Fǎhuá jīng shòushǒu 法華經授手
Hand-Bestowal Commentary on the Lotus Sūtra by 智祥 (Zhìxiáng / Pínjí Zhìxiáng / Tīngyún, 集 — compiler)
About the work
A ten-juan mid-Qīng compiled commentary on the Lotus Sūtra by the Línjì Chán master Pínjí 智祥 Zhìxiáng (1637–1709). The principal substantive volume of the three-part Shòushǒu complex (KR6d0087 front matter; KR6d0088 sectional analysis; KR6d0089 main commentary). The title’s metaphor shòushǒu 授手 (“hand-bestowal”) indicates a commentary intended for direct face-to-face pedagogical transmission, parallel in concept to the late-imperial Confucian qīnchuán 親傳 (personal-transmission) and xīnyìn 心印 (heart-seal) productive forms.
Prefaces
The text in the X32n0623 recension carries the standard front matter (referenced in KR6d0087) and proceeds with chapter-by-chapter exposition of the Lotus Sūtra. The body attribution names Zhìxiáng as compiler (集 jí).
Abstract
Zhìxiáng’s Shòushǒu belongs to the high-Kāngxī through early-Qiánlóng productive period of mid-Qīng Buddhist commentary, parallel to but earlier than 大義 Dàyì’s Dàchéng (KR6d0085). The work draws on the Tiāntái commentarial tradition, the Sòng Yàojiě tradition of 戒環 Jièhuán, and the late-Míng critical-evaluative apparatus of Hānshān 德清 Déqīng and Ǒuyì 智旭 Zhìxù, synthesising these into a Línjì Chán-inflected Lotus Sūtra exposition suitable for late-Qīng monastic and lay readership.
The work is one of the principal mid-Qīng Línjì Chán productions on the Lotus Sūtra and complements the parallel productions of the Línjì tradition (the various yǔlù of the Mìyún 圓悟 and successor lineages preserved in the Manji-zoku canon) by providing systematic Mahāyāna scholastic apparatus rather than direct Chán yǔlù material.
The composition is bracketed within Zhìxiáng’s productive period c. 1670–1709.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The three-part Shòushǒu complex (front matter, sectional analysis, main commentary) is one of the most fully apparatus-equipped Lotus Sūtra commentarial productions in the canonical apparatus, paralleled in completeness only by Dàyì’s Dàchéng complex (KR6d0084–KR6d0086). The systematic provision of complete navigational and substantive apparatus by major mid-Qīng commentators demonstrates the high editorial-scholastic standards of the period and the institutional vitality of mid-Qīng Buddhist publishing.