이통현의 『解迷顯智成悲十明論』 고찰

Abstract

This article is intended to reveal the philological and ideological characteristics of the Shih-ming-lun written by a Tang scholar, Li Tong-xuan. I discussed that the work has a very specific and clear purpose, and accordingly shows his Buddhist ideas in its intense form. In other words, Li Tong-xuan adopted the teachings of the Avatamska Sutra, but paid his attention to the root of Buddhism in the Shih-ming-lun. Therefore, he proposed the idea and method of self-cultivation in response to the issue of human existence. The work is similar with the Jue-yi-lun because both of them deal with the theory of self-cultivation, but is different from the Jue-yi-lun in that it centers on the topic of twelvefold dependent co-arising. The Shih-ming-lun is characterized by Li Tong-xuan’s attempt to consider the co-arising theory from a perspective of practice rather than theory. He gave his original interpretation to the theory of co-arising shown in the Avatamska Sutra as “twelvefold dependent co-arising” from a perspective of human existence, and interpreted the teachings of twelve links of cyclic existence centering on manas, not vijñāna. In addition, he utilized the power of Buddhist wisdom in terms of the contemplation of Buddha’s light as a way for us to realize the world and ourselves, and established the theory of practice and realization with regard to the view of twelvefold dependent co-arising. His new interpretation is the outcome of his drastic and creative reinterpretation of the teachings of the Avatamska Sutra. Therefore, the doctrines of the Avatamska sutra are not just conceptual or abstract ideas any more, but have a subjective and practical significance.