Buddhist Art & Texts: Study of Avatamsaka sutra

Principle investigator (PI): Dr. Tsui Chung-hui
Start date: 2019 Sep
Fund source: UGC fund

The Avataṃsaka school or Huayan school is influential in Eastern Asia, in countries such as Korea and Japan. One of the reasons for this is because the doctrine of the Avataṃsaka sutra was adopted and assimilated into Chinese society through Confucius and Daoist thoughts. The theory that was created from the late Tang dynasty known as “three teachings harmoniously merged as one” (三教合一), which was the syncretism of Daoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, then strongly impacted the lifestyles in Eastern Asian cultures. This project will investigate how, who and what the reasons were that enhanced the transmission of this sūtra from southern to northern China. We will pay particular attention to the Buddhist monks from central Asia who went to China via the Silk Road.