Shenming and the Buddha Nature

Abstract

In traditional Chinese thought, shenming 神明 is an idea that largely refers to the jingshen 精神 （spirit） and yishi 意識 （mind） of a person, or more generally, the spirit of humanity. As Buddhism was introduced to China and gradually transmitted, the idea of shenming was absorbed in Buddhist terminology and was reinterpreted as “the imperishable subject that experiences saṃsāra.” Furthermore, in texts such as the Mingfo lun 名仏論, the Ming baoying lun 名報応論, the Niepanjing jijie 涅槃経集解 and the Shenming chengfo yi 神明成仏義, shenming was related to Buddhist ideas, such as Suchness （Skt. tathatā） and the Buddha nature（Skt. buddha-dhātu）. In Chinese Buddhism, the idea of shenming was expanded by including the idea of Buddha nature from Indian Buddhism and thus absorbed into and dissolved the concept of spirit that has an entitative aspect. This eventually surpassed the monistic understanding of shenming and ended the debate on whether the spirit will perish.