Wēnshì jīng yìjì 溫室經義記
Notes on the Meaning of the Wēnshì Sūtra commentary by 慧遠 (Huìyuǎn, 撰)
About the work
T1793 in one fascicle is the principal Suí-period commentary on [[KR6i0391|Fó shuō wēnshì xǐyù zhòngsēng jīng 佛說溫室洗浴眾僧經]] (T701) — composed by Jìngyǐngsì 淨影寺 慧遠 (523–592, distinct from the Lúshān 慧遠 of the Eastern Jìn). The Taishō witness opens with the standard six-fold xuányì 玄義 framework — “此經開首。須知六要” (“at the start of this sūtra, six essentials must be understood”) — characteristic of the Northern-Zhōu-and-Suí Dìlùn-school 地論宗 hermeneutic.
Abstract
The six essentials 慧遠 identifies are: (1) the size of the teaching (jiào dàxiǎo) — Mahāyāna or Hīnayāna; the Wēnshì is Mahāyāna-bodhisattva-canon (“此經大乘菩薩藏收”); (2) the gradual-or-sudden nature of the teaching (jú jiàn jí dùn); (3) the three-piṭaka category (the Wēnshì belongs to the sūtra-piṭaka); (4) the doctrinal tenet of the sūtra (“經宗趣”); (5) the meaning of the sūtra-title; (6) the sūtra’s assembly and audience. The commentary works through the parent sūtra section by section in this six-fold framework, providing what is the most extensive medieval Chinese-language treatment of the Buddhist bath-house doctrine.
慧遠’s active period at Jìngyǐngsì in the Suí imperial capital runs from his recovery from Northern-Zhōu suppression (581 onwards) through his death in 592; the commentary plausibly belongs to this last decade of his life. He is the most prolific Suí Buddhist exegete after Zhìyǐ 智顗 (538–597), and the Yìjì is one of his shortest but most influential works for the medical / hygienic tradition of East-Asian Buddhism.
Parent sūtra: KR6i0391 (T701). Companion commentary: KR6i0393 (T2780 by Tang 慧淨).
Translations and research
- Salguero, C. Pierce. Translating Buddhist Medicine in Medieval China. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014.
- Aramaki Noritoshi 荒牧典俊. “Eon to Jōyōji-Eon” 慧遠と淨影寺慧遠. Tōhō gakuhō 28 (1958).
- Hubbard, Jamie & Paul L. Swanson. Pruning the Bodhi Tree: The Storm Over Critical Buddhism. Honolulu, 1997 (background on Jìngyǐng 慧遠’s school).
No standalone English translation located.