Paramārtha’s Ultimate Truth and the Development of Chinese Buddhism’s Ultimate Truth

This paper discusses the development of ideas of the ultimate in the thought of Chinese Buddhism in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The concept of ultimate truth is, along with that of conventional truth, a core concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism. During the Sui Dynasty, Chinese Buddhism developed the unique perspective of the Three Truths, the foundation for which was formed during the Southern and Northern Dynasties. This begins with Jie jie Jing 解節經 (in full, Foshuo Jiejie Jing 佛說解節經) by Paramārtha (499–569), which is a partial translation of Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and presents the theory of ultimate truth (paramārtha) to Chinese Buddhists. Through a comparison of Jiejie Jing with other Chinese and Tibetan translations of Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra, we establish Paramārtha’s thoughts on the ultimate. The relationship between Paramārtha’s thought on the ultimate and the development of the Three Truths is evaluated in a comparison of Paramārtha’s thoughts on ultimate truth with the thinking of nearly contemporary Chinese monks.

Confucian Exegetical Thought in the Southern Dynasties Period (420–589): Canonical Texts and Commentaries between Decline and Restoration

The article examines the main trends in Confucian exegetical thought during the Southern dynasties period. Confucian exegesis, as an original intellectual tradition, was in a state of crisis at that time and experienced significant influence both from the syncretic teaching xuanxue and Buddhism. This situation determined the particular popularity of some canonical texts and commentaries and the actual oblivion of others. Losing its monopoly in education, Confucianism often came down to providing ritual ceremonies at court. The article examines several aspects of this crisis state of southern Confucianism. It identifies and analyzes a new type of commentary that appeared in the exegesis of this period, and it explores the main intellectual tendencies in the Confucian exegesis of the Southern dynasties period and traces the reasons for their appearance. The author examines features of subcommentary-yishu, through which scholars realized new forms of intellectual activity. This commentary originated from Buddhist monks’ translation and teaching activities approximately in the mid-5th century AD. In the exegesis of the Southern dynasties, yishu provided a platform for relatively free philosophical discussion, often associated with the practice of lecturing. It is important that this practice in Confucianism and Buddhism of that time had many common features. The changes in the educational standard (the emergence of schools with a new structure) are traced as well as its influence on the position of Confucian commentary in the educational process (apparent instability of the set of authoritative commentaries).

On the early lokapāla statues in the Buddhist sculptures unearthed in Chengdu

In recent years, some lokapāla statues which might be carved in the Liang dynasty of the Southern Dynasties are unearthed in Chengdu area, the features of which have some differences from that of the lokapāla statues of the northern system found in Khotan, Dunhuang and other areas; they have some similarities with the early lokapāla statues of the Northern Wei dynasty, but also have some differences. The early lokapālas in the Buddhist scriptures have only names and titles with little concrete descriptions; the archaeologically discovered lokapāla statues enriched our understandings of this motif.