Lèngyán jīng zhèngmài shū xuánshì 楞嚴經正脉疏懸示
Prolegomena to the Commentary on the Correct Pulse of the Śūraṃgamasūtra by 真鑑 (述)
About the work
A one-fascicle (1卷) prolegomena (xuánshì 懸示) prefacing 真鑑’s Zhèngmài shū (KR6j0683). The xuánshì (“hovering exposition”) genre is a SòngMíng exegetical convention for prefatory matter that establishes the doctrinal-classificatory framework of a commentary in advance of the lemma-by-lemma exegesis itself. Preserved as X12 no. 274 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The work itself is the prolegomena and self-explains its relation to the parent commentary in a programmatic opening passage that is among the most explicit declarations of late-Míng Lèngyán exegetical reform: “The old explanations only knew how to admire the sūtra’s perfect-and-marvelous (yuánmiào 圓妙) [doctrine] but could not faithfully follow the sūtra’s text to deeply investigate its inherent perfect-and-marvelous purport. Instead they brought in from elsewhere doctrines that approximated yuánmiào and used these to gloss the sūtra. Therefore not only is the textual sense not in agreement, but the original lineage of the sūtra’s textual logic is jumbled, with first and last not connecting through. Therefore my new commentary only obediently follows the buddhasūtra and bends to search out its inherent intentions, causing its lineage of pulses to flow through, so that the inherent perfect-and-marvelous deep meanings within the sūtra — how could anyone-else’s traditions be a likeness? Hence the title ‘Correct Pulse’ (zhèngmài 正脉), with my purport in this. However, in the new commentary’s sectional analysis and exegesis there is great difference from the old explanations; lest hearers immediately become alarmed or burst into laughter, I beforehand and at a distance set out the essential meanings, leading people into willing exploration so as not to abandon it.” (舊解。徒知慕經圓妙。不能曲順經文深研本有圓妙的旨。而乃傍引他家彷彿圓妙之義。以會釋之。故不惟文義了不相合。且將本經元來脉絡悉成紊亂。而首尾不相通貫。故今新疏。但惟奉順佛經。曲搜本意。令其脉絡貫通。則經中本有圓妙深意。豈他家所能比擬。故名正脉。意在此也。然解中判科釋意。大異舊說。恐聞者遽成驚怪。或起嗤笑。故於未解經前。懸遠出示其中要義。導人樂玩。不致廢擲也).
Abstract
The Xuánshì is the single most important programmatic statement of Zhēnjiàn’s late-Wànlì reform of Lèngyán exegesis: it explicitly rejects the dominant Tiāntái huìjiě tradition (descended from Tiānrú Wéizé 惟則) on the grounds that it imposes the alien sānguān 三觀 framework on a sūtra whose own doctrinal architecture demands a different reading. Zhēnjiàn’s alternative is what he calls “directly following the buddhasūtra” (奉順佛經), which in practice means a fresh sectional analysis and a re-reading focused on the sūtra’s own Tathāgatagarbharúláizàngxìng doctrinal grammar. This polemical position became one of the defining flashpoints of late-Míng to early-Qing Lèngyán commentarial debate.
The dating bracket is set to 1576 – 1617, corresponding to Zhēnjiàn’s productive monastic career.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary Western-language literature located on the Xuánshì itself. For Zhēnjiàn’s reform programme as discussed in modern Chinese scholarship, see Shèngyán 聖嚴, Míngmò fójiào yánjiū 明末佛教研究 (Taipei: Dōngchū chūbǎnshè, 1987), the chapter on Míng Lèngyán commentary.