Jīnguāngmíng jīng wénjù 金光明經文句
Phrase-and-Sentence Commentary on the Sūtra of Golden Light expounded by 智顗 (Zhìyǐ, 說), recorded by 灌頂 (Guàndǐng, 錄)
About the work
T1785 in six fascicles is the Tiāntái-school wénjù 文句 (“phrase-and-sentence”) commentary on Jīnguāngmíng jīng 金光明經 (T663). The wénjù genre, paired with the xuányì 玄義, follows the parent sūtra phrase-by-phrase under the four-section yīnyuán, yuējiào, běnjì, guānxīn (因緣, 約教, 本迹, 觀心) interpretive grid characteristic of Zhìyǐ’s exegetical method. Together with the xuányì (T1783), this is the second leg of the Tiāntái commentarial doublet on the Suvarṇaprabhāsa.
Abstract
The opening lines preserved in the Taishō text give the standard Tiāntái attribution: 隋天台智者大師說 / 門人灌頂錄. The dating bracket follows Zhìyǐ’s lecturing period at Yùquánsì 玉泉寺 (585–597). The first folio of the work itself frames its reading of T663’s 18 chapters as a critique of two prior exegetical traditions — the “Jiāngběi school” (江北諸師) and the “Jiāngnán school” (江南諸師) — both of which had divided the sūtra into a different xùzhèngliútōng 序正流通 (introduction / main-doctrine / circulation) tripartite frame. Zhìyǐ’s reading rejects both and proposes a new three-part division anchored on the doctrinal centrality of the Shòuliàng pǐn 壽量品 (chapter 2 on Buddha’s lifespan).
T1785 is foundational for the East Asian Suvarṇaprabhāsa commentarial tradition. 知禮’s Wénjù jì 文句記 (T1786) is the principal subcommentary; 從義’s Wénjù xīnjì 文句新記 is the rival but later assimilated Sòng commentary; and the Ming-period 明得 Wénjù wénjùjì huìběn 文句文句記會本 (X358) collates 智顗 + 灌頂 + 知禮 + 明得 into a single working text. Like T1783, T1785 also figured in the guānxīn shì dispute between shānjiā and shānwài.
Related canonical texts: parent sūtra KR6i0301 (金光明經 / T663); subcommentary KR6i0307 (金光明經文句記 / T1786).
Translations and research
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
- Hibi Senshō 日比宣正. Tōdai Tendaigaku josetsu 唐代天台学序説. Tokyo: Sankibō, 1975.
- Penkower, Linda. T’ien-t’ai during the T’ang Dynasty. PhD diss., Columbia, 1993.
- 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.
No book-length English translation located.
Links
- CBETA
- 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