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三論玄疏文義要

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Text ID
KR6m0027
Date
1110–1152
Dynasty
平安

Sānlùn xuánshū wényì yào 三論玄疏文義要

Essentials of the Wording and Meaning of the Three-Treatise Profundity-Subcommentaries by 珍海 (Chinkai, 撰)

About the work

A ten-fascicle systematic reference handbook for the study of 吉藏 Jízàng’s 吉藏 Sānlùn xuányì 三論玄義 (T45n1852 = KR6m0026) and his various commentaries on the Three Treatises (三論 Sānlùn) — composed by the late-Insei-period Tōdaiji 東大寺 Sanron 三論 master Chinkai 珍海 (1091/1092–1152). The work organizes the entire Sanron-school doctrinal apparatus into chapter-rubrics (one jiē 階 per fascicle, covering ten thematic clusters), each fascicle prefacing the relevant Jízàng material with a concise kōmoku outline followed by an exegetical yào “essentials” summary. T70n2299 is one of the longest surviving Heian-period Japanese Sanron compositions and the principal vehicle of Chinkai’s mature doctrinal synthesis.

Structural Division

CANWWW lists this text without a sub-toc block.

The ten zhāng 章 of T70n2299 (as printed in T70):

  1. Dàyì wúdé zhèngguān zōng 大意無得正觀宗 — General intention: the “no-attainment correct-vision” doctrine
  2. Jiàoxiāng 教相 — Doctrinal classification (the three turnings of the wheel; bàngzhèng èrzàng jiào 傍正二藏教; the four-period vs. five-period vs. five-flavour periodisations; positioning against Tiāntái, Jìngyǐng, and Fǎxiāng schools)
  3. Èrdì 二諦 — The two truths (shìsú dì 世俗諦 / shèngyì dì 勝義諦)
  4. Bābù 八不 — The eight negations (the maṅgalaśloka of T1564)
  5. Fóxìng 佛性 — Buddha-nature
  6. Yīshèng 一乘 — The One Vehicle
  7. Nièpán 涅槃 — Nirvāṇa
  8. Èrzhì 二智 — The two wisdoms (shízhì 實智 / quánzhì 權智)
  9. Jiàojì 教迹 — Doctrinal traces (history of the teachings)
  10. Lùnjì 論迹 — Treatise traces (history of Sanron literature)

Related texts per CANWWW: KR6m0026 Sānlùn xuányì 三論玄義 (T45n1852); KR6m0031 Dàshèng xuánlùn 大乘玄論 (T45n1853); and by close textual association KR6m0001 Zhōng lùn 中論 (T30n1564), KR6m0008 Shí’èrmén lùn 十二門論 (T30n1568), KR6m0012 Bǎi lùn 百論 (T30n1569).

Abstract

The author Chinkai 珍海 (1091/1092–1152) is identified by the DILA Buddhist Person Authority A000858 with secure dates from the historical record. According to the Sānlùnzōng fǎmù 三論宗法目 (三論宗法目) and Běncháo gāosēng zhuàn 本朝高僧傳 (本朝高僧傳) traditions (summarized in the Bukkyō daijiten), Chinkai was a Kyoto-born Sanron monk who studied first at Tōdaiji’s Sōsho-in 草所院 / Senjū-in 千手院 (Senshū-in), then trained in esoteric mikkyō at Daigo-ji 醍醐寺 and Kanshū-ji 勸修寺, and additionally practiced Pure Land devotion (jōdokyō 浄土教); his secular vocation was as a Buddhist painter, in which capacity he was reputed “the leading painter of his time” (tenka daiichi no eshi 天下第一の繪師).

T70n2299 is one of his three major surviving Sanron works (together with KR6m0032 Dàchéng xuán wèndá 大乘玄問答 and KR6m0033 Yīchéng yì sījì 一乘義私記) and represents his mature pedagogical reorganization of the Sanron doctrinal corpus. The work’s distinctive editorial decision is to extract the Sanron doctrinal gist from Jízàng’s Sānlùn xuányì (T1852) and to gloss it not seriatim but by topic, generating effectively a Sanron-school theological dictionary indexed by Jízàng’s own categories. Each zhāng opens with a kōmoku outline of sub-topics, then proceeds by citing Jízàng (typically labelled “Xuán yún 玄云” or “Xuánzhāng yún 玄章云”) followed by Chinkai’s own clarifications. The work substantially incorporates Chinkai’s reading of KR6m0031 Dàchéng xuánlùn 大乘玄論 (T45n1853) for which he separately produced KR6m0032 Dàchéng xuán wèndá 大乘玄問答.

Chinkai’s general doctrinal stance is the Sanron-school standard non-attainment (wúdé 無得) middle-way correct-vision (zhèngguān 正觀) position, which he presents in deliberate dialogue with the Tendai 天台 sìjiào 四教 classification (in zhāng 2), the Hossō 法相 sānshí jiào 三時教 classification (also zhāng 2), and the Jìngyǐng 淨影 sìzōng 四宗 classification (likewise zhāng 2). The work also preserves rare doctrinal cross-references to 玄叡 Gen’ei’s Dàshèng Sānlùn dàyì chāo 大乘三論大義鈔 (KR6o0081, T2296), allowing modern philologists to reconstruct mid-Heian Sanron continuity.

The work bears the signed colophon-byline “Chánnàyuàn Yuèqián yǐjiǎng 禪那院越前已講 珍海” — “Chinkai, yi-kō of Echizen-bō, Zen’na-in” — locating the composition at the Zen’na-in 禪那院 sub-temple within Tōdaiji’s Tō-nan-in 東南院 complex. The date is not internally specified; the work is conventionally placed within Chinkai’s mature scholarly phase, c. 1110–1152.

Translations and research

  • Sueki Fumihiko 末木文美士. Heian shoki Bukkyō shisō no kenkyū 平安初期仏教思想の研究. Tōkyō: Shunjūsha, 1995. (Surveys Chinkai’s Sanron-school context.)
  • Hirai Shun’ei 平井俊榮. Sanron-kyōgaku no kenkyū 三論教學の研究. Tōkyō: Shunjūsha, 1990. (Principal modern survey, discusses Chinkai’s three Sanron works.)
  • Itō Takatoshi 伊藤隆寿. Chūgoku Bukkyō no hihanteki kenkyū 中国仏教の批判的研究. Tōkyō: Daizō shuppan, 1992. (Discusses Chinkai’s Sanron historical placement.)
  • Itō Kōan 伊藤宏顯. “Chinkai no Sanron-gaku” 珍海の三論學. Indogaku Bukkyōgaku kenkyū. (Chinkai-specific study.)

Other points of interest

Chinkai is unusually well-documented for a Heian-period Sanron monk thanks to his dual identity as a leading Buddhist painter; the Sānlùn yàowén jí 三論要文集 (三論要文集) and other Insei-period Tōdaiji Sanron sources, together with Buddhist art-historical material, allow modern philologists to reconstruct his career with rare precision. T70n2299 is also significant as an instance of Sanron-school karetsu 課列 (topic-by-topic) re-organization of inherited Suí material — an editorial strategy that anticipates the Tokugawa jūshō 重抄 tradition of Buddhist textbook compilation by half a millennium.

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