Guānyīn jīng xuányì jì tiáogè 觀音經玄義記條箇
Outline-by-Headings of the Guānyīn Sūtra Xuányì Subcommentary Anonymous (late Míng or early Qing).
About the work
A single-juan anonymous tiáogè 條箇 (item-by-item topic outline) of the combined edition of 知禮’s Zhīlǐ Guānyīn xuányì jì (KR6d0047, T1727), preserved as X35n0641 in the Xùzàngjīng. The work is the topic-index complement to the kēwén 科文 sectional analysis of KR6d0050, together with which it forms part of the late-Míng auxiliary apparatus on Zhīlǐ’s Xuányì jì.
Prefaces
The text opens with the Preface to the Engraving of the Guānyīn Xuányì Subcommentary (《刻觀音玄義疏記序》), the central source for the dating of the late-Míng combined-edition project. The preface explains: “Indeed the Pǔmén chapter, this is the proper standard of the liútōng (transmission) section in the Lotus Sūtra. The bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara has connections with the beings of this land. By [his] sound he meets the potential; no suffering [he] does not pluck out, no suffering [he] does not save; therefore [he] is called Guānyīn Pǔmén, perfect indeed. [What is called] potential-condition rapidly verifies samādhi. There was, in the Suí, the Tiāntái Zhìzhě dàshī 智顗, who used the separately-circulating Guānyīn xuányì in two juan to explain the title-meaning, and the Yìshū in two juan to explain the sūtra-text — separately circulating outside the [larger] sūtra-section. Later there was the Zhào-Sòng Sìmíng zūnzhě 知禮 [Zhīlǐ], who had the Guānyīn xuányì jì in four juan and the Yìshū jì in four juan. But each was separately bound and placed in the canon, inconvenient for beginners’ study. The Gōngbù official 王季常 Wáng Jìcháng jūshì (lay-disciple), with the intent of arranging the holy practice into a combined edition, began [the project] in Chóngzhēn 崇禎 1 wùchén [= 1628], the original year. When the draft was about to be completed, the gathering-disciple 法濟 Fǎjì took the draft to Jīnlíng 金陵 to seek the canon-cause; the lay-disciple [Wáng] thereupon mutually verified [it]. He first donated thirty jīn of his salary to be used for printing and circulation. Reaching the autumn day of jǐsì [1629]…”
Abstract
The Tiáogè is a topic-by-topic index to the combined-edition Xuányì jì, complementing the structural-diagram approach of KR6d0050. Where the Kēwén organises the text by hierarchical sectional division, the Tiáogè organises it by topical headings (tiáo 條, “items”; gè 箇, “individual”), allowing readers to locate specific doctrinal points without having to navigate the larger structural framework. The two together provide complementary navigational aids for the dense Sòng-period text.
The dating is securely fixed by the Kèxù preface to the late-1620s, with the printing project initiated by the lay-disciple 王季常 Wáng Jìcháng in Chóngzhēn 1 (1628) and completed in Chóngzhēn 2 (1629). The auxiliary apparatus (KR6d0050, KR6d0051, KR6d0053, KR6d0054) was probably completed in the same period or shortly thereafter.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The lay-disciple 王季常 Wáng Jìcháng’s jūshì sponsorship of the late-Míng combined-edition project is one of many examples of the substantial role of lay Buddhist patronage in the late-Míng monastic publishing enterprise. The Jīnlíng cuttings of the period — produced under the supervision of the Jiāxīngzàng 嘉興藏 / Jìngshānzàng 徑山藏 project at the Léngyánsì 楞嚴寺 — were a major channel of late-Míng Buddhist text production and depended substantially on lay patronage of this kind.