Fànwǎngjīng shùjì juǎn dìyī 梵網經述記卷第一

Recorded Commentary on the Brahmajāla Sūtra, Fascicle One (Dunhuang fragment) (author unknown)

About the work

A one-fascicle Tang-period commentary fragment on the Fànwǎng jīng, preserved at Dunhuang 敦煌 and included in volume 85 of the Taishō (the Gǔyìbù 古逸部 “old/lost works section” containing Dunhuang and other fragmentary materials). Only the first fascicle (卷第一) survives.

Prefaces

No author identified.

Abstract

The text is one of several Dunhuang-recovered Tang-period Buddhist commentary fragments in Taishō volume 85. Its survival as a Dunhuang manuscript indicates active scholastic engagement with the Fànwǎng jīng in the northwestern Tang Buddhist communities (probably 7th–9th centuries). The fragmentary state — only fascicle 1 is preserved — limits its scholarly utility, but the text is valuable as a witness to Fànwǎng commentary traditions otherwise lost in the canonical transmission.

Translations and research

  • Funayama Tōru 船山徹. Bommōkyō. Kyoto, 1996. — Discusses the Dunhuang manuscript witnesses.
  • Giles, Lionel. Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Manuscripts from Tunhuang in the British Museum. London: British Museum, 1957.