Wéimó yì jì 維摩義記
Notes on the Meaning of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra (anonymous Dunhuang manuscript commentary)
About the work
The Wéimó yì jì (T2768) is an anonymous one-fascicle Vimalakīrti commentary preserved in the Dunhuang manuscript corpus and edited into Taishō volume 85. The Taishō header cross-references No. 475 (Kumārajīva’s translation). It is one of several fragmentary Dunhuang Vimalakīrti commentaries (T2768–T2778) that survive only in the Hexi corridor manuscript archives.
Prefaces
The text opens directly with the commentary; the manuscript is fragmentary and lacks a preface or colophon.
Abstract
This text and its companions (KR6i0088 = T2769, KR6i0089 = T2770, etc.) provide an important parallel commentarial corpus to the canonical metropolitan tradition (僧肇, 淨影慧遠, 智顗, 吉藏, 窺基). The Dunhuang Vimalakīrti commentaries reflect a provincial Tang Buddhist scholarly tradition that flourished on the Silk Road and produced its own exegetical literature, often integrating elements of multiple metropolitan schools. Unlike the canonical commentaries, these texts circulated locally and never entered the printed canon; their preservation only at Dunhuang is typical of provincial Tang Buddhist productions.
The dating bracket (600–850 CE) reflects the manuscript paleography and doctrinal content typical of the Dunhuang Vimalakīrti commentary tradition. No specific author or date is recoverable. The text is doctrinally close to the Dìlùn 地論 / Yogācāra tradition (showing influence of 淨影慧遠 Huìyuǎn’s KR6i0079 and the early Cí’ēn tradition) but with the rougher style typical of provincial commentary.
Translations and research
- Pelliot, Paul. Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits chinois de la Bibliothèque nationale. Paris, 1908.
- Galambos, Imre, ed. Dunhuang Studies: Prospects and Problems for the Coming Second Century. St. Petersburg, 2012.