法界의 의미 - 대승경론과 화엄교학을 중심으로 -

Abstract

Dharma dhātu(法界) is a word made by joining the two different words, dharma and dhātu. This paper investigates the meaning of Dharma dhātu with early Buddhist commentaries, Mahayana sutras and commentaries, the Garland Sutra, and with technical terms like the four dharma-dhātu(四法界), and the Ten mysterious gates(十玄門) and the Six appearance gates(六相門) as the ultimate expression of the dharma-dhātu of the non-obstruction of phenomena and phenomena(事事無碍法界), all of which were completed by the scholars of Hua-yen schools. Dharma dhātu means in early sutras like Tsa a-han ching(雜阿含經), the 18 dhātu as a phenomenal world or the entire universe. It is defined as the cause of dharma leading to be a Buddha(聖法因) in early Buddhist commentaries like Dapiposhalun(大毘婆沙論) and Bianzhongbianlun(辨中邊論). Daboluoxinjing(大般若經) explains it in the aspect of Emptiness(空) thought. And in Nieh-p'an ching(涅槃經), the world of Nirvana is regarded as the very Dharma dhātu. In Awakening of Faith(起信論), Dharma dhātu means the innate essence, and it is described as chen-ju(眞如)․Dharma -nature(法性)․mind-nature(心性) and mind(心). In Esoteric Buddhism it is described as samādhi body(三昧身) of Mahāvairocana(大日如來), and fa-chieh kung(法界宮). In Tiantai(天台), the mind is Dharma dhātu, and chih-kuan (止觀) is Dharma dhātu. In Avataṃsaka sūtra, Dharma dhātu means the world and cosmos in general, and further means fa-chiehsing(法界性) as an expression stressing the meaning and essence of the samādhi. In Rufajiepin(入法界品) Dharma dhātu is regarded as the object to investigate or as the same meaning with the Truth, and it is said that one enters into the ocean of Dharma dhātu through endless Samantabhadrā bodhisattva(普賢菩薩). To practice P'u-hsien hsing(普賢行) is said to be the most important to enter Dharma dhātu. The scholars of Hua-yen schools(華嚴宗) explains Dharma dhātu with four, I.e. the phenomena dharma dhātu(事法界), the noumenon dharma dhātu(理法界), he dharma-dhātu of the non-obstruction of noumenon and phenomena(理事無碍法界), the dharma-dhātu of the non-obstruction of phenomena and phenomena(事事無碍法界). And the last one decribed as the ultimate world of Bodhi without any hinderance between phenomenal world and ideal world. Based on this reason is founded the One mind dharma-dhātu(一心法界), which is the characteristic of Hua-yen schools. The Ten mysterious gates(十玄門) and the Six appearance gates(六相門), usually regarded as the best in explaining the dharma-dhātu of the non-obstruction of phenomena and phenomena(事事無碍法界), are a doctrinal system founded by the scholars of Hua-yen schools to represent the teaching of the One vehicle the Perfect Enlightenment School(一乘圓敎) and the Sudden Enlightenment School(頓敎), the kernel of Hua-yen thought As it were, both represent the world of the Truth, where all beings' nature(體) and appearance(相) are one, and there is no distinction between subject and object, and no hinderance.