Abstract

This dissertation is aimed at disclosing the theoretical characteristics of Chinese Fa-hsiang school through a comparison with Indian Yogacara. In order to get a clear picture of Indian Yogacara and Chinese Fa-hsiang school, this paper begins with an examination of the Indian and Chinese mythological ways of thinking, and then goes onto the Upanisad and Taoism as philosophical ways of thinking. ;In order to find the relationship among the various modes of thinking shown in the above subjects, I adopt two perspectives--a trichotomous way of thinking, which frequently appears to express feeling of continuity, and a dichotomous way of thinking, which appears to express discrepancy among things. By applying these two perspectives to analyze the characteristics of and the relationship between various modes of thinking, the following are disclosed. ;First, through the analysis of the Indian and Chinese mythological thinking, it is shown how the trichotomous way of thinking as the blending of mythical and logical thinking was developed differently in India and in China. ;Second, based on the difference between these two mythological ways of thinking, the emergence of different ways of philosophical thinking--the Upanisadic way and the Taoist way--is explained. The Upanisadic way of thinking enhanced the development of a metaphysical 'dichotomous transcending way of thinking,' while Classical Taoism developed an anti-metaphysical 'circulative trichotomic way of thinking.' ;Third, a 'projective trichotomic way of thinking' as the anti-metaphysical way of thinking in Indian Yogacara is drawn from the analysis of some Buddhist texts and Vasubandhu's works. This anti-metaphysical way of thinking was transformed through Metaphysical Taoism to form a 'dichotomically transformed trichotomic way of thinking' in Chinese Fa-hsiang school. The illumination of these two modes of thinking enables us to find the similarity and difference between Indian Yogacara and Chinese Fa-hsiang school. ;The way of discussion in this dissertation will help not only to find the differences among other Indian and Chinese Buddhist schools but also to develop a reasonable scheme to compare the different ways of thinking that are rooted in different cultures