Chéng wéishí lùn liǎoyì dēng 成唯識論了義燈
Lamp on the Definitive Meaning of the Demonstration of Consciousness-Only by 慧沼 (Huìzhāo, 述)
About the work
A seven-fascicle defense and exposition of the orthodox Cí’ēn reading of KR6n0016 Chéng wéishí lùn 成唯識論, composed by 慧沼 (Huìzhāo, 648–714) — Kuījī’s principal disciple and the second patriarch of the Cí’ēnzōng — sometime after Kuījī’s death in 682 and before Huìzhāo’s own death in 714. The work is structured as a polemic against rival readings of T1585, especially against the Shèlùnzōng doctrines associated with Paramārtha and against the divergent Cí’ēn readings of Yuáncè 圓測 (613–696). It is the second of the three canonical Cí’ēn commentaries on T1585 (alongside Kuījī’s KR6n0029 and Zhìzhōu’s KR6n0032).
Structural Division
CANWWW (T43N1832) lists KR6n0016 Chéng wéishí lùn 成唯識論 (T31n1585) as the principal related text. The seven juǎn are not formally subdivided in the Taishō but conventionally cover the same path-structure as T1585 with greater polemical detail at each turning-point.
Abstract
慧沼 is the principal Tang-dynasty defender of orthodox Cí’ēn doctrine against rival positions. His liǎoyì dēng attacks at length: (1) the amala-vijñāna / nine-consciousness doctrine of Paramārtha and the Shèlùnzōng; (2) the position of Yuáncè 圓測 (Wŏnch’ŭk) and his Korean-Cí’ēn followers, especially on the question of the gotra (lineage) of the icchantika and on whether all sentient beings can attain Buddhahood; (3) certain readings of the Tiāntái and Huáyán schools where they intersect with Yogācāra doctrine. The work is therefore the principal source for our understanding of the early Tang doctrinal divisions within and around the Cí’ēn community.
The dating window (682–714) reflects the period from Kuījī’s death (when Huìzhāo would have been free to publish his own polemical commentary) through to Huìzhāo’s death. Stanley Weinstein’s analysis (1959, 1987) places the bulk of composition in the 690s when Yuáncè’s challenge was most acute.
The companion sub-commentary KR6n0036 Chéng wéishí lùn liǎoyì dēng jì (X49n0812) by 智周 continues the polemic into the next generation. The Japanese Hossō tradition has Huìzhāo as a central authority, with KR6n0031 Wéishí yìdēng zēngmíngjì by 善珠 Zenju (in the catalog but not in the canon) being the principal Hossō sub-commentary.
Translations and research
- Weinstein, Stanley. “A Biographical Study of Tz’u-en.” Monumenta Nipponica 15.1–2 (1959): 119–149. (Foundational study of the Cí’ēnzōng patriarchal lineage.)
- Weinstein, Stanley. Buddhism Under the T’ang. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
- Yáng Jiànxiāo 楊劍霄. Huìzhāo yánjiū 慧沼研究. Beijing, 2018. (Standard modern Chinese monograph on Huìzhāo.)
- Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠. Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.
- Sponberg, Alan. Meditation in Fa-hsiang Buddhism. PhD diss., Princeton, 1979.
Other points of interest
The liǎoyì dēng contains some of the principal evidence for the doctrines of Yuáncè 圓測 — the Sillan-Korean rival to 窺基 who survives only in fragments — through its extensive verbatim quotation of his readings (in order to refute them). It is therefore an indispensable source for any reconstruction of the Korean / Xīmíngsì 西明寺 strand of Tang Yogācāra that opposed the Cí’ēn / Cí’ēnsì 慈恩寺 establishment.