Yúlánpén jīng shū huìgǔ tōngjīn jì 盂蘭盆經疏會古通今記
Sub-Commentary Harmonising the Ancient and Penetrating the Present, on the Commentary on the Yúlánpén Sūtra sub-commentary by 普觀 (Pǔguān, 述)
About the work
X373 in two fascicles is a Sòng-period sub-commentary on [[KR6i0365|宗密’s Yúlánpén jīng shū]] (T1792), composed by the Sòng monk 普觀 (honorific Guāngyán Wújì dàshī 光嚴無際大師). The preface explicitly positions the work in dialogue with the existing Sòng sub-commentaries: it cites the Yányìnjì 嚴隱記 of Shíbì zūnzhě 石壁尊者 (Bìbǎo Zhīhán) — a now-lost early-Sòng sub-commentary — and the Xīnchāo 新鈔 of 孤山智圓 (Gūshān Zhìyuán, 964–1027), and notes the earlier sub-commentary by 元照’s teacher Zhījīn 津師 of Zhīyuán 芝園 (the [[KR6i0367|Xīnjì 新記]] cluster).
Abstract
普觀’s preface — “吾祖圭峯禪師之疏蘭盆也，䆳古作者莫之與京” (“As for the Lánpén commentary of our patriarch the Chán-master Guīfēng (宗密), no work of ancient times can match it”) — establishes the work as a self-consciously synthetic project. The title 會古通今 (“harmonising the ancient and penetrating the present”) signals the methodological aim: to reconcile and surpass the preceding sub-commentary tradition by collating all the major prior witnesses (Yányìnjì, Xīnchāo, Xīnjì) and adjudicating their disputes. 普觀 writes: “余不揣膚受牽拙以訂之，庶乎公議有所存耳” (“I, untaught and clumsy, have ventured to correct them, hoping that public discussion may find something here that abides”). The result is an exegetically rich work that incorporates substantial material from the now-lost Yányìnjì and is therefore an important indirect witness to the early-Sòng commentary tradition. Composition window: late Northern Sòng to early Southern Sòng, c. 1100–1180.
Parent texts (chain): KR6i0364 (T685) → KR6i0365 (T1792, Zōngmì’s Shū) → this Huìgǔ tōngjīn jì. Companion / rival Sòng sub-commentaries: KR6i0367 (元照 Xīnjì X372), KR6i0369 (遇榮 Kē X374), KR6i0370 (遇榮 Xiàohéng chāo X375), KR6i0371 (日新 Yúyì X376).
Translations and research
- Teiser, Stephen F. The Ghost Festival in Medieval China. Princeton, 1988.
No standalone Western-language translation located.