Lèngyán jīng jiéliú 楞嚴經截流
Cutting-Off the Stream on the Śūraṃgama-sūtra by 傳如 (述)
About the work
A two-fascicle (2卷) selective topical commentary on the Śūraṃgama-sūtra (KR6j0118) by Jièshān Chuánrú 戒山傳如 傳如 (1562 – 1624), the late-Wànlì Tiāntái master and Dharma-brother of 傳燈 (Yōuxī Chuándēng). The title Jiéliú 截流 (“cutting-off the stream”) echoes the Lèngyán’s own image of the bàoliú 瀑流 (cataract) of consciousness that the practitioner must dam-up by zhèngjiàn (correct seeing) to arrive at the liǎoyì 了義 (final meaning). Preserved as X14 no. 296 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The work opens with the Chóngkè Lèngyán jiéliú xiǎoyǐn 重刻楞嚴截流小引 (“Brief introduction to the recut [printing of the] Lèngyán jiéliú”) by an unnamed editor: “The single sūtra of Lèngyán is the Tathāgata’s spirit-transformation, the marvelous medicine for the time-disease — those who are diseased and meet it, none fail to immediately heal. In the past, Ānanda manifested the dye, and Mātaṅgī manifested the lewdness — generally for those whose seeing-of-form-and-hearing-of-sound stream and cannot break-the-net-of-love, [serving] as one expedient. Therefore 阿難 Ānanda gave-rise [to the question] and the Tathāgata declared this sūtra. At the time the holy multitude in the assembly all saw the Tathāgata’s no-crown-mark from within emit a transformation-buddha, sitting on a precious lotus, expounding the spirit-mantra. Cutting their pure-seeing — then cut-off and without flow. Not following the faculties-and-sense-fields — then flow but [it can be] cut. This solid spirit-elixir-of-cinnabar resides in the ten-fascicle text. I once with fellow-aspirants verified this sūtra: seek it from the original-text without the various-house annotations-and-commentaries; nor again [is it appropriate] to be like a wàngyáng (gazing-at-the-ocean). I happened to obtain the Vinaya-master’s [Chuánrú’s] Jiéliú, read it, and was suddenly enlightened. The medicine is from the same physician …” (夫楞嚴一經乃如來神變逗時之妙藥病者遇之無不立瘥昔阿難示染登伽示婬盖為見色聞聲之流不能斷截愛網作一方便故阿難發起而如來宣說此經也時在會聖眾皆見如來無頂相中湧出化佛坐寶蓮華演說神呪剗其淨見則截而無流不順根塵則流而可截此堅固神丹蘊在十卷文中余甞與同志商確此經求之本文勿得求之諸家註疏又勿得如望洋焉偶得戒師截流讀之恍焉悟也毉即自 …).
Abstract
The Jiéliú is a focused, problem-oriented commentary that addresses specifically the doctrinal-meditative practical problem of how to “cut off” the cataract-flow of consciousness as the Lèngyánsūtra prescribes. The editor’s preface attests to the work’s pedagogical effectiveness: where reading the sūtra itself or the multitude of competing commentaries leaves the reader as if “gazing at the ocean”, Chuánrú’s focused practical exposition produces sudden enlightenment (“read it and was suddenly enlightened” 讀之恍焉悟也).
The dating bracket is set to 1597 – 1624, the productive period of Chuánrú’s late-Wànlì Tiāntái career between his 1597 preface to Chuándēng’s Xuányì and his death in 1624.
Translations and research
- Shèngyán 聖嚴, Míngmò fójiào yánjiū 明末佛教研究 (Taipei, 1987), chap. 2 — discusses the late-Wànlì Tiāntái Lèngyán cluster including Chuánrú.
- No complete Western-language translation of the Jiéliú located.