Tag Archives: Li

Bringers of life by Alex Groseth

Before engaging the Sutra it is advisable that we present a brief overview of its doctrinal foundation, which is rooted in Hua-yen Buddhism. Also translated as “Flowery Splendor” (thus the title of the Sutra), Hua-yen is an all-encompassing matrix of syncretic-connections that are inter-dependent and thus constitute a resolution of form and principle as defined in such concepts as shih (phenomena) and li (noumenon)—both of which we shall explore more fully soon. The “holographic-model” is an apt depiction of the inner-mechanism of Hua-yen, wherein each three-dimensional image is a reflection and part and parcel of the larger whole—thus the microcosm within the macrocosm scheme of things. The school’s grand systematizer was Fa-tsang (643-712), its renowned Third Patriarch. One could say that he gave birth to its Holographic-Model when he exhibited it for Empress Wu in the following fashion: read more