Huáyán yī chéng jiào yì fēn qí zhāng fù gǔ jì 華嚴一乘教義分齊章復古記
“Restoring the Ancient” Notes on the Treatise on the Doctrinal Categories of the One-Vehicle Teaching of the Huáyán [Sūtra] by 師會 (Shīhuì, 述) and 善熹 (Shànxī, 述)
About the work
The Fù gǔ jì 復古記 in 3 fascicles is the comprehensive commentary on 法藏 Fǎzàng’s [[KR6e0074|Wǔ jiào zhāng 五教章]] composed by 師會 Shīhuì and completed after Shīhuì’s death by his disciple 善熹 Shànxī. The title — “Restoring the Ancient” (fù gǔ 復古) — signals Shīhuì’s polemical claim to recover the original sense of Fǎzàng’s treatise against the (in his view) misinterpretations of 道亭 Dàotíng’s earlier [[KR6e0075|Yì yuàn shū 義苑疏]] (X995).
Prefaces
The work is preceded by a Huáyán wǔ jiào zhāng fù gǔ jì kān xíng fán lì 華嚴五教章復古記刊行凡例 — “Editorial Conventions for the Reprinting of the Fù gǔ jì.” This editorial-publication preface explains the work’s transmission history.
Abstract
The work has a complex composition history: per 師會 Shīhuì’s biographical note (DILA A000915), at age 65 he was working on the Fù gǔ jì but died (yānrán guī jì 奄然歸寂) before completing the section on duàn huò fēn qí 斷惑分齊 (the cutting-off of defilements categories). The work was completed by 善熹 Shànxī (DILA A001350). The bracket adopted here (1145 – 1180) reflects the maximum window of this composite authorship.
The doctrinal substance is a systematic exposition of Fǎzàng’s Five Teachings doxography, working line by line through the Wǔ jiào zhāng and providing — for each section — both Shīhuì’s fù gǔ (“recovering the ancient”) restoration of Fǎzàng’s intended meaning and his polemical engagement with rival readings. The work is the most extensive Sòng-period commentary on the Wǔ jiào zhāng, and was the immediate target of 希迪 Xīdí’s later counter-polemic [[KR6e0080|Píng fù gǔ jì 評復古記]] (X1000).
The work is preserved in the Manji Xù zàng jīng 續藏經 (X998) collection.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Yoshizu Yoshihide 吉津宜英. Kegon zen no shisōshi-teki kenkyū (1985).
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
Other points of interest
- The collaborative authorship — master Shīhuì beginning, disciple Shànxī completing — is one of the most consequential cases of master-disciple textual completion in Sòng Buddhist literature, and is the textual heart of the Shīhuì–Xīdí controversy.