華嚴宗古德注重以心為基礎來闡釋教理。《華嚴經》中的「畫師之喻」、「三界唯心」等佛陀開示法語成為「唯心」問題提出以及後世詮釋的文獻依據，連同《十地經論》、《起信論》對《華嚴經》的「唯心」問題的承接構成了唐代華嚴宗祖師們的前理解。華嚴宗對「唯心」問題的發揮，主要可以展開為四個向度：從法界的心本源的角度闡釋一心攝四法界、從心之運轉的角度論說一心統十玄門、從判教的層面揭示出五教一心、對經論命題「三界唯心」的創造性詮釋。華嚴學者致力於將一心貫徹于華嚴教學之中，繼而彰顯出華嚴宗以心為基礎的別教一乘的理論特色。

The saints of Huayan School regarded the mind as the basic concept to interpret Buddhism theory. The statements on the metaphorical speech of the painter and Mind-only in three realms in Avatamsaka Sutra provide a reliable literature basis to bring up and explain the concept of “one-mind”. The Awakening of Mahayana Faith and Ten Stages Sastra provide pre-understanding about it for founders of Huayan School in Tang Dynasty, succeeding the theory of one-mind of Avatamsaka Sutra. Huayan School develops understanding of one-mind in four dimensions including four dharma taken in one-mind from the perspective of spiritual essence of Dharmadhatu, ten mysterious gates taken in one-mind from the perspective of mind operation, five teaching taken in onemind from the perspective of teaching classification and creative understanding on mind-only in three realms in Avatamsaka Sutra. The scholars of Huayan School focus on applying one-mind to its teaching and highlight the theoretical characteristic of distinct teaching of the single vehicle which Huayan theory is based on one-mind.