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Fazang

Fazang

643 CE–712 CE · Chang'an (Xi'an)

643–712 CE

Fazang was the third patriarch and chief systematizer—often regarded as the de facto founder—of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism, active 643–712 CE in the Tang capital of Chang'an. Of Sogdian descent but Chinese by birth and culture, he gave the school its mature philosophy of the 'dharma-realm' (dharmadhātu): the unobstructed mutual interpenetration of all phenomena, famously illustrated by his 'hall of mirrors' and 'golden lion' demonstrations for Empress Wu. He worked on major translation projects and is well documented.

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Chang'an (Xi'an)

What they did here

Birthplace of Fazang.

About Chang'an (Xi'an)

Chang'an, modern Xi'an in Shaanxi province, China, was the capital of the Sui and Tang dynasties and one of the great Buddhist translation and study centres of medieval East Asia. The translator Kumārajīva was brought there in 401 to head an imperial translation bureau; the pilgrim Xuanzang returned there from India to translate the texts he had gathered; and Kūkai studied esoteric Buddhism in the city before founding the Japanese Shingon school.

In Chang'an (Xi'an) at the same time

Xuanzang, Shandao

See other sages who lived in Chang'an (Xi'an)→

In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Fazang’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

In the same tradition

Xuanzang, Shandao

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Fazang’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Works

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