Léngqié jīng hézhé 楞伽經合轍
Aligning-the-Tracks Commentary on the Sūtra of Laṅkā composed by 通潤 (Tōngrùn / Yīyǔ, 述)
About the work
X331 in eight fascicles is 通潤’s late-Míng commentary on [[KR6i0327|Léngqiéābáduōluó bǎo jīng 楞伽阿跋多羅寶經]] (T670). The title’s hézhé 合轍 (“aligning the tracks”) signals the work’s distinctive feature: a parallel reading of the Laṅkāvatāra and the Śūraṅgama-sūtra (《楞嚴經》, T945) — the two principal “Léng” sūtras of the East Asian Mahāyāna canon — as doctrinally complementary witnesses to the same Mind-only / Buddha-Mind teaching.
Prefaces
The opening Léngqié Léngyán hézhé xù 楞伽楞嚴合轍序 sets out the parallel-reading programme: “the Léngqié was emphasised by [Bodhi-]dharma; the Léngyán was emphasised by [Tiāntái Zhì-]zhě [Zhìyǐ]; together they are the principal monastic gate. But the depths of their circulation are different. To the audience of the Léngqié belongs Mahā-Mati [大慧], for whom self-awakening sage-wisdom realises beyond knowing — yet the translator’s terse and obscure expression makes the reader’s mouth thorny and eyes glaring; further reflection is like a mosquito biting an iron ox, with no place to enter. The middle and lower scholars therefore do not reach it. To the audience of the Léngyán belongs Ānanda [慶喜] —” the preface continues to develop the contrast.
The framing is in part borrowed from 通潤’s sobriquet: he styled himself Èrlèng zhǔrén 二楞主人 (“Master of the Two-Lèng [sūtras]”), and the hézhé project is the literary expression of that self-presentation. He had earlier produced major commentaries on each of the two sūtras separately (Léngqié and Léngyán) and the hézhé assembles them under a single comparative frame.
Abstract
通潤 (Yīyǔ Tōngrùn, 1565–1624), a late-Míng monk of the Dòngtíng Xīshān 洞庭西山 region (Lake Tài, Sūzhōu), is best known as a Lotus Sūtra exegete (Fǎhuá jīng dàkuǎn 法華經大窾, X614 = KR6d0080). Date bracket follows his mature productive period (1600–1624). The hézhé on the Laṅkāvatāra is paired with his Léngyán hézhé; the two are best read together. The commentary is doctrinally Tiāntái-influenced but draws on Yogācāra and Chán readings as the parent sūtra’s content demands.
Related canonical texts: parent sūtra KR6i0327 (楞伽阿跋多羅寶經 / T670); cognate Śūraṅgama-sūtra commentary by 通潤.
Translations and research
- Wu Jiang. Enlightenment in Dispute. Oxford, 2008.
- Tokiwa Gishin. Ryōgakyō no kenkyū. Tokyo: Daitō, 1976.
No book-length English translation located.