Lèngyán jīng zhǐzhǎng shū shìyì 楞嚴經指掌疏事義
“Particular-Point Notes” to the “Pointing-to-the-Palm” Commentary on the Śūraṃgama-sūtra by 通理 (述)
About the work
A one-fascicle (1卷) glossary of particular topics (shìyì 事義) supplementary to Dátiān Tōnglǐ 達天通理 通理’s Zhǐzhǎng shū (KR6j0716). Preserved as X16 no. 309 in the Xùzàngjīng. The Shìyì collects technical excurses — on names, places, doctrinal terms, and difficult specific points raised by particular sūtra passages — that would have disrupted the running commentary; these are gathered into a separate handbook to be consulted alongside the main shū.
Prefaces
The opening Shǒu Lèngyán jīng zhǐzhǎng shū shìyì xù 首楞嚴經指掌疏事義序 narrates how the Shìyì came to be compiled. The author (an editorial monk in Tōnglǐ’s circle) reports that he first heard Tōnglǐ lecture on 交光真鑑 Jiāoguāng’s Zhèngmài shū (KR6j0703) in dīngmǎo 丁卯 autumn at the Yíguāng sì 遺光寺, where Tōnglǐ pointed out the máodùn (contradictions) in that earlier commentary. After Tōnglǐ’s appointment to the Xiāngjiè sì abbacy in xīnwèi 辛未 (1751), the editor returned to participate in the new Zhǐzhǎng shū lectures, beginning with the spring opening lecture in guǐyǒu 癸酉 (1753). In jiǎxū 甲戌 (1754), while Tōnglǐ undertook a circuit of lay-patron offerings, the editor was left to continue the lectures and began drafting the Shìyì against three subsequent reading-cycles of the Huáyán and the Lóngzàng. The work reached its present form during the same broad period as the Zhǐzhǎng shū itself.
Abstract
The Shìyì is a technical excursus apparatus to the Zhǐzhǎng shū: per-passage notes that elucidate proper names, doctrinal terms (shì 事 = “particular matters”), and difficult points raised by the Sūtra text. Its compilation — by a Dharma-disciple working at Tōnglǐ’s side and explicitly authorized by him — represents the standard early-modern Chinese Buddhist commentarial practice of separating discursive exegesis (shū 疏) from technical glossary (shìyì). Composition: c. 1753–1763, contemporaneous with the main Zhǐzhǎng shū.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.