Lèngyán jīng shìzhì yuántōng zhāng jiě 楞嚴經勢至圓通章解
Commentary on the “Mahāsthāmaprāpta Universal-Penetration Chapter” of the Śūraṃgama-sūtra by 行策 (撰)
About the work
A one-fascicle (1卷) commentary on the Mahāsthāmaprāpta Universal-Penetration Chapter (Shìzhì yuántōng zhāng) of the Śūraṃgama-sūtra (KR6j0118) by Jiéliú Xíngcè 截流行策 行策 (1628–1682), traditionally counted as the tenth Patriarch of the Chinese Pure Land lineage. Preserved as X16 no. 312 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The work opens with a substantial preface by Xíngcè himself. He situates the Lèngyán historiographically: composed and translated after the Lotus, the sūtra was unknown to 智顗 Zhìyǐ in his day — had Zhìyǐ seen it, he would have placed it in the tíhú 醍醐 (consummate) doctrinal tier without question. After the great Bodhisattva-commentators are gone, however, “the various commentary-masters have raised conflicting views” (gǔjīn shūzhǔ gè xìng yìjiàn 古今疏主各興異見) and the readers are at a loss. Some have wished to “abandon all commentaries and read only the bare sūtra” — but this is an excessive reaction. Xíngcè proposes a middle path: among the existing commentaries, the 西湖鑑一疏 Xīhú Jiànyī shū 西湖鑑一疏 (presumably 鑑一元盤 Jiànyī Yuánpán 鑑一元盤’s Lèngyán jīng zhèngjiàn or similar — possibly KR6j0703 or related material) most successfully “abandons self and follows the sūtra”; Xíngcè’s own commentary follows that model.
Abstract
The work belongs to the cluster of late-Míng / early-Qīng Mahāsthāmaprāpta-chapter commentaries — including KR6j0718 (Zhèngxiàng) and KR6j0719 (Xùfǎ) — that extracted the chapter from its Lèngyán setting and presented it as the principal Mahāyāna scripture for Chán–Pure Land syncretism. Xíngcè’s reading places the niánfó gateway alongside the zhǐguān 止觀 of 馬鳴 Mǎmíng (Aśvaghoṣa) as one of the two equal pillars of Buddhist practice — a programmatic statement of his own institutional career, which led from intensive Línjì Chán practice through the Liánfū ān 蓮柎庵 founding (1663) to the Liánshè 蓮社 revival at Yùshān Pǔrén yuàn 虞山普仁院 (1670). Composition window: 1663 (his first major Pure Land establishment) – 1682 (his death).
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
The Shìzhì zhāng jiě is one of the canonical sources for the orthodox Pure Land lineage’s recognition of Xíngcè as tenth Patriarch: the work sits programmatically alongside his 勸發真信文 Quàn fā zhēn xìn wén 勸發真信文 and Qǐ yīxīn jīngjìn niànfó qī qī guīshì 起一心精進念佛七期規式 (KR6p0094) as the doctrinal-practical scriptural ground for early-Qīng Pure Land institutionalization.