Shí dì jīng lùn yì jì 十地經論義記
Notes on the Meaning of the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna by 慧遠 (Jìngyǐng Huìyuǎn / Suí Yuǎn, 撰)
About the work
The Shí dì jīng lùn yì jì of 慧遠 Jìngyǐng Huìyuǎn (523–592) is the standard Suí commentary on the [[KR6e0060|Shí dì jīng lùn 十地經論]] (T1522, Vasubandhu’s Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna) — the foundational text of the Dìlùn 地論 school. In 4 fascicles, it represents the mature articulation of the southern Dìlùn lineage’s doctrinal apparatus, written by the most important scholar of the third generation of the school after the founders 慧光 Huìguāng and 法上 Fǎshàng. Through this work the Dìlùn-school doctrinal tradition entered the Tang and prepared the ground for the Huáyán-school synthesis.
Prefaces
The X753 print is preceded by the Kè shí dì yì jì xù 刻十地義記序 (“Preface to the Engraved [Edition of the] Shí dì yì jì”), an unsigned editorial preface dating to a (later, perhaps Sòng) reissue. The preface places the work in its historical context: “The Shí dì jīng 十地經 is what Lúshènà 盧舍那 [Vairocana] preached at the very beginning of the attainment of the Way; it is the supreme discourse on the [Buddha-]nature, not the expedient teaching that follows the capacities [of beings]. After the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa, the bodhisattva Tiānqīn 天親 [Vasubandhu] composed a treatise to elucidate it; Lènà 勒那 [Ratnamati] and Liúzhī 留支 [Bodhiruci], two Tripiṭakas, translated the Sanskrit into Chinese to transmit it to the world. Yet that sūtra has lofty import and far principle; that treatise has profound text and remote meaning — surely [these were] not what shallow scholars dared peep at; therefore students [of these texts] mostly retreated [as if] facing a cliff. In Suí there was the Master Yuǎn of Jìngyǐng, who in scholarly study had penetrated the Tripiṭaka and whose insight was the highest of his time; he lectured on this treatise and wrote out an explanation, named Yì jì (Notes on the Meaning). Its explication of text and analysis of meaning are exact, refined, clear, and fluent — none has surpassed it. It causes the reader, [for the first time]…”
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to the period 580 – 592 CE, the bracket between 法上 Fǎshàng’s retirement / death and Huìyuǎn’s own death. The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The Yì jì is the mature Dìlùn-school commentary on the Daśabhūmika-vyākhyāna, working systematically through Vasubandhu’s text to develop and articulate the school’s distinctive doctrinal positions — the six characteristics (六相), the tathāgatagarbha, the Buddha-bodies (Trikāya), and the relation of xìng 性 (nature) and xiū 修 (cultivation).
The work is preserved in the Manji Xù zàng jīng (X753) collection rather than the Taishō, having been transmitted through Japanese rather than Korean Buddhist channels. The textual tradition is straightforward.
Translations and research
- No complete Western-language translation located.
- Liu, Ming-Wood. “The Mind-Only Teaching of Ching-ying Hui-yuan: An Early Interpretation of Yogācāra Thought in China.” Philosophy East and West 35.4 (1985): 351–376. — The standard Western-language study of Huìyuǎn’s Dìlùn doctrinal apparatus.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
- Aoki Takashi 青木隆. Articles on Northern-Dynasties / Suí Dìlùn studies in Komazawa Daigaku Bukkyō Gakubu Kenkyū Kiyō.
Other points of interest
- Huìyuǎn’s Yì jì was the immediate textual basis for the great Tang Huáyán synthesis: 智儼 Zhìyǎn’s [[KR6e0003|Sōuxuán jì]] is heavily indebted to it for the six characteristics doctrine, and 法藏 Fǎzàng’s [[KR6e0008|Tànxuán jì]] continues the dependency.