YT YouTube2Text

YouTube2Text → Transcripts → A Lost Buddhist Sect at Dunhuang | Max Brandstadt

A Lost Buddhist Sect at Dunhuang | Max Brandstadt — Transcript

by Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, UC Berkeley · 11,432 words · 1,586 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

Open in transcriber Summarize with AI Download SRT/VTT

Full transcript

0:00[MUSIC PLAYING]
0:20ROBERT H. SHARF: So I want to welcome everyone this afternoon.
0:23And the first order of business is
0:24to remind you to use the Question and Answer tab,
0:28and not the Chat tab for any questions
0:31you may have this afternoon.
0:33So my name is Bob Scharf, and it's my pleasure
0:36on behalf of the Tang Center for Silk Road studies
0:38at the University of California, Berkeley,
0:40to introduce our speaker for the day, Max Brandstadt, who's
0:44a PhD candidate in the group in Buddhist studies program, whose
0:48research focuses on medieval Chinese Buddhism.
0:52Now, Max received his BA from Bowdoin college
0:56in 2013, double majoring in Asian studies
1:00and classical studies.
1:02And after graduating, he worked for America Corps or Americorps
1:05for a year and then entered the MA program
1:08in Berkeley's group in Asian studies.
1:10And two years later, he transitioned into our Buddhist
1:13studies PhD program.
1:16When Max came to us, he was interested in sharp relations
1:19in medieval China.
1:21And he soon landed on the topic of the Sanjie jao or the Three
1:25Levels Movement.
1:26And this was an important but still poorly-understood
1:29Buddhist sect that was persecuted and eventually
1:32stamped out by the imperial state.
1:34And their writings were actually burned.
1:37But their teachings were to prove influential in later Chan
1:40and Pure Land teachings.
1:42So it so happened that the leading scholar of the Three
1:45Levels Movement, Nishimoto Teruma of Musashino University,
1:49was a visiting scholar at Berkeley
1:50in 2015, '16 and befriended Max and started to read with him.
1:56And Max ended up spending the Summers
1:58of 2016 and '17 in Japan, where he continued to work
2:02with Professor Nishimoto.
2:05He also got involved around the same time
2:07with Professor Lothar Ledderose of Heidelberg university
2:12in the Stone Sutra project, and he
2:15became basically their in-house Sanjie jao expert.
2:18And that collaboration resulted in a series of translations
2:21and studies that Max completed for their award
2:24winning multi-volume series on Stone Sutras.
2:29In 2019 and '20, with the support
2:32of a fellowship from the Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai,
2:35he was a visiting student at Tokyo university
2:38where he worked with Shimoda, Masahiro, and Minowa Kendio.
2:42Now, while Max's dissertation research
2:45focuses on Chinese Buddhist doctrinal and institutional
2:48history, his interests extend well beyond that.
2:52In fact, his next project, titled Authority as a Concept
2:57in Cross-cultural Political Theory,
2:58looks at the under-theorized notion of authority.
3:02He's going to undertake a genealogical and philosophical
3:05analysis of the use of the term and its deployments
3:09in both Western and Asian thought.
3:11And he's going to be pursuing this project
3:13during a three-year stint as a junior fellow
3:16at the Harvard Society of Fellows, starting this July.
3:20This past year, 2020 to 2021, Max's research
3:25was supported by a Dylan and Karen Leong Clancy fellowship
3:29from the Tang Center for Silk Road studies.
3:31So it is a particular pleasure to have
3:34him present some of his work for the Tang Center today
3:37in his talk titled a Lost Buddhist
3:40Sect at Dunhuang, the Three Level Movements in the Dunhuang
3:44Documents.
3:45So welcome, Max.
3:48MAX BRANDSTADT: Thanks very much for that introduction,
3:51professor.
3:52And I just want to highlight again, thanks to the Clancy Fund
3:56for providing a fellowship to support this research.
3:59So I'm not so adept at these Zoom presentations quite yet.
4:05So let's just make sure everything works OK.
4:08I'm sharing my screen now.
4:10Go from here.
4:10So my talk today is called a Lost Buddhist Sect
4:13at Dunhuang, The Three Levels Movement in the Dunhuang
4:16Documents.
4:17And so in my paper today, I'm going
4:19to offer an introduction to the so-called Three Levels
4:21Movement or the Sanjie jao.
4:24And this is a Buddhist group that flourished during the Sui
4:26and Tang dynasties.
4:28I'm going to focus especially on the thought of its founder,
4:30the sixth century monk Xinxing.
4:33Any discussion of the Three Levels Movement
4:35must also take into account a curious fact,
4:37which is that this movement was suppressed repeatedly
4:40by the Sui and Tang regimes.
4:42Consequently, its texts are not part
4:44of the mainstream transmission or transmission of East Asian
4:47Buddhism.
4:48So you will not find Three Levels Texts in the Taisho canon
4:52or in the printed canons from which it descends.
4:55For almost 1,000 years, almost no one had access to Three
4:58Levels texts, and nothing was known of this movement except
5:00for a few historiographical notes in contemporaneous
5:03sources.
5:04We are now in a position to discuss the Three Levels
5:06in some detail however because of manuscript finds at Dunhuang
5:09and in Japan.
5:11These manuscript caches contain text witnesses
5:13of several of the most important Three Levels writings.
5:17And these writings, long lost, allow
5:19us to reconstruct the history and the religious philosophy
5:22of this very interesting and mysterious movement.
5:26So in the course of this paper, I'm
5:28going to utilize several important texts preserved
5:32at Dunhuang as well as some found
5:35in other archeological sites and in Japan
5:38in order to present a reconstructed history
5:41of the Three Levels Movement from the inside.
5:43And then finally, I'll conclude with some brief and tentative
5:47observations on the suppression of the Three Levels
5:49and some possible reasons for the survival of Three Levels
5:52documents at Dunhuang and in Japan.
5:56So to get a sense of the Three Levels,
5:59we have to begin with its founder, Xinxing,
6:02who looms large in the text of the movement
6:04and also appears prominently in contemporary non-Three Levels
6:07texts.
6:08So Xinxing was born in 540 in Northern China.
6:11His family background and early career in the Sangha
6:13are unclear although later biographers adorned his life
6:16with some standard hagiographical motifs.
6:18A miraculous birth, childhood displays
6:21of compassion and wisdom, and various auspicious visual
6:24and olfactory omens.
6:26Setting these aside, there are hints that Xinxing sought
6:29ordination at a young age, suffered during the Northern
6:32Zhou persecution of Buddhism in the 570s,
6:34and eventually founded his own congregation at Ye,
6:37the capital of several Northern dynasties.
6:40Based on some stylistic features of his writings,
6:44I think we can also say that Xinxing had not
6:47received the highest quality of education available in China
6:52at the time.
6:53Although he was clearly literate.
6:55By 589, Xinxing had moved to Chang'an, the capital
6:58of the recently established Sui dynasty,
7:00where he received the patronage of the powerful Sui minister Gao
7:03Jiong, and he established a following there.
7:06He died in 594, leaving several dozen fascicles of writings.
7:10His relics were enshrined North of the capital at Zhongshan.
7:14After Xinxing's death, a self-conscious community
7:16of Three Levels followers persisted until at least
7:19the ninth century.
7:21This community composed texts, including
7:23commentaries and subcommentaries on Xinxing's writings.
7:26They erected stelae, commemorating both Xinxing
7:28and his epigones, and they commissioned the carving
7:30of Xinxing's writings in stone.
7:33They also attracted the hostile attention of the Sui and Tang
7:36imperial regimes, which issued edicts curtailing
7:39the activities of this group at least five times between 600
7:42and 725.
7:43The immediate effect of these proscriptions is unclear.
7:46But by 730, we find Three Levels texts
7:49listed as spurious in (INAUDIBLE)
7:50influential spiritual catalog the Kaiyuan Shijiao Lu.
7:54There is no evidence that Three Levels text continued to be
7:57transmitted in China after the 10th century.
8:00And until the discoveries at Dunhuang,
8:02they were considered lost.
8:04Today, as I mentioned, however, we
8:06can partially reconstruct the history of the Three Levels
8:10based on the document cache at Dunhuang and monastery
8:13finds in Japan.
8:15So we now have access to dozens of manuscripts
8:17that preserve part or all of nearly two dozen Three Levels
8:20texts.
8:21At least two of these mark Xinxing as their own author,
8:24and it is likely that several others
8:25are accounts of Xinxing's lectures
8:27as recorded by his immediate students.
8:30So we now have an unparalleled window into the thought
8:32and history of the movement that has remained obscure for almost
8:351,000 years.
8:38So although we now have access to many Three Levels texts,
8:41they are unfortunately extremely difficult to read,
8:44which in part that accounts for why there haven't
8:48been so many studies of the Three Levels Movement
8:50since the discoveries at Dunhuang.
8:53So in seeking to understand the Three Levels Movement,
8:58the best place may be to start with an outside account actually
9:01rather than their own writings.
9:02So from several such accounts, let
9:05us choose, for simplicity's sake,
9:06a concise description given in an account of Xinxing's life
9:10from a text called the Mingbao ji.
9:12This is a collection of stories about the miraculous
9:15and the strange compiled by the seventh century literatus
9:18Tanglin.
9:19So Tanglin writes, "Intelligent in his youth,
9:23Xinxing studied widely in the scriptures and treatises,
9:25and he surpassed others in his insights.
9:28He held that the scriptures preached by the Buddha
9:30handle the task of liberation.
9:32At points, they do this in accord with innate capacity,
9:34manifesting the path by indicating types of people.
9:37At others, they do so in accord with the necessities of the time
9:40period distinguishing teachings in relation to the situation.
9:46We are now far from the stage, both in time and space."
9:54I'm sorry.
9:54Let's see.
9:55So somebody's asking me to speak a little louder.
9:59So I'll try to do that.
10:01"Since the teaching does not match--
10:04let's see.
10:05Suppose superior teachings were practiced
10:07by a person of inferior capacities,
10:09since the teaching does not match those capacities,
10:11it would be easy for the practitioner
10:13to err and to make a mistake.
10:15Consequently, Xinxing excerpted and collected passages
10:18from the scriptures and treatises,
10:20investigating the teachings in light of his assessment
10:23of people's capacities.
10:24In the end, those that were appropriate for study
10:27amounted to 36 fascicles, and he called them the collected
10:30records of humankind.
10:32His major teachings were to urge people
10:34to practice universal reverence and recognize their evil nature,
10:39to discern Buddha nature, and to receive a medicine
10:42suitable to their sickness.
10:44His teachings were one vehicle, seven teachings.
10:46All the daring, vigorous gentlemen in the land made him
10:49their model."
10:50Tanglin offers several points as characteristic
10:53of Xinxing and his teachings.
10:54These include the unusual practice of universal reverence
11:03and recognizing evil side by side with the common exhortation
11:08to discern Buddha nature.
11:10They include the identification of Xinxing's teachings
11:12as one vehicle sudden teachings, Xinxing's interest
11:16in a spatial and temporal distance from the sage, which
11:19would be Shakyamuni Buddha.
11:21And this, of course, is closely associated
11:22with the popular idea of mofa or the age of Dharma decline.
11:29So Xinxing's interest in variations
11:31in these spiritual capacities of sentient beings,
11:34as well as his concern that beings of inferior capacities
11:37might err if they practiced a superior teaching.
11:41And this idea also lurks behind Xinxing's concern that people
11:44receive a medicine, quote unquote,
11:45"suitable to their sickness."
11:47And then finally, we have Xinxing's interest in scripture.
11:50Xinxing affirmed the salvific power of the Buddhist teachings
11:53is preserved in scripture.
11:54And he compiled relevant scriptural passages
11:56into a set of anthologies that he called the collected records
12:00of humankind.
12:01So although Tanglin wrote after Xinxing's death,
12:05modern research confirms that this
12:06is a fairly accurate summary of Xinxing's writings.
12:09Although two additional comments are required.
12:12First, we should add that Xinxing
12:14taught that (INAUDIBLE) can be sorted
12:16into three different types.
12:19And at some point, whether during Xinxing's his later life
12:22or shortly after his death, these three types
12:24became known as the three levels of Sanjie jao, which gave
12:29Xinxing's followers their name.
12:31The primary determinants of a sentient beings type or level
12:34were their innate spiritual capacity and also,
12:37in the most formulations, their temporal distance
12:39from the historical Buddha.
12:41First of all, beings have a high aptitude for Buddhist practice,
12:46and they live during or around the time of the Buddha.
12:49In contrast, third level beings have poor aptitude
12:51for Buddhist practice and live long
12:53after the Buddha's parinirvana.
12:54Xinxing's intended audience was third level beings.
12:59Second, we need to add to Tanglin's description
13:03the following.
13:04So according to Xinxing, if superior teachings
13:06were practiced by a person of inferior capacities, then--
13:10and the teaching does not match their capacities,
13:12then it would be easy for the practitioner
13:14to err and to make a mistake.
13:16So Xinxing did teach this, but Tanglin's innocent sounding
13:19err and make a mistake vastly understate
13:22the gravity of practicing an inappropriate teaching
13:25according to Three Levels thought.
13:27So according to Xinxing, the best case scenario
13:29for someone who studies an inappropriate teaching
13:32is that they will find it difficult, if not impossible,
13:35to progress along the Buddhist path.
13:37In the worst case scenario, they will inadvertently
13:40slander the Dharma and fall into hell, a fate
13:43that none of the buddhas can rescue them from.
13:45As we can see, receiving medicine appropriate to one's
13:48sickness has high stakes indeed for Xinxing and his followers.
13:52So with these two addenda, we now
13:53have a sense of the major points of Xinxing's thought.
13:56You may discern that some of these points
13:58are quite distinct from typical medieval Chinese Buddhism.
14:01Xinxing's formal division of beings into three kinds based
14:04on capacity, for example, or the practices
14:07of universal reverence and recognizing evil,
14:09are somewhat unusual.
14:12You would be right to wonder about these points
14:14as they also attracted the attention and often
14:16the criticism of Xinxing's contemporaries.
14:18And understanding them is essential to understanding
14:20the Three Levels role in the development of Chinese Buddhism.
14:24Some points-- and this is worth stressing.
14:26Some points, however, are unsurprising.
14:28So Xinxing's teachings were considered
14:30one vehicle sudden teachings.
14:32Xinxing was concerned with the gulf separating
14:34Chinese Buddhists and Shakyamuni.
14:37And Xinxing advocated discerning Buddha nature.
14:39These are all tropes drawn from the shared
14:42storehouse of sixth and seventh century Buddhist thought.
14:46Recent scholarship shows that by and large, Xinxing's deployment
14:49of these tropes is very similar to that of his contemporaries.
14:52If a non-specialist should draw any conclusion
14:55from their importance to Xinxing,
14:57it would simply be that Xinxing was not the radical that he
15:00is occasionally made out to be.
15:02Rather, his thought is in many ways
15:03part and parcel of his religious environment.
15:06There is one point, however, that
15:07deserves our close attention.
15:10And this is in spite of how quotidian
15:12it appears, namely, Xinxing's devotion
15:14to receive Buddhist scripture.
15:16As Tanglin writes, Xinxing believed
15:18that the scriptures preached by the Buddha
15:20handle the task of liberation.
15:21At points, they do this in accord
15:23with people's innate capacity.
15:25At others, they do so in accord with the necessities
15:27of the time period.
15:29In other words, Xinxing felt that the Buddha
15:31took into account the existence of practitioners
15:34of different capacities and produced different teachings
15:36geared toward each.
15:38The Buddha did the same for beings
15:39living in very different historical circumstances
15:41than his own.
15:42These teachings have been preserved
15:44in Buddhist scriptures which have been faithfully transmitted
15:46to China.
15:47Given this situation, the most pressing task
15:50for a third level being interested
15:52in practicing Buddhism safely is to identify
15:55which scriptures or scriptural passages were indeed
15:57produced by the Buddha with this third level in mind.
16:00To that end, Xinxing compiled anthologies
16:03of scriptural passages organized by their intended audience.
16:07The passages collected in those anthologies
16:09provided the foundation for Three Levels teaching
16:12and practice.
16:13So none of these specific beliefs
16:15about scriptural authority and transmission
16:17that undergird and motivate Xinxing's compilation projects
16:20were farfetched in the context of sixth century Chinese
16:22Buddhism.
16:23Xinxing shared this commitment to the authority
16:25of received scripture with sixth century exegetes as diverse
16:28as Jinyin Hayuan, Xi Xang, and Zhou Yi.
16:32Despite this shared background, however, Xinxing's
16:35his interpretation of and relationship
16:37with Buddhist scripture came under harsh attack
16:39by non-Three Level polemicists during the time.
16:42So to understand why, we might examine how Xinxing
16:45constructed some of his texts.
16:47As we shall see, Xinxing took an unusual approach
16:50to scriptural citation and compilation.
16:53This unusual approach may have incited
16:55the ire of both his co-religionists
16:57and the imperial regime.
17:00So we'll start with two texts.
17:03And these are texts that were inscribed
17:07in the stone walls of the seventh century cave
17:09site in Shaanxi.
17:11And this site is known as Jinchuanwan.
17:13It was a text there were recently partially published
17:17in one of the volumes of the Stone Sutra project.
17:20And so the texts are called Bodhi
17:22matched to faculties and Bodhi for the mundane
17:24and the transmundane.
17:27Now, if you were to read these texts all the way through,
17:30you would find them probably, unless you're really
17:35have a genius for commentary sixth century commentary,
17:41you would probably find these pretty difficult to understand.
17:45So they appear at first glance as like a parody
17:49of an Abhidharma treatise.
17:51They're just a near incomprehensible series
17:55of branching lists and repetitive phrases.
17:58So your confusion upon reading this
18:01would probably increase because of Xinxing's barely explained
18:05insertion of citations from a staggering range of Buddhist
18:07scriptures, ranging from the Mahayana Nirvana Sutra
18:10to the Vimalakirti.
18:13Furthermore, these texts contain almost no discernible argument.
18:16They present no conclusions, and they offer no instructions
18:19about their appropriate use.
18:21So then what are these strange texts?
18:23Why would someone go to the trouble
18:25of carving them in stone?
18:27There is something very elusive about them.
18:29But if we keep a firm grip on our understanding of Xinxing's
18:32larger project, then I think their purpose
18:35and even their appeal will come into clearer focus.
18:37So the surest entry into the logic behind these texts
18:40is to analyze their titles.
18:43So those titles in full are the elucidation
18:46of the shallow and profound teachings
18:48matched to spiritual faculties on conceiving
18:51and aspiration for Bodhi as found in the scriptures,
18:54so that's text one, text two, the elucidation
18:57of the differences in the teachings on conceiving
19:00and aspiration for Bodhi with regard to two levels of people,
19:03the mundane and the mundane, as found
19:05in the sutras of the great vehicle.
19:08So these titles may seem rather clunky.
19:11They certainly lack the poetic sensibility of something
19:14like the Jingang Pi Lin, like the treatise
19:17on the adamantine scalpel.
19:19But what they lack in poetry, they
19:21make up for in sheer prosaic functionality.
19:23So recall that one of Xinxing's fundamental aims
19:26is to match teachings that would be far in his parlance
19:30to their appropriate practitioners.
19:32And that's appearing in the titles
19:33as a particular type of wren or person.
19:37And so he wants to avoid a mismatch between teachings
19:40and people because such a mismatch is
19:44extremely spiritually perilous.
19:47So if we want to extend a metaphor common in Three Levels
19:50literature, the medicine must be appropriate to the sickness.
19:53Otherwise, it isn't medicine, it's poison.
19:56So both Bodhi matched faculties and Bodhi
19:58for the mundane and transmundane represents Xinxing's attempt
20:01to match the Buddha's teachings on a single topic, which
20:05is in this case, the conception of an aspiration for Bodhi,
20:08he's matching that to their intended audience.
20:11If the teachings he organizes in these works
20:13constitute precious but dangerous medicine,
20:15then these lengthy titles are like labels on a pill bottle.
20:18And just as the labeling on medication
20:20tells us its use, the intended patient and the ingredients,
20:24the title of each of these texts tells us, A,
20:26the topic of the teachings contained therein,
20:30B, the categories by which they are organized,
20:32and, C, the original source of the teachings.
20:35So using this scheme, we can deconstruct
20:37the full title of Bodhi matched to faculties as follows.
20:40So, A, we have the topic, which are the teachings on conceiving
20:46aspiration for Bodhi.
20:48And these are sorted by, B, according
20:50to whether they are profound or shallow teachings,
20:53and thereby, they're matched to practitioners varying
20:56levels of spiritual capacities or guan.
20:59And the teachings are ultimately sourced from, C,
21:03all the scriptures.
21:05And so we can contrast that just to see
21:08how these different categories permute.
21:13In the second text at Jinchuanwan one,
21:17Bodhi for the mundane and the mundane,
21:19we can analyze the title as follows.
21:21So again, in this text, Xinxing is
21:23compiling, A, different teachings
21:25on conceiving and aspiration for Bodhi.
21:27And he sorts them by, B, their intended audience,
21:30which is stratified into two levels of people, the mundane
21:34and the transmundane.
21:35And finally, these teachings originate in,
21:38C, the sutras of the great vehicle as opposed
21:41to the previous text, which is all the Buddhist scriptures.
21:46So the regularity of the labels of these two texts
21:50is not accidental.
21:51It appears to be a deliberate system
21:52applicable to a whole class of Three Levels texts.
21:55So just to go to some texts that we find mentioned at Dunhuang,
22:00consider just two of these similar titles.
22:03So the elucidation of the shallow and profound teachings
22:06on venerating the three jewels for practice
22:08match to spiritual faculties as found in the scriptures.
22:12And two, the elucidation of the teaching shallow and profound
22:15match the spiritual faculties on the reasons for the rise
22:18and fall of sentient beings in the fold of the Buddha Dharma
22:20during the declining Dharma as found in the scriptures.
22:23So we can read the first title as follows.
22:27A, its teachings on the veneration of the three jewels,
22:31sorted by, B, the depth of the teaching in relation
22:34to spiritual faculties, and, C, it's
22:37drawn from all the scriptures.
22:39And the second text will be parsed as follows.
22:42So, A, it's all of the teachings on the topic of the rise
22:45and fall of sentient beings in the fall of the Buddha Dharma,
22:48sorted by depth in relation to spiritual faculties.
22:50This is a common theme, obviously.
22:52And then it is drawn from, C, all of the scriptures.
22:57So just to be clear, there's no extent passage
23:00in a medieval Chinese source that
23:02explains the names of Xinxing's texts
23:04using the system outlined above.
23:06It should be seen, therefore, as a working hypothesis rather than
23:10a definitive explanation.
23:11However, if we assume that the system governs
23:13the titles of many of Xinxing's works,
23:15then their length, their repetitive elements,
23:18and their difficult compounds become much more sensible.
23:22The inelegant features of the titles
23:23are sacrifices to Xinxing's attempt
23:25to fit a large amount of highly specific information
23:28into a single nominal compound.
23:32And so, just for the record, it's
23:34not just modern scholars who find these titles
23:37difficult to interpret.
23:38There are a series of comments in Japanese polemical works
23:44related to the Three Levels in which the authors say
23:49Xinxing's works are very influential,
23:50but they're extremely difficult to understand,
23:52and we don't know how to interpret their titles.
23:57So basically, these titles reflect
24:03Xinxing's grander project.
24:06We have an invariant system of naming
24:09with the topic and intended audience and the source texts.
24:13And this system announces Xinxing's goal
24:17of sorting and reorganizing pre-existing scriptural
24:19material.
24:20Fundamentally, he's taking fundamentally
24:24extant texts with this kind of title
24:26appear to be a structured index to the received Buddhist canon.
24:30This explains some of the text's unusual qualities,
24:33such as their numerous scriptural citations.
24:35After all, the text's ultimate purpose
24:37is to point the reader toward a particular scriptural passage.
24:41And so if you end up reading through these texts, which
24:43again, are like branching lists, if you follow any given
24:48branching list to its lowest level,
24:50you will invariably find either a black quotation of scripture,
24:54a paraphrase, or a citation.
24:57The texts lack of explicit argumentative narrative
25:00or polemical elements also becomes much easier
25:02to understand.
25:04So these are basically elaborate indices.
25:06Their agenda and their interpretive choices
25:08are almost entirely implicit, concealed
25:10in the wording of Xinxing's headings
25:12and in the architecture of his branching lists.
25:15So although scholars have long been aware
25:17that Xinxing attempted to and reorganize scripture,
25:20the rationale behind his categorizations
25:22has remained quite opaque.
25:24However, one of the texts that was
25:26carved at this cave site, Jinchuanwan,
25:29contains extensive interludes in which Xinxing
25:31discusses this exact problem.
25:34So Xinxing's explanation of his hermeneutics
25:36is illuminating and provocative.
25:37And it gives insight into his own understanding
25:39of these activities.
25:43So, in a lengthy introduction to one
25:45of the sections of Bodhi matched to faculties at Jinchuanwan,
25:49Xinxing explains his methodology as follows.
25:52"In the scriptures, whenever it explains something
25:54through a contrast between shallow and profound,
25:57this serves to elucidate shallow and profound principles
26:00as related to higher or lower.
26:02How so?
26:03Sometimes it elucidates higher and lower
26:05in terms of time period.
26:07A good time period is higher, and a baleful time period
26:10is lower.
26:11A good time period is when the Buddha resides in the world,
26:13and a baleful time period is after the Buddha
26:15has passed away.
26:17Sometimes it elucidates higher and lower
26:19in terms of world system.
26:20Pure land is higher, and a defiled land is lower.
26:23Sometimes it elucidates higher and lower in terms of people
26:26and so on and so forth."
26:29So in this passage, Xinxing is giving
26:30a list of paired characteristics or keywords.
26:33He holds that these features indicate
26:35the relative sophistication of a passage of Buddhist
26:38scripture, which in turn reveals the intended audience.
26:41For example, if we consider a passage in which someone
26:43preaches only to buddhas and bodhisattvas,
26:45then by Xinxing's logic, this marks the passage as profound.
26:49This means it contains a higher teaching appropriate only
26:52to higher practitioners, say, somebody of the first level as
26:55opposed to the third level.
26:57A passage that is set in assembly
26:58where worldlings are also present,
27:01so like people who aren't bodhisattvas,
27:05this would be shallow.
27:07It contains a lower teaching, and it
27:08is safe for the perusal of less sophisticated practitioners.
27:12So for Xinxing, passages of Buddhist scripture
27:14contain clues to their own classification.
27:17Such clues come in the form of the setting, the sequence,
27:20or the use of keywords like later
27:21or transmundane by the speaker.
27:24If you can spot one of these key identifying features,
27:26then you can understand the intended audience
27:28of the passage.
27:31Xinxing explains the step by step application
27:34of this principle in each main part
27:35of the fourth section of Bodhi match
27:37to faculties at Jinchuanwan.
27:39So here, Xinxing explains how he knows
27:41that a particular passage of the Vimalakirti Sutra
27:44is meant for beings of lower faculties.
27:46The passage in question is Vimalakirti elucidation
27:49of eight practices that ensure bodhisattvas will
27:51achieve rebirth in a pure land.
27:54Vimalakirti is here giving a lesson in response to a question
27:58about how the bodhisattvas of the saha world sphere--
28:01that's our world system--
28:04might achieve a better rebirth.
28:06In the (INAUDIBLE) purity sutra, the saha world system
28:10is explicitly referred to as a defiled land.
28:13So we elucidate here the teachings
28:16on the bodhisattva practices undertaken by the bodhisattva
28:18of lower faculties.
28:20As the Vimalakirti Sutra explains, "How?
28:23In the contrasting terms pure and defiled,
28:26the pure land is higher, and the defiled land is lower.
28:29When someone in scripture inquires about bodhisattva
28:32practices aimed at bodhisattvas of a pure land,
28:34we know clearly that those for whom they are intended
28:36are higher people.
28:38And when someone in scripture inquires about bodhisattva
28:40practices aimed at bodhisattva's of a defiled land,
28:43we know clearly that those for whom they are intended
28:46are lower people.
28:47We know, therefore, that the following teaching from
28:49the Vimalakirti Sutra is preached for the sake
28:52of bodhisattva of lower faculties."
28:54So as we can see, Xinxing is methodical.
28:58He reminds us that the defiled land
29:00carries the valence of lower while pure land is
29:03equivalent to higher.
29:04He further specifies how these terms
29:06function in the scriptural passages
29:08where they might appear.
29:09"A given teaching might be intended for bodhisattvas
29:11of a pure land, and then such a teaching would be considered
29:15higher and consequently is intended for higher people."
29:18Xinxing concludes that, "Since the following passage
29:21of the society is intended for bodhisattvas of a defiled land,
29:25it is a lower teaching intended for bodhisattvas of lower
29:28faculties, which would be members of the third level."
29:33Xinxing inserts similar justifications
29:35throughout section four of Bodhi match to faculties.
29:39Now, even when Xinxing shin doesn't "show"
29:41his work like he does in that passage,
29:43even when he doesn't do that, it is clear that his interpretive
29:46technique is operating in the background of many of his
29:48writings.
29:49For example, we can glimpse Xinxing silently
29:52applying his methodology in the very first section
29:54of the text called Excerpts From the munster section.
29:57This also appears at Jinchuanwan.
30:00And this text is an anthology of passages
30:03from the well-known munster scripture or scripture
30:05of Chandra Garbha.
30:06The first section of Xinxing anthology reads in its entirety.
30:11One, "The time period for making offerings to the three
30:14jewels above our human words.
30:16Below is scriptural text."
30:17So he's indicating that above is his own comment
30:20and below is a citation.
30:21So then he writes a scriptural citation.
30:24"If there are beings who in the present age or in ages to come."
30:27So that's the entire passage from Xinxing's his text.
30:31There's a period at the end, and that's the end of that entry.
30:34So at first glance, this short snippet of the munster section
30:38may not seem like it warrants a section all its own
30:40in his excerpts, his anthology from this text.
30:45In fact, however, it provides Xinxing with the justification
30:47for everything that follows because it consists
30:49of the first clause of a long statement
30:51by the Buddha in which he describes the rewards bestowed
30:54on those who provide particular forms of support
30:56to the Buddhist order in the future, in age to come.
31:03So the Buddha's specification of the period
31:07to which the statement applies is fundamental for Xinxing.
31:10When the Buddha says or in the future,
31:12Xinxing almost certainly reads him
31:14as meaning in a baleful time period.
31:16So that's his own time period.
31:19And for Xinxing, this phrase is like a beacon flashing
31:22across 10 centuries from the Buddhist time to his own saying,
31:26the following is meant for beings of lower faculties,
31:28for beings of the third level.
31:29And the subsequent sections of the excerpts
31:31are safe to study and practice only because they receive
31:34the imprimatur of these four words,
31:38so the four words in the future.
31:40So, in Xinxing's view, the presence
31:42of such a signal in a passage is not
31:44an accident of its production or transmission,
31:46but rather a deliberate insertion by the Buddha himself,
31:49with full awareness of its crucial role
31:50in unlocking the passage's meaning for future students.
31:53To come upon such a feature in a Buddhist text
31:55is to encounter the compassionate forethought
31:57of the omniscient mind of the ancient sage.
32:00Xinxing seems fully aware of the religious appeal
32:03of this possibility.
32:04For example, in discussing the application of methodology
32:08to a passage of the Lotus Sutra, Xinxing
32:12points out that the chapter in the Lotus Sutra
32:14begins with manjushri asking how sentient beings in future ages
32:18should preach the Dharma.
32:20For Xinxing, this reference to the era after the Buddha's
32:22parinirvana is a tag, placed there
32:25by the Buddha's careful design and it removes any doubt
32:28that the intended audience is indeed
32:31the benighted bodhisattva of lower faculties
32:33or the member of the third level.
32:35So, he writes, "One must absolutely
32:37grasp the intent of these passages of scripture.
32:40At the beginning of each of the practices, it says,
32:42after the thus come, one has passed away during a baleful
32:45age."
32:45Why does it say that?
32:47"Thee thus come one understood very clearly that
32:49in the age of the declining Dharma,
32:51with regard to practicing the Buddha Dharma,
32:53preserving the Buddha Dharma, or destroying the Buddha Dharma,
32:55the Dharma master is supreme most time without equal.
32:59Thus, very meticulously and very carefully,
33:02in each and every one of these passages,
33:05the Buddha always says, after I pass away,
33:07one should preach the Dharma in such and such a way."
33:10So we should note here Xinxing's tone of pious reverence.
33:16If you pick up on the clues after all,
33:18you personally commune with the compassionate Tathagata.
33:22It also amounts to accomplishing the fundamental task
33:24of the Buddhist exegete, which is to understand the Buddha's
33:27intent.
33:28So in Xinxing's eyes, he has cracked the code of scripture.
33:31And by doing so, he has effectively
33:33restored our long broken link to the Buddha.
33:36Now, interestingly, Xinxing gives no indication
33:38that finding these clues might itself be difficult
33:41or that the results of the methodology
33:42might be contradictory or fallible.
33:44He seems to assume that once he is armed
33:47with his list of key features, the process of identifying them
33:50will be straightforward, and the Buddhist canon
33:53will yield its secrets.
33:55But as any competent exegete would point out,
33:59this method is pretty subjective.
34:01What counts as a clue?
34:02What counts as a passage?
34:04If we come across one of Xinxing's key features
34:06in a scripture, how much of what follows actually
34:08falls into its scope.
34:10So Xinxing might address these issues
34:13in other non-extant writings.
34:15But we don't have those writings,
34:17and it's not clear he ever wrote them.
34:19And these problems appear to leave
34:22him quite vulnerable to charges of arbitrary or self-interested
34:25interpretation of scripture.
34:29So given that we already know places in the excerpts
34:31from the münster section where Xinxing seems
34:33to overread or overinterpret his source material,
34:36it would not be surprising if his stated methods
34:38made his contemporaries uneasy.
34:41And indeed, a brief survey of extant polemics against Xinxing
34:44and his followers suggests that Xinxing's standards
34:47of interpretation were indeed at the heart of the controversy
34:49surrounding him.
34:51Critiques of Xinxing are generally vague,
34:53and none explicitly mentions the methodology he outlines
34:56in the text that I've surveyed.
34:58Almost all, however, hone in on Xinxing's interpretation
35:01for his xian.
35:03Xinxing's vehement seventh century critique,
35:07the Pure Land extradete, Huaigan, for example,
35:09accuses him of distorting the words of the Buddha,
35:11writing, "Xinxing's works are simply
35:13immortal's interpretations of the words of the Buddha.
35:16They are not the teaching of the great sage.
35:19Xinxing introduces his own agenda when explaining
35:21scripture, and it does not accord with the sage's purport."
35:25By far, the most extensive record of such criticisms,
35:27however, is actually in a polemical work
35:31written by the Three Levels, defending itself
35:33against criticisms in the mid seventh century.
35:37So this work is called the Treatise
35:40on Investigating Falsehoods and Resolving Delusions.
35:42It comes from Dunhuang, one of our most important
35:44Dunhuang Three Levels findings.
35:47And in this treatise, an unnamed interlocutor
35:52keeps levying charges very similar to those of Huayan.
35:55So here, the interlocutor criticizes
35:57Xinxing's overinterpretation of scripture.
35:59He says, "The Chan master Xinxing, sling and deceptive,
36:03interpolated his own intention and said,
36:05preach the Dharma for people by means
36:07of the teaching of the three vehicles.
36:09He intended thereby to obstruct people of keen faculties
36:11and prevent them from preaching the Dharma."
36:15He goes on to directly criticize Xinxing's practice of compiling
36:18scriptural passages.
36:19"Although the Three Levels collected the scriptures
36:21of the Buddha, still because of their worldling delusions,
36:24they didn't fathom the mind of the sage.
36:26Instead, they collected the scriptures by their own lights.
36:29How could they have avoided errors"?
36:32And then finally, we have a very important passage
36:34that starkly reveals Xinxing's opponents
36:36distaste for his reorganization of scripture.
36:40So here we have a misgiving or a criticism.
36:42it says, "The Nirvana Sutra, says
36:44evil bhikshus will abbreviate this scripture
36:47and divide it into many parts.
36:49They will even place the upper part
36:50in the middle and the middle part
36:52earlier or later, thereby destroying
36:54the true Dharmas form, fragrance, and fine flavor.
36:56They will extinguish the profound and secret core
36:59meanings of the thus come one.
37:01They are associates of Maura, not disciples of the Buddha.
37:04They say that what is not the meaning is the meaning
37:07and that what is the meaning is not the meaning.
37:10Can't get more wrong than that.
37:11So it is clear that the thus come
37:13one did not permit the disordered compilation
37:15of the sagely teaching for the purpose of forming
37:18a separate section of the canon.
37:20Since Dhyana master Xinxing transgressed this teaching,
37:23how could we not give rise to misgivings"?
37:26And so while Xinxing thought that his sorting technique
37:29unlocked the hidden meaning of the scriptures,
37:31and it sanctioned his reorganization of the Buddhist
37:33teachings, it seems to have failed
37:35to convince his more skeptical contemporaries.
37:37For these opponents Xinxing's entire project
37:39reeked of the deeds of Maura.
37:42So then, what is the response of the Three Levels
37:46to this sort of criticism?
37:50So if we just continue reading through this treatise
37:53from Dunhuang where the Three Levels is trying
37:55to defend itself, we find the most immediate way
37:59for the pro-Three Levels author of this treatise
38:01to defend Xinxing is to defend Xinxing's
38:05interpretive methodology.
38:08However, he declines to do that, and instead he
38:11writes that Xinxing has done nothing that other Buddhist
38:13commentators do not.
38:15So this is an interesting rhetorical move.
38:18He writes, "Whether you're a sage or a worldling
38:21one with goodness or one with evil,
38:23there is none who does not extract
38:24passages to produce treatises.
38:26Understanding the scripture by pushing their own meaning,
38:29whether abridging a large division of the canon
38:31in order to practice a portion or extracting a small fascicle
38:35to use it separately, people separate
38:37and bring together chapters and sections,
38:39reversing what comes later and what comes first.
38:41Generation after generation produces forced interpretations.
38:45As for the creations of humans, their biographies are manifold,
38:48and their commentaries number a myriad fascicles.
38:52Judgments are disordered, incorrect,
38:54and correct in a jumble.
38:56The situation confuses sage and worldling, disorders
38:59superior and inferior, and takes the sickness for the treatment.
39:02Water has been added, so it's 8 parts in 10,
39:04and the taste of milk is entirely absent."
39:07So this is a stunning line of defense, in my opinion.
39:11The author suggests that if we take the Nirvana
39:13Sutra seriously, then all Buddhist exegetes are
39:16guilty of abusing scripture.
39:18The author does not take this as an indication
39:20that this passage of the Nirvana Sutra
39:22is mistaken or misinterpreted as we might expect,
39:25but rather, he says that the current condition
39:27of Buddhist scriptures is almost irretrievably disordered.
39:31And on a mournful note, he ends his rebuttal
39:33by referring back to the same passage of the Nirvana Sutra
39:36that was cited by the interlocutor.
39:38And in part of that passage, the Buddha
39:40compares the disordered transmission of Buddhist
39:42scripture to the progressive dilution of a jar of milk
39:45as it passes from the milkmaid to market.
39:48So everybody's diluting it with water
39:49so they can have more milk to sell.
39:53And as each middleman dilutes it with water
39:55until finally the liquid being sold is barely milk at all,
40:00so, too, we have a situation where Buddhists
40:03are in possession of scriptures that are almost entirely lacking
40:06in the true Dharma.
40:07They're a glass of milk that has no milky flavor.
40:11And the author suggests that the state of Buddhist
40:14literature already so poor, Xinxing could hardly
40:16have made things worse.
40:18That's a great defense.
40:20Indeed, the author remarks, "Scriptures and commentaries
40:22contradict themselves.
40:23So how could Chan master Xinxing have contradicted them?
40:27In this dire circumstance, extracting the true Dharma
40:30from the morass of Buddhist scriptures seems impossible.
40:34Unless that is interpreted, the interpreter possesses some sort
40:38of supernormal power of discernment."
40:42And so it turns out that this is precisely the role
40:45that later Three Levels followers ascribe
40:47to their founder Xinxing.
40:49So the author of the treatise alludes
40:51to Xinxing's exalted status throughout his text.
40:53He says from birth, Chan master Xinxing
40:56understood the meaning of the teachings.
40:57Without relying on commentaries, he perused the scriptures
41:00and understood them on his own.
41:03But Xinxing is more than just clever.
41:05The author of the treatise considered Xinxing as something
41:07called the bodhisattva of the four reliances.
41:09This is a figure mentioned in the Nirvana Sutra, who
41:13is capable of restoring the Buddhas true Dharma when it
41:15is in danger of disappearing.
41:17So typically, Chinese Buddhists identified this figure
41:21with Nagarjuna, but the Three Levels
41:24thought that the Bodhisattva, the four reliances, was Xinxing.
41:28So the author of this text alludes to Xinxing's obliquely
41:32by connecting Xinxing to this prophetic passage in the Nirvana
41:35Sutra.
41:36Moreover, the Nirvana Sutra says, "When the true Dharma has
41:38disappeared, a single person--
41:40that's the bodhisattva of the four reliances--
41:43who can restore the true Dharma will appear."
41:45Eventually explains that a bodhisattva like Xinxing
41:48has decisive authority in the interpretation of scripture.
41:52So he says, "The Buddha I of the bodhisattva
41:54of the four reliances parts of the clouds with a single glance.
41:58Thus the bodhisattva took this scripture, The Nirvana Sutra,
42:00to be that which analyzes, and he took all other scriptures
42:04as those which are analyzed.
42:06Thereupon, he brought together groups of scripture by category,
42:09assessing their meanings to perfect their intent."
42:12Thus, the Nirvana Sutra says, "This person will understand
42:16the recondite words of the one and even be able to expound
42:19them."
42:20It also says, "Only bodhisattva will
42:22be able to grasp the true meaning in the scripture
42:24without clinging to the words in the text.
42:27And Xinxing is who this refers to."
42:30So in this understanding, Xinxing
42:32is functionally a Buddha.
42:33And his interpretations of scripture
42:34are tantamount to buddhavacana, the words of the Buddha.
42:39So by looking at the ways in which
42:41Xinxing status of the bodhisattva
42:43are discussed and defended in this Dunhuang document,
42:46the treatise on resolving doubts,
42:48by doing that, we can get a sense of just
42:50how central Xinxing has bodhisattva
42:52had become to at least some Three Levels adherence
42:54during the later time.
42:56An important section of the treatise
42:58explains how one might verify that Xinxing was a bodhisattva,
43:01the four reliances.
43:02At several points, the author of the treatise
43:04responds to his interlocutors critiques
43:06by simply urging him to have faith in Xinxing.
43:09He suggests that the interlocutors lack of faith
43:11is a sign of his bad intentions.
43:13So he writes, "The person of luminous faith
43:15has faith even when evidence is lacking.
43:18The fellow of darkling slander does not have faith even when
43:22evidence is sufficient."
43:24He also places faith at the foundation of Buddhist practice.
43:27He writes, "If you sought even the small path of the worldly,
43:30you could not travel it without faith.
43:32How much less could one with a slanderous mouth
43:35as yet unsealed?
43:36That would be you, the critic.
43:38How could you enter the great matter
43:39that is the Buddha Dharma?
43:41And when the interlocutor seeks more information
43:43about Xinxing status as a bodhisattva,
43:46the author lavishes him with praise, saying, excellent,
43:49that you would so quickly raise such a question.
43:51If you wish to pursue a proper understanding,
43:53you should ask such a question."
43:55These rhetorical moves suggest that later Three Levels
43:57followers, when they identified Xinxing
44:01as a bodhisattva, the four reliances,
44:03it was more than a simple case of talking up
44:05the founder, which is very common, of course,
44:07in all Buddhist traditions.
44:08This was in fact crucial to their defense
44:10of Xinxing's teachings as part of the legitimate Buddhist
44:13tradition.
44:15Many medieval Buddhists made exalted claims
44:18about the spiritual attainments of their teachers,
44:20and the adherents of the Three Levels
44:21were not the first Chinese Buddhists
44:22to identify their preferred teacher
44:24exegete with the specific figure of the bodhisattva, the four
44:27reliances.
44:28However, the author of the treatise
44:30is possibly among the first to make this point central
44:32to their entire tradition's claim to authority.
44:35Given the nature of the critique advanced by the opponents
44:38of the Three Levels--
44:39and that critique, of course, is that Xinxing
44:41mangled the scripture to make it say what he wanted.
44:43And in so doing, he destroyed the true Dharma.
44:47Given that critique, it's a strong possibility
44:49that the extraordinary claims we find in this Dunhuang document
44:54about Xinxing's status, in fact grow out of the Three Levels
44:57anxieties about Xinxing's method of interpreting scripture.
45:03So in my foregoing remarks, I have used recently
45:07discovered Three Levels documents, mostly originating
45:10in Dunhuang, to outline what I consider
45:13to be the most distinctive feature of Three Levels thought,
45:15namely, the project of reorganizing the Buddhist
45:17scripture so that it accords with the degraded spiritual
45:20faculties of Xinxing's contemporaries,
45:23followed by the defense of that project
45:25by claiming that the founder of the Three Levels
45:27was a bodhisattva.
45:29So as we have seen, Xinxing's primary activity
45:32was creating anthologies of scriptural passages
45:36that are safe for particular Three Levels adherents.
45:41And these anthologies outline the ideal Buddhist path
45:43for beings of the Three Levels.
45:45This project proved to be intensely controversial
45:48and served as the primary point of attack
45:50for all of the Three Levels major Buddhist critics.
45:52So in concluding, I would like to turn briefly
45:54to a cluster of problems related to the disappearance
45:57of the Three Levels.
45:59So these problems, in brief, are as follows--
46:02why was the Three Levels Movement
46:04controversial from a Buddhist perspective?
46:06And we've already discussed that.
46:10Why was the Three Levels Movement
46:11controversial from a political perspective?
46:15What is the relationship between political and religious pressure
46:18in the end of the three levels tradition?
46:20And then lastly, why do Three Levels texts
46:22survive at manuscript caches in Dunhuang
46:25and in Japanese monasteries despite the fact
46:27that these caches were all sealed long
46:29after the purported proscription of the Three Levels Movement?
46:33So I've already addressed question one at some length,
46:35but I'm now going to consider the second question,
46:38why was the Three Levels Movement
46:39controversial from a political perspective?
46:41So first, to set the stage, we need
46:47to consider the evidence that the Three Levels was politically
46:52controversial at all.
46:53And we have substantial evidence of that, namely, a series
46:57of hostile edicts as well as the eventual classification
47:00of Three Levels writings as counterfeit scriptures
47:02in most of the influential Tang era scriptural catalogs.
47:07So the salient edicts are as follows--
47:10various catalogs report that in the year 600,
47:13in the waning years of the first sway emperor,
47:16an edict prohibited these texts and did not
47:18allow their circulation.
47:20So that's the first proscription in 600 CE.
47:22Next, some catalogs preserve two edicts
47:30from the reign of the Empress Wu Zetian, the Zhou Dynasty,
47:34so-called.
47:36So we note our receipt of the graces order
47:38of the first year of Shengyuan that counterfeit scriptures
47:41and miscellaneous talismans be identified and sent
47:44to the bureau of sacrifices for keeping.
47:46The teachings in the items above are
47:48contrary to the Buddha's intent, and their particularities
47:51constitute a heresy.
47:52Thus, they fall within the bounds
47:54of counterfeits and miscellaneous talismans.
47:58Further, based on the order of the second year of Shenglei,
48:01for those who study the Three Levels only begging for food,
48:04holding fast, abstaining from grains, upholding the precepts,
48:07and sitting in Dhyana are permitted,
48:09and all other practices are contrary to the Dharma.
48:12Fortunately, we have received a clear order
48:14to rectify past mistakes.
48:15And we dare not mistakenly compile these Three Levels texts
48:18into our catalog.
48:19We further agree to excise those already
48:21in the catalog as a message to future compilers.
48:26And finally, there is one edict from the reign of the Emperor
48:29Xuanzong in the early eighth century, stating,
48:32"The sun that is the sage, that would be the emperor,
48:34beautifies the heavens.
48:36There is no gloom.
48:36It does not dispel.
48:38Knowing that the Three Levels is contrary to the true
48:41and connives the false, their suppression has been
48:44instituted."
48:44On the third day of the sixth month of the 13th year
48:47of Kaiyuan, Three Levels cloisters and all temples were
48:51ordered to remove their barriers so that they would be
48:54in communion with the main cloister so that they would live
48:58in the monastic assembly and so that they would not be allowed
49:01to dwell apart.
49:03He collected works being circulated
49:04are all prohibited and should be destroyed.
49:07If a monastic controller gives license to these practices
49:09or entices people towards them, then the recalcitrant
49:12will be ordered back to lay life.
49:14And then finally, Buddhist catalogs
49:16compiled under the reigns of both Wu Zetian
49:18and Xuanzong clearly classify Xinxing's writings
49:21as counterfeit scriptures.
49:24So there are several problems involved
49:26in assessing the intent and the impact of these edicts.
49:29The first is whether they are religiously or politically
49:32motivated.
49:33All of these edicts give religious justifications
49:36for the persecution.
49:37Xinxing's writings undermine the unity of the Sangha,
49:40and they promote heretical doctrines.
49:42However, there is ample evidence that
49:44these religious justifications conceal
49:46purely political motives.
49:48So first, the Three Levels was the object
49:50of political patronage as well as persecution.
49:53Ministers and aristocrats at the highest levels of the Sui
49:56and Tang regimes patronized Three Levels monks
49:58at various points.
50:00Moreover, many Buddhist writers speak highly of Xinxing,
50:03so he was not unanimously considered
50:05a threat to Buddhist unity.
50:07In the background of all these edicts,
50:08however, our political controversies and court faction
50:11disputes.
50:13So the Sui edict of 600 was issued shortly
50:16after the Three Levels primary benefactor, who
50:19was a minister named Gao Jiong, after this minister,
50:22had been exiled from court for opposing
50:24the promotion of the future Emperor, Sui Yangdi,
50:27to the status of heir apparent.
50:29So there's a big court controversy behind that edict,
50:34in all likelihood.
50:35The hostile edicts of Wu Zetian come
50:37in the wake of a failed rebellion against the empress
50:39by the Tang prince Li Xian.
50:41Now, this prince, as it turns out,
50:45was a noted patron of the Three Levels.
50:47And he composed a famous memorial stele
50:49for the founder, Xinxing.
50:51And then finally, the Kaiyuan Suppression--
50:53that's the emperor Xuanzong in the early eighth century--
50:57this seems to be related to a failed attempt
50:59to poison the emperor.
51:00The clique of ministers blamed for spearheading this coup
51:03attempt were also noted patrons of the Three Levels.
51:06So in light of this political history, our question
51:08should not be why was the Three Levels Movement suppressed
51:12so many times, but rather, why were they
51:14so consistently ill-fated in their political patrons?
51:17It seems like they could not find
51:19a patron who didn't end up being a rebel or a attempted coup
51:24leader.
51:24So I would propose that the Three Levels monks were targeted
51:27more for these political affiliations than
51:29for their religious doctrines.
51:31However, the fact that their religious texts and practices
51:34marked them as distinctive also made them easy
51:37targets for persecution.
51:38Three Levels adherents were easy to scapegoat
51:41because they were easily separated
51:42from their co-religionists.
51:45So our discussion of these hostile edicts
51:48leads us to the question of their impact.
51:50Despite being the target of unparalleled vitriol
51:53from the imperial authorities and their co-religionists,
51:55the Three Levels appears to have prospered
51:57at the very centers of power until the very end of the Tang
52:00Dynasty in the late ninth century.
52:04Funerary epitaphs mentioning Three Levels practitioners
52:06survive from the early ninth century.
52:09Polemical works dating to the late ninth century
52:11also feel constrained to attack Three Levels
52:13ideas, which is evidence of their enduring
52:16influence at least.
52:17And then most importantly, the proscription
52:19of Three Levels texts that was initiated
52:21in the early eighth century by Emperor Xuanzong
52:24appears to have been reversed by his great grandson, the Emperor
52:27Daizong.
52:28So the original version of a catalog
52:32called the Zhenyuan era catalog, compiled
52:34under the auspices of Daizong, includes Three Levels texts
52:38in the non-apocryphal section of the canon.
52:41And it explicitly notes that this shift
52:44was made at imperial behest.
52:46So it would appear that the Three Levels
52:48movement, while often knocked down, always got back up again.
52:51It is only after the catastrophic rebellions
52:53of the late ninth century these rebellions that actually
52:55ended the whole Tang Dynasty.
52:57Only after these rebellions that are evidence for Three Levels
53:01activity truly disappears.
53:03So why then did transmission of Three Levels texts cease?
53:06Why, if you look in a copy of today's Chinese canon,
53:09will you not find a single text written by Xinxing or his Three
53:12Levels followers?
53:13The answer appears to be basically
53:15bibliographical in nature.
53:17As it turns out, when the Song Dynasty undertook
53:19the project of creating and distributing a printed Buddhist
53:22canon, they based their canon on the influential Kaiyuan era
53:25scriptural catalog.
53:26We've already mentioned this.
53:27This is the catalog compiled under the auspices
53:30of the emperor Xuanzong, in which Three Levels of texts
53:33are prescribed.
53:34Had they based their project on the less influential
53:37genuine catalog, then Three Levels texts
53:39might very well be in the (INAUDIBLE) canon today.
53:42Indeed, this point of bibliographical happenstance
53:45accounts, in my opinion, for the presence of Three Levels texts
53:48in Japanese monastic libraries as opposed to
53:51in the current canon.
53:52So many Japanese monastic libraries
53:55are based on the original (INAUDIBLE) catalog,
53:57not on the Kaiyuan catalog.
54:01And then just to wrap up here, some
54:04remarks on Dunhuang-- so the presence of substantial numbers
54:07of Three Levels texts in the Dunhuang corpus
54:09lets us draw some interesting conclusions
54:11about the nature of Chinese imperial power during the time.
54:15The Dunhuang corpus was likely sealed off sometime in the 11th
54:17century.
54:19And this means that monastic libraries at Dunhuang
54:22held Three Levels documents for centuries despite their repeated
54:25proscription.
54:27So if the Buddhist community at Dunhuang
54:28had carried out imperial edicts to the letter,
54:30they would have destroyed their Three Levels holdings
54:33several times over.
54:35It seems, however, that the imperial prescriptions were not
54:37so strictly abided by, and the Dunhuang community's Three Level
54:40texts survived until the present day.
54:43I think we can infer from the case of Dunhuang,
54:45in conjunction with the evidence from Japanese monastic
54:47libraries, that Three Level texts probably
54:49survived in monastic libraries throughout East
54:52Asia for several centuries after their prescriptions.
54:56Consequently, their disappearance
54:57was not the result of active persecution
54:59so much as the result of a failure of transmission
55:02occasioned by their failure to be included
55:04in the Song woodblock canon and their gradual disappearance.
55:09So I'm going to end there.
55:11And I'd be happy to take some questions.
55:13Thank you very much.
55:17ROBERT H. SHARF: So thanks a lot, Max.
55:19That was great.
55:20Just a reminder to people in the audience,
55:23put your questions in the Q&A, and we can take them from there.
55:27And while we're waiting for questions, a quick--
55:32if I can just start, Max, do you want
55:34to say people have mentioned that the San Diego was
55:39influential in Pure Land, in the evolution of Pure Land Buddhism.
55:43Do you just want to make a few comments on that?
55:47MAX BRANDSTADT: Yeah.
55:48That's a great point.
55:51So some of the early Pure Land exegetes in the Tang,
55:56like Shandao and Daoxuan, are promoting
56:02the use of Nenbutsu or Nianfo as a practice
56:07for people of lower capacities.
56:10And oftentimes, scholars focus on the fact
56:16that they're choosing these particular practices.
56:19But perhaps it's not so remarked upon that their justification is
56:26in terms of this concept of spiritual faculties.
56:30And they consistently use this terminology as well of
56:33guan or gunji, which is the same terminology that the Three
56:37Levels is using.
56:39So there's a slight divergence between Pure Land theology
56:42or buddhology and Three Levels buddhology in the sense
56:45that the early Pure Land patriarchs are constantly
56:50talking about finding the easy path whereas the Three Levels
56:57never talks about an easy path.
56:59And in fact, the practices that they promote
57:01are not very easy at all.
57:03They involve things like the duty practices,
57:07like begging for alms, or sitting in graveyards, or really
57:12extensive repentance rituals.
57:16But they're justifying all those practices in relation
57:19to the degradation of the spiritual faculties
57:23of their practitioners.
57:26So in that regard, they overlap a lot with the early Pure Land
57:31patriarchs.
57:32And we constantly find reference to the Three Levels
57:35in Pure Land materials.
57:37So before the discoveries at Dunhuang,
57:39most of our sources for the Three Levels
57:41were actually Pure Land materials,
57:43Pure Land polemical materials attacking the Three Levels.
57:46So they clearly seem to have thought that they were competing
57:49for similar religious consumers, and they
57:53needed to attack each other.
57:56ROBERT H. SHARF: Thank you.
57:57So we have a question here from Fadi Devries.
58:00Thanks for this presentation.
58:02This was very helpful.
58:03Could you speak to your sense of the social organization
58:06of the Sanjie jao?
58:08In what sense was it a movement with "adherent," in quotes?
58:13The edicts you cited depicted the movement
58:15as having its own institutional presence,
58:18for example, its own temples.
58:19That seems very different from what else
58:22we know of Tang Buddhism.
58:24What's your sense of this?
58:26MAX BRANDSTADT: Yeah, thanks for that question,
58:28which is a good one.
58:29And so it is an important topic, I
58:36think, in the sociology of Chinese religions.
58:39Obviously, by the Song Dynasty, there's
58:42a strong lineage-based organization
58:47for Chinese Buddhists and a somewhat strong sectarian sense.
58:52And of course, when you get to Japan,
58:53there are literally Buddhist sects
58:58that are controlling territory and murdering each other.
59:01So there's an extremely strong sectarian identity.
59:05And it's long been a question where that comes from.
59:10Because early Chinese Buddhism, of course,
59:12is not sectarian at all.
59:13And the Three Levels, it's interesting
59:15because they appear to be the first group of Buddhists
59:21in China that have a sectarian consciousness.
59:24And that sectarian consciousness is--
59:26there's a couple pieces of evidence for that.
59:29So we do have a text from Dunhuang
59:32that is a Sanjiao, a Three Levels monastic manual
59:37for the organization of a monastery.
59:39So it's monastic regulations.
59:40Excuse me.
59:41And that text explicitly says that followers of the Three
59:47Levels should separate themselves
59:49from non-practitioners because it's inappropriate--
59:52just like it's inappropriate to mix the passages that you're
59:55reading of Buddhist scripture, it's
59:56inappropriate to mix with other groups who are practicing
1:00:00different teachings.
1:00:03And so that appears to have been--
1:00:08that injunction appears to have been
1:00:09acted upon because as it points out in the question,
1:00:14some of the edicts say that the Three Levels people need
1:00:18to rejoin the main monastery.
1:00:21So it appears that the Three Levels
1:00:24was setting up independent cloisters within monasteries.
1:00:28Of course, it appears to have been common
1:00:31that small lineage groups would have
1:00:33their own building in monasteries
1:00:36as early as the Tang.
1:00:38But these weren't groups with sectarian basis.
1:00:42It was more about a master disciple relationships.
1:00:46But the Three Levels, on a purely sectarian basis
1:00:49was setting up these independent cloisters.
1:00:52And that seems to have gotten them in some hot water.
1:00:55So the other part of the question--
1:01:01so in what sense was it a movement with adherents?
1:01:03It's an interesting problem to determine,
1:01:07like who is a member of the Three Levels
1:01:09because we're not finding like fossilized ID cards
1:01:12or anything that say, I was a member
1:01:13of the Three Levels Movement.
1:01:17So just to briefly address that, in general,
1:01:25when we were reading through biographical materials,
1:01:29if somebody says that they were a follower of Xinxing,
1:01:33or they studied Three Levels texts,
1:01:36then we are suspicious that they were
1:01:40a follower of the Three Levels.
1:01:41And there are occasionally funerary epitaphs in which
1:01:45someone is described explicitly as a Three Levels
1:01:48monk, Sanjay Tsang.
1:01:49So I'm not sure you can get more explicit than that.
1:01:53Obviously, we can always be suspicious.
1:01:56But I'm pretty comfortable assuming
1:01:59that, that is a card carrying member of the Sanjie jao.
1:02:04But just a note of caution about that, some scholars
1:02:10are interested in creating a basket of practices that
1:02:14are Sanjie jao practices and then ascribing membership
1:02:18in this organization based on the practices
1:02:20that particular monks are doing.
1:02:22So things like corpse exposure, this
1:02:24was a common practice among Sanjie jao members,
1:02:27where they would expose the corpse to animals and birds.
1:02:32And this was a way of cleaning the bones.
1:02:34And then the bones were entombed.
1:02:37And so, in my opinion, I think that that's
1:02:43become associated with the Sanjie jao
1:02:45in some modern scholarship.
1:02:47I actually think that may be incorrect.
1:02:49I think that was probably just a common Northern Chinese
1:02:54intense funerary practice.
1:02:56And because the Sanjie jao were generally
1:02:59Northern Chinese and intense practitioners of Buddhism,
1:03:02they also did that practice.
1:03:04But we can't say that if somebody does corpse exposure,
1:03:07they're a member of the Three Levels.
1:03:09There's a couple practices like that,
1:03:11but I won't go into too much depth.
1:03:14So thank you.
1:03:15ROBERT H. SHARF: Yeah.
1:03:16There's a question from Matthew Ong.
1:03:19He says, Why is level one the highest and three the lowest,
1:03:23like Japanese language exams?
1:03:26MAX BRANDSTADT: Matthew, thank you for your question.
1:03:28Yeah, the answer is that it's because the Three Levels is--
1:03:32they control the Japanese government.
1:03:33And so they chose what numbers to put where.
1:03:38No, of course, that's a joke.
1:03:40And yeah, good question.
1:03:44I don't know.
1:03:46ROBERT H. SHARF: So just to follow up on something
1:03:49you said earlier, so some people have suggested
1:03:52that it was the setting up of private cloisters that really
1:03:56raised the ire of the Sangha.
1:03:58But as I understand what you're saying, you say,
1:04:01well, they may have gotten them into trouble
1:04:06locally at different times, but it's really not
1:04:09responsible for the sense that they were a persecuted group.
1:04:20MAX BRANDSTADT: Yeah, I think it's--
1:04:23I mean, it is interesting that, that problem
1:04:26appears in these kind of oppressive edicts.
1:04:30So obviously, that was a justification occasionally
1:04:33for suppressing the group.
1:04:36And at this point, we're getting into speculative territory.
1:04:41So nothing I say is to--
1:04:43it's all tentative.
1:04:45But I mean, given the fact that it's not unheard of in Tang
1:04:52Buddhism for there to be cloisters of small groups
1:05:00of masters and disciples-- this wasn't a pure Three Levels
1:05:03innovation--
1:05:04I find it hard to believe that, that
1:05:06would be the sole reason that you would suppress this group.
1:05:10But I do think that it's interesting
1:05:15that the three levels seems to have tried to mark itself as
1:05:20separate from various groups.
1:05:27I mean, I'm guessing that, that made
1:05:28them easy to target in a persecution.
1:05:35Because we don't have a lot of anti-Buddhist--
1:05:42well, let me put it this way.
1:05:43There's not a lot of evidence from imperial edicts
1:05:48that the government was ever attacking specific groups
1:05:52or specific people.
1:05:54That's fairly rare.
1:05:55In fact, it's almost unique to the Three Levels.
1:05:59There's a few things related to, like Shenhui,
1:06:02the early Chan leader.
1:06:04But in terms of suppressing a subsegment of the Buddhist
1:06:09population, it's basically just the Three Levels that
1:06:12gets this sort of treatment.
1:06:14And so otherwise, if the government
1:06:19wants to attack Buddhism, it attacks all of Buddhism.
1:06:22It prescribes the entire religion,
1:06:24as we see during the Northern Zhou prescription
1:06:27and during the so-called Huichang Suppression
1:06:30during the late Tang.
1:06:33So I would guess that there's a simple problem of how
1:06:37do you identify the group that you want to suppress.
1:06:41The only group of Buddhists that was making themselves
1:06:43easy to identify as a group during this period
1:06:46were the Sanjie jao.
1:06:47And that's why they came in for this sort of treatment.
1:06:50Thanks.
1:06:50ROBERT H. SHARF: Yeah.
1:06:51So there's a few more questions here.
1:06:54I understand that the concept of the mofa
1:06:57is integral to the Three Levels tradition.
1:07:00Is there any indication that they're
1:07:02foregrounding this doctrine could also
1:07:04be a causal condition for them being persecuted or banned
1:07:08by the authorities?
1:07:10MAX BRANDSTADT: So that's a great question.
1:07:12And that idea that this is one of the causes
1:07:17for the persecution appears in a lot of early scholars writings
1:07:24on the Sanjie jao.
1:07:26So, for example, if you read Kenneth Chen's famous book
1:07:30on Buddhism in China, this is the reason
1:07:34that he gives for the persecution of the Sanjie jao.
1:07:38And personally, I'm not really convinced of that.
1:07:42And I think many of the other scholars I've
1:07:45talked to who have done recent work on the Sanjie jao,
1:07:48people like Jamie Hubbard or Nishimoto Teruma, also
1:07:52find that somewhat dubious.
1:07:53Just because if you wanted to persecute someone
1:07:57for promoting this idea of mofa, the decline of the Dharma,
1:08:04then if you were a seventh century Buddhist,
1:08:09you would be persecuted.
1:08:10In the seventh century, everybody was into this idea.
1:08:14So there's nothing unique about the Three Levels Movement's
1:08:18embrace of the concept of mofa that
1:08:20would have made them particularly
1:08:23detestable to the imperial regime, in my opinion.
1:08:29Yeah.
1:08:30ROBERT H. SHARF: There's another question.
1:08:32Did the idea of recognizing one's evil nature,
1:08:35which is definitely in Shinran's thought,
1:08:37appear in early Pure Land writings?
1:08:41MAX BRANDSTADT: So that's a great question.
1:08:43And unfortunately, I-- that's a really good question
1:08:48that I'm going to write down and investigate.
1:08:50I don't know the answer to that.
1:08:53But it would be useful to know.
1:08:55So I don't know if the questioner could
1:09:00write the Kanji or the Chinese characters
1:09:04for how does Shinran phrase recognizing one's evil nature?
1:09:08I would love to know.
1:09:11ROBERT H. SHARF: So another early theory
1:09:14for the persecution had to do with this idea
1:09:16that Xinxing was really--
1:09:22he was becoming too big, too powerful,
1:09:25and he was too outrageous.
1:09:27Is there some sense?
1:09:29I mean, I get the feeling that that's not a theory that's
1:09:32in fashion anymore.
1:09:34But could you see him as a proto?
1:09:37For the kind of Chutzpah that later Chan masters are supposed
1:09:40to demonstrate, people like Shenhui,
1:09:41can you see Xinxing as an early model for that, in other words,
1:09:47saying that they and they alone have
1:09:49the key to the interpretation of the scriptures?
1:09:53MAX BRANDSTADT: Yeah, that's a great question.
1:09:55And first, let me say that there's problems interpreting
1:10:02the personality of any given historical figure
1:10:05from this period because the biographies are basically
1:10:08just hagiographies.
1:10:10So most of Xinxing's biography is just stock tropes
1:10:14that you find in other people's biographies as well.
1:10:19But the sense that I get from his writings
1:10:23and from the materials we do have
1:10:25is that Xinxing wasn't actually going
1:10:28around promoting himself like the Buddha incarnate
1:10:35or anything like that.
1:10:37He, in my opinion, he stumbled on a particular exegetical
1:10:44method and may not actually have thought it all the way through,
1:10:48the implications of what he was doing.
1:10:51Because in none of Xinxing's writings that are extant
1:10:55does he claim to be a bodhisattva
1:10:57or to have a particular ability to interpret scripture.
1:11:02He just says, oh, this is a good method.
1:11:04We should we should use this.
1:11:07The problem arises later when his teachings become extremely
1:11:11popular and all of a sudden his followers
1:11:13have to defend that exegetical method against other critics.
1:11:17And I actually think that the grandiose position that Xinxing
1:11:23comes to occupy in the Three Levels Movement
1:11:25actually is a posthumous thing.
1:11:28After he died, his followers are saddled
1:11:31with defending the system, and then they build him
1:11:34into this grand figure.
1:11:37And so to answer the question about the parallels
1:11:40with these kind of Chan masters, who are the Buddha
1:11:44has been brought down to Earth, and they are a living Buddha,
1:11:49I'm not sure that, that would have been operative
1:11:51in Xinxing's lifetime.
1:11:53But I think there's interesting parallels between the way
1:11:57that later Three Levels adherents approached scripture.
1:12:01Basically, they denigrated, actually,
1:12:05the authority of the received scriptures
1:12:08in favor of Xinxing's own interpretation,
1:12:13saying that this is a renewed transmission.
1:12:17I think there are parallels between that approach
1:12:19to scriptural authority and the approach of the later Chan
1:12:24tradition.
1:12:25So it's an intriguing path to follow up
1:12:29on whether there may have been some influence there.
1:12:35ROBERT H. SHARF: Are there any more questions?
1:12:39So if there are no more questions,
1:12:43I really want to thank Max for an extraordinarily
1:12:46rich and stimulating talk.
1:12:49I also want to thank Sandro and Frank and Sky
1:12:52from the Tang center who have put this webinar together
1:12:55and the clancys who made the fellowship available
1:12:58and everyone who took the time to join us today.
1:13:04So thank you very much.
1:13:06Thank you, Max.
1:13:07MAX BRANDSTADT: Thank you.
1:13:08[MUSIC PLAYING]

About this transcript

This page contains the full transcript of A Lost Buddhist Sect at Dunhuang | Max Brandstadt by Tang Center for Silk Road Studies, UC Berkeley, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 11,432 words across 1,586 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

What you can do with it

Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to choose a caption track available on the video.

Free YouTube transcript tool

YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, caption language selection, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.