Dushun ( zh, c=杜順, p=Dùshùn, w=Tu-shun) (557–640) was the First Patriarch of the

Huayan School The Huayan school of Buddhism (, Wade–Giles: ''Hua-Yen,'' "Flower Garland," from the Sanskrit "''Avataṃsaka''") is a Mahayana, Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty, Tang dynasty (618-907).Yü, Chün-fan ...

Chinese Buddhism Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, first=t, poj=Hàn-thoân Hu̍t-kàu, j=Hon3 Cyun4 Fat6 Gaau3, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism. The Chinese Buddhist canonJiang Wu, "The Chin ...

, which has the Indian Avatamsaka Sutra as its central scripture.

Biography

Dushun was born in present-day

Shaanxi province Shaanxi is a province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to the west. Shaanxi ...

. He ordained at the age of seventeen and became a student of a monk named Weichen, from whom he learned meditation at Yinsheng temple. Dushun later retired to Zhixiang temple, a monastery in the Zhongnan mountains in the south of Shaanxi. There, Dushun began an in-depth study of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra. The second patriarch,

Zhiyan file:智俨.jpg, Chinese carving of Zhiyan Zhiyan () (602–668) was a prominent monk of the Tang dynasty who is considered the second patriarch of the Buddhism in China, Chinese Buddhist Huayan school, Huayan school.Li, Zhihua ��治華��An In ...

(602-668 CE), studied under Dushun at Zhixiang temple and became recognized as his formal successor.Buswell, Robert E; Lopez, Donald S. ''The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism,'' p. 275. Princeton University Press, Nov 24, 2013. Dushun was also a devotee of Amitabha and

Manjusri Manjushri () is a ''bodhisattva'' who represents ''Prajñā (Buddhism), prajñā'' (transcendent wisdom) of the Buddhas in Mahāyāna Buddhism. The name "Mañjuśrī" is a combination of Sanskrit word "wikt:%E0%A4%AE%E0%A4%9E%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9C%E0 ...

, and promoted their worship among the laity.

Works

Around fourteen works have been ascribed to Dushun throughout history; however, only two works can be definitively attributed to him. The first is ''The Ten Mysterious Gates of the Unitary Vehicle of the Huayan'' (zh: ''Huayan yisheng shixuan men''). This text was composed by

(602-668 CE), the second patriarch, but is supposedly a record of the oral teachings of Dushun. The second is ''Discernments of the Dharmadhātu of the Huayan'' (zh: ''Huayan fajie guanmen''), which does not survive as a stand-alone text but can be found in its entirety in several later commentaries. This text has been translated by

Thomas Cleary Thomas Francis Cleary (24 April 1949 – 20 June 2021) was an American translator and author of more than 80 books related to Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, and of ''The Art of War'', a treatise on management, military stra ...

embedded with the commentary by Chengguan in his ''Entry Into the Inconceivable.'' One highly influential text attributed to Dushun is ''Cessation and Contemplation in the Five Teachings of the Huayan'' (zh: ''Huayan wujiao zhiguan''); however, the authorship of this text is disputed. This has been translated by Cleary in his ''Entry Into the Inconceivable.''

Bibliography

* Buswell, Robert E., Lopez, Donald S. Jr. (2014). The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism,

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

, p. 275 (Dushun) * Hamar, Imre, ed. (2007), Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. . * Cleary, Thomas''. Entry Into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism''.

University of Hawaii Press A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, 1983. . * Van Norden, Bryan, and Nicholaos Jones. "Huayan Buddhism." ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' (Winter 2019 Edition).

References

Sui dynasty Buddhist monks Tang dynasty Buddhist monks 557 births 640 deaths Founders of Buddhist sects Huayan Buddhists {{China-reli-bio-stub