Huáyán cè lín 華嚴策林
The Forest of Probings on the Huáyán [Sūtra] by 法藏 (Fǎzàng, 述)
About the work
The Huáyán cè lín in 1 fascicle is 法藏 Fǎzàng’s compendium of cè — pointed doctrinal probes — on key cruxes of the [[KR6e0001|Avataṃsaka jīng]]. The genre — a cè lín “forest of probings” — is similar to the yào wèn dá / cè format but is more freely structured, allowing Fǎzàng to range across whatever topics in the sūtra he found doctrinally important.
Prefaces
The work has no separate preface; opens directly with its first probe.
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to 法藏 Fǎzàng’s mature period, c. 670 – 712 CE; the bracket adopted here reflects this window. The work supplements Fǎzàng’s larger doctrinal corpus ([[KR6e0008|Tànxuán jì]], [[KR6e0074|Wǔ jiào zhāng]], [[KR6e0085|Zhǐ guī]]) by providing focused doctrinal-probe treatment of selected cruxes. It was used in monastic teaching as a supplementary aid to the more systematic works.
The Taishō text (T1872) is established on the Korean Tripiṭaka Koreana and the yuán 原 (original-block) witness.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Cook, Francis H. Hua-yen Buddhism (1977).
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
Other points of interest
- The cè lín genre — the compact probe-collection — is one of the distinctive Tang Huáyán pedagogical formats; Fǎzàng’s example was followed by Sòng commentators producing similar small-format collections of doctrinal probes.