Dìchí lùn yìjì 地持論義記
Notes on the Meaning of the Bodhisattvabhūmi-śāstra by 淨影慧遠 (Jìngyǐng Huìyuǎn, 述)
About the work
A three-fascicle exegetical commentary on the Púsà dìchí jīng (KR6n0003, T30n1581) — Dharmakṣema’s translation of the Bodhisattvabhūmi — composed by 淨影慧遠 (Jìngyǐng Huìyuǎn, 523–592), the great Suí Dìlùn 地論 school master. Often referred to in catalogues simply by the alternative title 地持論 Dìchí lùn, conflating the jīng (sūtra) and lùn (treatise) titles. Survives in the Xuzangjing (X39n0704) and is one of the most important pre-Xuánzàng exegetical witnesses to the Bodhisattvabhūmi tradition in China.
Structural Division
CANWWW does not assign a TOC to X39n0704. Internally the three juǎn follow the structure of the parent text KR6n0003. Related texts: KR6n0001 Yúqié shī dì lùn 瑜伽師地論 (T30n1579) — the eventual complete translation; KR6n0012 Dìchí yìjì juǎn dìsì 地持義記卷第四 (T85n2803) — Dūnhuáng fragment in the same exegetical tradition.
Abstract
淨影慧遠 (also known as 大遠 Dàyuǎn or 隋遠 Suíyuǎn; not to be confused with the earlier 廬山慧遠 of Mt Lú) was the principal heir to the Northern Dìlùn school of Fǎshàng 法上 (495–580) and the most important systematic Buddhist scholar of the Sui imperial period. The Dìchí lùn yìjì is one of his major doctrinal commentaries, alongside the Dà chéng yì zhāng 大乘義章 (T1851 = KR6n0122). The dating bracket adopted (580–592) covers his late-life commentarial activity at the Jìngyǐngsì 淨影寺 in Cháng’ān after the death of his master Fǎshàng.
The commentary reads the Bodhisattvabhūmi through the lens of the Dìlùn school’s tathāgatagarbha-influenced Yogācāra. It is repeatedly cited by the early Tang Cí’ēn commentators including 窺基 in KR6n0008 Yúqié shī dì lùn lüèzuǎn, who treats Huìyuǎn’s reading of the Púsàjiè (bodhisattva-precepts) section as a key scholastic precedent — even where Cí’ēn doctrine ultimately diverges from the Dìlùn tradition.
The work is also the principal pre-Xuánzàng Chinese commentary on the bodhisattva-precepts of the Bodhisattvabhūmi, and as such occupies an important place in the textual genealogy of the East Asian Púsàjiè tradition.
Translations and research
- Aramaki Noritoshi 荒牧典俊, ed. Hokuchō zui-tō Chūgoku Bukkyō shisōshi 北朝隋唐中国仏教思想史. Kyoto: Hōzōkan, 2000. (Standard collective study including a major chapter on Huìyuǎn’s commentarial corpus.)
- Tang Yongtong 湯用彤. Sui Tang fojiao shigao 隋唐佛教史稿. Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1982.
- Hirakawa Akira 平川彰. “Jōyō Eon to Ji-ji-ron-gi-ki” 淨影慧遠と地持論義記. Indogaku Bukkyōgaku Kenkyū, various.