Pure Land" Buddhism - a popular sect

a. The goal is the "Pure Land," "Western Paradise"

b. A celestial Buddha, Amitahba, presides there, assisted by the bodhisattva Kuan-yin.

c. One need only have faith in the infinite compassion of Amitahba (the Buddha who presides over the Pure Land).

d. Devotion (e.g., reciting Abitabha's name) is also important

Doctrine of the Universal Mind -- accepted by Tiantai and Huayan schools.

a. Nirvana is the realization that the individual mind is one with the Universal Mind, or the Buddha nature.

b. All sentient beings possess the Buddha-nature.

Tiantai, or Lotus School - founded by Zhiyi [Chih-i] (538-597)

[Tiantai is the name of the mountain where Zhiyi lived; Lotus Sutra is the central text.]

a. The universe is the product and manifestation of an immutable Absolute Mind.

b. All things are dependent on other things.

c. Each thing manifests the mind's character in its totality.

d. All natures are immutable (including the evils of the world).

e. Things exist because all are innate in the Absolute Mind.

1) Things have a greater reality than the Hua-yen school grants).

2) Dharmas (the elements of existence) are empty (no nature of their own), but they have relative reality.

f. Everything, even the inanimate, possess the Buddha-nature.

g. Because everything involves everything else, salvation is universal.

Huayan (Hua-yen) Buddhism - Founded by Fa-Tsang (643-712), Based on "Flower Ornament" ("Flowery Splendor") scripture

a. the most syncretic of the Chinese schools.

b. There is only one, absolute mind,within everything, even the impure.

c. Positive view of the chain of dependent co-origination.

everything is supremely valuable.

d. Totalism: everything is contained in/causes/is identical with each individual.

e. Sunyata (the emptiness of things) amounts to interdependent being.

f. "All beings are the wombs of Buddhahood" and have the certainty of attaining perfect enlightenment.

g. Samsara is nirvana - The world of Buddha is this world.

h. Huayan goes further than Tiantai: everything implies every other thing.

Chan Buddhism - traditionally said to have been brought to China by Boddhidharma (d. 520)

a. Chan = meditation ("dhyana in Sanskrit"; "Chan" a transliteration).

b. Stress on work and service

c. Goal to realize pre-reflective experience (realization of true nature) experience in the everyday world.

d. Northern School emphasized gradual enlightenment

e. Southern School, which became dominant, emphasized sudden enlightenment.

f. Southern view: Buddha-mind is everywhere, so anything can be an occasion for realizing

g. New techniques (gongan puzzles, beating) for promoting enlightenment