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 [[KR6i0301|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 [[KR6i0304|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 [[KR6i0307|Wénjù jì 文句記]] (T1786) is the principal subcommentary; 從義’s [[KR6i0315|Wénjù xīnjì 文句新記]] is the rival but later assimilated Sòng commentary; and the Ming-period 明得 [[KR6i0313|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
- 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