Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn zuǎn 百法明門論纂
Compiled-and-Explicated Edition of the Hundred-Dharmas Treatise by 廣益 (Xūzhōng Guǎngyì, 纂釋)
About the work
A single-fascicle late-Míng introductory commentary on Vasubandhu’s KR6n0096 Dàshèng bǎifǎ míngmén lùn 大乘百法明門論 (T31n1614, in 玄奘’s translation), compiled by 廣益 Xūzhōng Guǎngyì on the explicit instruction of his teacher 德清 Hānshān Déqīng (1546–1623). Preserved in the Manji Xuzangjing 卍續藏 at X48n0803. Hānshān himself supplied the framing prefatory note and personally vetted the manuscript (“天啟壬戌夏日 七十七翁憨山老人手批” — Hānshān’s own annotation, dated summer of tiānqǐ rénxū = 1622, when Hānshān was seventy-seven suì).
Prefaces
The prefatory matter contains two distinct paratexts:
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Hānshān’s own annotation (No. 803-A) — Hānshān explains the rationale for the new commentary. The earlier Cí’ēn bǔzhù commentaries (he means principally KR6n0131 Bāshí guījǔ bǔzhù by 普泰 and the parallel Bǎifǎ commentaries) are too compressed for beginners — they “use the treatise to explain the treatise” (yǐ lùn jiě lùn 以論解論) without unfolding the underlying Yújiā shīdì lùn 瑜伽師地論 framework from which the hundred-dharma list is excerpted. Hānshān therefore set his attendant (shìzhě 侍者) Guǎngyì the task of going back to the parent Yújiā sections and synthesising the commentary tradition; the present text is the result. Hānshān prescribes it as the proper first step (chūbù 初步) into Yogācāra study.
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Guǎngyì’s own preface (No. 803-B) Dàshèng bǎifǎ guījǔ zuǎnshì xù 大乘百法規矩纂釋序 — the preface that pairs the present Bǎifǎ manual with its companion volume on the Bā shí guījǔ sòng (= KR6n0136 Bā shí guījǔ zuǎnshì), confirming the two works as a designed pair.
Abstract
The Zuǎn presents the Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn as the first reading in a structured Yogācāra curriculum, with three layers of commentary fused into a single running text: (a) Vasubandhu’s root verses; (b) 窺基’s and the standard Cí’ēn shūyì 疏義 expositions; (c) Guǎngyì’s own bridging glosses that supply the Yújiā parent material. Where the existing shūyì tradition is silent, Guǎngyì draws on the Zhíjiě 直解 tradition and on his teacher’s notes (“取(予)補義云”). The catalog meta confusingly tags the dynasty as 明 but lists no dates; on the basis of Hānshān’s tiānqǐ rénxū (1622) endorsement and the master’s death in 1623, the work itself was composed around 1622, with publication in or shortly after that year.
The Zuǎn is the standard late-Míng beginner’s primer on the Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn and was widely used as the entry text into Yogācāra study by Hānshān’s lineage. It is paired with Guǎngyì’s Bā shí guījǔ zuǎnshì (KR6n0136) as a two-volume introductory set covering the two basic Yogācāra didactic texts.
Translations and research
- Shèng-yán 聖嚴, Míng-mò Fó-jiào yán-jiū 明末佛教研究, pp. 222–223 on Guǎng-yì.
- Sung-peng Hsu, A Buddhist Leader in Ming China: The Life and Thought of Han-shan Te-ch’ing. Pennsylvania State University Press, 1979.