Tiānqǐngwèn jīng shū 天請問經疏

Commentary on the Sūtra of the Questions of a Deity (author unknown, Tang)

About the work

The Tiānqǐngwèn jīng shū (T2786) is a one-fascicle anonymous Tang commentary on Xuánzàng’s KR6i0225 Tiānqǐngwèn jīng 天請問經 (T592). Like most works in Taishō vol. 85, it survives in a manuscript from the Dūnhuáng 敦煌 cave-library, recovered by Pelliot or Stein and edited from cave 17 fragments.

Prefaces

No preface or attribution survives.

Abstract

A line-by-line gloss commentary on T592 in the standard Tang exegetical format ( 科 outline + shì 釋 explanation), preserving lexical and doctrinal explanations of Xuánzàng’s verses. The text exemplifies the popularization of Xuánzàng’s New-Translation idiom in Tang-era manuscript culture; the Dūnhuáng provenance places it in the seventh-to-ninth-century horizon. Author and exact date are unrecoverable from the manuscript witness; the bracket of 700–900 follows the standard horizon for Dūnhuáng vernacular sūtra-commentaries.

Translations and research

  • Galambos, Imre. Dunhuang Manuscript Culture. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2020 — context on Dūnhuáng commentary fragments.
  • No dedicated edition / translation located.