The aim of this study is to elucidate Zhiyanʼs incentive to compose his Souxuan ji 捜玄記, one of the earliest commentaries on the Huayan jing and one of the most authoritative writings in the Huayan school 華厳宗.
To clarify his motive for composing this work, this paper firstly points out that Zhiyan had a deep interest in the Huayan jing because it contains the non-dual doctrine of Gradual Enlightenment 修成 and Intrinsic Enlightenment 自体. Secondly, the paper inquires further into: 1） Zhiyanʼs criticism of the doctrines of the Dilun school 地論宗, particularly their dual exegesis of practice, namely True Practice 真修 and Conditional Practice 縁修, and 2） his reinterpretation of these two separate practices on the basis of the non-dual doctrine, namely the Manifestation Arising from Nature 性起.
According to the authorʼs investigations, the conclusion emerges that Zhiyan produced the Souxuan ji in order to overcome the conventional dual view and advocate the non-dual idea, or indeed the Manifestation Arising from Nature.
