The Formation of Ch'an Ideology in China and Korea

The Formation of Ch'an Ideology in China and Korea

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This book contains an extensive study and a translation of the Vajrasamādhi Sūtra and makes a convincing argument to rethink the "national lines of argument" that had previously dominated discussions of East Asian Buddhist traditions. Buswell shows how Chan developed in multiple communities; it was not a Chinese phenomenon that was then exported to Korea and Japan. He also shows how the scripture is firmly in the Chinese Yogācāra tradition of Paramārtha, containing an extensive discussion of "immaculate consciousness" (amalavijñāna), the ninth consciousness which unites saṃsāra and nirvāṇa in a "single taste." Buswell draws on Japanese scholarship, such as that by Mozuno Kōgen, who first concluded that the sūtra was an apocryphon.

Citation	Buswell, Robert E., Jr. The Formation of Ch'an Ideology in China and Korea: The Vajrasamādhi-Sūtra, A Buddhist Apocryphon. Princeton Library of Asian Translations. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1989.

ContentsSources

• List o fIllustrationsix
• List of Tablesxi
• Prefacexiii
• Abbreviations and Conventionsxvii

PART ONE: STUDY

• Chapter One: The Vajrasamādhi-Sūtra as an Apocryphal Scripture3
  • Problems and Prospects of Studying the Vajrasamādhi-Sūtra4
  • The Eclecticism of the Vajrasamādhi24
  • The Model for the Vajrasamādhi's Narrative Structure29
  • The Vajrasamādhi in the Chinese Catalogues33

• Chapter Two: The Hagiographies of the Korean Scholiast Wǒnhyo: The Dating
         and Provenance of the Vajrasamādhi41
  • The Sung Kao-seng chuan Hagiography and the Provenance of the
    Vajrasamādhi43
  • The Samguk Yusa Hagiography and the Dating of the Vajrasamādhi 60

• Chapter Three: The Doctrinal Teachings of the Vajrasamādhi74
  • The Acculturation of Buddhism to East Asia74
  • Tathāgatagarbha and the Immanence of Enlightenment78
  • Amalavijñāna and the Innate Purity of Mind92
  • The Meaning of "Vajrasamādhi": The Practical Implications of Innate Enlightenment104
  • The Vajrasamādhi's Message to Silla Buddhists115

• Chapter Four: Ch'an Elements in the Vajrasamādhi: Evidence for the Authorship
         of the Sūtra123
  • Ch'an Influences in the Vajrasamādhi123
  • Early Korean Sǒn and the Legend of Pǒmnang164
  • The Authorship Problem170
  • The Legacy of the Vajrasamādhi177
  • The Place of the Vajrasamādhi in the Evolution of Ch'an179

PART TWO: TRANSLATION

• The Vajrasamādhi-Sūtra (Book of Adamantine Absorption)184
  • Chapter One: Prologue185
  • Chapter Two: The Signless Dharma188
  • Chapter Three: The Practice of Nonproduction196
  • Chapter Four: The Inspiration of Original Enlightenment202
  • Chapter Five: Approaching the Edge of Reality211
  • Chapter Six: The Voidness of the True Nature224
  • Chapter Seven: The Tathāgatagarbha232
  • Chapter Eight: Dhāraṇī (Codes)240
  • Epilogue249

• • Glossary of Chinese Logographs252
  • Works Cited265
  • Index293

1. 金剛三昧經 (Jīn gāng sān mèi jīng), T273, 09: https://21dzk.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/SAT2012/T0273.html.