Dà bōrě jīng guānfǎ 大般若經關法
Passage-Key Method on the Great Prajñā Sūtra arranged by 大隱 Dàyǐn (排定, sobriquet Xuěyuè dàshī 雪月大師)
About the work
A six-fascicle Northern-Sòng (Rén-zōng era, 1023–1063) guānfǎ (passage-key methodology) for 玄奘 Xuánzàng’s 600-fascicle Mahāprajñāpāramitā-sūtra (T220, KR6c0001), arranged by 大隱 Dàyǐn Xuěyuè dàshī of Fèngchéng. Preserved in the Wàn xùzàng / Manji zoku-zō as X448. Six fascicles.
The guānfǎ genre is a distinctive late-imperial Chinese Buddhist mnemonic-pedagogical method: by mastering the passage-keys (key structural passages) of a long sūtra, the student gains the capacity to memorise and recite the entire text. Dàyǐn’s work focuses specifically on the 103-fascicle Nán-xìn-jiě-pǐn 難信解品 (Hard-to-Believe-and-Understand Section) of the Mahāprajñā.
Prefaces
The work opens with an opening verse (No. 448-A): 「般若通關法 連環妙難思 如來甚深智 統攝受無遺 雪月施巧慧 千載仰芳規 雪竇四世裔 本覺守一師 昔曾結經社 流通願力丕…」 — “The Prajñā passage-through method / Linked-rings, wondrous beyond thought / The Tathāgata’s profound wisdom / Comprehensively gathered without remainder / Xuěyuè bestowed his ingenious wisdom / For a thousand years honoured as fragrant model / The Xuědòu fourth-generation descendant / Běnjué Shǒuyī master / Once bound the sūtra society / Circulating with vow-power’s greatness…“. The verse documents the work’s transmission through the Xuědòu lineage (from 雪竇重顯 Xuědòu Chóngxiǎn, 980–1052) to the fourth-generation 本覺守一 Běnjué Shǒuyī, and the formation of a jīngshè 經社 (sūtra-society) for circulating the work.
Abstract
X448 is the principal Northern-Sòng work on the guānfǎ (passage-key) method for Prajñāpāramitā memorisation. Doctrinally the work assumes the canonical Tang scholastic Mahāprajñā doctrinal framework but focuses on the practical-pedagogical task of enabling memorisation of the very long sūtra through structural-key learning.
For the wider history, X448 is significant as: (i) a primary witness to the Northern-Sòng jiǎng-jīng (sūtra-lecturing) pedagogical practice; (ii) documentation of the Xuědòu-line Sòng Yúnmén-school’s interest in Prajñāpāramitā literature; and (iii) a substantial Sòng contribution to the long Chinese tradition of Buddhist mnemonic methodology.
The Fózǔ tǒngjì notice (j. 47, paraphrased in Dàyǐn’s person note) records the work’s late-Sòng transmission via an anonymous śramaṇa to the Sì-míng region during the Chúnxī era (1174–1189) — establishing that the work continued in active pedagogical use over a century after Dàyǐn’s death.
Composition date: Dàyǐn’s career falls in the Rénzōng era (1023–1063). The bracket notBefore 1020 / notAfter 1063 reflects this conservative window.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- For the guānfǎ methodology, see modern studies of the Chinese Buddhist mnemonic tradition.
- For the Northern Sòng Mahāprajñā reception, see Tansen Sen, Buddhism, Diplomacy, and Trade (2003).
- For the Xuědòu-line transmission context, see modern scholarship on Sòng Yúnmén-school Buddhism.
Other points of interest
The opening verse’s documentation of the Xuědòu-line transmission (from Xuědòu Chóngxiǎn through Běnjué Shǒuyī to Dàyǐn as the fourth-generation descendant) is independently valuable for tracing the Yúnmén-school’s Prajñāpāramitā engagement. The reference to a jīngshè (sūtra-society) for circulating the guānfǎ documents one of the key Sòng-period institutional forms for Buddhist study and devotional practice.