Biéchuán xīnfǎ yì 別傳心法議
Discussion of the Separately-Transmitted Heart-Dharma by 戒珠 (Jièzhū / Fēishān Jièzhū, 撰)
About the work
A single-juan Northern-Sòng polemical treatise by Fēishān Jièzhū 飛山戒珠 (b. 985) on the doctrine of the separately-transmitted heart-dharma (biéchuán xīnfǎ 別傳心法) — addressing the standard Chán-school claim to exclusive transmission of the Buddha’s awakening outside the standard scriptural-doctrinal channels.
Abstract
Jièzhū’s Yì belongs to the substantial Sòng-period Tiāntái-Chán polemical literature, articulating the Tiāntái-tradition critique of the Chán-school’s exclusive-transmission claim. The composition is bracketed within Jièzhū’s productive period c. 1010–1080.
Translations and research
- Welter, Albert. Monks, Rulers, and Literati: The Political Ascendancy of Chan Buddhism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. (For the broader Sòng Tiāntái-Chán polemical context.)