Jīngāng bānruò jīng xiázhù 金剛般若經挾註
Interlinear-Annotation Edition of the Diamond Sūtra [anonymous]
About the work
An anonymous one-juan interlinear-annotation edition of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra recovered from the Dūnhuáng cache and preserved as T85 no. 2739. The catalog title-character xiázhù 挾註 (“escorting / interlinear annotation”) identifies the format: the sūtra-text is presented in main-character size, with annotation in small-character interlinear-block running between sūtra-passages — a layout designed for personal-study reading rather than scholastic disputation. Companion to KR6c0109 and KR6c0110 in the cluster of anonymous Dūnhuáng Vajracchedikā commentaries. notBefore / notAfter set very broadly (600–900). Catalog dynasty 唐.
Abstract
The surviving fragment exhibits the xiázhù layout in action: lemma-and-annotation pairs flow with the sūtra. Sample passage (with manuscript lacunae): jiàn zhū xiāng fēi xiāng, jí jiàn rúlái (見諸相非相，即見如來) — annotation in small-character: (rúlái fǎkōng) (如來法空, “the Tathāgata is the dharma’s emptiness”); (líxiāng ér jiàn yǐ yě) (離相而見矣也, “departing-from-marks, then there is seeing”). And: Sùpútí, bái fó yán shìzūn … — annotation: (fánfū xīn xìn yīn qǔxiāng shēng kǒng wén shì lǐ wú chù jì xīn) (凡夫心信因取相生恐聞是理無處寄心 — “ordinary-being’s mind, signal arising from grasping marks; fearing that hearing this principle there is nowhere for the mind to settle”). The annotation register is brisk and elementary, suiting a personal study-aid rather than a learned commentary. The work is a useful witness to the practical reception of the Vajracchedikā in Dūnhuáng monastic and lay circles during the late-Táng / Five Dynasties period.
Translations and research
- See KR6c0107 for general references on Dūnhuáng Vajracchedikā commentary scholarship.
Links
- CBETA online
- Author: anonymous
- Genre: Dūnhuáng-recovered interlinear-annotation edition
- Companion anonymous Dūnhuáng commentaries: KR6c0109, KR6c0110
- Commented text: KR6c0023
- Dazangthings date evidence (762): [ Ho 2016 ] Ho, Chiew Hui. “Imagining the Beginnings of the Cult of the Diamond Sutra.” International Journal for the Study of Chan Buddhism and Human Civilization 1 (2016): 5-36. 13-14 https://dazangthings.nz/cbc/source/414/
- Kanseki DB