Fǎhuá jīng zhǐzhǎng shū kēwén 法華經指掌疏科文
Sectional Analysis of the Pointing-the-Palm Subcommentary on the Lotus Sūtra by 通理 Tōnglǐ (Dátiān Tōnglǐ / Chǎnjiào Chánshī, 述)
About the work
A single-juan sectional-analysis (kēwén 科文) volume of the four-text Fǎhuá jīng zhǐzhǎng shū commentarial complex by Dátiān Tōnglǐ 達天通理 (1701–1782), the principal mid-Qīng Beijing Buddhist scholar and Chǎnjiào Chánshī 闡教禪師 (“Chán-Master Who Expounds the Doctrine”). The four-text complex consists of: this work (KR6d0095, the sectional analysis); the Xuánshì (KR6d0096, the introductory exposition); the Zhǐzhǎng shū proper (KR6d0097, the seven-juan main commentary); and the Shìyì (KR6d0098, the matters-and-meanings glossary).
Prefaces
The text in the X33n0629 recension carries the standard front matter and consists primarily of hierarchical structural diagrams showing the kēpàn sectional division of the Zhǐzhǎng shū main commentary. The genre title — zhǐzhǎng 指掌 (“pointing-the-palm”) — is drawn from the classical Chinese metaphor of seeing something so clearly as if pointing to one’s own palm, indicating a commentary that aims at definitive transparent exposition.
Abstract
Tōnglǐ’s four-text Zhǐzhǎng shū complex is the most ambitious mid-Qīng Lotus Sūtra commentarial production after 大義 Dàyì’s Dàchéng (KR6d0085). Tōnglǐ was the principal Beijing Buddhist scholar of the high-Qiánlóng era; his productive period (c. 1750–1782) coincided with the imperial Lóngzàng canon project and represents the major non-imperial Beijing Buddhist commentarial output of the period.
The dating is bracketed within Tōnglǐ’s mature productive period c. 1750–1782; the four-text complex was probably composed and finalised as a coordinated editorial project rather than as four independent productions.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.