Zhànchá shànè yèbào jīng yìshū 占察善惡業報經義疏
The Doctrinal Commentary on the Sūtra of Divining the Karmic Retribution of Good and Evil Acts composed by 智旭 (Zhìxù, Ǒuyì 蕅益, 撰)
About the work
X371 in two fascicles is the sentence-by-sentence doctrinal commentary (義疏 yìshū) on the [[KR6i0545|Zhànchá shànè yèbào jīng (T839)]], composed by 智旭 (Ǒuyì Zhìxù, 1599–1655). The Yìshū is the second member of Zhìxù’s tripartite Zhànchá-commentarial project, complementing the [[KR6i0548|Xuányì 玄義 (X370)]] prolegomenon and the [[KR6i0550|Xíngfǎ 行法 (X1485)]] ritual handbook.
Prefaces
The opening establishes the textual structure: “The sūtra divides into three sections. From 如是我聞 to 是故我今令彼說之 is the introductory section (序段 xùduàn); from 爾時堅淨信菩薩既解佛意 to the end of fascicle two and the offering to Kṣitigarbha is the principal exposition section (正說段 zhèngshuōduàn); from 爾時佛告諸大眾 to 信受奉行 is the propagation section (流通段 liútōngduàn).” Zhìxù further subdivides the introductory section into the zhèngxìn xù (證信序, “introduction establishing trust” — the standard evaṃ mayā śrutam opening) and the fāqǐ xù (發起序, “introduction giving the occasion”).
Abstract
The Yìshū unfolds in the standard Tiāntái-school sentence-by-sentence (科文 kēwén) format: the text of the sūtra is reproduced in lemmata, each followed by Zhìxù’s commentary. The commentary draws on the full Tiāntái doctrinal apparatus — the yīxīn sānguān (一心三觀, “three contemplations of one mind”), the sāndì yuánróng (三諦圓融, “perfect interfusion of the three truths”), the xìngjù shíjiè (性具十界, “ten realms inherently constituted”), the liùjí fó (六即佛, “six identities of the Buddha”). It is also notable for the integration of Yogācāra doctrine (the aṣṭa-vijñāna, the trisvabhāva), reflecting Zhìxù’s broader project of synthesising Tiāntái and Yogācāra.
The Yìshū gives particular attention to: (1) the wood-block divination ritual of fascicle one — Zhìxù provides detailed instructions for the construction and use of the blocks, locating the practice within the broader tradition of karma-divination; (2) the two contemplative paths (二種觀道) of fascicle two — śamatha and vipaśyanā, glossed in Tiāntái terminology as zhǐ (止) and guān (觀); (3) the one-truth realm (一實境界) doctrine — interpreted as the tathāgatagarbha in its Tiāntái formulation as the xìngjù ground of the ten realms. The commentary closes with extensive treatment of the liútōng — the propagation of the practice in the mòfǎ age, which Zhìxù saw as urgently relevant to his own time.
The Yìshū is one of the more substantial of Zhìxù’s commentaries and is foundational for the late-Míng / early-Qīng reception of the Zhànchá and the Kṣitigarbha cult.
Translations and research
See KR6i0548 for the relevant secondary literature.