Huáyán jīng zhǐ guī 華嚴經旨歸
The Aims of the Huáyán Scripture by 法藏 (Fǎzàng, 述)
About the work
The Huáyán jīng zhǐ guī in 1 fascicle is 法藏 Fǎzàng’s compact synopsis of the doctrinal aims (zhǐ guī 旨歸 — “to where the aims point”) of the [[KR6e0001|Avataṃsaka jīng]]. The work is structured around 10 essential aims, which Fǎzàng treats serially: yī (one), èr (two), etc. — the Avataṃsaka’s characteristic ten-fold numerical organisation. Each aim is treated compactly with citations from the parent sūtra and brief doctrinal exposition.
Prefaces
The work has no separate preface; the title-line attributes it to “唐沙門法藏述” — “composed by the śramaṇa Fǎzàng of the Tang.”
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to 法藏 Fǎzàng’s mature Cháng’ān period, c. 670 – 712 CE; the bracket adopted here reflects this window. The Zhǐ guī belongs to the genre of summa writings — alongside the [[KR6e0005|Wén yì gāngmù 文義綱目]] (T1734) and the much fuller [[KR6e0008|Tànxuán jì]] (T1733) — by which Fǎzàng made the substance of his major commentaries accessible to students at multiple levels of doctrinal sophistication. The 10-aim format anticipates the 42-topic [[KR6e0015|Lüè cè]] of 澄觀 Chéngguān (T1737, also a 1-fascicle compact synopsis).
The Taishō text (T1871) is established on the standard apparatus.
Translations and research
- No complete Western-language translation located.
- Cook, Francis H. Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977 — substantial discussion of Fǎzàng’s compact works.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
- Sakamoto Yukio 坂本幸男. Kegon kyōgaku no kenkyū (1956).
Other points of interest
- The 10-aim format is recognisably a structural mirror of the Avataṃsaka’s own ten-fold organisation (ten bhūmi, ten xíng, ten huíxiàng, ten Mysterious Gates, etc.); the work’s structure is itself a mnemonic-doctrinal device for embedding the Avataṃsaka’s numerological cosmology.