Chéng wéishí lùn liàojiǎn 成唯識論料簡
Critical Selections from the Demonstration of Consciousness-Only by 窺基 (Kuījī, 撰)
About the work
A short two-fascicle work by 窺基 presenting selected critical issues from KR6n0016 Chéng wéishí lùn in question-and-answer format. The “liào jiǎn” 料簡 (“critical selection / sifting of materials”) title indicates a focused doctrinal-critical study of disputed points, complementing the more general KR6n0026 shùjì and KR6n0029 zhǎngzhōng shūyào. Preserved only in the Xuzangjing (X48n0806) and not in the Taishō.
Structural Division
CANWWW does not assign internal structure for X48n0806.
Abstract
The text is one of two short works by 窺基 preserved in the Xuzangjing but not in the Taishō — the other being KR6n0034 Chéng wéishí lùn bié chāo 成唯識論別抄 (X48n0808). Both preserve material that did not enter the great commentaries (the shùjì and the lost full shū) but that Kuījī treated as worth recording for circulation. The dating bracket (659–682) follows from his teaching career at Cí’ēnsì.
The liàojiǎn and biéchāo together constitute the principal source for our understanding of how Kuījī conceived of the doctrinal cruces of the Chéng wéishí lùn outside the systematic commentary. Several positions taken in these works are at variance with — or substantially developed beyond — the corresponding passages in the shùjì, providing important evidence for the development of Kuījī’s mature thought.
Translations and research
- Sponberg, Alan. Meditation in Fa-hsiang Buddhism. PhD diss., Princeton, 1979.
- Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠. Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.