Jīngāng jīng shū jì huìbiān 金剛經疏記會編
Combined Edition of the Diamond Sūtra Commentary and Sub-Commentary by 行策 Xíngcè (會編)
About the work
A one-juan early-Qīng combined-edition Huáyán Vajracchedikā commentary by Zhùmèng Xíngcè 截流行策 (1628–1682), the leading Pure-Land patriarch of the Shùnzhì–Kāngxī generation. The catalog credit-line huìbiān 會編 (“combined edition”) indicates Xíngcè’s Vajracchedikā project: he interleaved the same 宗密 Zōngmì Zuǎnyào and 子璿 Zǐxuán Kāndìngjì materials treated more elaborately in KR6c0079, producing a more compact one-juan combined-edition version. notBefore set to 1660 (Xíngcè’s mature commentary period); notAfter = 1682 (Xíngcè’s death). Preserved as X25 no. 492. Catalog dynasty 清.
Abstract
The opening preface (No. 492-A) lays out a classical Sòng-Míng triple-Prajñā framing: the Vajracchedikā may be analyzed into shíxiàng 實相 (Reality) like the firmness of vajra (the lǐjīng 理經 / “noumenal sūtra”), guānzhào 觀照 (Contemplation) like the cutting-power of vajra (the xíngjīng 行經 / “practice sūtra”), and wénzì 文字 (Letter) like the radiance of vajra (the jiàojīng 教經 / “instructional sūtra”). Two sudden-awakening exemplars are adduced: the 慧能 Sixth Patriarch awoke at the line yīng wú suǒ zhù ér shēng qí xīn 應無所住而生其心 (“one should give rise to mind without dwelling on anything”); 明本 Zhōngfēng Míngběn (1263–1323) awoke at the line hè dān rúlái Ānòuduōluó sānmiǎo sānpútí 荷擔如來阿耨多羅三藐三菩提 (“shouldering the anuttarā samyaksaṃbodhi of the Tathāgata”). The body then presents Xíngcè’s huìbiān — the Zōngmì + Zǐxuán materials compressed into a single juan and presented in a unified format intended for personal devotional study, with a Pure-Land orientation characteristic of Xíngcè’s broader project (cf. his Liànzōng jiǔ yào 蓮宗九要).
Translations and research
- For Xíngcè’s life and his place in the Pure-Land patriarch lineage (he is honored as the tenth patriarch of the Lotus tradition), see modern surveys of Qīng Pure-Land Buddhism.
- The combined-edition genre to which this text belongs (huìbiān 會編 / huìyào 會要) is treated in studies of Qīng Buddhist editorial practice.
Other points of interest
That a Pure-Land-school master of Xíngcè’s stature would produce a Vajracchedikā commentary is symptomatic of the deep Chán-Pure-Land-Huáyán synthesis characteristic of the Qīng. The Vajracchedikā — historically a Chán touchstone — was simultaneously embraced as a Pure-Land devotional text via its association with merit-recitation; Xíngcè’s project here threads both traditions into a single compact study-edition.