Huáyán yī chéng shí xuán mén 華嚴一乘十玄門
The Ten Mysterious Gates of the One-Vehicle of the Huáyán [Sūtra] by 杜順 (Dùshùn, 說 / spoken) and 智儼 (Zhìyǎn, 撰 / composed)
About the work
The Huáyán yī chéng shí xuán mén is the foundational text of the Huáyán-school doctrine of the Ten Mysterious Gates (shí xuán mén 十玄門) — the ten conceptual portals through which the Avataṃsaka’s metaphysics of mutual interpenetration (shìshì wú’ài 事事無礙) is to be approached. In 1 fascicle. Per the title-line, the work was spoken by 杜順 Dùshùn (the school’s first patriarch) and composed (i.e. recorded and edited) by 智儼 Zhìyǎn (the second patriarch). This distinction — Dùshùn spoke, Zhìyǎn wrote — is the standard later-tradition account.
Prefaces
No formal preface; the title-line attributes the spoken composition to Dùshùn and the editorial work to Zhìyǎn.
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to Zhìyǎn’s mature period at the Zhìxiāngsì 至相寺 on Mt. Zhōngnán, c. 627 – 668 CE. The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The doctrine of the Ten Mysterious Gates — tóng shí jù zú 同時具足 (simultaneity), guǎng xiá zì zài 廣狹自在 (vastness and narrowness), yī duō xiāng róng 一多相容 (mutual containment of one and many), zhū fǎ xiāng jí 諸法相即 (mutual identity of dharmas), yǐn miǎn xiāng zhōng 隱蜜相中 (manifestation and concealment), wēi xì xiāng róng 微細相容 (subtle mutual interpenetration), yīntuóluówǎng 因陀羅網 (Indra’s Net), tuō shì xiǎn fǎ 託事顯法 (manifesting Dharma through phenomena), shí dài bié yì 十代別異 (ten-period differentiation), jī yìng yuán fù 即應圓覆 (response and complete fulfilment) — is the metaphysical core of mature Huáyán-school doctrine, fully articulated only in 法藏 Fǎzàng’s later [[KR6e0008|Tànxuán jì]] and [[KR6e0074|Wǔ jiào zhāng]], but already present in embryonic form here.
The yīntuóluówǎng / “Indra’s Net” image — the cosmic net of jewels each reflecting all others — became the iconic image of Huáyán metaphysics in the East Asian Buddhist imaginary, and was elaborated by 澄觀 Chéngguān, 宗密 Zōngmì, and the later Korean and Japanese Huáyán/Hwaeom/Kegon traditions.
The Taishō text (T1868) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- Cook, Francis H. Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977 — substantial discussion of the Ten Mysterious Gates; the title is taken from this text.
- Gimello, Robert M. Chih-yen (602–668) and the Foundations of Hua-yen Buddhism. Ph.D. dissertation, Columbia, 1976 — substantial treatment.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
- Sakamoto Yukio 坂本幸男. Kegon kyōgaku no kenkyū (1956).
Other points of interest
- The “Indra’s Net” 因陀羅網 image — through Cook’s 1977 monograph and the broader popular Buddhist literature — has become the most widely known image of Huáyán metaphysics in the modern English-language reception, often cited as a poetic statement of Mahāyāna interconnectedness.