The Theory of the Buddha-avatamsaka-sūtra on the Buddha Body and the Universe

The Buddha-avatamsaka-sūtra (also : Avatamsaka-sūtra or Flower Adornment Sutra) with the teaching about Buddha Vairocana is thought to have been compiled in Northwestern India or Central Asia by the end of the 4th century CE at the latest. At present there is no complete version of the original Sanskrit sutra available. On the other hand, two full versions of Chinese translations are still extant : one is the so-called 60 fascicle Huayanjing made in the 5th century CE and the other is the so-called 80 fascicle Huayanjing in the 7th century CE. In East Asia, the Buddha-avatamsaka-sūtra has been considered as one of the most fundamental Mahāyāna sutras. However, due to the fact that the essential information is extremely fragmented and dispersed over the pages of the long texts, up to the present the two Chinese versions' contents concerning the buddha body and the universe have not been clearly understood by modern scholars yet. In order to establish a working basis for comparative discussion in the fields of history of science, arts and culture as well as religious studies, relevant fragments of information were extracted from both versions, organized and analyzed for this paper, coming to the following result : Concerning the issues, the basic idea of the Buddha-avatamsaka-sūtra apparently was established around the beginning of the second century CE or earlier. The original Sanskrit sutra seems to have been the earliest Mahāyāna scripture that explained an idea of a full picture of the universe in relation to the twofold buddha body. The sutra showed that the dharma body, which embodies the human buddha body, pervades the whole space of the universe. It also described the universe as following : 1) existing as one, 2) having limitless space, 3) having limitless time, 4) having no absolute center (=Buddha Vairocana is preaching not at the center of the universe), 5) being pure, 6) including even the inside of the atmosphere of a planet (=a world with Mt. Sumeru), and 7) really existing as a whole. However, for the 5th century CE version, the issue listed under no. 4) was obviously not translated literally, but intentionally edited to propagate the idea that the universe has an absolute center, where there is a cosmic lotus flower, on which Buddha Vairocana is turning the wheel of the dharma. That being so, it could be said that the 60 fascicle Huayanjing should not be considered as a mere translation but rather understood as a sutra, that was newly created in East Asia with a particular agenda. This new interpretation and possibility would have to be taken into account, especially when analyzing works of East Asian Buddhist art with respect to cosmological context.