THE FLOWER ORNAMENT SCRIPTURE - Introduction

THE FLOWER ORNAMENT SCRIPTURE, called Avatamsaka in Sanskrit and Huayan in Chinese, is one of the major texts of Buddhism. Also referred to as the major Scripture of Inconceivable Liberation, it is perhaps the richest and most grandiose of all Buddhist scriptures, held in high esteem by all schools of Buddhism that are concerned with universal liberation. 

Its incredible wealth of sensual imagery staggers the imagination and exercises an almost mesmeric effect on the mind as it conveys a wide range of teachings through its complex structure, its colorful symbolism, and its mnemonic concentration formulae. 

It is not known when or by whom this scripture was composed. It is thought to have issued from different hands in the Indian cultural sphere during the first and second centuries AD, but it is written so as to embrace a broad spectrum of materials and resists rigid systematization. While standard figures and images from Indian mythology are certainly in evidence here, as in other Buddhist scriptures, it might be more appropriate to speak of its provenance in terms of Buddhist culture rather than Indian culture per se. 

The Flower Ornament Scripture presents a compendium of Buddhist teachings; it could variously be said with a measure of truth in each case that these teachings are set forth in a system, in a plurality of systems, and without a system. 

The integrity of Buddhism as a whole, the specificity of application of its particular elements, and the interpenetration of those elements are fundamental points of orientation of the unfolding of the scripture. 

Historicity as such is certainly of little account in The Flower Ornament Scripture. This is generally true of the Mahayana Buddhist scriptures, although they usually present their teachings as having been revealed or occasioned by the meditations of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni. 

In the case of The Flower Ornament Scripture, most of the discourse is done by transhistorical, symbolic beings who represent aspects of universal enlightenment. The Buddha shifts from an individual to a cosmic principle and manifestations of that cosmic principle; the "Buddha" in one line might be "the Buddhas" in the next, representing enlightenment itself, the scope of enlightenment, or those who have realized enlighten- ment. Certainly one of the most colorful and dramatic rehearsals of Buddhist teachings, The Flower Ornament Scripture became one of the pillars of East Asian Buddhism. 

It was a source of some of the very first Buddhist literature to be introduced to China, where there eventually developed a major school of philosophy based on its teachings. This school spread to other parts of Asia, interacted with other major Buddhist schools, and continues to the present. 

The appreciation of The Flower Ornament Scripture was not, however, by any means confined to the special Flower Ornament school, and its influence is particularly noticeable in the literature of the powerful Chan (Zen) schools. The work of translating from The Flower Ornament Scripture into Chinese apparently began in the second century AD, and continued for the better part of a thousand years. 

During this time more than thirty translations and retranslations of various books and selections from the scripture were produced. Numerous related scriptures were also trans- lated. Many of these texts still exist in Chinese. 

Comprehensive renditions of the scripture were finally made in the early fifth and late seventh centuries. The original texts for both of these monumental translations were brought to China from Khotan in Central Asia, which was located on the Silk Route and was a major center for the early spread of Buddhism into China. Khotan, where an Indo-Iranian language was spoken, is now a part of the Xinjiang (Sinkiang) Uighur autonomous region in China, near Kashmir, another traditional center of Buddhist activity. 

The first comprehensive translation of The Flower Ornament Scripture was done under the direction of an Indian monk named Bud- dhabhadra (359-429); the second, under the direction of a Khotanese monk named Shikshananda (652-710). The latter version, from which the present English translation is made, was based on a more complete text imported from Khotan at the request of the empress of China; it is somewhat more than ten percent longer than Buddhabhadra's transla- tion. The Flower Ornament Scripture, in Shikshananda's version, contains thirty-nine books. By way of introduction to this long and complex text, we will focus on a comparison of The Flower Ornament Scripture with other major scriptures; as well as a brief glance at the main thrust of each book.