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Ekayāna (Sanskrit:एकयान,traditional Chinese:一乘; pinyin:Yīchéng; Japanese:いちじょう; Korean:일승) is aSanskrit word that means "one path" or "one vehicle". It is used in theUpanishads and theMahāyāna sūtras.
In theBrihadaranyaka Upanishad, "ekayāna" took on special significance as a metaphor for a spiritual journey. The phrasevedānāṃ vāk ekayānam translates approximately to "the one destination of theVedas is the spirit of the word".[1][2]
Ekayāna sutras of primary influence are theLotus Sutra, theŚrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra,[3] theRatnagotravibhāga, and theTathāgatagarbha sūtras,[4] which also include theTathāgatagarbha Sūtra, theMahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, and theAṅgulimālīya Sūtra. Sutras with similar teachings include theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra and theAvatamsaka Sutra.[4] TheLotus Sutra declares that "the three vehicles of theŚrāvaka (disciple),Pratyekabuddha (Solitary Buddha), andBodhisattva are actually just three expedient devices (upayakausalya) for attracting beings to the one buddha vehicle, via which they all become buddhas."[3][5][6]
While the "One Vehicle" Buddhism declined in India along with the rest of Buddhism, it became a key aspect of the Chinese acculturation and acceptance of Buddhism. The Chinese assimilation of Buddhism met in the vast diversity of Buddhist texts the problem of sorting through them for the core of Buddhist teaching.[citation needed]
This problem was solved by Chinese Buddhist teachers by taking up one or more of the Ekayana Sutras as central to the understanding of the diversity of Buddhism. Thedoctrines and practices ofTiantai (JapaneseTendai) andHuayen (JapaneseKegon) Buddhistsects were able to present a synthesis of the diversity of Buddhism that was understandable and palatable by the Chinese worldview.[citation needed]
Chan Buddhism affected this synthesis in a unique way by focusing on the practice of meditation as taught in theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra as the core method of personally realizing the Ekayana teachings while at the same time acknowledging the transcendental and devotional aspects represented by theAvatamsaka Sutra and theLotus Sutra, respectively.[citation needed] The Indian Buddhist monkBodhidharma (c. 5th to 6th century), who is considered the founder of Chan Buddhism, was said to have brought the "Ekayāna school of Southern India" to China and passed it down along with theLaṅkāvatāra Sūtra to his primary disciple,Dazu Huike (487-593), known as the Second Founding Ancestor of the Chan lineage.[7],[8][page needed]
Guifeng Zongmi (780 - 841) was an accredited master of both the Chan and Huayan lineages. In his treatise,The Original Person Debate (Chinese:原人論), he explicitly identifies the Ekayāna teachings as the most profound type of spiritual realization and equates it with the direct realization of one's own nature:
Buddha's teaching itself goes from shallow to profound. In outline there are five classes: 1. The teachings of human and heavenly beings. 2. The Small Vehicle's (Hinayana) teaching. 3. The Great Vehicle's (Mahayana) teaching of Dharma characteristics (dharmalaksana). 4. The Great Vehicle's teaching of destroying characteristics. 5. The One Vehicle's (Ekayana) teaching of manifesting Nature."[9]
Thus, according to Zongmi who was a lineage master of both Huayan and Chan, he clearly distinguished the Ekayana from the Mahayana, and the Mahayana teachings of Yogacara (his Mahayana class 3) and Madhyamaka (his Mahayana class 4) were eclipsed by the more profound Ekayana teaching of "manifesting nature."
In the biography of Fa-ch'ung in the Hsu kao-seng chuan, T50, p. 666b, there is mention of the 'One-vehicle sect of India (Nan-t'ien-chu i-ch'eng tsung)' in reference to Bodhidharma's teaching.
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