Huáyán xīn yào fǎ mén zhù 華嚴心要法門註

Annotated Edition of the Mind-Essential Dharma-Gate of the Huáyán [Sūtra] by 澄觀 (Chéngguān, 撰) and 宗密 (Zōngmì, 註)

About the work

This 1-fascicle text combines 澄觀 Chéngguān’s Huáyán xīn yào fǎ mén 華嚴心要法門 — a brief treatise on the mind-essential (xīn yào 心要) of the Avataṃsaka — with 宗密 Zōngmì’s annotation. The pairing is characteristic of Tang Huáyán scholastic transmission: master-and-disciple authorial-annotative collaboration, master Chéngguān providing the doctrinal substance and disciple Zōngmì supplying the explanatory annotation.

Prefaces

No formal preface.

Abstract

The composite work spans the Chéngguān-Zōngmì transmission: Chéngguān’s original text dates to his mature period (787 – 838 CE) and Zōngmì’s annotation to his mature period (820 – 841 CE). The bracket adopted here (787 – 841) covers both phases. The doctrinal substance — the xīn yào “mind-essential” of the Avataṃsaka — connects directly to the Chán-Huáyán synthesis that Zōngmì systematised, in which the dharma-realm’s ontological structure is correlated with the practitioner’s mind-nature.

The work is preserved in the Manji Xù zàng jīng (X1005) collection.

Translations and research

  • No substantial Western-language translation located.
  • Gregory, Peter N. Tsung-mi and the Sinification of Buddhism (1991).