Fǎzàng systematized Huayan’s reading of the Avataṃsaka Sūtra, using the mutual interpenetration of phenomena to articulate a comprehensive Buddhist cosmology.
Intellectual setting
After assisting Xuánzàng, Fǎzàng became Zhiyan’s disciple and won important Tang court support for Huayan teaching.
Key ideas
Interpenetration
Each phenomenon is intelligible through its relations with all others without losing its conventional particularity.
Doctrinal classification
His panjiao framework ordered Buddhist teachings into a hierarchy culminating in Huayan.
Legacy
His synthesis remains central to Huayan philosophy and East Asian reflections on relationality and totality.