Work Classification Layer
Compare Works
Pick two or more works to set their attribute fingerprints, dimension-by-dimension passages, and shared school embodiments side by side. Especially useful for author-stage comparisons (Wittgenstein early vs late) and for setting a single tradition's foundational texts against each other.
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
From Confucianism and Daoism through Hinayana and Mahayana to the supreme truth of Original Awakening — a grand classification of all teachings
Attribute Fingerprint
Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.
| Attribute | Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity |
|---|---|
| Time · Extent | Both |
| Time · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Time · Grain | Continuous |
| Time · Freedom | Both |
| Time · Traversability | Cyclical |
| Time · Dimensionality | One |
| Time · Direction | Uni-directional |
| Space · Extent | Infinite |
| Space · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Space · Curvature | not engaged |
| Space · Dimensionality | not engaged |
| Space · Locality | Non-local |
| Matter · Extent | Finite |
| Matter · Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Matter · Conservation | Variable |
| Matter · Dimensionality | Three |
| Matter · Locality | Non-local |
| Observer · Time Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Space Instance | Multiple |
| Observer · Knowledge Extent | Total |
| Observer · Knowledge Retainment | Total |
| Observer · Physicality | Both |
| Observer · Agency | Both |
| Observer · Number | Plural |
| Observer · Metaphysical Agency | Cosmic-ordering |
| Observer · Moral Authority | Tradition |
| Observer · Theological Method | — |
| Energy · Extent | Infinite |
| Energy · Ontological Status | Relational |
| Energy · Conservation | Variable |
| Energy · Dispersibility | Reversible |
| Information · Ontological Status | Substantival |
| Information · Cosmic Conservation | Conserved |
| Information · Personal Conservation | Variable |
| Information · Granularity | Continuous |
Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence
What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.
Time
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
Both — the timeless true mind of Original Awakening and the temporal process of delusion, practice, and realisation. Relational: time arises from the discriminating mind. Cyclical cosmology (kalpas). Both freedom: karmic conditioning and the ever-present possibility of awakening.
Space
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
Infinite dharma-realms, relational and non-local. The Huayan metaphysics of interpenetration dissolves fixed spatial boundaries — each particle contains the whole.
Matter
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
Emergent from mind. Variable conservation: material forms arise and dissolve with karmic conditions. Non-local per the Huayan doctrine of mutual containment.
Observer
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
The awakened mind is omnipresent and omniscient; the deluded mind is limited and conditioned. Both physicality and agency. Cosmic-ordering metaphysical agency: buddha-nature as the principle of awakened order, not a personal God.
Energy
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
Infinite, relational, variable, reversible. The dharma-realm's energy of interpenetration is inexhaustible; defilements are reversible through practice.
Information
Inquiry into the Origin of Humanity
Buddha-nature contains the seeds of all knowledge. Cosmic information is conserved; personal information varies with the degree of awakening. Continuous and holistic.
Internal Tensions
Where each work's argument pulls against itself.
The panjiao method is inherently self-serving: it places Zongmi's own Huayan-Chan synthesis at the top. Madhyamaka critics would argue that Zongmi reifies buddha-nature into a substantival absolute, violating the emptiness teaching. Chan purists (especially the Hongzhou lineage of Mazu Daoyi) rejected Zongmi's insistence on doctrinal study as a betrayal of the "direct pointing" that defines Chan. The text's smooth reconciliation of Buddhism with Confucianism and Daoism may flatten genuine philosophical differences.