Wéimó jīng lüè shū chuíyù jì 維摩經略疏垂裕記
Records of the Down-Hanging Beneficence on the Abridged Vimalakīrti Commentary by 智圓 Zhìyuán (述)
About the work
The Wéimó jīng lüè shū chuíyù jì (T1779) is a ten-fascicle sub-commentary on Zhànrán’s Wéimó jīng lüè shū (KR6i0081 = T1778) by the Sòng Tiantai master 智圓 Zhìyuán (976–1022 CE), known as Gūshān Zhìyuán 孤山智圓. Zhìyuán was a leading figure of the Shānwài 山外 (“off-mountain”) faction of Sòng Tiantai. The Taishō header cross-references Nos. 475 (the sūtra), 1777, and 1778 (the parent commentaries).
Prefaces
The text opens with the Chuíyù jì xù 垂裕記序 by Zhìyuán himself, framing the purpose of the sub-commentary. The title’s chuíyù 垂裕 (“hanging-down beneficence”) refers to the master’s bequest of teaching to later generations.
Abstract
Zhìyuán (976–1022 CE) was a major Sòng Tiantai scholar based at Gūshān 孤山 on West Lake, Hángzhōu. He was a leader of the Shānwài (off-mountain) faction, which contended with the Shānjiā 山家 (mountain) faction (led by 知禮 Zhīlǐ) over fundamental Tiantai doctrine, especially the question of whether Buddhahood inheres in evil natures (性惡 xìng’è) — Zhìyuán’s faction rejected, Zhīlǐ’s defended. Zhìyuán was also distinguished by his deep engagement with Confucian and Daoist literature, producing a wide range of literary works that earned him a reputation as a rúfó (Confucian-Buddhist) syncretist.
The Chuíyù jì explicates Zhànrán’s Lüè shū point by point, integrating Sòng Tiantai doctrinal positions and adjudicating points of dispute with the Shānjiā faction. It is the principal Sòng-period sub-commentary on the Vimalakīrti and provides the textual link between the Tang Tiantai tradition and the Sòng-Yuán-Ming Tiantai consolidation.
Zhìyuán’s working dates are 1000–1022 CE (he became active as a teacher around 1000 and died in 1022). The Chuíyù jì is dated to this bracket.
Translations and research
- Getz, Daniel A., Jr. “T’ien-t’ai Pure Land Societies and the Creation of the Pure Land Patriarchate.” In Buddhism in the Sung, edited by Peter N. Gregory and Daniel A. Getz, Jr. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1999 — covers Sòng Tiantai including Zhìyuán.
- Welter, Albert. The Linji lu and the Creation of Chan Orthodoxy: The Development of Chan’s Records of Sayings Literature. Oxford University Press, 2008 — Sòng Buddhist intellectual context.
Other points of interest
The Shānwài–Shānjiā controversy involving Zhìyuán is one of the major doctrinal conflicts of Sòng Buddhism, generating an extensive polemical literature.