Huáyán jīng xíng yuàn pǐn shū chāo 華嚴經行願品疏鈔
Commentary and Sub-commentary on the Practice-Vow Chapter of the Huáyán Scripture by 澄觀 (Chéngguān, 別行疏 / “separate-circulation commentary”) and 宗密 (Zōngmì, 疏鈔 / sub-commentary)
About the work
The Xíng yuàn pǐn shū chāo in 6 fascicles combines 澄觀 Chéngguān’s separate-circulation commentary on the Pǔxián xíngyuàn pǐn 普賢行願品 (cf. KR6e0041) — a more compact version than the 10-fascicle X227 — with 宗密 Zōngmì’s accompanying sub-commentary (chāo 鈔). The two works circulated together as the standard late-Tang apparatus for the Pǔxián xíngyuàn pǐn, paralleling the much larger [[KR6e0011|Shū-Chāo]] format that Chéngguān had pioneered for the parent Avataṃsaka.
Prefaces
The work is preceded by a Pǔxián xíngyuàn pǐn bié xíng shū chāo chóng kān xù 普賢行願品別行疏鈔重刊序 (“Preface to the Reprinting of the Bié xíng Shū Chāo on the Pǔxián xíngyuàn pǐn”), composed by 新安道奎 Xīn’ān Dàokuí 新安道奎 — a later (probably Sòng or Yuán) editor — who explains the work’s place in the East Asian Buddhist liturgical tradition: “The Záhuá 雜華 [Avataṃsaka] is the foundational dharmacakra of the Buddhas of the ten directions and three times — pointing to the great matter that all beings already possess. Only because beings are confused regarding it, the various Buddhas arose, made it manifest, and established it…”
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to the period 820 – 841 CE, the bracket of 宗密 Zōngmì’s mature scholarly activity. The Bié xíng shū of Chéngguān is a separate, more concise commentary distinct from the 10-fascicle X227; Zōngmì’s accompanying chāo extends the commentary in pañjikā format. Together the two works constituted the standard late-Tang apparatus for the Pǔxián xíngyuàn pǐn, and were used in East Asian devotional and scholastic practice from the late ninth century onwards.
The work is preserved in the Manji Xù zàng jīng (X229) collection.
Translations and research
- No complete Western-language translation located.
- Gregory, Peter N. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism. Princeton University Press, 1991.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
Other points of interest
- The Shū-Chāo combination format that Chéngguān and Zōngmì developed for the Pǔxián xíngyuàn pǐn (here in 6 fascicles total) is a compact mirror of the much larger [[KR6e0011|Shū-Chāo]] format Chéngguān had pioneered for the entire Avataṃsaka (60 + 90 = 150 fascicles); the ratio of compactness to depth in the 6-fascicle work made it particularly suitable for use in monastic teaching.