Shì Zhào xù 釋肇序
Explanation of [Sēng]zhào’s Preface by 體請 Tǐqǐng (記)
About the work
The Shì Zhào xù (T2776) is a one-fascicle Tang Dunhuang commentary on 僧肇 Sēngzhào’s celebrated preface to the Zhù Wéimójié jīng (KR6i0078 = T1775). It is attributed to a monk named 體請 Tǐqǐng. The Taishō header cross-references No. 1775 (Sēngzhào’s commentary).
Prefaces
The text opens with the title and Tǐqǐng’s gloss-by-gloss exposition of Sēngzhào’s preface.
Abstract
Sēngzhào’s preface to the Zhù Wéimójié jīng was regarded throughout medieval China as one of the supreme prose passages in Buddhist Chinese literature. Its dense allusive style — drawing on Daoist and Buddhist vocabularies in equal measure — made it a frequent subject of sub-commentary. Tǐqǐng’s Shì Zhào xù is one such Tang sub-commentary, surviving only at Dunhuang.
The author Tǐqǐng is otherwise unknown; the name appears in no major Buddhist biographical compilation. The dating bracket (700–850 CE) reflects the manuscript paleography and the work’s attestation in the Dunhuang corpus, which presumes circulation before the Tibetan period (786–848). The text is significant for showing how Sēngzhào’s preface continued to be studied as a literary masterpiece centuries after its composition.
Translations and research
- Liebenthal, Walter. Chao Lun: The Treatises of Seng-chao. Hong Kong, 1968 — context for Sēngzhào’s Vimalakīrti preface.
- Pelliot, Paul. Inventaire sommaire des manuscrits chinois. Paris, 1908.