Fànwǎngjīng hézhù 梵網經合註
Combined Annotations on the Brahmajāla Sūtra by 智旭 (Zhìxù, 註) and 道昉 (Dào Fǎng, 訂)
About the work
A seven-fascicle full commentary on the Fànwǎng jīng by Ǒuyì Zhìxù (智旭), edited by Dào Fǎng (道昉). 合註 hézhù “combined annotations” indicates that the commentary integrates multiple strands of earlier exegetical tradition into a single synthesised exposition.
Prefaces
Author’s colophon: 明蕅益智旭註，道昉訂.
Abstract
The Hézhù is the principal late-imperial commentary on the Fànwǎng jīng, embodying Zhìxù’s mature synthesis of Tiāntái doctrine, Chán practice, Pure Land devotion, and Vinaya discipline. Together with its introductory volume the Xuányì (KR6k0096), the work formed the standard practical commentary used in Chinese Buddhist instruction on the bodhisattva-precepts from the early Qīng to the modern period. Modern bodhisattva-precept ordinations in Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora frequently still draw on Zhìxù’s exposition.
Translations and research
- Yū, Chün-fang. The Renewal of Buddhism in China. New York, 1981.
- Shih, Heng-ching. The Syncretism of Ch’an and Pure Land Buddhism. New York, 1992.
- Eichman, Jennifer. A Late Sixteenth-Century Chinese Buddhist Fellowship. Leiden, 2016.