Tongxuan, L.
| English Phonetics | Li Tongxuan |
|---|---|
| Sort Name | Tongxuan, Li |
Tibetan calendar dates
Biographical Information
Li Tongxuan is a contemporary of Fazang’s who remained relatively unknown during his lifetime, and so he lacks the honor of being considered one of the patriarchs of Huayan Buddhism. However, Li’s work came to exert substantial influence upon subsequent Buddhist tradition, through its impact on the Korean monk Chinul (1158–1210), the Japanese monk Moye (1173–1232), and the Linji Chan masters Juefan Huihong (1071–1128) and Dahui Zonggao (1089–1163). We know little about Li’s life. He lived as a reclusive lay exegete of Buddhism, leading an austere lifestyle involving a daily meal of only seven rice cakes made with dates and cypress. He also seems to have had extensive knowledge of the Book of Changes (Ch. Yijing), presumably due to his being an offspring of the Tang royal family. Li influenced the Huayan tradition through a handful of writings: a commentary on the Avatamsaka Sutra (Ch. Xin huayan jing lun; T36.1739), a summary of that commentary, and a chapter-by-chapter summary of the Avatamsaka Sutra itself. His writings are notable for using the theory of yin-yang and the Five Phases, as well as appealing to correlative reasoning, to discern soteriological significance in minor details such as geographical directions, numbers, and the names of bodhisattvas.
Li’s central contribution to Huayan tradition is his teaching of the one true dharma-realm (Ch. yi zhen fajie). According to this teaching, all places and objects in the world are true just as they are. There is no real ontological separation between the sacred and the secular, enlightenment and ignorance, or the Buddha and sentient beings. Li’s teaching of the one true dharma-realm supports a subitist approach to enlightenment, whereby sentient beings attain Buddhahood suddenly rather than gradually. It supports, as well, his decision to explicate Buddhist ideas using classical Chinese texts, as manifested in his frequent appeal to the Book of Changes in his commentary on the Avatamsaka Sutra. According to Li, Chinese sages such as Kongzi (Confucius) and Laozi (the traditional founder of Daoism), and Chinese classics, offer instructions from bodhisattvas by virtue of their endeavoring to edify sentient beings—and because, according to Li’s teaching, the ordinary human condition is the foundation for enlightenment in this lifetime.
Li justifies his teaching of the one true dharma-realm with a distinctive and non-temporal approach to existence. According to Li, existence is not only subject to change but also entirely complete at each moment. Past, present, and future co-exist at every moment. This non-temporality of existence resolves several problems Li identifies with the notions of cause and effect. The first problem pertains to conceptual relation. If cause and effect are not simultaneous (arising at one and the same moment), Li argues, then because causes are not considered causes until their effects arise, effects precede their causes. If, by contrast, cause and effect are simultaneous, causes become causes exactly when effects arise. The second problem pertains to temporal relation. If cause and effect are not simultaneous, Li argues, there is an inexplicable gap between the time at which a cause arises and the time at which the effect of that cause arises. If, by contrast, cause and effect are simultaneous, there is no such gap.
If past, present, and future intermingle, then insofar as sentient beings who are now ignorant subsequently gain enlightenment, there is no ontological difference between being a sentient being and being a Buddha: sentient beings are simultaneously Buddhas. Li here diverges from Fazang’s more canonical Huayan teaching, whereby ignorance and enlightenment are different ontological aspects of the same one reality. On Li’s account, the difference between sentient beings and Buddhas, and between ignorance and enlightenment, is merely epistemological, a matter of confusion about the nature and conditions of dukkha.
Li finds scriptural support for his non-temporal approach to existence, and his associated teaching of the one true dharma-realm, in two tales. The first, the tale of the dragon girl, occurs in the Lotus Sutra, where the dragon girl attains enlightenment in a single moment. The second, the tale of Sudhana, occurs in the Avatamsaka Sutra, where Sudhana attains enlightenment in a single lifetime. Li interprets both tales as examples illustrating that the moment in which the mind arises to practice the Buddhist path is the same as the moment in which one attains perfect enlightenment. Insofar as practice is the cause of the effect that is enlightenment, it follows that cause and effect are simultaneous—and so all times coexist in one moment. (For Li, the tale of the dragon girl is less perfect than the tale of Sudhana, because the dragon girl, unlike Sudhana, changes her body and geographical location upon attaining enlightenment.) (Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Buddhism)
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