/lit/ - Literature

>>20474142
>Yeah the Avatamsaka Sutra is kino.
Yeah. I actually want to type out a great piece from the introduction to Garma C. C. Chang’s “The Buddhist Teaching of Totality: the Philosophy of Hwa Yen Buddhism” (1971).

>During my thirty-five years of association with Buddhism, I have always asked this question: “Of all Buddhist schools — Hinayana, Mahayana, and Tantra alike — which one truly holds the highest teaching of Buddhism?” The answer is now a clear-cut one: it is the Hwa Yen school of China. The Hwa Yen school, or Hwa Yen Tsung, was established in the T’ang period, roughly in the 7th and 8th centuries A.D., by outstanding thinkers such as Tu Shun (557-640), and Fa Tsang (643-712). The Chinese word Hwa Yen means the “flower-decoration” or “garland,” which is originally the name of a voluminous Mahayana text: The Garland Sutra (The Gandavyuha or Avatamsaka Sutra). Therefore, the teaching of this school is based mainly upon this text and draws inspiration from it.

>What does this scripture say and to whom are its messages addressed? The Hwa Yen Sutra has one central concern: to reveal the Buddha-realm of Infinity. Its messages are therefore directed to those who appreciate the awe-inspiring Infinity of Buddhahood revealed in Buddha’s Enlightenment experience, which is described briefly in the first chapter. There is no other Buddhist scripture, to the best of my knowledge, that is superior to Hwa Yen in revealing the highest spiritual inspiration and the most profound mystery of Buddhahood. This is opinion is shared, I believe, by the majority of Chinese and Japanese Buddhist scholars. It is small wonder that Hwa Yen has been regarded as the “crown” of all Buddhist teachings, and as representing the consummation of Buddhist insight and thought.