Zuìshèngwáng jīng yǔzú 最勝王經羽足
Wings and Feet of the Sūtra of the Most Victorious King (J. Saishō-ō-kyō usoku) by 平備 (Píngbèi / Byōbi, 撰)
About the work
A one-fascicle Nara-period Japanese Hossō 法相 commentary on Yìjìng’s translation of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra — the Jīnguāngmíng zuìshèngwáng jīng 金光明最勝王經 (KR6i0303 = T665) — attributed to the Gangō-ji 元興寺 monk Byōbi 平備 (8th c.). The title 羽足 (“wings and feet”) signals the work’s character as a supplementary commentary, providing topical addenda to the principal exegetical questions rather than a continuous verse-by-verse exposition. Preserved at T56n2198 in one juan.
Structural Division
- 最勝王經羽足 Yǔzú — supplementary commentary on KR6i0303 金光明最勝王經 (Yìjìng translation of the Suvarṇaprabhāsa-sūtra, T665).
Prefaces
The text carries no formal preface; the head-note identifies the work as 沙門平備撰 (“composed by the monk Byōbi”) and proceeds directly to the first discussion topic, shuō shí 説時 (“the time of preaching”) — i.e. when in the Buddha’s career the sūtra was delivered.
Abstract
The Yǔzú is structured as a sequence of focused topical discussions (wèn 問 / dá 答 — questions and answers) on doctrinal points arising from Yìjìng’s Suvarṇaprabhāsa. The first major topic is the time of preaching: did the Buddha preach the sūtra before or after the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka (Lotus)? Byōbi reviews the Paramārtha 真諦 position (the sūtra was preached together with the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra in year 38 of the Buddha’s teaching career), the position of Master Bao 寶師 (who agrees with Paramārtha and places the sūtra before the Lotus), and a third opinion locating the sūtra after the Lotus. The discussion is adjudicated by appeal to the sūtra’s own self-description in juan 10 (Mahākāśyapa’s profession of his “lesser wisdom”) and to the Mahāsamnipātasūtra’s account of the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa chronology.
Subsequent topics include: the doctrinal zōngqù 宗趣 of the sūtra; the relation between the trikāya 三身 and the ekayāna 一乘; the cause-fruit relationship of the bodhi-nirvāṇa doctrine; the four-truth / one-vehicle relation; and the metaphysical relation between the five aggregates (wǔyùn 五蘊) and the dharma-dhātu 法界 — the latter occupying a substantial portion of the work and concluding with the recognised Hossō position that the two are neither one nor different (bùyī bùyì 不一不異). The text incorporates extensive citation of earlier authorities, including Master Bao 寶師, Master Zhào 照師, and the editorial voice refers in the third person to “Master Byō” 備師 — strongly suggesting that the surviving recension is an excerpting / abridging redaction of a longer Byōbi commentary rather than Byōbi’s autograph composition. The colophon line yǐ shàng Byōshi zhèngyì 以上備師正義 (“the above is Master Byō’s correct interpretation”) is a typical editorial signpost in such redactional layers.
Composition cannot be dated with precision. The terminus post quem is Yìjìng’s translation of T665 in 703; the work assumes the Yìjìng recension throughout. The terminus ante quem is Byōbi’s death — placed by Hōbōgirin in the 8th century without further specification. The conservative bracket is 720–800.
The Yǔzú and Myōichi’s Zhùshì (KR6i0319) together constitute the two principal surviving Nara-period Japanese Hossō commentaries on the Yìjìng recension of T665; Byōbi’s work is the more focused topical-supplement, while Myōichi’s is the more continuous compilation-commentary.
Translations and research
- Mizuno Kōgen 水野弘元 et al., eds. Konkōmyōkyō no kenkyū 金光明経の研究. Tokyo: Daitō Shuppansha, 1955; reprint Kokusho Kankōkai 1980. — The standard Japanese-language study; treats the Yǔzú alongside the Zhùshì of Myōichi as the two principal Nara Hossō commentaries on T665.
- Mochizuki Shinkō 望月信亨, ed. Bussho kaisetsu daijiten 佛書解説大辭典. Tokyo: Daitō Shuppansha, 1933–1936. — Standard reference entry on the work.
- No full Western-language translation has been published.
Other points of interest
The internal third-person references to “Master Byō” 備師 alongside the title-attribution to Pingbei / Byōbi are an unusual feature: the work’s surviving form is best understood as a disciple-edited redaction of a longer original commentary, in which selected positions of the author have been excerpted and arranged topically. This redactional character should be borne in mind when citing the work as Byōbi’s own doctrinal statement.
Links
- CBETA
- Kanseki DB
- DILA Buddhist Person Authority — 平備 A000235