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Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t3: Faxiang School

Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t3

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Faxiang School

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Faxiang School is a school of Buddhism originated in China. It was founded in Chang’an (present Xi’an) in Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) by Master Xuanzang who spent 17 years in India, travelling and studying under various Buddhist masters.

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After the 1st century CE, Yogacara with doctrines of consciousness-only started to appear in Indian Mahayana. Additionally, with the theory teaching that our understanding of reality comes from our own mind, it is also named as the *Vijnaptimātratā* School (“Consciousness-Only School” in Chinese). Faxian School obtained its name because of dealing with the phenomenal appearances of *dharma*.

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Xuanzang was given strong support and many assistants by the Tang Dynasty, the Faxian School therefore flourished at that time. Xuanzang’s disciple, Kuiji, is considered to be responsible for the development of the Consciousness-Only School. Since he lived in Ci’en Temple in Chang’an for a long time, he was addressed respectfully as “Master Ci’en” and the Faxian School was also named as the “Ci’en School”. Another sect opposite to Kuiji was Ximing School founded by Silla monk Yuance. Kuiji’s disciple Huizhao (650-714 CE) endeavored to vindicate the teaching of his master and “Ci’en Sect” entered into a period of great prosperity. Huizhao’s disciple Zhizhou (668-723 CE) treaded on the heels of his master and wrote books and developed his propositions. However, Faxian School began to decline after Zhizhou and became oblivious by the time of the Song Dynasty. With decline in direct contact with India, this sect withered and became the most short-lived sect. In the late Ming Dynasty, Faxian School once had influence on many thinkers like Wang Fuzhi (1619-1692 CE) whose Vein of Faxian had quite a refined analysis on basic concepts of “Ci’en School”. During the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949 CE), there was once a renaissance of the Consciousness-Only School. Public figures in Buddhist circle set up research institutions to cultivate Buddhist talents and found some lost ancient books about Faxian School from Japan to collate *sutra* and scriptures and published philosophical texts. Lay Buddhists under the leadership of Ouyang Jingwu of Nanjing China Buddhist College believed that Faxian and Consciousness-Only were two different schools. But Taixu proposed opinions from perspectives of development of Buddhist thoughts and believed that Faxian and Consciousness-Only were the same school. Some people thought that the Consciousness-Only School contained a number of positive factors, therefore, Faxian was taken as a compulsory course, which was known as “Faxian as the standard for the teaching dharma”.

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Faxian School claims that there are “Six sutras and Eleven Scriptures”, the basic text of the Sect. Six sutras refer to *Avatamsaka sutra*, *Sajdhinirmocana-sutra*, *Sutra on Merits and Virtues of the Buddha*, *Abhidharma sutra*, *Lankavatara sutra*, and *Ghana-vyūha-sūtra*, while the 11 scriptures are *Yogacarabhumi-sastra*, *Aryavacaprakarana-sastra*, *Mahayana sutralamkara*, *Pramanasamuccaya*, *Mahāyāna-samgraha-śāstra*, *Bhumi-sastra*, *Yogacara-vada Sastra*, *Alambanapariksa*, *Vimsatika Vijnapti Matrata Siddhih*, *Madhyanta Vibhaga Tika*, *Mahayan abhidharma Samuccaya Vyakhya*. Among the six sutras and 11 scriptures, *Vijnaptimatratasiddhi-Sastra*, *Yogacarabhumi-sastra* and *Samdhinirmocana-sutra* are fundamental sutras and scriptures. Another saying proposes, “One main and 10 branches”, that is, *Yogacarabhumi-sastraas* the main sutra and another 10 as branches which included *Mahāyāna-śatadharma-prakāśamukha-śāstra*, *Pañca-skandha-prakaraṇa*, *Aryavacaprakarana-sastra*, *Mahāyāna-samgraha-śāstra*, *Mahayanabhidharma Samuccaya Vyakhya*, *Madhyanta Vibhaga Tika*, *Vimsatika Vijnapti Matrata Siddhih*, *Vijnaptimatratasiddhi-trimsai-kakarika-sastra*, *Mahayana-sutralamkara* and *Yogacara-vada Sastra*. *Annotation on Vijnaptimatratasiddhi-Sastra* by Kuiji, *The Cheng Weishi Lun Liao-yi-deng* by his disciple Huizhao and *The Cheng Weishi-Lun-Yanmichao* by Zhizhou are the renowned “three masterpieces of Yoyacara” and are basic books for understanding Yogacara theories.

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Statue of Xuanzang, Dacien Pagoda, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

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With its deep level in theory and thought, Faxian School is one of the most closely connected sects with the Indian Buddhism. It advocates the ideology of “Consciousness Only” believing that all kinds of things and phenomena in the world are gained by subjective consciousness of human. The central doctrine of the School is that of eight consciousnesses, that is, five sense consciousnesses including eyes, ears, nose, tongue and body, the sixth or sense-center consciousness which forms conceptions, the seventh or thought-center consciousness (*manasvijnana*) which wills and reasons on a self-centered basis and the eighth or storehouse consciousness (*alaya*). The last one is the most important as it is the source of all phenomena, and can produce manifestation of the world which is named as the “seed consciousness”. Besides emphasising “consciousness” as the universal noumenon, the system of the school also constructs five *dharma* and hundreds of changes, proposing in the final analysis that matters in the world rest on five *dharma* and its hundreds of manifestations. Five *dharmas* include: (1) *Citta* (2) *Cetasa* (3) *Rūpa* (4) *Citta-viprayukta-dharma* and (5) *Asamskrta-dharma*. *Citta-dharma* has eight types of changes, and belongs to brain thinking phenomenon. *Caitasika-dharma* refers to 51 kinds of changes generated in concert with heart such as all annoyances. *Rūpa* refers to matter; however, it generates from heart consciousness, and has 11 types of changes. *Citta-viprayukta-dharma* has 24 types of changes, that is, phantasm of universal changes which are not influenced by *Citta* and *Caitasika-dharma* such as time, space, quantity, scale, gain and loss, birth and death, character and so on. *Asamskrta-dharma* has six changes, that is the still and permanent stage of dharma without birth, death and changes. This is the truth shown in the Buddha *dharma*, and the fundamental of the Consciousness-Only School. Five dharma and hundreds of manifestations are the perspectives of *Vijnaptimātratā* School on the whole world, with *Citta* and *Cetasa* belong to mental phenomena, *Rūpa* and *Citta-viprayukta-dharma* to natural phenomena and *Asamskrta-dharma* to realm pursued by philosophy and religion. They form various kinds of relationships. Among these relationships, heart consciousness is the highest, without which all matters in the universe cannot exist. *Tri-svabhava* is the epistemology in Yoyacara for observing the creation of all things in the world. The so-called *Tri-svabhava* refers to *parikalpitah-svabhava*, *paratantra-svabhava* and *parinispanna-svabhava*. *Parikalpitah-svabhava* insists that the cognitions on the world of all living creatures are the cognitions generating from *abhuta-kalpana* and acquisitive instinct. *Paratantra-svabhava* states that since all things on earth are dependent arising from others, relationships of dependent co-arising exist between all things on earth and without

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[Figure: Sequence in the path of Mahāyāna: the stately Sūtra of emancipation]

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this relationship nothing on earth can originate. *Parinispanna-svabhava* identifies that after getting to know the two misunderstandings of cognitions of sentient beings on *parikalpitah-svabhava* and *paratantra-svabhava*, practitioners will know that natures of all things on earth are empty and will achieve satisfactory *sunyata* cognition which is also called *asthusness*, *bhuta-samjna*, *dharmadhatu*, *dharma* nature, *nirvana* and so on and is the supreme valid cognition. There are progressive relationships among the three, with *parikalpitah-svabhava* as the universal phenomena of people’s cognition, *paratantra-svabhava* as relationships founding in people’s cognition and *parinispanna-svabhava* as the ultimate completeness of the cognition. Faxian School believes there are four kinds of cognitions including division of characteristics, division of seeing, self-witnessing aspect and re-witnessing aspect. Division of characteristics refers to external matters which can be perceived by eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body and consciousness, that is, objective existing matters. Division of seeing refers to the reaction on external matters generating from six cognitions, that is, the objective knowledge of people. Self-witnessing aspect refers to further cognition based on division of seeing, that is, subjective cognizance. Re-witnessing aspect refers to the ultimate and absolute correctness of cognition. *Vij¤aptimātratā* School had a metaphor on four kinds of cognitions, division of characteristics like the cloth, division of seeing like the scale, self-witnessing aspect like counting the size of the measured cloth and re-witnessing aspect like proving the correctness of the result. The theory of four kinds of cognition is the unique proposition of Yogacara and one of precise theories of Yogacara masters. Pancagotrāni theory includes Shravakayana caste, pacceka caste, Buddha caste, indefinite caste and outcasts. These five caste theories are the basis to demonstrate the enlightenment. The former four castes can achieve the buddhahood of arhat, Bodhisattva and Buddha, however the last one can not become Buddha. Besides, Faxian School made contributions to the development of Buddhism tsema by the need of debates. The Yogacara theory has played an important role in promoting the altitude of Buddhism on philosophising, therefore, it is emphasised and studied by intellectuals fond of thinking in successive dynasties.

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In the late 7th century, Faxian School was introduced to Japan and Silla and so far there are still many people studying Yogacara.

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(*Huang Xianian*)

Cites (13)