Jìngmíng jīng Guānzhōng shì chāo 淨名經關中釋抄
Guānzhōng Excerpt-Explanation of the Vimalakīrti Sūtra by 道液 Dàoyè (撰)
About the work
The Jìngmíng jīng Guānzhōng shì chāo (T2778) is a two-fascicle companion text to KR6i0096 (T2777) by 道液 Dàoyè. The Taishō header explicitly cross-references No. 2777 — these two texts circulated as a paired Guānzhōng commentary on the Vimalakīrti, with T2777 providing the main commentary and T2778 providing the shì chāo 釋抄 (excerpt-explanation) of selected passages.
Prefaces
The text opens directly with the excerpt-explanation format.
Abstract
The pairing of T2777 (main commentary) with T2778 (excerpt-explanation digest) reflects a standard Tang commentarial practice — a major commentary accompanied by a more concise excerpt-version for ease of reference and teaching. Both texts preserve only at Dunhuang. Dàoyè’s Guānzhōng commentary system is significant for transmitting the Cháng’ān-region commentarial synthesis to the provincial Hexi monasteries.
The dating bracket (700–800 CE) reflects the manuscript paleography and the close relationship to the parent commentary T2777. The shì chāo genre is characteristic of mid-Tang Buddhist scholasticism.
Translations and research
- Sun Xiushen 孫修身. Dunhuang Foxue lunji 敦煌佛學論集. Lanzhou, 1990.