Buddhism, systematized some two and a half thousand years ago, is one of the oldest religions on earth. Subsequently spreading over Asia through numerous cultural spheres, it became, more than a philosophy, a body of many philosophical systems embracing a wide variety of beliefs and practices. Generally speaking, however, it may be said that all forms of Buddhism comprise three spheres of learning: ethics, concentration methods, and analytic insight. These three spheres of learning support, enhance, and complete one another, and it is through their mutual interaction and development that Buddhism aims to realize human potential. Corresponding to these three spheres of learning, Buddhist literature includes three general types of material: precepts, scriptures, and philosophical treatises. Because of the interweaving of the three fields of learning, scriptures and treatises include ethical material as well as meditational and analytic principles. Scriptures are presented as the teaching emerging from the meditations of the Buddha. Although there are a great many scriptures, the major schools of Buddhism which arose in China and spread throughout East Asia usually concentrated on one or more as basic texts. Among the principal schools of Buddhism in China was the school known as Hua-yen—Garland or Flower Ornament. Based on a vast scripture by that name, Hua-yen teaching is one of the crowns of Buddhism.
---Thomas Cleary---
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