Jùshě Lùn Sòng Shū Lùn Běn 俱舍論頌疏論本
Commentary on the Root Verses of the Abhidharmakośa (with Text) by 圓暉 (述)
About the work
The Jùshě Lùn Sòng Shū Lùn Běn 俱舍論頌疏論本 (CBETA T41n1823) is a Tang dynasty 30-juan commentary on the Abhidharmakośa-kārikā (the verse text KR6l0029, T1560), composed by the monk Yuánhuī 圓暉 (圓暉). The title suffix lùn běn 論本 (“text of the treatise”) indicates that the verse text of the Kārikā is incorporated (běn 本) within the commentary — a common format in Tang commentary production. The text is the third of the three major Tang commentaries on the Kośa (倶舍論三疏), alongside 普光’s jì (KR6l0034) and 法寶’s shū (KR6l0035).
Prefaces
The text opens with “阿毘達磨俱舍論略釋記” — a preface by the Táng official 賈曾 Jiǎ Céng (正議大夫持節諸軍使晉洲刺史), who was present when 圓暉 composed the work. Jiǎ Céng’s preface explains the genesis: at a friend’s request for an accessible commentary on the verse text, Yuánhuī composed the Sòng Shū in condensed form so that “the simple would know, the accomplished would endure.” Jiǎ Céng praises 普光 as the first to transmit Xuanzang’s oral teaching of the Kośa and identifies 圓暉 as a later master: “有圓暉上人者，慧炬熾然，戒珠融朗。後來之美，先達所印。幼好斯文，長而獨得.” (Jiǎ Céng also notes with a pointed rhetorical flourish that “過去眾賢，永慚偏識” — “the former [Vaibhāṣika master] Saṃghabhadra will forever be ashamed of his partial understanding.“)
Abstract
Yuánhuī 圓暉 (fl. Xuánzōng reign 712–756 CE) was a Tang Abhidharma monk who wrote his commentary at Dàyún-sì 大雲寺. Unlike 普光’s and 法寶’s commentaries (which address the full prose bhāṣya text), Yuánhuī’s Sòng Shū focuses specifically on the verse text (kārikā) and offers a more compact, accessible exposition. Because of its relative conciseness and focus on the verses, it became extremely influential in Japan (传 to the Nara period) and in the later East Asian Kōsha (Kusha) school tradition, spawning a chain of sub-commentaries: 法盈’s Sòng Shū xùjì (KR6l0039), 慧暉’s Sòng Shū yìchāo (KR6l0040), 遁麟’s Sòng Shū jì (KR6l0041), and the anonymous Sòng Shū (KR6l0042).
Translations and research
- No translation of this commentary into Western languages exists.
- For its role in Japanese Kōsha-shū, see: Hirakawa Akira. Indo Bukkyō shi インド仏教史. Tokyo: Shunjūsha, 1974.
Links
- CBETA Online
- Taisho Vol. 41, No. 1823
- 圓暉 DILA
- Kanseki DB