōngchán (通禪). Following the revolution in China, Nan later moved to Taiwan in 1949 where he became a well-known university professor and author, teaching at National Chengchi University , Chinese Culture University , and Fu Jen Catholic University . His first book, The Sea of Chan (禪海蠡測),

2968-464: Was only due to the efforts of Tanqian (曇遷; 542–607) that Paramārtha's teachings flourished and became popular in the north. In spite of the fact that Tanqian had neither met Paramārtha, nor studied with any of Paramārtha’s students, it was Tanqian who really popularized Paramārtha's teachings, especially the Mahāyānasaṃgrahabhāṣya, which he taught together with the Awakening of Faith. Tanqian

3024-593: Was opposed to the view of Xuanzang and his school, which held that the mind was impure and had to be totally transformed. Paramārtha was born in 499 CE in the autonomous kingdom of Malwa in central India, at the end of the Gupta Dynasty . His given name was Kulanātha, meaning "savior of the family", and his parents were Brahmins belonging to the Bhāradvāja clan. His Buddhist name of Paramārtha means "the ultimate meaning," parama : uppermost, artha : meaning. In

3080-609: Was published in 1955, and was the first in a line of over 40 books and related materials published in his name. Nan's books have achieved a great deal of popularity in mainland China and Taiwan. In total, more than 20 million copies of his books have been sold in Chinese-speaking countries. Some of his more popular works have gone to a 20th printing in Taiwan and his works on Confucianism such as Another Critical Review of Confucius Analect (論語別裁) are used as standard university references in

3136-451: Was there that he verified his experiences against the Chinese Buddhist canon . During this time, Nan's primary teacher was Yuan Huanxian (袁煥仙; 1887 – 1966). In 1945, Nan went to seek out the teachings of Tibetan Buddhism . The 9th Gangkar Rinpoche (貢噶活佛; 1893 – 1957), a high-ranking tulku of the Kagyu school, also verified Nan's experiences, giving him the title "Vajra Master." Nan

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