The History of Buddhist Thought c27.19

c27.19

The *Avataṃsaka* (*Kegon*) school takes its name from the Scripture of that school, the *Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra*, “discourse of the adornments of Buddha.”² It is really a collection of sūtras, one of them being the *Daśabhūmika*, which has already been discussed (p. 204). Mr. Suzuki describes it as “the consummation of Buddhist thought, Buddhist sentiment, and Buddhist experience. To my mind, no religious literature in the world can ever approach the grandeur of conception, the depths of feeling, and the gigantic scale of composition, as attained by this sūtra. It is the eternal fountain of life from which no religious mind will turn back athirst or only partially satisfied . . . Here not only deeply speculative minds find satisfaction, but humble spirits and heavily oppressed hearts, too, will have their burdens lightened. Abstract truths are so concretely, so symbolically, represented here that one will finally come to a realization of the truth that even in a particle of dust the whole universe is seen reflected—not this visible universe only, but a vast system of universes, conceivable by the highest minds only.” ¹