Xuánfù jì 漩澓偈

The Whirling-Eddy Verses by 杜順 Dùshùn (撰)

About the work

This 1-fascicle text — preserved in the Fángshān stone-canon (F1083) — is a verse-treatise ( 偈) attributed to 杜順 Dùshùn (557–640), the first patriarch of the Chinese Huáyán school. The title xuánfù 漩澓 — “whirling eddy” — figures the bodhisattva’s progress through the dharma-realm as a whirling water-current that returns to its source while continuously moving forward.

Prefaces

No formal preface.

Abstract

The bracket adopted here (580 – 640) reflects 杜順 Dùshùn’s mature period. The traditional ascription to Dùshùn — as with the closely-related [[KR6e0081|Wǔjiào zhǐguān]] (T1867) — is sometimes questioned by modern scholarship, but is accepted in the East Asian tradition. The Fángshān stone-canon preservation provides exceptional textual security.

The work is preserved in the Fángshān shí jīng 房山石經 collection (F1083) — the same collection in which [[KR6e0111|Ŭisang’s Yīchéng fǎjiè tú]] is also preserved.

Translations and research

  • No substantial Western-language translation located.
  • Gimello, Robert M. Chih-yen (1976) — discusses Dùshùn’s authentic and pseudepigraphic corpus.