Yúlánpén jīng shūchāo yúyì 盂蘭盆經疏鈔餘義
Residual Matters on the Commentary and Sub-Commentary of the Yúlánpén Sūtra recorded by 日新 (Rìxīn, 錄)
About the work
X376 in one fascicle is a sub-sub-commentary on the Yúlánpén commentarial cluster — specifically, a “residual matters” (yúyì 餘義) gloss covering points either omitted or insufficiently treated in the existing jì 記 (sub-commentary) tradition on [[KR6i0365|宗密’s Shū]]. Compiled by 日新 of Pǔjìngsì 普靜寺 at Zháxī 霅谿 as auditor’s notes (suítīng cì lù 隨聽次錄) on his teacher’s lectures, dated Xīníng 1 (1068 CE).
Abstract
The colophon and preface together give an unusually precise documentary record. 日新’s preface lists the prior sub-commentary tradition that the Yúyì engages: “普寧律師會粹記，明義大師隨難解…淨覺大師述名義，金山闍梨拾遺圖” — that is, the Huìcuì jì 會粹記 of Pǔníng lǜshī 普寧律師, the Suínán jiě 隨難解 of Míngyì dàshī 明義大師, the Míngyì 名義 of Jìngjué dàshī 淨覺大師 (孤山智圓’s honorific), and the Shíyí tú 拾遺圖 of Jīnshān shélí 金山闍梨 — establishing that by 1068 the Yúlánpén commentarial environment included at least four sub-commentaries beyond the better-known ones we today have. The dating colophon states: “時熙寧元年歲次戊申六月望日啟講，七月十有二日徹廗，因而再刊，又為之序云” — “in the wùshēn year, the first year of Xīníng (1068 CE), on the full-moon of the sixth month the lectures were inaugurated; on the twelfth of the seventh month they concluded; thereupon [the notes] were issued, and a preface was added.” The work is therefore precisely datable to 1068.
The Yúyì contains lexicographic / phonological notes on contested terms in the parent commentaries, citations of canonical and lexicographic sources to adjudicate disputed readings, and supplementary doctrinal observations — e.g. on Zōngmì’s syncretic statements about Confucian–Buddhist filiality. As a witness to the now-lost early-Sòng Yúlánpén sub-commentaries (the Huìcuì, the Suínán, the Shíyí tú), this work is essential for reconstructing the eleventh-century commentarial environment.
Parent texts (chain): KR6i0364 (T685) → KR6i0365 (T1792, Zōngmì) → various Sòng jì / chāo → this Yúyì. Companion sub-commentaries: KR6i0367 (X372), KR6i0368 (X373), KR6i0369 (X374), KR6i0370 (X375).
Translations and research
- Teiser, Stephen F. The Ghost Festival in Medieval China. Princeton, 1988.
No standalone Western-language translation located.
Other points of interest
The exact dating to Xīníng 1 (1068) — including the start and end days of the lecture series — makes this the most precisely-datable text in the entire Sòng Yúlánpén commentary cluster, and a useful bench-mark for the chronology of the surrounding sub-commentaries.