The Evolution of the “Three Dots of the Character Yi” in Mahāyāna Buddhism: With a Focus on Fang Yizhi’s “Perfect ∴” Theory

Fang Yizhi was a prominent Confucian Buddhist philosopher of the late Ming Dynasty, whose thought centered on the theory of “Perfect ∴.” This paper traces the evolution of the meaning of the “three dots of the character Yi” in texts of the Tiantai, Huayan, and Chan schools of Chinese Mahāyāna Buddhism. Building on this foundation, and by integrating the specific texts and ideas of Fang Yizhi, this paper analyzes how his theory of the Perfect ∴ synthesizes the philosophy of the Zhouyi, reformulates the conceptual content of the Buddhist symbol ∴, and thereby offers a new potential pathway for understanding the intellectual trend of the synthesis of the Three Teachings in the late Ming Dynasty.