This study establishes a comprehensive transcultural dialogue between Whitehead’s process metaphysics and East Asian Hua-yen Buddhism, including both the profound parallels and the doctrinal debates that arise between these two traditions. To advance this dialogue, Dr. Odin has called upon several other Western hermeneutical systems in order to radically reinterpret Hua-yen modes of thought: phenomenology, depth psychology, linguistic analysis, and dialectical discourse.
Of special interest is Dr. Odin’s exposition of Korean Hua-yen (or Hwaom) Buddhism, including a full translation of the famous Ocean Seal (with Autocommentary) composed by Uisang (625-702), the first patriarch of Korean Hua-yen Buddhism. This is the first published translation of a major Korean Buddhist’s treatise into English.