화엄 교학에서의 연기(緣起) 개념

Abstract

This paper aims at tracing the process in which the concept of dependent origination (pratītyā-samutpāda) was developed in the tradition of Huayan scholasticism. It also intends to reveal that diverse interpretations on the concept were presented within the seemingly unitary tradition. Whereas the concept of dependent origination in early Buddhism emphasized the passage of time and showed that the arising and cessation of suffering was dependent upon a specific condition, the notion of emptiness (śūnyatā) in Mahāyāna Buddhism led to the intuition of the interrelatedness of every object in the phenomenal world, thereby excluding temporality from dependent origination. Combined with this atemporal notion of emptiness, the Chinese penchant for finding the generative origin of things contributed to the formation of such Huayan theories as dependent origination of suchness, dependent origination of the dharma realm, and nature origination. However, Huayan scholasticism as systemized by Fazang (643-712) is rather biased, openly touting its superiority to other schools. It also gives the impression that its theories just serve for the sake of theories. When Huayan masters explicated the dependent origination of the dharma realm, characterized by the idea of “repetition ad infinitum,” they often introduced new and complicated theoretical frames without considering the whole context in which certain key concepts occur in the Flower Garland Sutra. On the other hand, we can confirm the existence of diversities in the Huayan tradition from examples such as Li Tongxuan’s (635-730) adoption of Mādhyamika logic for the definition of the simultaneity of cause and result, and Uisang’s (625-702) reconciliation of Tathāgata-garbha thought and the philosophy of nature origination.