Huaigan (; c. 7th century) was a Chinese Buddhist monk who was the leading student of the Pure Land patriarch Shandao (613–681) and a key systematizer of Chinese Pure land thought.Marchman, Kendall R. Huaigan and the Growth of Pure Land Buddhism During the Tang Era, Phd Diss. 2015. Huaigan's is a major work of Chinese Pure Land apologetics.
Huaigan's work remained influential on other Chinese figures like Yongming Yanshou and the Tiantai monk Zunshi (964-1032 C.E.).Marchman 2015, p. 143.Lopez, Donald (editor). Buddhism in Practice, pp. 274-275. Princeton Readings in Religions, Princeton University Press. Huaigan was also important to Japanese Pure Land authors like Genshin.Rhodes, Robert F. (2017). Genshin's Ōjōyōshū and the Construction of Pure Land Discourse in Heian Japan (Pure Land Buddhist Studies). University of Hawaii Press. p. 33. . The Japanese Pure Land teacher Hōnen designated Huaigan as the fourth patriarch of the Pure Land Buddhist Jōdo-shū tradition.Marchman 2015, pp. 15-16.
Life The details of Huaigan's life are not clear. The dates of his birth and death also not well known.Marchman 2015, pp. 87-88
The earliest source on his life is found in A Collection of Auspicious Responses to Birth in the Western Pure Land ( T 2070), which contains a short account of his training under Shandao. The text states that early in his monastic career, Huaigan practiced at Qianfu Temple () in Chang'an, studying the sutras.Marchman 2015, pp. 89-90 Later, he became a follower of Shandao, who encouraged him to devote himself to Pure Land meditation and to the recitation of Amitābha Buddha's name (nianfo).Marchman 2015, p. 18. Huaigan practiced intensely for three years and received a vision of the Buddha's golden light emanating from between his eyebrows. Huaigan spent most of his teaching career in Chang'an, the capital of the Tang empire. He was likely the abbot of Qianfu and Da’anguo monasteries.Marchman 2015, p. 131.
Huaigan's magnum opus and only surviving work is the extensive seven fascicle Treatise on Resolving Doubts About the Pure Land (), which is the longest and most comprehensive texts of early Chinese Pure Land.Liao Minghuo. "Huai Gan’s Treatise on Rebirth". Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 15, (2002) Taipei: The Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies According to Mengxian, the author of the preface to this work, Huaigan wrote it in order to defend Pure Land Buddhism from numerous critics who were slandering and attacking the tradition.Marchman 2015, p. 99 7th century Pure Land Buddhism was rapidly growing in popularity and this led to numerous critiques from various quarters, which in turn led to apologetic works like the .Marchman 2015, p. 132.
Huaigan passed away before fully completing the work, which was later finished by his friend and fellow Shandao disciple Huaiyun.Marchman 2015, p. 16. The text is organized in a question and answer format and answers one hundred and twenty one questions and critiques about Pure Land practice and theory, especially those which were commonly discussed by critics of Pure Land Buddhism.Marchman 2015, pp. 15-20, 127
Huaigan also may have worked on a collection of rebirth stories, the Wangsheng zhuan, as well as on some lost commentaries to the Pure Land sutras.Marchman 2015, p. 130.
According to Marchman, it is likely that Huaigan died sometime between 695 and 701.
Pure land thought Huaigan's thought closely follows that of his teacher Shandao, but he also expands on it, drawing on Chinese Buddhist philosophies to add "significant philosophical depth" to it.Jones (2019), p. 25. His is especially known for drawing on East Asian Yogācāra in his development of a comprehensive Pure Land philosophy.Marchman 2015, p. 21.
The is a comprehensive work which seeks to resolve various doubts about the Pure Land doctrine that had been raised by the masters of the She Lun, Three Levels sect (Sanjie jiao), and Yogācāra schools. Huai Gan was originally a trained in the Faxiang school of Yogacara. As such, his is known for drawing on East Asian Yogācāra in his development of a comprehensive Pure Land philosophy.Chen, Yangjong 陳揚炯 (2000). A Comprehensive History of the Chinese Pure Land School (Zhongguo jingtu zong tongshi 中國淨土宗通史), pp. 369-380.
Buddha and the Pure Land
Huaigan draws on the Yogacara triple body teaching (trikaya) to explain the nature of the Buddha Amitabha and of the pure lands, arguing that just as the Buddha has three bodies, there are three corresponding pure lands (a nirmāṇa land, a saṃbhoga land and a dharmakaya land).Marchman 2015, p. 149.
The Dharmakāya and the Dharma-land are really the same ultimate reality, i.e. the Dharmadhatu, the ultimate truth.Marchman 2015, pp. 151-152 The true nature of the Dharmakāya and its Land is the pure dharma-realm (dharmadhātu) which is formless, without location or sensation
Regarding the saṃbhogakāya (the divine "enjoyment body" of the Buddha), Huaigan relies on the Yogacara teaching which presents two aspects of this body: the personal-enjoyment body (which a Buddha personally experiences) and the enjoyment body for others (which he displays for the beings in the pure land).Marchman 2015, pp. 152-153 Drawing on the Vimalakīrti Sutra and the Cheng weishi lun, Huaigan also argues that the enjoyment land also depends on the minds of beings who are born there (as well as on the Buddha's mind).Marchman 2015, p. 154
As for a transformation land (nirmāṇa land), this is what usually manifests to śrāvakas, to ordinary beings and to bodhisattvas before the first bodhisattva ground. Amitabha's Pure Land is both a saṃbhogakāya land and a Land and a transformation land. Before the first the bodhisattva ground, bodhisattvas only see the transformation land, afterwards they see the saṃbhogakāya. Huaigan writes that the nature of Amitabha Buddha's buddhafield is mind-only, and "only appears different to each person according to their own mind". This is why it can appear as a saṃbhoga land and as a nirmāṇa land.Marchman 2015, pp. 155-156 Thus, for Huaigan, Amitābha's body and land is not limited to any single form or appearance, since it manifests in limitless ways accessible to sentient beings.Liao Minghuo . Huaigan's theory of Rebirth . Chung-Hwa Buddhist Journal, No. 15, (2002) Taipei: The Chung-Hwa Institute of Buddhist Studies
Furthermore, Huaigan also states that even though only bodhisattvas above the first bodhisattva ground can see other saṃbhogakāya lands, Amitabha's land is unique in that it allows even ordinary beings to see the saṃbhogakāya. Due to the power of Buddha Amitabha's vows, even ordinary deluded people can see Amitābha's saṃbhogakāya pure land manifested for others in the way that bodhisattvas on the higher bodhisattva grounds can.Marchman 2015, p. 157, 161.
Though those beings may still have delusion in their minds, the pure land remains pure (and beyond the three realms) since it is created and maintained by the Buddha. Huaigan compares the imperfect perceptions of deluded beings born in the pure land to how an injured eye may perceive the sun incorrectly. The sun remains the same, it is the eye which perceives the sun in a mistaken way.Marchman 2015, pp. 155-160 Furthermore, according to Huaigan, deluded beings still experience some level of mental suffering in the pure land due to their own delusions. However this is greatly attenuated since their minds are being gradually transformed by the pure land and their progress towards Buddhahood is assured.Marchman 2015, p. 171.
Huaigan's view is therefore that the Pure Land is on the level of the dependent nature, the level of cause and effect. He argues that Amitabha's Pure Land appears as pure and free of defilement due to the Buddha's power, but is actually with defilement (since it has the minds of ordinary beings within it). It is thus pure and impure, it appears as existent but is ultimately non-existent (since only the perfected nature is real). This view is a result of his consciousness-only philosophy which relies on the Yogacara theory of the three natures.
Regarding the various beings born in the pure land, Huaigan lists several types based on their level of purity, each one perceiving the pure land in their own way (which matches their capacities). As their minds develop spiritually, their perception of the pure land is also gradually purified over time. As Marchman writes, this points to the universality of the pure land path since Huaigan emphasizes the diversity of lands, minds, appearances, and social classes to illustrate how Amitābha’s Pure Land, through the immense power of Amitābha’s vows, is open to all beings. The key idea, as summarized in the Qunyi lun, is that “there is not one method.” Huaigan highlights the flexibility and nuanced nature of this concept while underscoring that, despite the variety of methods, they remain harmonious and non-conflicting.Marchman 2015, pp. 162-163
Thus, for Huaigan, the pure land practice is accessible to all types of beings. As he writes, Pure Land can encompass:the worldling and the āryan , covers both the small and the great , can be done with or without characteristics, within both focused and scattered states of mind by those of sharp or dull capacities, within long or short time frames with much practice or only a little.Jones (2019), p. 27.
Practice Huaigan held that birth in the pure land is achievable by anyone who truly believes in the power of Amitābha’s vows. Furthermore, there is not one single method or practice to achieve rebirth in the Pure Land. Instead, Huaigan presents different practices according to the different circumstances, and capacities of individual practitioners.Marchman 2015, p. 164.
Nevertheless, for Huaigan (like for his teacher Shandao), the practice of nianfo or buddha recollection (in its numerous variations like hearing the name, thinking of the name, visualization, and vocal recitation) remains the central and most effective practice for Pure Land aspirants.Marchman 2015, pp. 188-189. Huaigan writes that to attain birth in the pure land one must also have the right intention and proper faith in the power of the Buddha's vows. Without the proper intention, nianfo can only lead to birth in the heaven realms (deva-lokas) at best. As Huaigan writes, this is "like an arrow shot aimlessly, its force is eventually exhausted and it falls down."Marchman 2015, p. 190.
Huaigan specifically differentiates between the different types of nianfo he recommends. The most common forms of Buddha recollection taught by Huaigan are:Marchman 2015, pp. 194-195.
chengfo (, calling the name), also termed shengcheng fo ( to proclaim the Buddha). For Huaigan, this is especially useful for ordinary laypeople, for people of the lowest spiritual capacity and as a deathbed practice. guan (, buddha contemplation) nianfo, a more meditative practice in which one may attain a vision of the Buddha in samādhi, this was considered to be more dedicated practitioners and was considered by Huaigan to be the superior practice. This corresponds to the contemplations taught in the Contemplation Sutra.