The Exegetical Tradition of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra

Abstract

The Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra, which served as an ideological foundation for the establishment and gradual development of the Huayan school, is one of the most influential Mahāyāna sūtras in East Asian Buddhism. This article shows how the exegetical tradition that focused on the study of this scripture was started by the scholar monks of the Dilun school, who highly valued the Vasubandhu’s commentary on the Daśabhūmika-sūtra chapter of the Buddhāvataṃsaka-sūtra, and was completed during the Tang dynasty by the masters of the Buddhist exegesis, who later were venerated as patriarchs of the Huayan school.