Fǎhuá wǔbǎi wèn lùn 法華五百問論
Treatise of Five Hundred Questions on the Lotus Sūtra by 湛然 (Zhànrán / Jīngxī Zhànrán, 述)
About the work
A three-juan late-Táng polemical treatise by Zhànrán 湛然 in the wǔbǎi wèn 五百問 (“five hundred questions”) format, addressing five hundred contested points in Lotus Sūtra interpretation — particularly Cí’ēn-school 慈恩 (Yogācāra) and Sānlùn 三論 (Madhyamaka) interpretations against which Zhànrán defended the Tiāntái orthodoxy.
Abstract
The work is one of Zhànrán’s principal polemical-doctrinal productions, providing the most extensive late-Táng Tiāntái defense of the school’s distinctive Lotus Sūtra interpretation against rival school positions. The composition is bracketed within Zhànrán’s mature productive period c. 750–782.
Translations and research
- Penkower, Linda L. “T’ien-t’ai during the T’ang Dynasty: Chan-jan and the Sinification of Buddhism.” PhD diss., Columbia University, 1993.