origination by means of ‘tathagata…garbha‘； which
has been generally accepted as the foundation since
Fa…tsang； the first and foremost master of the
Hua…yen school）。 On the highest hermeneutic level；
I state that we must attempt a kind of
〃critical/creative transcendence〃 and acplish
for the author his unfinished philosophical task；
and reach the following tentative conclusion： 〃The
theoretical structure of the Awakening of Faith
must have the transmetaphysical gate of non…duality
and the existential gate of awakening/nonawakening
as the twofold foundation； upon which the
‘prajnological‘ gate of ‘paramartha/samvrti‘ can be
established； and then； based on this
‘prajnological‘ gate； can the gate of dependent
origination by means of ‘tathagata…garbha‘ be
established； enpassing the gates of mind/nature；
of mind/consciousness； and of 〃true forms〃。 As to
the remaining gates； they are all derivable from
the above fundamental gates。
In my view； the entire historical development
of the （major） Buddhist ‘sutras‘ （scriptures） and
sastras （philosophical treatises） can be construed
to make up a great history of creative hermeneutics
within the Buddhist tradition。 And the Awakening of
Faith； as one of the first…rate philosophical
treatises exploring the deeper meaning and
philosophical foundation of Mahayana Buddhism； also
should be further studied in this very light for
the future development of Dharma。