Móhē zhǐguān yìlì suíshì 摩訶止觀義例隨釋
Following-Explanation Subcommentary on the Examples-and-Cases of Mahā-Cessation-and-Contemplation by 處元 (Chǔyuán / Cǎotáng Chǔyuán, 述)
About the work
A six-juan Northern-Sòng running subcommentary on 湛然 Zhànrán’s Zhǐguān yìlì (KR6d0132, T1913) by 處元 Chǔyuán (1030–1119) of the shānjiā lineage. The genre — suíshì 隨釋 (“following-explanation”) — indicates a continuous commentary that follows the source-text pari passu, providing systematic phrase-by-phrase exposition. Parallel in genre and period to 從義 Cóngyì’s Yìlì zuǎnyào (KR6d0139).
Prefaces
The text in the X56n0923 recension carries the standard front matter; the body proceeds with the running commentary.
Abstract
Chǔyuán’s Suíshì and Cóngyì’s Zuǎnyào together represent the two principal Northern-Sòng shānjiā subcommentaries on Zhànrán’s Zhǐguān yìlì — both works compositionally located in the productive period 1060–1119. The two subcommentaries’ parallel existence demonstrates the substantial Northern-Sòng shānjiā scholastic engagement with the Zhǐguān yìlì, parallel to the multi-commentary tradition on the Móhē zhǐguān itself (KR6d0131, KR6d0137, KR6d0138).
The composition is bracketed within Chǔyuán’s productive period c. 1060–1119.
Translations and research
- Getz, Daniel A. “T’ien-t’ai Pure Land Societies and the Creation of the Pure Land Patriarchate.” In Buddhism in the Sung, eds. Peter N. Gregory and Daniel A. Getz, 477–523. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1999.