Xiū huáyán ào zhǐ wàng jìn huán yuán guān 修華嚴奧旨妄盡還源觀
The Contemplation of Returning to the Source by Exhausting the False, on the Profound Aim of Cultivating the Huáyán [Sūtra] by 法藏 (Fǎzàng, 述)
About the work
The Wàng jìn huán yuán guān — universally known in the East Asian Buddhist tradition as the Huán yuán guān 還源觀 (“Contemplation of Returning to the Source”) — is one of the most influential single contemplative texts in the entire Tang Huáyán tradition. In 1 fascicle, it sets out the contemplative path to the Avataṃsaka’s vision of the dharma-realm (法界) through six contemplative stages, each mapped onto a corresponding doctrinal articulation of the dharmakāya’s self-manifesting nature. The text fuses Huáyán metaphysics with the Mahāyāna vijñaptimātra (“consciousness-only”) tradition’s contemplative practice, providing the Tang Huáyán-school’s signature synthesis of contemplation and doctrine.
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to 法藏 Fǎzàng’s mature period, c. 670 – 712 CE. The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The text presents six contemplations: (1) the contemplation of the one body of the dharmakāya; (2) the contemplation of the two functions — sea-mirror (海映) — by which the dharmakāya manifests itself; (3) the contemplation of the three universal — universal cause-and-result, universal characteristics, universal subjective-objective; (4) the contemplation of the four virtues; (5) the contemplation of the five gates of stopping; (6) the contemplation of the six gates of insight. The hierarchical six-fold structure parallels but differs from [[KR6e0082|the Ten Mysterious Gates]] of 杜順 Dùshùn / 智儼 Zhìyǎn’s tradition, providing an alternative doctrinal-contemplative route.
The work was widely studied in Tang, Sòng, Korean, and Japanese Buddhist scholasticism. 澄觀 Chéngguān’s [[KR6e0011|Shū]] cites it; 宗密 Zōngmì makes substantial use of it; the Korean Hwaeom and Japanese Kegon traditions made it part of the standard contemplative curriculum. In modern Buddhist studies it is one of the principal texts for understanding the Tang Huáyán-school’s distinctive synthesis of contemplation and doctrine.
The Taishō text (T1876) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- Cleary, Thomas, tr. (excerpts in) Entry into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism. Honolulu: UHP, 1983.
- Cook, Francis H. Hua-yen Buddhism (1977).
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
- Sakamoto Yukio 坂本幸男. Kegon kyōgaku no kenkyū (1956).
- Yoshizu Yoshihide 吉津宜英. Kegon zen no shisōshi-teki kenkyū (1985).
Other points of interest
- The work’s title — “Returning to the Source by Exhausting the False” (wàng jìn huán yuán 妄盡還源) — became a stock phrase in the Sòng-onwards Chán-Huáyán tradition, often cited as a programmatic statement of the goal of Buddhist practice.