Chéng wéishí lùn shùjì 成唯識論述記
Notes Expounding the Demonstration of Consciousness-Only by 窺基 (Kuījī, 撰)
About the work
The principal Cí’ēnzōng commentary on KR6n0016 Chéng wéishí lùn 成唯識論 (T31n1585), composed by 窺基 (632–682) over the period from his collaboration with Xuánzàng on the master text in 659 down to his own death in 682. Originally in 20 juǎn, transmitted in the Taishō in 10 juǎn (each containing two of the original units, designated 上 and 下). The shùjì 述記 is universally regarded as the indispensable companion to T1585: where the master text presents Dharmapāla’s reading as authoritative without identifying alternative positions, Kuījī’s shùjì explicitly identifies which views go to Sthiramati, Nanda, Bandhuśrī, Citrabhānu, and the rest of the “ten masters” (shí dà lùnshī 十大論師) — and it is from this commentary that the modern reconstruction of the doctrinal stratification of the Chéng wéishí lùn primarily derives.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T43N1830) lists KR6n0016 Chéng wéishí lùn 成唯識論 (T31n1585) and KR6n0028 Chéngwéishílùn shùjì jíchéngbiān (T67n2266) as the principal related texts. Internally the shùjì tracks the structure of T1585 line by line.
Abstract
The Chéng wéishí lùn shùjì is the foundational Tang exegetical text of the Cí’ēnzōng / Fǎxiàng school. Its doctrinal contribution is not so much new philosophical material as the systematic exegesis and textual disambiguation of the master treatise: it identifies the original Sanskrit kārikā of Vasubandhu’s Triṃśikā underlying each section of T1585, explains which of the ten Indian commentators is being followed at each point, and provides the technical Yogācāra glossary in its mature Chinese form. It thus functions both as an interpretive commentary and as a kind of “textual apparatus” for the Chéng wéishí lùn.
The composition window adopted (659–682) covers the period from the publication of the master text down to Kuījī’s death. Internal evidence (the references to Xuánzàng in the past tense, the references to other Kuījī works) suggests most of the shùjì was composed after Xuánzàng’s death in 664 but before c. 680.
The text was transmitted in two principal recensions — the chángběn 長本 (full version, 20 juǎn) and the lièběn 略本 (abridged, 10 juǎn); the Taishō prints what appears to be the full version arranged into 10 juǎn with internal 上 / 下 divisions. The work was extensively studied in Heian and Kamakura Japan, where the major Hossō sub-commentaries by 湛慧 Tannē (KR6n0028, in the catalog but not in the canon), 善珠 Zenju (KR6n0027), and others have it as their direct object.
Translations and research
- Cook, Francis H., trans. Three Texts on Consciousness Only. BDK English Tripiṭaka 60-I, II, III. Berkeley: Numata Center, 1999. (Substantial translation of T1585 with reference to the shùjì.)
- de la Vallée Poussin, Louis. Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi: La Siddhi de Hiuan-Tsang. Paris: Geuthner, 1928–1929. (Includes systematic reference to T1830.)
- Lusthaus, Dan. Buddhist Phenomenology. London: Routledge, 2002. (Discusses Kuījī’s role as systematiser of Cí’ēn doctrine.)
- Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠. Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.
- Sponberg, Alan. Meditation in Fa-hsiang Buddhism. PhD diss., Princeton, 1979.
- Gimello, Robert M. “Chih-yen and the Foundations of Hua-yen Buddhism.” PhD diss., Columbia University, 1976. (Important for the broader Cí’ēn / Huáyán doctrinal context.)
Other points of interest
窺基’s preface to the shùjì contains the canonical narrative of how the Chéng wéishí lùn came to be a synthetic single-text rather than ten separate translations — the famous episode in which the young Kuījī persuaded 玄奘 to abandon the ten-translation plan in favour of a unified Dharmapāla-based version. This narrative, however, post-dates the actual translation and reflects the Cí’ēn community’s later self-understanding rather than necessarily a contemporaneous record.