Wéimó jīng wúwǒ shū 維摩經無我疏
No-Self Commentary on the Vimalakīrti Sūtra by 傳燈 Chuándēng (著)
About the work
The Wéimó jīng wúwǒ shū (X0348) is a twelve-fascicle late-Ming Tiantai commentary on the Vimalakīrti by Yúyǒu 傳燈 Chuándēng (1554–1628 CE), the great late-Ming reviver of Tiantai Buddhism. The title’s wúwǒ 無我 (“no-self”) emphasizes the Vimalakīrti’s anātman doctrine and its convergence with Tiantai’s threefold-truth (三諦) doctrine.
Prefaces
The text opens with the Wéimójié suǒshuō jīng wúwǒ shū xù 維摩詰所說經無我疏序 by Chuándēng himself, framing the Vimalakīrti within the Tiantai wǔshí 五時 (five-period) doctrinal classification: Huáyán 華嚴 specializes in the perfect-sudden teaching, Āhán 阿含 in the Hīnayāna, Bōrě 般若 in emptiness, Făhuá 法華 in the perfect, Nièpán 涅槃 in the eternal. The fāngděng 方等 (vaipulya) period — to which the Vimalakīrti belongs — has no specialty, hence is universally inclusive. The preface then quotes Vimalakīrti’s verse “說法不有亦不無，以因緣故諸法生” (“the dharma’s exposition is neither existent nor non-existent, since dharmas arise through conditions”).
Abstract
Chuándēng (1554–1628 CE) was the leading Tiantai master of the late Ming and the founder of Yúyǒu sì 幽溪寺 in Tiantai. He is credited with reviving the Tiantai xíngfǎ (ritual practice) tradition and producing a substantial commentarial corpus. He was the teacher of 受登 Shòudēng (who compiled the Yàoshī sānmèi xíngfǎ KR6i0057) and many other late-Ming and early-Qīng Tiantai figures.
The Wúwǒ shū is one of his major sūtra commentaries, applying Tiantai yīniàn sānqiān and sāndì yuánróng doctrines systematically to the Vimalakīrti. Together with KR6i0103 (Yáng Qǐyuán’s Píng zhù) and KR6i0105 (the anonymous Wéimó jīng shū kē), it represents the late-Ming Tiantai-tradition reception of the Vimalakīrti.
The catalog meta dates the work as Ming; Chuándēng’s working life ran 1574–1628, with this shū falling in his mature period (after 1600).
Translations and research
- Stevenson, Daniel B. “Buddhist Practice and the Lotus Sūtra in China.” In Readings of the Lotus Sūtra, edited by Stephen F. Teiser and Jacqueline I. Stone. Columbia University Press, 2009 — late-Ming Tiantai context.
- Hsu Sung-peng 徐頌彭. A Buddhist Leader in Ming China: The Life and Thought of Han-Shan Te-Ch’ing. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1979 — late-Ming Buddhism context.