New evidence: Exploring the awakening of faith's teaching of the zhenshi chan found in the āgamas

摘要

The author of the Treatise on the Awakening of Faith According to the Mahāyāna (the Treatise; Awakening of Faith) as well as its principle teachings aroused great controversies within Buddhist communities both in China and Japan during the twentieth century. After reviewing the disputed references and citations related to the Treatise's language, the present paper argues that the bulk of the focus was primarily on the Mahāyāna scriptures, and the āgamas which are commonly accepted within Buddhist academics have been left out of the discussions. This paper will cite a paragraph each from the āgamas and the Treatise as evidential proof that they converge with each other both in words and meaning; the āgamas refers to a specific set of phrases, the “zhenshi chan (authentic meditation); wusuo-yizhi chan (meditation without any support).” This paper will compare the parallels between these two scriptures and demonstrate the consistencies and similarities behind the principles of the respective literature. This paper argues that this new piece of evidence will provide insightful evidence to terminate the long disputed authenticity of the Treatise.