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

This essay examines the meanings of and differences between Zhiyan(智儼), Uisang(義相) and Fazang(法藏)’s doctrines on the dharma-realm dependent co-arising in early Huayan school, specifically focused on the pure part of dependent co-arising (淨緣起). Zhiyan tried to transcend the thought of dependent arising from the tathāgatagarbha when building the doctrine on the dharma-realm dependent arising. He was successful to a great extent but not completely. The trace of the theory of the tathāgatagarbha is felt from the fact that the branch of the produced (修生門) in pure part of dependent co-arising is based on the tathāgatagarbha. On the contrary, Uisang seems to be more actively departing from the theory based on the tathāgatagarbha and going to a new place. In other words, while accepting Zhiyan’s structure, Uisang erases the traces of the tathāgatagarbha shown in Zhiyan. In the case of Fazang, he inherits Zhiyan by taking the direction different from Uisang’s. He unifies the dual structure of the teacher into a single structure and interprets this single structure as the branch of the produced (修生門) based on the tathāgatagarbha theory in the Zhiyan’s dual structure. On the whole, while Zhiyan has both tendencies of holding the theory based on the tathāgatagarbha and divorcing from it, Uisang is more inclined to escape from the theory and Fazang tends to strengthen it. In this respect, these three masters share the overall structure of the theory on dependent co-arising of the dharma-realm but show different understanding from each other in detail.