Jiě shēnmì jīng shū 解深密經疏
Commentary on the Sūtra Explicating the Profound Mystery (Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra-vyākhyā) commentary by 圓測 (Wǒnch’ǔk / Yuáncè, 撰)
About the work
X369 in nine fascicles (originally ten) is the principal Chinese-language commentary on [[KR6i0353|the Jiě shēnmì jīng 解深密經]] (T676), composed by the Silla-born Yogācāra master 圓測 (613–696), the senior of 玄奘’s two principal Chinese disciples and founder of the Xīmíng 西明 sub-school of Fǎxiàng / Cí’ēn Yogācāra. The text-block heading lists the commentary’s chapter-by-chapter table of contents matching 玄奘’s eight chapters of T676. Composed at Xīmíngsì 西明寺 in Cháng’ān between 玄奘’s 647 translation of the parent sūtra and 圓測’s death in 696.
Abstract
圓測’s commentary is the single most influential medieval exposition of the Saṃdhinirmocana and one of the most consequential works of Tang Yogācāra. It is preserved in the Chinese tradition only fragmentarily — fascicles 1–8 plus part of fascicle 10 (the commentary on the eighth and final chapter, Rúlái chéngsuǒzuò shì pǐn 如來成所作事品) — but the work survives complete in Tibetan translation as Dgongs pa nges par ‘grel pa’i rgya cher ‘grel pa (D 4016 / P 5517), commissioned by the Tibetan emperor Khri Srong-lde-btsan in the late eighth century. The Tibetan version was retro-translated into Chinese in the early twentieth century by Guānkōng 觀空 (1903–1989) to recover the missing fascicle 9. 圓測’s commentary is celebrated for two distinctive features: (1) its philological rigour, citing all four Chinese versions of the Saṃdhinirmocana (KR6i0352, KR6i0353, KR6i0355, KR6i0356) plus an acquaintance with Sanskrit terminology that probably came from 玄奘’s translation atelier; (2) its ecumenical engagement with rival exegeses, especially that of Kuījī / Cí’ēn 慈恩 (632–682) and the Yogācāra-bhūmi tradition, sometimes against the more rigid line of the orthodox Cí’ēn school. After 圓測’s death, Kuījī’s heirs charged 圓測 with “stealing” 玄奘’s lectures, and his works were partly suppressed in Cháng’ān. The commentary became foundational for Korean (Silla / Goryeo) and Japanese Hossō / Yogācāra exegesis. The composition window given here brackets 圓測’s mature scholarly career in Cháng’ān.
Related canonical texts: parent sūtra KR6i0353 (T676); related recensions KR6i0352 (T675), KR6i0355 (T677), KR6i0356 (T678), KR6i0357 (T679).
Translations and research
- Cheng, Sŏng-bon (Sungtaek Cho). The Foreign Monk and the Foreign Emperor: Wǒnch’ǔk and the Ideal of Buddhist Transnationalism in Tang China. (Doctoral dissertation, Harvard, 1999.)
- Inaba Shōju 稲葉正就. Enjiki Gejinmikkyō-sho sanitsubu no kanbun yaku 円測『解深密経疏』散逸部の漢文訳. Kyoto, 1949 — the standard reconstruction of the missing chapter 8 commentary from Tibetan.
- Powers, John. Two Commentaries on the Saṃdhinirmocana-sūtra by Asaṅga and Jñānagarbha. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 1992. Frames Wǒnch’ǔk’s commentary against the Indian commentarial tradition.
- Cuevas, Bryan, & Kurtis Schaeffer (eds). Power, Politics, and the Reinvention of Tradition: Tibet in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Brill, 2006 (background to the Tibetan transmission of the text).
Other points of interest
The Tibetan translation of 圓測’s commentary was the principal Yogācāra textbook used by Tsong-kha-pa (1357–1419) and the dGe-lugs-pa school for instruction on the Saṃdhinirmocana; thus a Sino-Korean Yogācāra commentary written at Cháng’ān in the seventh century became the canonical Tibetan exposition of the same sūtra. The exception to its scholarly reputation is the Sòng gāosēng zhuàn 宋高僧傳 (KR6r0054, T2061, fasc. 4) accusing 圓測 of bribing the gatekeeper to eavesdrop on 玄奘’s lectures on the Yogācārabhūmi — a story that reflects the lineage politics of the post-玄奘 Cháng’ān Yogācāra schools more than 圓測’s actual conduct.