The integration of Buddhist Doctrinal Philosophy in the Northern Dynasties: a comparison between Dasheng Yizhang 大乘義章 and Pusa Zang Zhongjing Yao 菩薩藏眾經要

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Myriad Teachings of the Bodhisattva Treasury (Pusa zang zhong jingyao 菩薩藏眾經要) in the Western Wei and Northern Zhou dynasties and the Essay on the System of Mahāyāna (Dasheng yizhang 大乘義章) in the Eastern Wei and Northern Qi dynasties both inherited the legacy of the Daśabhūmi-śāstra school (Dilun xuepai 地論學派), and yet developed separately. The former represents the latest results of the fusion of Western Wei and Northern Zhou Buddhism with the Southern Buddhism’s the Excerpts of Sūtras (Jing Chao 經抄), which formed the framework of the One Hundred Twenty Dharma Gates (Yibai ershi famen 一百二十法門) through the ‘five gates 五門’. The latter, however, provides the outline of the Buddha-dharma of Northern Buddhism in the ‘Yizhang 義章’ category–––the structural framework of its ‘five categories 五聚’ entirely corresponding to the ‘teaching, principle, practice, and reward 教理行果’ as well as the ‘five meanings of the Dharma-treasure 法寶五義’.