Fǎhuá jīng kēzhù 法華經科註
Sectional-Analysis-and-Annotation Subcommentary on the Lotus Sūtra by 守倫 (Shǒulún / Kēshān Lún, 註); collated by 法濟 (Fǎjì of Yùxī Pútíān, 參訂)
About the work
A ten-juan Sòng-period subcommentary on the Lotus Sūtra (法華經科註) by 守倫 Shǒulún of the Kēshān Jīnqī Qīyúnsì 柯山金谿棲雲寺, subsequently collated and corrected (cāndìng 參訂) by the Míng monk 法濟 Fǎjì of the Yùxī Pútíān 玉溪菩提菴, with a preface by Fǎjì’s teacher 聖行 Shèngxíng dated Chóngzhēn 1 (= 1628 CE). The work belongs to the Sòng-period kēzhù 科註 (“sectional-analysis-and-annotation”) genre, combining hierarchical structural analysis (kē 科) with phrase-by-phrase glossarial annotation (zhù 註).
Catalog note: the data/catalogs/meta/KR6d.yaml entry gives the editor’s name as 法濟參 (with the function-marker 參 incorrectly merged into the name); the actual person is Fǎjì 法濟 with function 參訂 (“collated and corrected”). The wikilink and frontmatter persons-list are corrected accordingly.
Prefaces
The text opens with the Preface to the Engraving of the Annotated Lotus Sūtra (《刻註法華經序》) by 聖行 Shèngxíng, dated Chóngzhēn 1 (1628). The preface frames the editorial project: “The Lotus Sūtra alone crowns the head of all sūtras; it directly grants the assembled potentials and only ceases when [they] become Buddha. The sūtra says: ‘Open / show / awaken / enter the Buddha’s knowledge-and-vision’ — supreme indeed; this is what is called the one great matter of cause-and-condition. The Tiāntái Great Master (智顗), reading the sūtra, reaching ‘this is named true diligence; this is named true dharma-offering,’ awakened to [the truth that] the Spirit-Mountain assembly was solemnly not yet dispersed. He took it as his question to Master Sī of Nányuè (慧思), who said: ‘Without you, I would not have awakened; without me, you would not have known. Among text-dharma-masters there is none equal to you.’ Therefore [Zhìzhě] expounded the Xuányì (Fǎhuá xuányì 法華玄義 KR6d0006) to explain the title, and further spoke the Wénjù (Fǎhuá wénjù 法華文句 KR6d0014) to explain the sūtra; Zhāngān zūnzhě (灌頂 Guàndǐng) recorded these as a unified collection. Subsequently various masters provided annotations, with much variation in detail and consistency, and not unified in doctrinal purport — like rivers that all drink from the same source, not departing from the great ocean.
“In the Zhào-Sòng, the Kēshān Qīyún śramaṇa by name Shǒulún, devoted to filial care of his parents, casting his footprints to forests and springs, annotated this sūtra. Surpassing two dǎo [periods] of years, he reached completion. The whole [is based on the] Tiāntái lineage’s sectional-analyses-and-section-divisions, in approximately twenty juan. Those entering the Tiāntái lineage will see at one glance, having no difficulty entering deeply. The deceased master Ōushēng once obtained…”
Abstract
Shǒulún’s Kēzhù is a Sòng-period adaptation of the Tiāntái scholastic kēpàn 科判 method to the Lotus Sūtra, providing both detailed sectional analysis and phrase-by-phrase annotation. The work originally circulated in approximately twenty juan (per Shèngxíng’s preface), though the Manji-zoku canonical recension preserves it in ten — possibly representing a subsequent condensation. The Tiāntái-school structural framework is explicit: “The whole [is based on the] Tiāntái lineage’s sectional-analyses-and-section-divisions.”
The Míng-period editorial layer (Fǎjì’s cāndìng 參訂 = “collation and correction” with Shèngxíng’s preface dated 1628) added a substantial late-Míng dimension to the work: scribal corrections, variant-collation, and re-engraving for printing at the Yùxī Pútíān. The combination of Sòng original substance and late-Míng editorial intervention is characteristic of the broader late-Míng monastic publishing renaissance under the Jiāxīngzàng tradition.
The dating is consequently complex: Shǒulún’s original composition is securely Sòng (his teacher and lineage are unrecorded but the citation tradition is consistent), while the surviving recension reflects substantial late-Míng editorial intervention completed by 1628. A defensible bracket of 1100–1628 covers the entire textual development.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The substantial scale of Shǒulún’s work — composed over more than two decades (“Surpassing two dǎo of years”) — and its preservation only through late-Míng editorial intervention demonstrates both the institutional vitality of the Sòng Tiāntái-derived commentarial tradition and the importance of late-Míng monastic publishing for the survival of the broader Sòng commentarial corpus. Many Sòng works in the Manji-zoku canon survive only through similar late-Míng editorial recovery and re-publication.