동아시아 불교의 두 얼굴 - 다원주의와 본질주의의 공존

Pluralism and Essentialism in East-Asian Buddhism

  I have inquired about how the universal principle can be acquired, and what is the philosophical context of that in East-Asian Buddhism. The concepts of "nirv？？a’, ‘buddha-dh？tu’ and ‘Xing-qi (性起)" are thought to be a kind of fundamental essential principles in ontology, epistemology and the theory of values of East-Asian Buddhism. (1) The concept of "nirv？？a’ can be understood as the ultimate state that the transcendental reality or the absolute truth is fully realized, (2) that of ‘buddha-dh？tu’ as the universal and the origin of all beings, (3) and that of ‘Xing-qi(性起)", which is to confirm the actual truth by the dependent theory(Yuan-qi 緣起) of Chinese Buddhism, as the essential cause making it possible to actualize the ideal truth to the factual state. The advent of the absolute essentialism in East-Asian Buddhism made the pluralism retreated, but the original theory of Buddha combined with a new mode of Chinese essential thought.