Korea Journal of Buddhist Studies ISSN:1598-0642(Print) 불교학연구

This work is an inquiry into the meaning of Buddha-nature in the theory of non-sentient beings' Buddha-nature of Zhan-ran, centering on the Jingangpilun (金剛錍論). Contrasting with the theory of sentient beings’ Buddha-nature, he asserts that the non-sentient beings of walls and pebbles also have Buddha-nature. According to Zhan-ran, the sentient beings’ Buddha-nature defines the Buddha-nature concept with respect to the mind. As a result, it holds that there is Buddha-nature only in the sentient beings that have faculties of the mind. And it considers the nature of the Buddha as a transcendental reality which is present in all sentient beings, with life of the conditioned realm, as their intrinsic pure-mind (眞心). The idea of the Buddha-nature as intrinsic pure-mind contradicts the first principle of emptiness. Zhan-ran criticizes that the sentient beings’ Buddha-nature is not based on the Buddha-nature concept in the Nirvāṇa-sūtra. Then he interprets the meaning of Buddha-nature as the direct cause of Buddhahood, and describes the direct cause of Buddhahood as the first principle of emptiness. He integrates the doctrine of emptiness in the Mādhyamika and the concept of Buddha-nature in the Nirvāṇa-sūtra. Emptiness exists in both sentient beings and non-sentient beings. The theory of emptiness negates duality between the polluted mind of all beings and the pure-mind of the Buddha. The theory of non-sentient beings’ Buddha-nature of Zhan-ran is none other than a re-presentation of the theory of non-duality maintained by Nāgārjuna. As we saw above, T'ien-t'ai scholar Zhan-ran aims for establishment of perfect and sudden teaching of T'ien-t'ai tradition through the theory of non-sentient beings' Buddha-nature.