Rù léngqiéxīn xuányì 入楞伽心玄義
Profound Meaning of the Mind of [the Sūtra of] Entry into Laṅkā composed by 法藏 (Fǎzàng, 撰)
About the work
T1790 in one fascicle is 法藏’s short Huáyán-school xuányì on the [[KR6i0329|Dàshèng rù léngqié jīng]] (T672) — the seven-fascicle Táng Laṅkāvatāra of 實叉難陀 in whose translation 法藏 himself had served as scribe and editor (700–704). Single fascicle, programmatic rather than phrase-by-phrase: as in the Tiāntái-school xuányì genre, the work organises the parent sūtra under principal-rubric headings (here, the “five-teachings” 五教 doxographical scheme of the Huáyán school) and articulates its place within the Huáyán doctrinal universe.
Abstract
Date bracket follows 法藏’s post-translation productive period at the Cífúsì 慈福寺 and the Cìēnsì 慈恩寺 (after the completion of the T672 translation in 704 and before 法藏’s death in 712). The work is the principal Tang Huáyán-school commentary on the Laṅkāvatāra — a notable contribution given that the Laṅkāvatāra is doctrinally a Yogācāra and Chán text rather than a Huáyán one — and is one of the rare cases of 法藏 commentating directly on a sūtra whose Chinese translation he had personally helped produce. The text’s articulation of the relationship between the eight-consciousness scheme of the Laṅkāvatāra and the Huáyán fǎjiè 法界 (dharma-realm) doctrine is the most original portion of the work; subsequent Huáyán scholasticism cited it for the Laṅkāvatāra’s assimilation into the Huáyán curriculum.
Related canonical texts: parent sūtra KR6i0329 (大乘入楞伽經 / T672).
Translations and research
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007. Sets 法藏’s commentarial work in context.
- Forte, Antonino. “The Iranian Family of Fa-tsang.” In Tang Studies 12 (1994).
- Cook, Francis H. Hua-yen Buddhism: The Jewel Net of Indra. University Park: Penn State, 1977. Useful for the doctrinal apparatus T1790 deploys.
No book-length English translation located.