Yuán zōng wén lèi 圓宗文類
Categorised Documents of the Perfect Lineage [Huáyán] by 義天 (Ŭich’ŏn, 集 / compiled)
About the work
This 2-fascicle text by 義天 Ŭich’ŏn (1055–1101), the great Goryeo Korean Buddhist scholar-prince, is a Hwaeom-school documentary anthology — a wén lèi “categorised collection of documents” — gathering together significant doctrinal-historical writings of the Yuánzōng 圓宗 (“Perfect Lineage” — i.e. the Huáyán school as the yuán jiào / “complete teaching”). The work documents the Korean Goryeo Hwaeom tradition’s reception and consolidation of the Tang-Sòng Chinese Huáyán-school heritage.
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to the period after Ŭich’ŏn’s return from China (1086) and before his death (1101). The bracket adopted here reflects this window. The work documents Ŭich’ŏn’s substantial textual labors in consolidating the Sino-Korean Hwaeom heritage at the moment of his Goryeo Buddhist establishment’s renewal under his royal patronage.
The work is preserved in the Manji Xù zàng jīng (X1015) collection.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Buswell, Robert E., Jr. The Korean Approach to Zen (1983).
- Kim, Sang-hyun. “Ŭich’ŏn and the Hwaŏm Tradition,” Pacific World 4 (2002).
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors (2007).
Other points of interest
- Ŭich’ŏn’s patronage of the Huìyīnsì 慧因寺 in Hángzhōu — together with his subsequent textual labors in Korea — was the foundation of the Goryeo Buddhist textual heritage and prepared the ground for the great Korean Tripiṭaka Koreana canon-printing project of the 13th century.