『화엄일승법계도』에 나타난 의상의 중도적 사유

Abstract

Diagram of the Dharmadhātu by Uisang(625～702) is famous for its uniqueness and compendious summing-up of the basic thoughts which are contained in the vast Avataṃsaka　Sūtra. The 210 Chinese characters, which compose a poem summarizing the thought of Avataṃsaka Sūtra,　are disposed along the diagram, where the first and the last letter of the poem come together in the middle of it. Uisang himself have said, “Though one goes and goes, he stays at the original place; though one arrives and arrives, he stays at the staring point.”The thought of middle way is located just in the kernel of this way of thinking. Middle way is usually represented as ‘no being and no non-being’. But for Uisang, middle way comprehends both of them. Moreover Uisang has pushed this way of thinking until he reached to the thought of mutual communion of the whole things. The two Gates, namely the Gate of the innermost and Gate of the identical, are two ways of explanation which are employed by Uisang. And he introduced the simile of ‘counting the ten coins’, which includes the ‘coming and going’ as the basic element to expose the meaning of the simile. On the other hand, in the case of Fatsang the significance of the ‘coming and going’ has disappeared. It seems that the basic reason to appear such a difference located in the difference between the middle way and the rational systematic thought. The middle way of thinking has no fixed center. It continuously floats and it demands us to live practical lives constantly. That is the reason why there is negative point in Uisang’s thought.