Rénwáng jīng shū 仁王經疏
Subcommentary on the Sūtra of the Humane King by 圓測 Wǒnch’ǔk (撰)
About the work
A three-fascicle Tang Yogācāra-school subcommentary on the Rénwáng-jīng (KR6c0202 = T245), composed by 圓測 Wǒnch’ǔk (613–696), the Silla-born Yogācāra master and senior disciple of 玄奘 Xuánzàng. Preserved in the Taishō as T1708. Three fascicles. Companion piece in Wǒnch’ǔk’s commentarial output to his Heart Sūtra commentary T1711 (KR6c0138) and his Saṃdhinirmocana commentary T675 (Sòng xù).
Prefaces
The Taishō witness opens with the standard Wǒnch’ǔk-style four-gate exegetical apparatus, paralleling the methodology of his Heart Sūtra commentary T1711: (1) jiào qǐ yīnyuán (causes and conditions of teaching’s arising); (2) biàn jīng zōngtǐ (essential thesis and verbal substance); (3) xùn shì tímù (title gloss); (4) pàn wén jiěshì (line-by-line explication).
Abstract
T1708 is the principal Yogācāra-school commentary on the Rénwáng-jīng and a primary document of the Tang Xīmíng sub-lineage of Cí’ēn-school Yogācāra (Wǒnch’ǔk’s lineage). Doctrinally Wǒnch’ǔk reads the sūtra through the trisvabhāva (three-natures) Yogācāra frame, integrating the Rénwáng-jīng’s royal-protective programme into the Yogācāra doctrinal synthesis.
The doctrinal contrast with the contemporary Tiāntái reading (T1705 by Zhìyǐ-and-Guàndǐng) and the Sānlùn-Madhyamaka reading (T1707 by Jízàng) is significant. The three Suí-Tang commentaries (Tiāntái, Sānlùn, Cí’ēn-Yogācāra) constitute the canonical doctrinal range for Rénwáng-jīng exegesis in classical Chinese Buddhism.
For the broader history, T1708 is significant as: (i) one of the few Wǒnch’ǔk works to enter the printed canon directly (rather than only through his more famous Saṃdhinirmocana commentary, partly preserved in Tibetan); (ii) a primary witness to the Cí’ēn / Xīmíng sub-school’s engagement with state-Buddhist scriptures; and (iii) a major source for the Korean Yogācāra-school’s reading of the Rénwáng-jīng tradition.
The work was widely transmitted in Korea (where it became a foundational document of the Korean Hwaeom and Beopsang schools’ state-Buddhist political theology) and entered Japan through the Hossō-school transmission.
Composition date: no internal dating. Wǒnch’ǔk’s mature commentarial career spans c. 660–696. The bracket reflects this conservative window.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located of T1708 specifically.
- For Wǒnch’ǔk and the Xīmíng-school Yogācāra, see the references for KR6c0138 (Wǒnch’ǔk’s Heart Sūtra commentary).
- For the Rénwáng-jīng tradition, Charles D. Orzech, Politics and Transcendent Wisdom (1998).
- Modern Korean-language scholarship: 韓國佛教史 (Korean Buddhist History), various studies on Wǒnch’ǔk’s role in Korean Yogācāra.
Other points of interest
The Korean reception of T1708 is particularly important: the Silla and Koryŏ monastic centres preserved Wǒnch’ǔk’s Rénwáng-jīng commentary as the foundational doctrinal source for Korean state-Buddhist ritual practice, paralleling the Chinese Tiāntái reception of Zhìyǐ’s T1705 and the Japanese Hossō reception of Wǒnch’ǔk’s broader corpus.