Keywords

One of the most important concepts in Buddhism regarding the idea of gongsheng 共生 (symbiosis, co-creation) is “co-dependent origination” (yuan qi 缘起). Co-dependent origination is gongsheng; it is “mutual conditionality.” This concept implies that nothing exists independently; rather, everything exists on the condition that its existence relies on all other entities. It is a core concept of Buddhism; as such, one might also say that gongsheng is a core principle of Buddhist thought.

Buddhist Co-dependent Origination and the Doctrine of Gongsheng

There is nothing transcendental or transmundane about Buddhist co-dependent origination. It applies to the phenomenal world. Thus, the principles and rules of co-dependent origination are limited to the actual world in Buddhist teachings, i.e., the world we can perceive and see. According to the Buddhist view, everything in this world arises co-dependently; in other words, all things naturally abide by the doctrine of gongsheng. The transcendental world—the immutable, unceasing world in Buddhist thought—is outside the purview of co-dependent origination. Thus, the concept of gongsheng is limited to the phenomenal world in Buddhism. In the Buddhist worldview, gongsheng only relates to the realm of worldly affairs. When it comes to discussing the transcendental subject, the Buddha advocated internal practices for tacit understanding.

When discussing the phenomenal world, early Buddhist scripture refers to the dharma of the phenomenal world as sarvadharma (all dharma). This includes the five aggregates (form, sensation, perception, formations, and consciousness), the twelve ayatanas (the six internal ayatanas: eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind; and the six external ayatanas: visible objects, sound, odor, taste, touch, and mental objects), and the eighteen dhatu (the twelve ayatanas plus the six consciousnesses). The existence of these dharma depends on one another, and they are constantly changing. Different dharma, as well as different phenomena and existents, are all interrelated and interdependent. Each existence is constantly changing. There does not exist any fixed dharma. In this sense, the statement that “co-dependent origination is gongsheng” includes both the natural world and human activity. All dharma are only made possible by their “mutual conditionality.” In the Abhidharma texts of the early Buddhist schools, the mundane world (loka) is divided into the physical world, which is comprised of physical territories or inanimate world (bhajana-loka), and the world of sentient beings (sattva-loka) which includes animals and humans with mind and emotion as its center. The entities who inhabit these loka exist in a state of gongsheng, as do the loka themselves.

In Buddhism, however, regardless of the plane of existence, both the co-dependent origination gongsheng of the actual world or the existents of the phenomenal world are inextricably linked with human consciousness. The objects of co-dependent origination are connected to the structure of consciousness. The existence of all dharma hinges on this relationship; there is no natural object that exists independently of human consciousness. Thus, consciousness and awareness play leading roles in the structure of humans and various gongsheng relations. This is a concept that runs through both Mahayana and Hinayana Buddhism.

Mahayana Buddhism is generally divided into three traditions: Mulamadhyamakakarika, Vijnaptimatraṣiddhi-sastra, and the Buddha-nature Treatise (佛性论). The theories expounded upon within these traditions—particularly the ideas that everything is generated by the mind and that all dharma are nothing but consciousness—highlight the dominant position on mind and consciousness in Buddhism. The concept of “mind” in Buddhism (心, xin, also translated as heart) is comparable to the concept of “original nature” (ben xing 本性) in native Chinese philosophy. In Buddhism, some of the terms used to express “mind” include the “Tathāgatagarbha,” “Buddha nature,” and “true mind.” The Vijnaptimatraṣiddhi-sastra tradition transmitted by the monk Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–664) states that all dharma are nothing but consciousness. The structure of consciousness is highly complex in Buddhism. The mental world that we are analyzing, which is comprised of things like ideas, rationality, and language concepts, mostly fit within the sixth category of consciousness. The consciousness of Mahayana Buddhism, however, has a deeper structure. Outside of the six consciousnesses, for example, there is the seventh consciousness, “defiled mental consciousness” (kliṣṭamanovijñāna). But there is still an eighth consciousness, the “all-ground consciousness” (ālayavijñāna), and it is this that the Vijnaptimatraṣiddhi-sastra refers to in the statement that all dharma are nothing but consciousness. This tradition believes that the generation of our minds and bodies, as well as the generation of all external objects in the phenomenal world, are linked to the “all-ground consciousness” (hence the belief that all phenomena are nothing but consciousness). So, while it seems that Buddhist doctrine is discussing the interconnectedness of all things in the phenomenal world and the inter-conditionality of their ontological relationships, in the end the existence of these things is inextricably linked to the structure of consciousness and the mind. This is the foundation for understanding the concept of gongsheng within Buddhist thought. We cannot understand the gongsheng relationships between the world and dharma if we stray from this structure.

There are many variations of the Buddhist doctrine of co-dependent origination, such as the famous “12 Links of Co-dependent Origination” found in early Buddhism. From a gongsheng perspective, early Buddhism primarily revolved around individual consciousness—the 12 links of co-dependent origination are not about humans and the natural world, but about the mind–body process. The Buddha in his earlier exposition of the co-dependent origination (or gongsheng) divided all the vital activities of an individual into many different categories, such as the sensory faculties and cognitive activities of the body, mouth, and mind; activities like perceiving, sensing, and desiring; and the process of birth, aging, sickness, and death. In other words, the 12 links of co-dependent origination of early Buddhism begins from avidya, or the idea that only the delusions of consciousness create the things that reoccur throughout life: avidyā; saṃskāra (also known as formations or fabrications—these consist of bodily fabrications, verbal fabrications, and mental fabrications); vijñāna (the Agama sutras divide vijñāna into three types of consciousnesses: entering the womb, being in the womb, and leaving the womb); nāmarūpa “forms” (referents of the thinking consciousness and the six objective fields of the senses); the ṣaḍāyatana (that form the capacity to perceive and understand, namely the six sense organs of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind); sparśa (the senses and understanding caused by the interaction of the six sense organs, the six consciousnesses, and a plane of existence); vedanā (feelings like suffering and happiness); tṛ́ṣṇā (desire); upādāna (clinging, or actions caused by desire); bhava (existence in general; bhava mostly refers to the remnant habits and power generated by clinging, or the remaining habitual tendencies and karma of past behavior that also become causes limiting the future); jāti (the innate generation of karma; new experience produced by the deposition of a current life form); and jarāmaraṇa (aging and decay).

Focusing on the relationship between co-dependent origination and gongsheng from the perspective of Mahayana Buddhism is paramount to an analysis from the structure of consciousness. This can be divided into two ways of thinking: ālaya-vijñāna co-dependent origination and tathāgatagarbha co-dependent origination. Regarding the concept of co-dependent origination, we can combine ideas from these two branches of the Mahayana tradition together. Using a classic work from Buddhist history, Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (大乘起信论)Footnote 1 as an example, we can examine the principles and theory of gongsheng. In traditional Chinese Buddhism, Awakening of Faith is a comprehensive work about Mahayana Buddhism.

First of all, from the perspective of Buddhism, the world of co-dependent origination and gongsheng is the phenomenal world—the world in which we live. According to Mahayana Buddhism, co-dependent origination is the founding principle of the phenomenal world. The generation of the world of co-dependent origination is a process of degeneration and circulation; it is gradually created by the passage of high consciousness down to the perceptible world. Awakening of Faith details this process, which describes the relationships of mutual dependence among all dharma in this circulating world. From this we can see its similarities with the 12 links of co-dependent origination. In the tathāgatagarbha, the production of the structure of consciousness begins from a state of ignorance, and the “one mind,” by integrating with ālaya-vijñāna (all-ground consciousness), creates the seventh consciousness, kliṣṭamanovijñāna (defiled mental consciousness), as well as the cognitive activities of the six consciousnesses (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind), before pushing outward to the sensible objects that Buddhism speaks of, step by step passing down to the phenomenal world. The phenomenal world and the subjective world are mutually co-created and intertwined. They produce all sorts of psychological activities, attachments, and emotions. The co-development of all dharma gradually forms the world in which we live.

Awakening of Faith does not just examine the problem of how gongsheng arises; it also reveals how to find ways to transcend the worldly realm, thereby escaping gongsheng within this world of coexistence. This is a process of awakening and revolution of the mind, a transmigratory return to nirvana—from “initial awareness” to “supreme enlightenment.” Each living creature, no matter what state it is in, has the innate capacity for enlightenment. The question is how to awaken this enlightenment, and, through guidance, thereby allow the being to remove itself from gongsheng and return to a world of self-sufficiency. This is the worldview proposed by a Buddhist understanding of gongsheng. The aim of Buddhism is to guide people out of the world of gongsheng so they can return to a state of perfect self-sufficiency.

Huayan Buddhism and the Doctrine of Gongsheng

In discussing gongsheng, the Huayan School of Buddhism, which was deeply influenced by Awakening of Faith, proposes the Indrajāla or “Indra’s Net” metaphor. This metaphor likens the world we live in to a giant net. Our lives, and then the environment in which our lives take place, unfold out of mind and cognition. Indra’s Net expands out of the interaction between the mind and cognition, and the environment. All phenomena and existing co-dependencies overlap to form a complex net structure. Indra’s Net illustrates how all relationships of phenomena in the world—between one and many, similar and different, big and small, pure and defiled, and so on—reflect one another, this reflection repeating infinitely so that any one thing “contains” within it every other thing. Indra’s Net helps us see that gongsheng does not just mean the inclusivity between two existents; it means that all phenomena, all things, intersect one another in a concurrent, interlocking, and inseparable fashion. Indra’s Net and the doctrine of gongsheng are intimately related.

At the same time, Huayan Buddhism also tells us that we must “differentiate-understand the intrinsic nature of all dharma.” In other words, we must understand the gongsheng between different things. First, we must differentiate and understand the intrinsic nature of all dharma, because only by understanding the true nature of everything can we see that things with different attributes include one another, blend with, and penetrate one another. If we fail to grasp the co-dependent gongsheng relationship governing all things and phenomena, then we do not yet understand the true nature of things and phenomena. In other words, gongsheng is the basic ontological state of phenomena. The tendency to individuate phenomena stems from a lack of correct understanding of the true nature of all dharma. A complete gongsheng system requires first establishing a philosophical concept of gongsheng and an awareness of the oneness of all things. This is what is meant in Huayan Buddhism when it says that “everything—whether good or bad—is manifested by consciousness; there can be nothing outside the mind, hence the discourse on consciousness or mind only.”Footnote 2

How should we construct our understanding of gongsheng, then? According to Buddhism, our understanding must start from the philosophy of consciousness and the mind. If we can truly comprehend the intrinsic nature of all phenomena—whether good or bad, or any other state—by returning to the world of the mind, then we will see the co-dependent gongsheng relationship governing all phenomena. This is not a scientific or technical analysis, but a realization of gongsheng “Indra’s Net” from the perspective of Buddhist understanding.

Additionally, the gongsheng relationship of Indra’s Net is different from the doctrine of “the interactions between tian and mankind” (tianrenganying 天人感应) of native Chinese philosophy. The latter doctrine has always been an important theory for describing humanity, nature, and even politics in Chinese culture. Master Wenzhong (584–617) proclaimed that tian, earth and mankind—“the three talents are inseparable (sancaizhidao buxiangli 三才之道不相离).” Shi Jie (1005–1045), a Song-era Confucian scholar, believed that:

The relationship between nature and man needs to be treated with great care. The ancient junzi (gentlemen) regarded this issue with great importance and took it to heart at all times. If we pay attention to the existence of human beings and neglect tian and nature; or if we pay attention to tian and nature but neglect the existence of human beings, both practices are only partial and are against the way of tian and humanity.Footnote 3

Clearly, given that changes in the natural world are reflected in humans, human behavior must also be reflected in natural changes. That is why Confucianism consistently stressed that whatever humans do, it will be reconstituted and reflected back at them through the natural world. Thus, the emperor and his subjects had to show the utmost respect to tian and earth.

The people-oriented approach of Chinese governance can be extracted from the doctrine of “the interactions between tian and mankind.” But this doctrine emphasizes humans and their affairs. It is anthropocentric. Although Confucian scholars occasionally touched upon the natural world, such as the plant and animal kingdoms, they did not focus on it. Conversely, the Buddhist gongsheng doctrine of co-dependent origination specially touches upon animals (vegetarianism) and plants, which gives it more modern, environmental value. For instance, traditional Indian Buddhism responds affirmatively to the question of whether or not plants are sentient beings deserving the same respect and protection as other sentient life forms. In The Problem of the Sentience of Plants in Earliest Buddhism,Footnote 4 the renowned Buddhist historian Lambert Schmithausen (1991) explores whether plants were considered sentient in Indian Buddhism, as well as whether they have Buddha nature. He concludes that in the case of Indian Buddhism, plants indeed are considered sentient.

Interestingly, the Chinese Tiantai School of Buddhism holds the view that although plants are not sentient, they do possess Buddha nature. This view has been overlooked, however. The emphasis is still placed on humans and the relationship between mind-nature and the world. This is related to the humanist focus of Chinese Confucianism. As Indian (Mahayana) Buddhism spread in East Asia, it was sinicized by the influence of Confucianism and its anthropocentrism. The issue of the sentience of plants, however, was foregrounded in Japanese Buddhism. The design and ambience of Japanese monasteries reflect the importance of the relationship between humans and the natural world, and especially the harmonious gongsheng of humans and plants.

Regarding the differences among human beings, between mankind and nature, and between different civilizations and cultural traditions, Chinese Buddhism offers the concept and practice of “classification of Buddha's teaching” (pan jiao 判教)—an extremely valuable idea. Strictly speaking, pan jiao was originally limited to Buddhism itself and was created as a way to handle the existence of different types of thought within Buddhism, from the shallow to the complete teachings. That is to say, different thought traditions of Buddhism occupied different levels; some were relatively shallow, while others were more comprehensive. Later, Buddhism, and especially Chinese Buddhism, developed the classification system as a way to collate and interconnect different ideas within Buddhism, and to show that the Buddha’s sayings could be seen in these different traditions, for only the forms of this truth vary—from shallower to more profound and complete forms—depending on the natural capacity of the person toward which it is directed. Thus, we cannot simply view different Buddhist traditions as in contradiction with one another; rather, we must use the classification method to dissolve their differences. This method could also act as a model for dealing with the differences between different cultures and civilizations. Chinese Tiantai and Huayan Buddhism each have their own matured classification systems.

After Buddhism was introduced to China, it faced the problem of having to coexist with the native intellectual traditions of Confucianism and Daoism. Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity, a treatise written by the renowned Tang-era Buddhist scholar Guifeng Zongmi (780–841), explores this problem. Using the pan jiao classification method to settle the relationship between Indian Buddhism and Chinese culture, Zongmi believed that the Hinayana School of Indian Buddhism operated above and beyond the relationship between humanity and tian found in Confucianism and Daoism, and that next was Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana Buddhism was further divided into three levels: the “teaching of phenomenal appearances of the dharma within the great vehicle” (大乘法相教), the “teaching that refutes the phenomenal appearances in the great vehicle” (大乘破相教), and the “teaching of the one vehicle that reveals the nature” (一乘显性教). Zongmi noted that the differences between these intellectual traditions were merely different perspectives and degrees of understanding of the truth. They could thus coexist since they were only varying manifestations of the truth.

In modern China, when challenged by Western civilization in the discussion of various types of civilizations, scholars of New Confucianism have attempted to use the pan jiao classification method to create a new order to relate to Western civilization. The pan jiao model of coexistence between civilizations, which is centered on people, or dharma, can replace the old model of international relations based on territory, nationality, and ethnicity. It is an important lesson that Buddhism can teach us about how to achieve peaceful coexistence between different civilizations, and it deserves serious consideration.

The Degeneration and Overcoming of Gongsheng

From a Buddhist perspective, the process of gongsheng itself is that of a degeneration or sinking downward. Although co-dependent origination includes the existence of humans and all phenomena of the external world, Buddhism explores the various problems and vexations of the gongsheng world on an ontological level. At its core, it is because everything exists in a state of gongsheng if they exist at all; there is no fixed, immutable substantive existence. Humanity’s attempts to cling to immutability in such a world of gongsheng are, in fact the cause of suffering. Any dharma of the five aggregates is impermanent and interdependent; this is the self-less state of “non-self” (anatta) (lacking substance), “suffering” (dukkha), and “emptiness” (sunyata).

Additionally, when discussing gongsheng and co-dependent origination within the Buddhist thought system, there are significant ethical and value considerations. According to Buddhism, gongsheng is the principle of this world, and yet, since we exist within this gongsheng world, gongsheng and co-dependent origination are produced in the process of degeneration, or transmigration. Living in this world of gongsheng, all creatures, including humans, will encounter various problems. Buddhism tells us that we experience vexation in our relationships of gongsheng because of our numerous clinging behaviors—our attachment to immutable things. However, the very rule of gongsheng is that it is constantly changing and producing constant interdependence. Thus, clinging to permanence is the cause of suffering in our world.

The Buddha does not attempt to resolve the confusion regarding the value of existence and life forms brought on by gongsheng from the level of the natural world or human science and technology. He believes that our consciousness, psychology, and mind are the root of gongsheng, and so if we wish to address gongsheng, we must do so at the mental level, proceeding from the structure of consciousness. In this regard, the spiritual traditions of East Asia civilizations—Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism—are in alignment.

According to Buddhism, gongsheng must eventually be overcome. From a material perspective, gongsheng is the world created by the circulation of co-dependent origination; that is, everything is caused by gongsheng, and abides by it as a principle. From a more spiritual or “Dao” perspective, however, the goal of Buddhism is liberation; that is, extrication from the cycle of gongsheng, to move from gongsheng to self-reliance. The process of self-reliance in the moral world is at odds with gongsheng and co-dependent origination. It is a return to non-existence, a process of continual self-overcoming through consciousness training, a flight from the cycle of gongsheng to a state of complete independence.

This is the transcendence of gongsheng, what is known in Buddhism as the essential “emptiness of co-dependent origination” (yuanqi xingkong 缘起性空), an extremely important concept in Mahayana Buddhism. The Mulamadhyamakakarika says, “Whatever is dependently co-arisen That is explained to be emptiness. That, being a dependent designation Is itself the Middle Way.”Footnote 5 The emptiness and illusory nature of co-dependent origination show that the gongsheng world is the (empty, illusory) appearance of the real world; it is an illusory world.

That is why Buddhism tells us that we must transcend the co-dependent world of gongsheng. As for how to realize this transcendence, Hinayana Buddhism proposes that, since the gongsheng world is full of vexation and suffering, liberation requires that we forsake this world. Mahayana Buddhism, however, opposes this view. According to Mahayana Buddhism, although the world of co-dependent origination is a world of superficial appearance and the world of gongsheng must be overcome, rather than fleeing from the world in search of self-reliance, we should seek transcendence among gongsheng, within the world of co-dependent origination itself. This is what is known as the “middle way.” In the Zhaolun 肇论, Sengzhao 僧肇 (378–413) espouses the principle that the true nature of reality can assert itself wherever one happens to be: “Is the Tao far away? The life of ours is Reality. Is the Sage far away? Recognize him as in truth he is and you are the Spirit.”Footnote 6 In other words, we must elevate our consciousness within the world of gongsheng. It is up to the doer to undo the knot, so to speak. The wisdom of Mahayana Buddhism encourages us to return to the world of gongsheng, to face its problems, and to find the path to transcendence for all of humanity within it. Furthermore, the idealistic philosophy of Mahayana Buddhism believes that the world of gongsheng is the product of idealism, and thus to overcome the continuous cycles of gongsheng, we must withdraw consciousness from the external illusory world back into our inner hearts. Through the process of transforming knowledge into wisdom, we can transform the illusory notions—along with the obsession with those illusory ideas—into transcendental wisdom, and then we will be free from the world of gongsheng. The transformation of spirit and consciousness becomes the key to solving all difficulties.

This article is translated by Thomas Garbarini and Jin Young Lim.