Essays on Huayen Buddism

Essays from ABCBC members and contributing writers will be included here to provide in depth information of various Huayen studies and practices. Although it is not absolutely necessary, we encourage that contributing writers use MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing (2nd edition) for all citations followed by endnotes/footnotes in the content support section.

We invite our readers to write on any topic that we've touched on in one of our log entries that may need a little elaboration. Or Ye may want to respond in more formal fashion to topics of interest of you. Please send it your essays accordingly and we'll post those types of essays here.

For example, you might include an essay on a controversial subject, like "Human Replicas and Cybernetics." Or, you might write an essay about "Huayen meditation methods or the Conduct and Vows of Samantabhadra," or even "The New Interface - Preaching the Dharma on Cyberspace."

Writing essays requires a little more work than writing blog posts, but it also gives you a chance to really shape and express your thoughts.

SIGNS OF THE DHARMA-ENDING AGE

The time following Buddha Sakyamuni's demise has been divided into three periods: i) the Perfect Age of the Dharma, lasting 500 years, when the Buddha's teaching was correctly practice and Enlightenment often attained; ii) the Dharma Semblance Age, lasting about 1,000 years, when a form of the teaching was practiced but Enlightenment seldom attained; iii) the Dharma-Ending Age, lasting some ‘ten thousand' years, when a diluted form of the teaching exists and Enlightenment rarely attained. (Thành & Leigh 2001: 58)

Ven. Meng Ts'an, one of the patriarchal dignitaries of Da Huayen Monastery, has indicated at least three signs of the Dharma-Ending Age in our time:

1. The first sure sign of our Dharma-Ending Age is that the role of the teacher and pupil is reversed in the teaching of the Dharma. "Lay people are teaching the Dharma and Sangha are the pupils, often not respected by their teachers, who think they are not knowledgeable." (Meng Ts'an 1998) In many universities and colleges throughout the world, Buddhism has now become an increasingly popular subject taught by people who may not even believe or practice what they profess. It has become just another subject among the myriads of subjects in the humanities department. When Buddhism is being imparted as academic knowledge and not as a way of life to attain Enlightenment, students may pass the course but will never attain Enlightenment.

2. The second sure sign of this Dharma-Ending Age is that non-Buddhist con artists crowning themselves as true Buddhas mushrooming everywhere and the masses listen to and believe their false claims, pouring billions of dollars into these scamming schemes, whereas on the other hand, when Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis speak the truth, the masses pay little attention or support them (Meng Ts'an 1998).

3. The third sure sign of this Dharma-Ending Age is that "in the People's Republic of China, some Bhikkhus have given up celibacy. Upon their deaths, their sons and grandsons fight for the inheritance of the temples property and go to court (Meng Ts'an 1998)." When Buddha Sakyamuni established the Sangha community, he also established a set of rules or precepts regulating the operation of the Sangha community, including the sharing of communal property. Accordingly, no communal property shall be owned by anyone because all Bhikkhus and Bhikkhunis, like the Buddha, have renounced their worldly lives. This practice of keeping wives and raising children directly breach the Bhikkhu's precepts.

Ven. Meng Ts'an. On Impermanence. Xiamen, PRC. 13 October 1998. (Audiocassette) Trans. Ven. Longyen. 2009.

Buddha Sakyamuni. Sutra of the Medicine Buddha. Trans. Minh Thành & P.D. Leigh. Buddha Dharma Education Association Inc. Nov 2001. 19 Dec 2009. <http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/medbudsutra.pdf>