Jīngāng jīng huìjiě liǎoyì 金剛經會解了義
The Diamond Sūtra: Combined Explanation of Definitive Meaning by 徐昌治 Xú Chāngzhì (纂)
About the work
A one-juan early-Qīng (Shùnzhì–early-Kāngxī) Vajracchedikā compendium by Xú Chāngzhì (sobriquet Wúyī dàorén 無依道人, Wǔyuán jūshì 武原居士), the dharma-heir of 通容 Fèiyǐn Tōngróng 費隱通容 in the Línjì-Yángqí line and ex-Míng-official lay-Buddhist editor (formally received Tōngróng’s fùfǎ in 1656, hence the lay-monastic dual identity). Xú had served as salt-supervisor at Hǎiníng (Hángzhōu prefecture) before reading the Śūraṅgama-sūtra triggered his renunciation of Confucian-official life for Chán study under 圓悟 Mìyún Yuánwù and his successors. The self-preface to the present huìjiě liǎoyì opens yú yú wùchén Yāndǐ, kǎoshòu Biéjià shí, sòngqǐ Jīngāngjīng, yuè jīn sānshíwǔ zài 予於戊辰燕邸，考授別駕時，誦起金剛經，閱今三十五載 (“In the wùchén year [1628] at my Beijing residence, when I was being examined for the post of Biéjià, I began to recite the Jīngāngjīng — and 35 years have now passed”). 1628 + 35 = 1663. notBefore = 1656 (Xú’s fùfǎ and adoption of the Wúyī dàorén sobriquet); notAfter = 1663 (self-dating). Preserved as X25 no. 486. Catalog dynasty 清.
Abstract
The self-preface lays out a remarkably articulate Chán meditation on the sūtra’s self-cancelling hermeneutic: “I have wanted to explain it through not-explaining; not at first ‘this is explicable, that not’; nor at second ‘some has explanation, some lacks explanation.’ I privately marvel at how rich the meaning is — yet ultimately no shallow: how could there be deep? No manifest: how could there be hidden?” The negations cascade: fǎ kě shuō ér fǎ yuán wú fǎ; bìng shuō yì wú shuō 法可說而法原無法，併說亦無說 (“dharma may be expounded yet dharma originally is no-dharma; expounding too is no-expounding”); wù kě dù ér wù wú qí wù; bìng dù yì fēi dù 物可度而物無其物，併度亦非度 (“beings may be ferried-across yet beings have no being; ferrying too is no-ferrying”). The body of the huìjiě compendium gathers selected best-readings from the major commentary tradition (智顗 Zhìyǐ, 宗密 Zōngmì, 子璿 Chángshuǐ, 楊圭 Yáng Guī, 德清 Hānshān, 真可 Zǐbǎi, 智旭 Zhìxù) and arranges them under the sūtra’s flow — liǎoyì (“definitive meaning”) signaling the editor’s claim that the resulting synthesis represents the sūtra’s settled doctrinal yield rather than a partial school-reading.
Translations and research
- For Xú’s life see Wǔdēng quánshū j. 71; Wǔdēng yántǒng mùlù j. 1; Wúyī dàorén lù j. 1.
- His Pòxié jí 破邪集 (anti-Christian polemic, commissioned by Fèiyǐn Tōngróng) is studied in Eugenio Menegon, Ancestors, Virgins, and Friars: Christianity as a Local Religion in Late Imperial China (HUP, 2009).
Other points of interest
Xú’s identity as both Línjì-Yángqí dharma-heir and lay-Buddhist editor makes him a transitional figure: he combines the formal Chán authority (the fùfǎ under Fèiyǐn) with literary editorial productivity (the Pòxié jí, the Zǔtíng zhǐnán, the Xǐngshì lù, the Gāosēng zhāiyào, the Wúyī dàorén lù, plus this huìjiě liǎoyì) — a pattern that became more common in the Qīng. The 35-year gestation between first reading (1628) and present compendium (1663) is a striking testimony of patient lay-Buddhist exegetical formation.