Zhù huáyán fǎ jiè guān mén 註華嚴法界觀門
Annotated Edition of the Contemplation-Gate of the Huáyán Dharma-Realm by 宗密 (Zōngmì, 註)
About the work
This 1-fascicle text is 宗密 Zōngmì’s annotated edition of the [[法界觀門|Fǎjiè guānmén]] 法界觀門 — the famous “Contemplation-Gate of the Dharma-Realm” attributed to 杜順 Dùshùn (the first patriarch of the Huáyán school) — with Zōngmì’s own commentarial notes. The parent text (the Fǎjiè guānmén itself) survives only embedded in this and similar commentarial works; T1884 is therefore the principal extant witness to the Fǎjiè guānmén. The text articulates three contemplative gates: zhēnkōng guān 真空觀 (true-emptiness contemplation), lǐshì wú’ài guān 理事無礙觀 (principle-phenomenon non-obstruction contemplation), zhōubiàn hánróng guān 周遍含容觀 (universal-containment contemplation) — the threefold contemplative architecture that became foundational for mature East Asian Mahāyāna meditation theory.
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to 宗密 Zōngmì’s mature period at the Cǎotángsì 草堂寺 on Mt. Guīfēng 圭峰, c. 820 – 841 CE. The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The work is foundational both as the principal source for 杜順 Dùshùn’s Fǎjiè guānmén (which would otherwise be entirely lost) and as the document of Zōngmì’s mature articulation of the Huáyán-school’s contemplative apparatus. Together with 澄觀 Chéngguān’s [[KR6e0100|Fǎjiè xuánjìng]] (T1883), it constitutes the principal mature-Huáyán articulation of the dharma-dhātu contemplative theory.
The Taishō text (T1884) is established on the standard apparatus including the Gōng 宮 (Palace), jiǎ 甲, and Korean witnesses.
Translations and research
- No complete Western-language translation located.
- Gregory, Peter N. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism (1991).
- Cook, Francis H. Hua-yen Buddhism (1977).
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
Other points of interest
- The triple contemplative scheme (真空 / 理事無礙 / 周遍含容) of the Fǎjiè guānmén is one of the most influential single doctrinal formulations of the Tang Huáyán school, becoming foundational for the contemplative-philosophical tradition of East Asian Buddhism.
- The work is the principal documentary witness for the Fǎjiè guānmén attributed to 杜順 Dùshùn — itself the founding text of Tang Huáyán contemplative practice; without Zōngmì’s annotation, the parent text would be entirely lost.