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The Lion's Roar, Chapter 10

Thich Nhat Hanh · January 13, 2008 · New Hamlet, Plum Village, France
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The retreat at Tu Nghiem Temple resumes to continue the study of the Lion’s Roar Chapter, focusing on the Five Teachings—a summary of the Ten Schools in the Avatamsaka School, developed by Dharma Master Fazang from the eight schools of Dharmalakṣaṇa (Xuanzang’s lineage) into ten schools, and then into five teachings. The ten schools are:

  1. Both Dharma and Self Exist
  2. Dharma Exists, Self Does Not
  3. Dharma Has No Coming or Going
  4. Phenomena Are Both Apparent and Real
  5. The Worldly Is Illusory, the Ultimate Is True
  6. The Sarvāstivāda School
  7. All Is Emptiness
  8. The Śrāvaka Teaching (the first six schools)
  9. The Initial Mahayana Teaching (seventh school) – teaching on emptiness
  10. The Final Mahayana Teaching (eighth school) – Ultimate Reality Is Not Empty

The core teachings point out:

  • The two truths: the relative (conventional truth) and the absolute (ultimate truth); phenomena arise through dependent origination, are impermanent, “provisionally existent” but lack self-nature;
  • Object (the perceived) and perception (the perceiver) always arise together, are non-dual, transcending language and conceptual thinking—this is the sudden teaching (ninth school) leading to the state of thundering silence;
  • The perfect teaching (tenth school) presents the great function manifesting in the present moment: within an indivisible essence, phenomena inter-are, giving rise to complete freedom, each phenomenon is both one and all.
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