Píng jīn gāng pī 評金剛錍
Critical Discussion of the “Diamond Scalpel” by 善熹 (Shànxī, 述)
About the work
This 1-fascicle text by 善熹 Shànxī is a critical Huáyán-school engagement with 湛然 Zhànrán’s [[KR6c0025|Jīngāng pī 金剛錍]] (T1932) — the Diamond Scalpel, the famous Tiāntái-school treatise that argued for the doctrine of fǎ rì zhī yǔ wúqíng 法日之雨無情 (“the doctrine that even non-sentient beings have Buddha-nature”). The Huáyán-school challenge to Zhànrán’s Tiāntái doctrine — articulated here by Shànxī — is one of the principal documents of mature Sòng Buddhist inter-school doctrinal disputation.
Prefaces
No formal preface.
Abstract
The work is conventionally datable to 善熹 Shànxī’s mature period, c. 1170 – 1200 CE; the bracket adopted here reflects this window. The doctrinal substance — the Tiāntái-versus-Huáyán dispute on Buddha-nature in non-sentients — is one of the principal SòngYuán scholastic controversies between the two doctrinal traditions.
The work is preserved in the Manji Xù zàng jīng (X1018) collection.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- Penkower, Linda L. T’ien-t’ai during the T’ang Dynasty (1993).
- Yoshizu Yoshihide 吉津宜英. Kegon zen no shisōshi-teki kenkyū (1985).