Lèngyán jīng jízhù 楞嚴經集註
Collected Annotations on the Śūraṃgamasūtra by 思坦 (集註)
About the work
A ten-fascicle (10卷) collected-annotations (jízhù 集註) compilation on the Śūraṃgamasūtra (KR6j0118) by the otherwise-undocumented Sòng monk Tóngzhōu Sītǎn 桐洲思坦 思坦. The work synthesizes glosses from earlier Sòng commentators — drawing principally on Chángshuǐ Zǐxuán’s Yìshū (KR6j0673) and Huáiyuǎn’s Shìyào chāo (KR6j0675) — but extends and harmonizes these with the yàojiě tradition of 戒環 and other Sòng readings. Preserved as X11 no. 268 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The Yuan-period printer’s preface preserves the work’s transmission history: “In the year huángqìng rénzǐ (1312), I (the preface-writer) and the Gāochāng [Uyghur] śramaṇa Bānruò shìlì [Skt. Prajñāśrī] sat together for the summer retreat at the Língshíshān in Tiānzhú [the Hangzhou Tiānzhúsì 天竺寺]; daily we read together translations of the Tiāntái Zhǐguān. Zhōngfēng Běn [Mid-peak Míngběn 中峰明本] from Tiānmùshān 天目, and Duànyá Yì 斷崖義 [Yìjiè 義介, also Tiānmù], frequently came to visit, and conversations often turned to the matter — also that he [Bānruò shìlì] had received the meaning of the Lèngyánjīng from Wén of Guānxī, the jiǎngzhǔ 講主, and that he had translated it into the Uyghur (wèiwú 畏吾) language and script. At that time the dujiǎng 都講 (‘chief lecturer’) Xuégōng 學公 had a manuscript of Tóngzhōu’s Lèngyán jízhù in the temple’s possession. Owing to Bānruò shìlì’s recall to court, he wished by all means to have it printed and circulated, and so brought it back northward; in the end, however, his wish went unfulfilled. Now Mr. Jǐngliáng (景良居士) wishes to print and donate this sūtra; at first it was unclear which edition was the best …” (皇慶壬子歲。與高昌沙門般若室利。同坐夏天竺靈石山中。每對讀譯天台止觀。次天目中峯本公斷崖義公。時來過從。話間多敘。及曾受楞嚴經旨於關西講主聞公。亦且為畏吾方音字書翻之矣。時都講學公。有藏桐洲楞嚴集註。因室利被召趨朝。願必聞上板印流通。遂挾之北歸。巳而竟與願違。逮今茲景良居士。欲刊施是經也。初未定何者為善本…).
Abstract
The preface dates the editio princeps to Huángqìng rénzǐ = 1312 CE under Yuan-court patronage, with the Gāochāng Uyghur monk Bānruò shìlì (Prajñāśrī) as the principal facilitator and a Tiānzhúsì-Tiānmùshān-Mid-Peak community context. The text was acquired by Bānruò shìlì from the dujiǎng Xuégōng of the Tiānzhúsì 天竺寺, transported north to the Yuan capital, and eventually printed under the patronage of the lay donor Jǐngliáng jūshì 景良居士. The Tiānmùshān Zhōngfēng Míngběn 中峰明本 (1263–1323) and his Dharma-brother Duànyá Yìjiè 斷崖義介 are personally attested as part of the circle around the printing.
The work itself was composed by Tóngzhōu Sītǎn at an earlier date — the catalog meta classifies the dynasty as 宋 — most likely in the late Southern-Sòng period (12th–13th century). The author’s own dates and biography are unrecorded; even the work’s printer-preface treats his text as a Sòng-period heritage to be preserved.
The dating bracket is therefore set to 1100 – 1300, the broad late-Northern-Sòng to late-Southern-Sòng window in which the Lèngyánjīng jízhù genre flourished, prior to the Yuán editio princeps of 1312.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located. The Uyghur-translation reference in the preface is one of the very few attested instances of a Buddhist Śūraṃgama commentary entering the Mongol-Yuán Inner-Asian textual environment; for the broader phenomenon, see Christopher Atwood, “Buddhism among the Yuán Mongols,” in Stephen Teiser and Brent Pearce (eds.), Religious Literature of the Mongol Empire (forthcoming).