Rénwáng jīng shū fǎhéng chāo 仁王經疏法衡鈔
“Dharma-Balance Notes” on the Subcommentary on the Rénwáng-jīng by 遇榮 Yùróng (集, sobriquet Guǎngyǎn dàshī 廣演大師)
About the work
A six-fascicle Northern Sòng-era sub-commentary on 良賁 Liángbì’s Rénwáng hùguó bōrě bōluómìduō jīng shū (T1709 = KR6c0208) by 遇榮 Yùróng, the Guǎngyǎn dàshī of the imperial Yìjīng-yuàn. Preserved in the Wàn xùzàng / Manji zoku-zō as X519. Six fascicles. Catalog correction: the catalog meta places this under the Tang dynasty, but the DILA evidence and the colophonic Yìjīng-yuàn honorific point unambiguously to Northern Sòng provenance.
The genre marker — fǎhéng chāo “dharma-balance notes” — is one of Yùróng’s distinctive héng (“balance-judging”) titles, paralleling his Yúlánpén jīng shū xiàohéng chāo on the Yúlánpén jīng. The metaphor suggests a balanced, judicious assessment of the parent commentary’s doctrinal positions.
Prefaces
The Taishō witness opens directly with the colophonic title: 「譯經證義講經律論廣演大師遇榮 集」 — “Compiled by Yùróng, Master of Broad Elaboration, Translation-Bureau Authenticator-of-Sense, Lecturer on Sūtra-Vinaya-Treatises”. The body then proceeds with the standard kē-jiě (outline-and-explication) structure.
The opening exposition demonstrates substantial scholastic ambition:
- “Now Prajñā is broad-and-extensive, the sūtra-purport profound-and-deep. The ancients composed subcommentaries to explain the sūtra; now I write notes to praise the subcommentary. Explaining this sūtra-subcommentary divides into three parts: first, explain the subcommentary’s title; second, identify the person who composed it; third, explain the subcommentary’s main text. Explaining the title divides into two: first, explain the entire work’s general name; later, explain this fascicle’s particular designation. The general name divides into two: first, separate explanation; later, combined explanation. Separate explanation divides into two: first, address the explained sūtra-title; later, address the explaining subcommentary character…”
- The Sanskrit title-reconstruction follows: 「梵語磨努產捺囉䟦囉囉瑟咤囉般囉枳穰(二合)波囉弭多素呾纜華言仁王護國慧到彼岸經」 — “Sanskrit: Manuṣyendra-rāṣṭra-prajñā-pāramitā-sūtra. Chinese: Sūtra of the Humane King’s State-Protecting Wisdom-Reaching-Far-Shore.”
This is sophisticated philological work: Yùróng provides a Sanskrit-character reconstruction of the title (using the standard Northern Sòng phonological system) alongside the Chinese, attempting a more literally-faithful translation than Amoghavajra’s standard form.
Abstract
X519 is one of the most substantive Northern Sòng Rénwáng-jīng commentary projects and a primary witness to the Northern Sòng imperial Yìjīng-yuàn’s scholastic activity beyond its core translation work. Doctrinally Yùróng follows Liángbì’s Tang esoteric reading (T1709) but with substantial Northern Sòng updates including: (i) sophisticated Sanskrit philology drawing on the Yìjīng-yuàn’s linguistic resources; (ii) integration with subsequent Tang-Sòng commentarial materials; and (iii) characteristically Sòng-period scholastic apparatus.
The six-fascicle scale and the systematic methodology make X519 the most ambitious Northern Sòng Rénwáng-jīng commentary project, complementing the contemporary Tiāntái revival and the Yìjīng-yuàn translation programme.
For the wider history, X519 is significant as: (i) one of the relatively few Northern Sòng Yìjīng-yuàn doctrinal commentaries preserved; (ii) a primary witness to the bureau’s scholarly methodology; and (iii) a major node in the post-Tang Rénwáng-jīng commentary tradition.
Composition date: no internal dating. Yùróng’s Yìjīng-yuàn affiliation places him in the Northern Sòng (the bureau was established 982 and active through the late 11th century). The bracket notBefore 980 / notAfter 1100 is conservative.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- For the Northern Sòng Yìjīng-yuàn, see Tansen Sen, Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade (Honolulu, 2003) — fundamental.
- For the Rénwáng-jīng tradition, Charles D. Orzech (1998).
- For Liángbì’s parent commentary T1709, see KR6c0208.
Other points of interest
The Sanskrit title-reconstruction in the opening is one of the more philologically sophisticated late-imperial Chinese Buddhist exercises in Sanskrit-Chinese comparative philology. Yùróng’s reconstruction Manuṣyendra-rāṣṭra-prajñā-pāramitā-sūtra attempts to give a literal Sanskrit equivalent for the Chinese Rénwáng hùguó bōrě bōluómìduō jīng — an interesting glimpse into Northern Sòng Yìjīng-yuàn methodology.