Jīngāng bōrě jīng shūlùn zuǎnyào 金剛般若經疏論纂要
The Compendious-Essentials Commentary on the Diamond Sūtra expounded by 宗密 (Zōngmì, 述); editorial recension by 子璿 (Chángshuǐ Zǐxuán, 治定)
About the work
A two-juan Tang Huáyán-Chán synthesis commentary on the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra, composed by Zōngmì 宗密 (780–841), the fifth Huáyán patriarch and the principal Tang doctrinal-synthesis figure of the Huáyán-Chán integration. The text was subsequently edited and structurally reorganized by Chángshuǐ Zǐxuán 長水子璿 (965–1038) for Sòng-period transmission. The work integrates Zōngmì’s distinctive five-teaching classification (wǔ jiào 五教) and threefold-truth Huáyán-Chán framework with the Vajracchedikā’s prajñā doctrine. Preserved at T33 no. 1701.
Abstract
Authorship: composed by Zōngmì 宗密 (780–841 CE), the fifth patriarch of the Huáyán school and the principal Tang Huáyán-Chán synthesizer. notBefore = 820 (Zōngmì’s mature scholarly period); notAfter = 841 (Zōngmì’s death).
The work was extensively edited by Zǐxuán in the early Sòng — making the received text a Sòng-redacted Tang composition preserving Zōngmì’s substantive content within Zǐxuán’s structural-editorial framework. The structural-outline (kē 科) extract is preserved separately at KR6c0040.
The commentary applies Zōngmì’s distinctive five-teaching classification (五教 = xiǎojiào / shǐjiào / zhōngjiào / dùnjiào / yuánjiào) and doctrinal-synthesis (pànjiào 判教) framework — locating the Vajracchedikā at the foundational layer of Mahāyāna prajñā doctrine while pointing toward the higher syntheses of the Huáyán yuánjiào perfect-teaching. This positioning was foundational for the subsequent Huáyán-Chán synthesis tradition.
The work is one of the principal pre-modern Chinese Huáyán-Chán synthesis commentaries on the Vajracchedikā and a primary witness to the Tang Huáyán-Chán doctrinal-integrative tradition.
Translations and research
- Gregory, Peter N. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism. Princeton, 1991; reprinted Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002.
- Hamar, Imre. A Religious Leader in the Tang. Studia Philologica Buddhica, 2002.