Dà fāngguǎng fó huáyán jīng zhōng juàn juàn dà yì lüè xù 大方廣佛華嚴經中卷卷大意略敘
Brief Summary of the Main Idea of Each Fascicle of the Great, Vast Buddha-Flower-Garland Scripture by 李通玄 Lǐ Tōngxuán (造)
About the work
This one-fascicle work is a fascicle-by-fascicle synopsis of the [[KR6e0010|80-fascicle Huáyán jīng]] by 李通玄 Lǐ Tōngxuán. For each of the 80 fascicles, the author identifies the chapter or chapters covered, the assembly (會) at which they are nominally preached, and the principal doctrinal theme. Since each fascicle of the parent text typically contains material from multiple chapters (with chapters running across fascicle boundaries) or only part of a single chapter, the work serves as a navigational guide for working through the Avataṃsaka in the order of its fascicles rather than its chapters — a useful complement to the chapter-organised reading of the more elaborate [[KR6e0022|Xīn huáyán jīng lùn 新華嚴經論]].
The opening reads: “Fascicle 1 (the first assembly in the bodhi-maṇḍa speaks the first six chapters of the sūtra, [running] up to fascicle 5; the Shìzhǔ miào yán chapter, the first). The Buddha attained Awakening in Magadha and preached the Dharma in the bodhi-maṇḍa. Because in past kalpas [these beings] had cultivated together with the Buddha, the multitudes [now] gather like seas of clouds.” (第一卷 菩提場第一會說六品經至第五卷 世主妙嚴品第一 / 佛成道。在摩竭提國。說法於菩提場中。往劫與佛同修故。令眾海雲集。)
Prefaces
No tiyao or preface in source. The work opens directly with the title and Lǐzhǎngzhě’s attribution as 北京李通玄造 (“composed by Lǐ Tōngxuán of the Northern Capital”).
Abstract
The work belongs to Lǐ Tōngxuán’s mature period of Huáyán exegesis, c. 720 – 740, contemporary with or slightly after the much fuller [[KR6e0022|Xīn huáyán jīng lùn]]. Its compact form — a 1-fascicle outline of an 80-fascicle text — and its straightforward fascicle-by-fascicle organisation make it the most accessible of Lǐ Tōngxuán’s Avataṃsaka writings; it was widely used in lay Tang Buddhist study circles as an introductory aid before tackling the larger Lùn. The bracket adopted here (720 – 740) reflects the maximum window for Lǐ Tōngxuán’s mature writing.
The work is preserved in the Korean Tripiṭaka Koreana and the Taishō text is established directly from that source.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Gimello, Robert M. “Li T’ung-hsüan and the Practical Dimensions of Hua-yen,” in Studies in Ch’an and Hua-yen, ed. R. M. Gimello and Peter N. Gregory (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1983), 321–389.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
- Cleary, Thomas, tr. Entry into the Inconceivable: An Introduction to Hua-yen Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1983.
Other points of interest
- The work’s title-line “北京李通玄造” — “composed by Lǐ Tōngxuán of the Northern Capital [Běijīng]” — is a witness to the Tang use of Běijīng 北京 to designate Tàiyuán 太原 (the second / northern capital under the Tang); not the modern Beijing.
- The 1-fascicle synopsis-format is one of the earliest examples of a deliberately abridged study-companion to a major Buddhist sūtra in Chinese — a model that became standard for Sòng-onwards encyclopaedic Buddhist publishing.