Jīnguāngmíng jīng xuányì 金光明經玄義
Profound Meaning of the Sūtra of Golden Light expounded by 智顗 (Zhìyǐ, 說), recorded by 灌頂 (Guàndǐng, 錄)
About the work
T1783 is the Tiāntái-school xuányì (玄義, “profound meaning”) commentary on [[KR6i0301|Jīnguāngmíng jīng 金光明經]] (T663) — the genre-distinctive Tiāntái treatise that takes up the title of the parent sūtra and unfolds its doctrinal content under the five-section headings (wǔzhòng xuányì 五重玄義: explication of the title, exposition of its essence, articulation of its sumum-bonum, distinction of its function, and classification within the jiàopàn taxonomy). Two-fascicle treatise (juàn shàng / juàn xià). The opening lines preserved in the Taishō text identify the form precisely: 隋天台智者大師說 / 門人灌頂錄 — Suí Tiāntái Zhìzhě dàshī’s oral exposition, recorded by his disciple 灌頂.
Abstract
The work is the standard Tiāntái xuányì on the Suvarṇaprabhāsa and an early specimen of the genre alongside Zhìyǐ’s better-known Fǎhuá xuányì 法華玄義 (T1716). It is part of the foundational set of Tiāntái commentaries on the four major sūtras (Lotus, Suvarṇaprabhāsa, Vimalakīrti, Mahāparinirvāṇa) that articulate the school’s “five-period eight-teaching” (wǔshí bājiào 五時八教) classification.
The dating is constrained by Zhìyǐ’s lectures at Yùquán sì 玉泉寺 (Jìngzhōu) in the years 585–597; the xuányì commentaries of this period are typically taken from this Yùquán sì lecture series. As with Tiāntái’s other oral compositions, the working out of the doctrinal apparatus (in particular the zhēnrú suíyuán 真如隨緣 reading of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa) became the bone of contention between 知禮’s shānjiā and 智圓 Zhìyuán’s shānwài parties in the Northern Sòng. T1783 is therefore one of the central documents of the early eleventh-century guāngmíng 光明 controversy, with 知禮’s Shíyí jì (KR6i0305, T1784) the most influential subcommentary defending the orthodox reading.
The Taishō witness corresponds to the “Old” (gǔběn 古本) recension. There has been a long-running scholarly debate (see Hibi 1975) on whether substantial portions of the present T1783 belong to the original Suí lectures or are later Tiāntái additions; the consensus today is that the framework and most of the doctrinal exposition do trace to Zhìyǐ, but the guānxīn shì 觀心釋 (“contemplation-of-mind explanation”) section may include material elaborated by 湛然 Zhànrán (711–782) and incorporated into the textual transmission.
Related canonical texts: parent sūtra KR6i0301 (金光明經 / T663); subcommentary KR6i0305 (金光明經玄義拾遺記 / T1784).
Translations and research
- Hibi Senshō 日比宣正. Tōdai Tendaigaku josetsu 唐代天台学序説. Tokyo: Sankibō Busshorin, 1975. The standard study of the redaction history of T1783 and the Sòng-period guāngmíng controversy.
- Andō Toshio 安藤俊雄. Tendaigaku: Konpon shisō to sono tenkai 天台学：根本思想とその展開. Kyoto: Heirakuji Shoten, 1968.
- Penkower, Linda. T’ien-t’ai during the T’ang Dynasty: Chan-jan and the Sinification of Buddhism. PhD diss., Columbia University, 1993.
No book-length English translation located.
Links
- CBETA T1783
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (590, 620): CBETA, Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經, ed. Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo, 1924–1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. dazangthings