Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s1.t3.3

v1.c7.s1.t3.3

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”.