This book, well-known to most English-speaking fans of Buddhism, served as a follow-up to Garma C.C. Chang's pioneering book on Hua-Yen (Huayan) entitled the "Buddhist Teaching of Totality". Both of these books (especially Chang's) served to introduce the sophisticated Hua-Yen School's system of thought to English-speaking audiences on a non-scholarly level, and should be applauded for this pioneering effort. Although both books were meant to target non-scholars as well as scholars, the complexity of Hua-Yen thought makes this a rather daunting task (and not just for lay folks!).
Francis "Dojun" Cook needs no introduction to fans of Buddhism, having written several fine books on Japanese Zen master Dogen's thought as well as this book and various articles on Hua-Yen. All are highly recommended reading. Cook combines the rare combination of scholar and practitioner, the latter a result of being a zen practitioner for many years. This gives a practical (or "practice-oriented") edge to his writing that is often missing in scholarly works. As another reviewer noted, there is an old Chinese saying that the summit in historical Buddhist study would ideally be "Hua-Yen for theory; Chan for practice", and Cook certainly appears to embody both sides.
Cook's book is evidently an outgrowth of his early interest in Hua-Yen as evidenced by his PhD thesis: "Fa-Tsang's Treatise on the Five Doctrines: An Annotated Translation". Indeed, Cook makes much use of this particular treatise (in Chinese: Huayan Wujiao Zhang) in his "Jewel Net" book, going into detail to elaborate on Fa-Tsang's/Fazang's metaphors such as a house -together with each part such as rafters, roof, etc.- displaying an interdependence and interpenetration of parts and whole (or "universal" and "particular"), and also the unobstructed interpenetration of each part with each other part (Chinese: shishi wuai fajie: a novel teaching of the Hua-Yen school). Heady stuff, especially how this totality vs. individual illuminates traditional Mahayana doctrines such as "emptiness" and "co-origination" in novel ways. Fazang, the so-called "3rd Patriarch" of Hua-Yen (although some suspect he was actually the primary synthesizer of Hua-Yen doctrines as a system), was a brilliant thinker and it shows in his efforts to utilize appropriate metaphors (not all his) of complex Hua-Yen teachings- the familiar "Indra's Net", the "Golden Lion", the house and rafters, etc.- I simply don't have space to wade into Hua-Yen teachings here, and there is plenty of literature now out on Hua-Yen that folks can refer to. As for Fazang, he evidently wasn't just a perceptive thinker, but also a reported miracle-worker (who isn't in ancient Chinese philosophy?) and who also had a shrewd political eye, judging from his popularity with Empress Wu Zhao, who naturally sought support for her rule from Buddhist doctrines. By anyone's standards, Fazang is a hugely important figure in classical Chinese philosophy.
As for Hua-Yen thought in general, readers of both books by Chang and Cook might want to go further and explore some modern scholarship in this area. Well-known scholar Steven Odin, for instance, has contrasted traditional Hua-Yen teachings on time vs. contemporary Process metaphysics, and the resultant dialogue has been interesting. On other topics, Cook himself disagrees with Garma Chang's description of "emptiness", the latter displaying too much of a subjective interpretation of the traditional "Mind-only" doctrine, according to Cook, who favors a more objective interpretation of "Mind". So there's plenty of room for scholarly debate there. Another reviewer also mentioned the innovations the Chinese brought to the older Indian doctrine of emptiness; Cook mentions the Chinese re-vamping of this doctrine in the book and elsewhere. The Chinese image enlarged the Indian description from a largely negative one, emphasizing the inconsequential nature of phenomena, to a more robust image, where phenomena are the "fullness" of totality because of being empty- hence, each side emphasized a different aspect of emptiness. These changes by different cultures on standard Buddhist doctrines are also the subject of scholarly discussion, which readers can wade into (at their own peril)...
At any rate, needless to say, the Hua-Yen books by Chang and Cook largely set the stage for Hua-Yen thought to become more familiar to Western audiences. For that, each deserves five stars for giving the public an entrance into this difficult material.
Readers, I hope your chops for abstract thought are in place here, you'll need it for penetrating the abstruse Hua-Yen universe. But hey, effort like that is what life is all about :-)
Enjoy fast, free delivery, exclusive deals, and award-winning movies & TV shows with Prime
Try Prime
and start saving today with fast, free delivery
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Join or create book clubs
Choose books together
Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.
Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.
Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.
Book recommendations, author interviews, editors' picks, and more. Read it now.
Frequently bought together
$33.94
Get it as soon as Wednesday, May 15
Only 9 left in stock - order soon.
Total price:
To see our price, add these items to your cart.
Choose items to buy together.
Customers who viewed this item also viewed
Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1
About the author
Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Reviews with images
Cover Not as advertised
Got this book for the content and also because of the artwork on front but the cover isn’t as advertised.
Top reviews from other countries
Alain Paul Laurent Rocchi
A new look at buddhist doctrines from an ancient and venerable chinese buddhist school.
Reviewed in Brazil on July 16, 2022Kindle Customer
The content is brilliant and beautifully expresed but the book production is wanting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 3, 2017
ephemerald
Hua-Yen is must philosophy for every thinking being!
Reviewed in Germany on November 13, 2016