Wéimó jīng shū jì chāo 維摩經疏記鈔
Excerpts from the Records on the Vimalakīrti Commentary by 道暹 Dàoxiān (私記)
About the work
The Wéimó jīng shū jì chāo (X0345) is a two-fascicle private jì (record / lecture-notes) on the Tiantai Vimalakīrti commentary tradition by the late-Tang Tiantai monk 道暹 Dàoxiān. The internal title designates the work as a sī jì 私記 (“private record”), characteristic of the personal lecture-notes / chāo genre. The Taishō witnesses preserve only fascicles 4 (middle) and 5; the work was originally larger.
Prefaces
The first surviving fascicle (4) opens with the title “維摩經疏第四(中卷)” (“Vimalakīrti Commentary, Fascicle Four [Middle Volume]”) and the colophon attributing the sī jì to “傳法弟子僧道暹” (“Saṅgha-disciple-of-dharma-transmission, the monk Dàoxiān”).
Abstract
道暹 Dàoxiān was a late-Tang Tiantai monk who studied with Zhànrán’s circle. The Sī jì preserves his personal lecture-notes on the Tiantai Vimalakīrti commentary, taking Zhànrán’s Wéimó jīng shū jì (KR6i0100 = X0340) as the primary source. The work belongs to the late-Tang Tiantai sub-commentarial tradition that elaborated Zhànrán’s authoritative jì through individual master-disciple transmission lineages. The work was preserved only in Japanese transmission and recovered via the Xuzangjing.
The catalog meta gives the dynasty as 唐; Dàoxiān’s working period is approximately 760–800 CE, with the Sī jì potentially compiled later by his disciples — hence the bracket of 760–850 CE.
Translations and research
- Penkower, Linda. “T’ien-t’ai during the T’ang Dynasty.” PhD dissertation, Columbia University, 1993.