Abstract

Despite previous efforts to provide an East Asian counter-narrative to nationalistic perspectives, notions of “national lineages” continue to exert a detrimental effect on our understanding of the Buddhist traditions of East Asia. As Korean and Japanese scholars have previously shown, sources from Silla greatly impacted Fazang 法藏 (643-712) and his disciples. Thus, the history of Huayan 華嚴 in Tang China should be seen on the backdrop of overarching developments that perhaps should more accurately be termed “East Asian Huayan/Hwaeom/Kegon.” The present article attempts to demonstrate that this influence extends even to the elaboration of a core concept of Huayan thought, the fourfold dharma sphere, and ultimately also to the genesis of the very notion of a Chinese “Huayan lineage” beginning with Du Shun 杜順. As to be argued, these related developments have to be interpreted not merely with regard to a doctrinal innovation by Fazang’s disgraced disciple Huiyuan 慧苑 (673–743), but last but not least on the backdrop of the Silla monk Wonhyo’s 元曉 (617- 686) influence.