Fazang

Who was Fazang?

Fazang was the third of the five patriarchs of the Huayan school. He is said to have authored over a hundred volumes of essays and commentaries. His essays "On the Golden Lion" and "On a Mote of Dust" are among the most celebrated ruminations from the Hua-yen school. The former essay is based on a lecture on Buddhism that Fazang gave to Empress Wu Zetian. The Empress was having trouble understanding the subtle views of Huayan, so Fazang drew an analogy, comparing the relationship between the shape of a lion statue and the gold of which it is composed to the relationship between the conditioned things that exist and the underlying reality of which all are a part. "On the Golden Lion" may be found in the Taishō_Tripiṭaka, where it is text 1881, and is accompanied by the Song-dynasty commentary of Cheng Qian.

Scholars have observed the influence of Taoism on Chinese Buddhism, and Fazang is believed to have drawn on a mode of thought derived from the I Ching. Fazang's works also show some influence from Wonhyo.