Amitabha
The Buddha of the Pure Land who took a vow to save all beings who called on his name with perfect faith by causing them to be reborn in his universe. Ones own efforts, ineffective in themselves, were aided by the efforts of Amitabha.
Avalokiteshvara
The bodhisattva of compassion who had vowed to lead suffering beings to the pure land. Known as Guanyin in China, "the one who perceived the sounds (of human prayers)" became one of the greatest objects of devotion in the Chinese mind. Remains one of the most venerated and supplicated figures in the Chinese pantheon.
Benti
The essential nature of things. Important to both Daoists and Buddhists. Includes an attendant depreciation of the visible world of the senses.
Bodhidharma
Indian monk whose influence led to the Chan school becoming a major force in Chinese Buddhist thought. Went to kingdom of Wei, where he sat outside the walls meditating for 9 years, only agreeing to teach when his disciple Shenguang cut off his own arm in
evidence of his dedication to his teachings. Established a lineage of teachers that continued to propagate his teachings on meditation. Emphasized the doctrine of inner enlightenment and false perceptions of duality, and denied the value of scripture, at least as a source of true insight.
Caodung School
School of Chan Buddhism which advocated simple sitting meditation and quiet introspection along with verbal instruction and discussion. Could be seen as a partial return, or new guise, of the gradual enlightenment doctrine of the defunct northern school of Chan.
Chajang
Silla Buddhist monk who had a profound influence in the creation of Korean Buddhism. Traveled to China where he claimed to have a vision of the Buddhist bodhisattva Manjushri. When he returned, he was given the title of supreme cleric, the highest title bestowed to Buddhist Monks. After receiving another vision in the mountains, Chajang returned to the capital and reformed the institutional structure of Silla Buddhism. Intensified study of scripture, held mandatory seminars for monks, consolidated ordination, and established a governing department which oversaw the maintenance of temples and images. Also created disciplinary school of Korean Buddhism, which held that monasticism was the only true path to enlightenment.
Chongt'o Pulgyo
The Buddhism of the pure land. The teaching of Wonhyo he used in his efforts to unify Buddhism and preach to laypeople.
T'ong Pulgyo
Unified Buddhism. Wonhyo's effort to unify Buddhism into a single entity.
Dharmadhatu
The realm of the Dharmas which served as the theory of causation for the Huayan Buddhist school. Belief that the universe was self creating and that all phenomena arose simultaneously. All phenomena were identical and interacted and inter-penetrated one another.
Different Buddhist Schools
Confucianism and Buddhism
Dunhuang
A strategic point on the silk road within what were then the borders of China. Flourishing community of Buddhist monks. Served as a "safe house" for fleeing Buddhists during political dislocation. Massive amounts of murals and texts were found here, which serve to provide us with examples of Chinese Buddhist literature and a valuable record of the development of early Chinese art.
Emperor Wuzong
Emperor of the Tang Dynasty who began a mass persecution of Buddhism which resulted in the dissolution of Buddhist estates and return of a quarter of a million monks and nuns
to private life. Buddhist images were melted down for coins and weapons. Monastic Buddhism never recovered.
Essay on the Golden Lion
Huayan Teacher Fazang's attempt to explain Huayan philosophy. A gold lion statue: The gold represents the essence of things, or li. The shape of the parts is the form that conditions impose on the essence, or shi. The various parts of the statue could not exist without gold, but the gold was not the statue per se. Thus phenomena were simultaneously the same and different.
Fanben
The realization and embrace of the essential nature. It was to have reverted to the original and to be one with reality. Buddhists saw this as Nirvana, while Daoists saw this as merging with the Dao. In both cases, one was free from the pains and disappointments of the physical world.
Faxian
Pilgrim monk who left China to travel to India. Made a detailed description of his journey, which was meant to visit the sites of Buddha's early life and recover texts more pure than those available in China. First to go to India, study and return. On his travels, which lasted 16 years, he collected texts from India, Java and Sri Lanka.
Gongan
A linji school practice of Chan Buddhism where a pithy saying was designed to knock the mind out of its usual patterns of thought and thus allowing it to perceive its own nature clearly without the residue of conceptual thought that usually obscured this nature. Juxtaposing of disparate ideas.
