Huáyán jīng yào jiě 華嚴經要解
Essential Explication of the Huáyán Scripture by 戒環 (Jièhuán / Wēnlíng dàshī, 集 / compiled)
About the work
The Huáyán jīng yào jiě in 1 fascicle is the compact Sòng-period synthetic commentary by 戒環 Jièhuán (the Wēnlíng dàshī of Quánzhōu), best known for his parallel yào jiě “essential explication” works on the Lotus Sūtra and the Lèngyán jīng 楞嚴經. The yào jiě genre is a compact literary form that distils the essential doctrinal points of a major sūtra in accessible prose, suitable for both monastic and lay readers.
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The work belongs to the broad Southern-Sòng period of Jièhuán’s mature activity, c. 1100 – 1180 CE; the bracket adopted here reflects this window. Jièhuán’s yào jiě corpus — covering the Lotus, Lèngyán, and Avataṃsaka — was widely studied in late-Sòng-onwards East Asian Buddhist contexts and was particularly influential in the formation of late-imperial Chán-Pure-Land synthesis literature. The Huáyán yào jiě — the present text — is the smallest and most accessible of his three major yào jiě works.
The work is preserved in the Manji Xù zàng jīng (X238) 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
- Jièhuán’s yào jiě genre — the compact synthetic commentary — became a standard format of late-Sòng Buddhist publishing, particularly aimed at the lay-Buddhist reading public.