A Comparative Study of Taehyŏn, Wŏnhyo, and Fazangs’ Views on Ālayavijñāna and Tathāgatagarbha

Article

Citation:	Lee, Sumi. "A Comparative Study of Taehyŏn, Wŏnhyo, and Fazangs’ Views on Ālayavijñāna and Tathāgatagarbha." (In Korean.) Journal of Eastern-Asia Buddhism and Culture 32, no. 12 (2017): 101–29.

Abstract

The concept of ālayavijñāna has been accepted in East Asia by either demonstrating its association to tathāgatagarbha or negating it, since Bodhiruci (fl. 508-35) introduced it by translating the Daśabhūmikasūtra-śāstra. It was in this context that the Awakening of Faith (C. Dasheng qixin lun 大乘起信論) drew East Asian Buddhist scholiasts’ attention. The central message of the Awakening of Faith that tathāgatagarbha is synthesized to ālayavijñāna in neither-identical-nor-different condition is directly associated to the contemporary issue of how ālayavijñāna serves as the basis of sentient being’s enlightenment. Silla Yogācāra exegete Taehyŏn 大賢 (ca. 8th century) is one of the East Asian monks who noted the Awakening of Faith and articulates the relationship between tathāgatagarbha and ālayavijñāna in the Taesŭng kisillon naeŭi yak t’amgi 大乘起信論內義略探記, his commentary of the Awakening of Faith. This article explores Taehyŏn’s views on ālayavijñāna and tathāgatagarbha in his commentary of the Awakening of Faith in comparison to those of other exegetes, such as Wŏnhyo 元曉 (617–686) and Fazang 法藏 (643–712). This article seeks to demonstrate on the basis of this examination that there were distinct doctrinal positions on the tathāgatagarbha of the Awakening of Faith, which are also associated to their understandings of consciousness system.