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金剛般若經疏

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Text ID
KR6c0037
Date
575–597
Dynasty
隋

Jīngāng bōrě jīng shū 金剛般若經疏

Commentary on the Diamond Sūtra expounded by 智顗 (Zhìyǐ, 說)

About the work

A single-juan Tiāntái-tradition commentary on the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra (Diamond Sūtra), expounded by Zhìyǐ 智顗 (538–597), the founding patriarch of the Tiāntái 天臺 school. The work is preserved in the Taishō at T33 no. 1698 (cf. its source-sutra at T235). The byline reads Suí Tiāntái Zhìzhě dàshī shuō 隋天台智者大師說 (“Expounded by the Suí Tiāntái Master of Wisdom”). Per the Tiāntái-school tradition, Zhìyǐ “spoke” (shuō 說) the commentary in lecture form to his disciples, who then recorded it — making the work an oral-lecture transcription rather than a formal authorial composition.

Prefaces

The text opens immediately with Zhìyǐ’s exegetical framework:

Briefly explaining the sūtra-title: the dharma is illustrated by the metaphor to mark the name. The prajñā is dim-mysterious, subtle, hard to fathom. Borrowing this metaphor — exactly so — to manifest the deep dharma. Gold has three meanings: (1) supreme among jewels, true and high, cannot be infringed or destroyed; (2) of beneficial use, freely smashing-and-breaking the various things; (3) inside-and-outside pure, with reflected images clearly manifest. Vajra is the meaning of “hard” — that is, body, life, and wealth. Body is the dharma-body; life is the wisdom-life; wealth is the dharma-wealth: the merit assists the Way…

[The commentary continues with sustained Tiāntái-doctrinal exegesis of the Vajracchedikā through the standard míngtǐzōngyòngjiào 名體宗用教 (“name-substance-lineage-function-teaching”) interpretive framework that Zhìyǐ pioneered.]

Abstract

Authorship and date: composed (or rather “spoken” and recorded) by Zhìyǐ 智顗 (538–597) during his mature period as Tiāntái-school founder. Dating: notBefore = 575 (Zhìyǐ’s establishment of his Tiāntái-mountain residence and the beginning of his mature lecturing); notAfter = 597 (Zhìyǐ’s death).

The work applies Zhìyǐ’s distinctive Tiāntái doctrinal-classificatory framework — including the standard “three Prajñā” (sān zhǒng bōrě 三種般若 = real-mark prajñā 實相般若, contemplating-illumining prajñā 觀照般若, and writing prajñā 文字般若) and the “three buddha-bodies” — to the Vajracchedikā, treating the diamond-metaphor as marking the threefold structure of prajñā in correspondence with the threefold structure of buddhahood.

The work is one of the earliest substantial Chinese commentaries on the Vajracchedikā (post the foundational Yáo-Qín period 僧肇 Sēngzhào commentary tradition) and the principal pre-Tang Tiāntái-tradition treatment of the sūtra. Its preservation in Tiāntái-school transmission lines made it foundational for the subsequent Tiāntái-school Vajracchedikā commentarial tradition.

Translations and research

  • Swanson, Paul L. Foundations of T’ien-T’ai Philosophy. Asian Humanities Press, 1989.
  • Stevenson, Daniel B., and Kanno Hiroshi 菅野博史. The Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra’s Course of Ease and Bliss. International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2006.
  • Ng Yu-Kwan. T’ien-T’ai Buddhism and Early Mādhyamika. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1993.

Other points of interest

The commentary’s oral-lecture-transcription format — explicitly marked by the shuō 說 verb in the byline (rather than zhuàn 撰 “composed”, zhù 著 “wrote”, or jí 集 “compiled”) — places it in the same Tiāntái-school documentary tradition as the great Móhē zhǐguān 摩訶止觀 (T1911), the Fǎhuá xuányì 法華玄義 (T1716), and other major Tiāntái-canonical works that descend from Zhìyǐ’s oral instruction as recorded by his disciples (especially 灌頂 Guàndǐng, 561–632, the principal Tiāntái-school transcriber).

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