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Entry Into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism
Entry Into the Inconceivable is an introduction to the philosophy of the Hua-yen school of Buddhism, one of the cornerstones of East Asian Buddhist thought. Cleary presents a survey of the unique Buddhist scripture on which the Hua-yen teaching is based and a brief history of its introduction into China. He also presents a succinct analysis of the essential metaphysics of Hua-yen Buddhism as it developed during China's golden age and full translations of four basic texts by seminal thinkers of the school.
232 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1983
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About the author
Thomas Cleary
245 books279 followersDr. Thomas Francis Cleary, Ph.D. (East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University; J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley), was a prolific translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, with a particular emphasis on popular translations of Mahāyāna works relevant to the Chan, Zen, and Soen systems.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 5, 2023
Chinese Buddhism is much more than Chan/Zen. The Japanese version of Chinese Chan Buddhism is perhaps the most well known type of Buddhism in the West. But little is written or known about other major forms of Chinese Buddhism - Tiantai, Pure Land, and Hua-Yen. If you haven't looked into these other traditions, by all means, do so - you have little idea of what you're missing. Tiantai is one of the most extensive philosophical systems in all of Asia and Hua-Yen Buddhism has been called the pinnacle of all Buddhist thought by renowned Japanese Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki.
Here the prolific translator Thomas Cleary provides us with an introduction to the thought of the Chinese Hua-Yen School of Buddhism (also spelled Huayan). This small volume published in 1983 provides a short 40-page intro into the founders, teachers, doctrines, main themes, and central text of Hua-Yen, the voluminous Avatamsaka/Flower Garland Sutra (which Cleary later translated in full, weighing in at 1,640 pages, The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra). The remaining part of the book translates four important texts by Hua-Yen teachers - Tu Shun, Cheng-kuan, Chih-yen, and Fa-tsang (Cleary uses the now out-of-date Wade-Giles transliteration system, e.g., Peking instead of the Pinyin system, Beijing). The last 36 pages of the book, an Appendix, provides highlights from the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Hua-Yen is through-and-through Mahayana Buddhist thought but it is also highly influenced by indigenous Chinese philosophy. The central motif of Hua-Yen cosmology is the Jeweled Net of Indra in which the entire universe (not just the material universe folks, but the entire universe of internal mind and external cosmos) is envisioned-understood as an infinitely interconnected web in which each node (i.e. phenomenon) reflects all other nodes - a single nexus of interdependent conditions. Indra's Net is akin to the ultimate extension/application of the Western idea of ecology, holism, and interdependence into both mental and material realms. The Avatamsaka Sutra is a compendium of thirty-nine separate texts, most that existed separately prior to its assemblage. Most important of these are 1) "The Ten Stages Sutra"/Dasabhumika Sutra which outlines the ten stages (bhumis) on the path to enlightenment and are the basis for the well-known the ten Zen Ox-herding Pictures and 2) the final chapter entitled "Entry into the Realm of Reality" (Gandavyuha sutra) which is "perhaps the grandest drama of the Buddhist canon" and describes the development of enlightenment through tales of a pilgrimage through its central character Sudhana. This final chapter of the Avatamsaka is itself book-length, running about 385 pages and is often the subject of extended study.
Hua-Yen Buddhism is a mind-tripping feast especially if you are inclined towards the "cosmic" in metaphysics and epistemology. Like most Buddhism it's simultaneously down-to-earth but it's also "out there" in ways that will blow your mind (even more so than standard Mahayana philosophy). Also, if you're into contemporary astronomy and familiar with the fantastic images of the universe from modern telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the vastness of spacetime, the gazillions of galaxies, stars, and now exoplanets, you'll find that the vastness of vision of Indra's Net in Hua-Yen thought provides a philosophy and epistemology that could eventually match and make better sense of contemporary astronomy, astrophysics, and quantum-relativity theory than our own philosophy.
Galaxy Cluster Abell 370, Hubble Space Telescope
Every point of light in this photo (apart from the one star in the lower right which is a star in our galaxy) is an entire galaxy of stars like our own Milky Way galaxy. The combined mass of the cluster creates gravitational lensing - the bending, distorting, and curving the light from galaxies behind the ones seen in the cluster... here a tiny section of Indra's Net ; )
Edited 4-22-21
Here the prolific translator Thomas Cleary provides us with an introduction to the thought of the Chinese Hua-Yen School of Buddhism (also spelled Huayan). This small volume published in 1983 provides a short 40-page intro into the founders, teachers, doctrines, main themes, and central text of Hua-Yen, the voluminous Avatamsaka/Flower Garland Sutra (which Cleary later translated in full, weighing in at 1,640 pages, The Flower Ornament Scripture: A Translation of the Avatamsaka Sutra). The remaining part of the book translates four important texts by Hua-Yen teachers - Tu Shun, Cheng-kuan, Chih-yen, and Fa-tsang (Cleary uses the now out-of-date Wade-Giles transliteration system, e.g., Peking instead of the Pinyin system, Beijing). The last 36 pages of the book, an Appendix, provides highlights from the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Hua-Yen is through-and-through Mahayana Buddhist thought but it is also highly influenced by indigenous Chinese philosophy. The central motif of Hua-Yen cosmology is the Jeweled Net of Indra in which the entire universe (not just the material universe folks, but the entire universe of internal mind and external cosmos) is envisioned-understood as an infinitely interconnected web in which each node (i.e. phenomenon) reflects all other nodes - a single nexus of interdependent conditions. Indra's Net is akin to the ultimate extension/application of the Western idea of ecology, holism, and interdependence into both mental and material realms. The Avatamsaka Sutra is a compendium of thirty-nine separate texts, most that existed separately prior to its assemblage. Most important of these are 1) "The Ten Stages Sutra"/Dasabhumika Sutra which outlines the ten stages (bhumis) on the path to enlightenment and are the basis for the well-known the ten Zen Ox-herding Pictures and 2) the final chapter entitled "Entry into the Realm of Reality" (Gandavyuha sutra) which is "perhaps the grandest drama of the Buddhist canon" and describes the development of enlightenment through tales of a pilgrimage through its central character Sudhana. This final chapter of the Avatamsaka is itself book-length, running about 385 pages and is often the subject of extended study.
Hua-Yen Buddhism is a mind-tripping feast especially if you are inclined towards the "cosmic" in metaphysics and epistemology. Like most Buddhism it's simultaneously down-to-earth but it's also "out there" in ways that will blow your mind (even more so than standard Mahayana philosophy). Also, if you're into contemporary astronomy and familiar with the fantastic images of the universe from modern telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the vastness of spacetime, the gazillions of galaxies, stars, and now exoplanets, you'll find that the vastness of vision of Indra's Net in Hua-Yen thought provides a philosophy and epistemology that could eventually match and make better sense of contemporary astronomy, astrophysics, and quantum-relativity theory than our own philosophy.
Galaxy Cluster Abell 370, Hubble Space Telescope
Every point of light in this photo (apart from the one star in the lower right which is a star in our galaxy) is an entire galaxy of stars like our own Milky Way galaxy. The combined mass of the cluster creates gravitational lensing - the bending, distorting, and curving the light from galaxies behind the ones seen in the cluster... here a tiny section of Indra's Net ; )
Edited 4-22-21
April 22, 2021
Amazon Review
Essential preparation for tackling Cleary's Flower Ornament Sutra.
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Chinese Buddhism is much more than Chan/Zen. The Japanese version of Chinese Chan Buddhism is perhaps the most well known type of Buddhism in the West. But little is written or known about other major forms of Chinese Buddhism - Tiantai, Pure Land, and Hua-Yen. If you haven't looked into these other traditions, by all means, do so - you have little idea of what you're missing. Tiantai is one of the most extensive philosophical systems in all of Asia and Hua-Yen Buddhism has been called the pinnacle of all Buddhist thought by renowned Japanese Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki.
Here the prolific translator Thomas Cleary provides us with an introduction to the thought of the Chinese Hua-Yen School of Buddhism. This small volume published in 1983 provides a short 40-page intro into the founders, teachers, doctrines, main themes, and central text of Hua-Yen - the voluminous Avatamsaka/Flower Garland Sutra (which Cleary later translated in full, weighing in at 1,640 pages). The remaining part of the book translates four important texts by Hua-Yen teachers - Tu Shun, Cheng-kuan, Chih-yen, and Fa-tsang. The last 36 pages of the book, an Appendix, provides highlights from the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Hua-Yen is through-and-through Mahayana Buddhist thought but it is also highly influenced by indigenous Chinese philosophy. The central motif of Hua-Yen cosmology is the Jeweled Net of Indra in which the entire universe (not just the material universe folks, but the entire universe of internal mind and external cosmos) is envisioned-understood as an infinitely interconnected web in which each node (i.e. phenomenon) reflects all other nodes - a single nexus of interdependent conditions... it is akin to the ultimate extension/application of the Western idea of ecology, holism, and interdependence into both mental and material realms. The Avatamsaka Sutra is a compendium of thirty-nine separate texts, most that existed prior to its assemblage. Most important of these are 1) "The Ten Stages"/Dasabhumika Sutra which outlines the ten stages (bhumis) on the path to enlightenment and are the basis for the well-known Zen Ox-herding Pictures and 2) the final chapter entitled "Entry into the Realm of Reality" (Gandavyuha sutra) which is "perhaps the grandest drama of the Buddhist canon" and describes the development of enlightenment through tales of a pilgrimage through its central character Sudhana. This final chapter of the Avatamsaka is book-length, running about 385 pages and is itself often the subject of extended study.
Hua-Yen Buddhism is a mind-tripping feast especially if you are inclined towards the "cosmic" in metaphysics and epistemology... like most Buddhism it's simultaneously down-to-earth but it's also "out there" in ways that will blow your mind (even more so than standard Mahayana philosophy). Also, if you're into contemporary astronomy and familiar with the fantastic images of the universe from modern telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the vastness of spacetime, the gazillions of galaxies, stars, and now exoplanets, you'll find that the vastness of vision of Indra's Net in Hua-Yen thought provides a philosophy and epistemology that could eventually match and make better sense of contemporary astronomy, astrophysics, and quantum-relativity theory than our own philosophy.
Essential preparation for tackling Cleary's Flower Ornament Sutra.
---
Chinese Buddhism is much more than Chan/Zen. The Japanese version of Chinese Chan Buddhism is perhaps the most well known type of Buddhism in the West. But little is written or known about other major forms of Chinese Buddhism - Tiantai, Pure Land, and Hua-Yen. If you haven't looked into these other traditions, by all means, do so - you have little idea of what you're missing. Tiantai is one of the most extensive philosophical systems in all of Asia and Hua-Yen Buddhism has been called the pinnacle of all Buddhist thought by renowned Japanese Buddhist scholar D.T. Suzuki.
Here the prolific translator Thomas Cleary provides us with an introduction to the thought of the Chinese Hua-Yen School of Buddhism. This small volume published in 1983 provides a short 40-page intro into the founders, teachers, doctrines, main themes, and central text of Hua-Yen - the voluminous Avatamsaka/Flower Garland Sutra (which Cleary later translated in full, weighing in at 1,640 pages). The remaining part of the book translates four important texts by Hua-Yen teachers - Tu Shun, Cheng-kuan, Chih-yen, and Fa-tsang. The last 36 pages of the book, an Appendix, provides highlights from the Avatamsaka Sutra.
Hua-Yen is through-and-through Mahayana Buddhist thought but it is also highly influenced by indigenous Chinese philosophy. The central motif of Hua-Yen cosmology is the Jeweled Net of Indra in which the entire universe (not just the material universe folks, but the entire universe of internal mind and external cosmos) is envisioned-understood as an infinitely interconnected web in which each node (i.e. phenomenon) reflects all other nodes - a single nexus of interdependent conditions... it is akin to the ultimate extension/application of the Western idea of ecology, holism, and interdependence into both mental and material realms. The Avatamsaka Sutra is a compendium of thirty-nine separate texts, most that existed prior to its assemblage. Most important of these are 1) "The Ten Stages"/Dasabhumika Sutra which outlines the ten stages (bhumis) on the path to enlightenment and are the basis for the well-known Zen Ox-herding Pictures and 2) the final chapter entitled "Entry into the Realm of Reality" (Gandavyuha sutra) which is "perhaps the grandest drama of the Buddhist canon" and describes the development of enlightenment through tales of a pilgrimage through its central character Sudhana. This final chapter of the Avatamsaka is book-length, running about 385 pages and is itself often the subject of extended study.
Hua-Yen Buddhism is a mind-tripping feast especially if you are inclined towards the "cosmic" in metaphysics and epistemology... like most Buddhism it's simultaneously down-to-earth but it's also "out there" in ways that will blow your mind (even more so than standard Mahayana philosophy). Also, if you're into contemporary astronomy and familiar with the fantastic images of the universe from modern telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the vastness of spacetime, the gazillions of galaxies, stars, and now exoplanets, you'll find that the vastness of vision of Indra's Net in Hua-Yen thought provides a philosophy and epistemology that could eventually match and make better sense of contemporary astronomy, astrophysics, and quantum-relativity theory than our own philosophy.
May 4, 2021
Just when you thought Mahayana Buddhism could not get any wilder? Well, Hua-yen Buddhist thought has got you covered! Read for yourself to 'understand' what you have been missing.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews