Jīngāng bōrě shū 金剛般若疏
Commentary on the Diamond Sūtra by 吉藏 (Jízàng, 撰)
About the work
A four-juan Sānlùn-tradition commentary on the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra by Jízàng 吉藏 (549–623), the founding systematizer of the Chinese Sānlùn 三論 (Mādhyamika) school. The byline reads 胡吉藏法師撰 (“Composed by the Hú [Sogdian / Western-Region origin] Dharma-Master Jízàng” — Jízàng’s Sogdian-descent ancestry is preserved in this honorific). Preserved at T33 no. 1699.
Prefaces
The text opens with the Jīngāng bōrě jīng xù 金剛般若經序 (Sutra-preface):
The Vajracchedikā prajñāpāramitā-sūtra is the empty-clarity of the three contemplations, the deep arrival of the One Real. In old times, in the Deer Park, this maṇi-jewel had not yet shone. Now, in the elder’s garden [Anāthapiṇḍika’s Jeta-grove], this sweet dew is at last sprinkled. Truly because of small-aspirations first opening, [the Buddha] earlier ran the sheep-and-deer carriages [the small-vehicle teachings]. The great-mind first arousing — only then drives this white ox [the Mahāyāna]. This is the right teaching’s offering-pattern, the bodhisattva’s clear instruction. Not cloud, not rain — its virtue moistens the four births. Not sun, not moon — it illumines the three realms. Gathering the ten-thousand practices, like the great sea receiving the various rivers; sweeping clean the chaotic differences…
[The substantive commentary follows in 4 juan, treating the Vajracchedikā through Jízàng’s distinctive Sānlùn doctrinal-classificatory framework.]
Abstract
Authorship: composed by Jízàng 吉藏 (lay surname Ān 安, of Sogdian ancestry from the Western Regions; 549–623), the founding systematizer of the Chinese Sānlùn 三論 school. Jízàng was based at Jiāxíngsì 嘉祥寺 in Kuàijī 會稽 — hence his alternate sobriquet Jiāxíng dàshī 嘉祥大師. notBefore = 590 (Jízàng’s mature scholarly period); notAfter = 623 (his death).
The Sānlùn 三論 tradition derives from 鳩摩羅什 Kumārajīva’s (344–413) translations of the three Mādhyamika treatises (Zhōng lùn 中論 = Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Bǎi lùn 百論 = Śata-śāstra, Shí’èrmén lùn 十二門論 = Dvādaśanikāya-śāstra) — and Jízàng was its principal Chinese systematizer, writing extensive commentaries on each of the three treatises and on associated prajñāpāramitā literature including the present Vajracchedikā commentary.
The commentary applies Jízàng’s distinctive two-truths (èrdì 二諦) — conventional (sú 俗) and real (zhēn 真) — analytic framework to the Vajracchedikā, supplemented by his four-step double-truths (sìzhòng èrdì 四重二諦) progressive-deconstruction method. The work is one of the principal pre-Tang Mādhyamika commentaries on the Vajracchedikā and a primary witness to Sānlùn doctrinal practice.
Translations and research
- Koseki, Aaron K. Scholarship on Jízàng and English-language Sānlùn studies.
- Kanno Hiroshi 菅野博史. Japanese-language scholarship on Jízàng.
Other points of interest
The “Hú Jízàng” 胡吉藏 designation in the byline is a rare preservation of the Western-Regions ancestral background of the Chinese Buddhist scholar — Jízàng’s family had migrated from Ānxī 安息 (= Parthia / Persia) to China two generations before his birth. The recognition of his foreign-origin ancestry in his canonical byline is unusual and reflects the multi-cultural character of the early-Tang Buddhist establishment.
Links
- CBETA T33n1699
- Kanseki DB
- 吉藏 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (600) — Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭 (Tokyo: 1924–1932; CBReader v 5.0, 2014).