Púsà jièběn jīng jiānyào 菩薩戒本經箋要
Essential Annotations on the Bodhisattva-Vinaya Sūtra by 智旭 (Zhìxù, 箋)
About the work
A single-fascicle late-Míng commentary by Ǒuyì Zhìxù 蕅益智旭 (智旭, 1599–1655) on the Púsà jièběn jīng 菩薩戒本經 (Bodhisattva-Vinaya Sūtra) — the Northern-Liáng Tripiṭaka master Tánwúchèn’s 曇無讖 second translation of the bodhisattva-vinaya portion of the Yogācārabhūmi (the first being his Púsà jièběn in the Púsà dìchí jīng 菩薩地持經 corpus). Author signatures in the source: 慈氏菩薩說 (spoken by Maitreya); 北涼天竺三藏 曇無讖第二譯 (translated for the second time by the Northern-Liáng Indian Tripiṭaka master Dharmakṣema); 北天目蕅益沙門 智旭 箋 (annotated by Zhìxù, monk of Bei-tian-mu Ǒuyì).
Prefaces
The work opens directly with Zhìxù’s jiān 箋 commentary, organised under three structural heads: guījìng shùyì 歸敬述意 (homage and statement of intent — placed at the head and end by the jiéjí jiā 結集家 redactors), zhèngliè jièxiàng 正列戒相 (the systematic enumeration of the precept-marks — the body of the text, drawn from the bodhisattva-bhūmi’s jièpǐn 戒品), and jiéshì zōngqù 結示宗趣 (the closing exposition of the school’s tendency).
Abstract
The Jiānyào is one of Zhìxù’s productive late-Míng commentarial works on the bodhisattva-precept corpus and is paired with his KR6k0196 Púsà jiè jiémó wén shì (annotation on Xuánzàng’s parallel translation). Together the two works constitute Zhìxù’s programme of Yogācārabhūmi-based bodhisattva-precept exegesis. The work belongs to Zhìxù’s larger Vinaya output of the late-Míng era (KR6k0151 Chóngzhì píní shìyì jíyào, KR6k0174 Sìfēnlǜzàng dàxiǎo chíjiè jiēdù lüèshì) and reflects the late-Míng integrative Buddhist concern for unifying prātimokṣa and bodhisattva discipline. Composition belongs to Zhìxù’s mature productive years.
Translations and research
- Shèngyán 釋聖嚴. Mínmò Zhōngguó fójiào zhī yánjiū 明末中國佛教之研究.
- Yū, Chün-fang. The Renewal of Buddhism in China. New York, 1981.