Bā shí guījǔ lüèshuō 八識規矩略說
Brief Discussion of the Eight-Consciousnesses Verses by 正誨 (Wújì Zhènghuì, 略說)
About the work
A single-fascicle late-Míng commentary on the Bā shí guījǔ sòng 八識規矩頌 by 正誨 Wújì Zhènghuì (d. 1628), abbot of Dùménsì 度門寺. Preserved in the Manji Xuzangjing 卍續藏 at X55n0891.
Prefaces
The text opens with a substantial preface — Bā shí guījǔ sòng lüèshuō xù 八識規矩頌略說序 (No. 891-A) — written in elevated Huá-yán-flavoured style. It opens with the standard Huāyán citation “心．佛．眾生．三無差別” (“Mind, Buddha, and sentient beings — these three are without distinction”), then evokes the Lèngyán doctrine of the qī dà (seven great elements: earth-water-fire-wind-space-sight-consciousness) as fundamentally rooted in the One Mind, and works toward the doctrinal point that the guījǔ analysis of the eight consciousnesses, properly read, opens out into the Tathāgatagarbha synthesis. The preface positions Zhènghuì’s reading distinctly closer to the Huáyán / Tathāgatagarbha than to the strict Cí’ēn-school philological tradition of Pǔtài and Míngyù.
Abstract
The Lüèshuō is a relatively concise reading of the Bā shí guījǔ sòng in the late-Míng integrative tradition. Like Hānshān Déqīng’s KR6n0135 Tōngshuō, it deliberately reads the Yogācāra eight-consciousness scheme through the Tathāgatagarbha lens: the analysis of the bā shí is treated as a propaedeutic articulation of the One Mind doctrine of the Qǐxìn lùn and Lèngyán jīng rather than as a standalone doctrinal end. The work is one of the principal late-Míng guījǔ commentaries from outside the Cí’ēn-school philological mainstream.
The dating window 1600–1628 brackets Zhènghuì’s productive period through to his death in Chóngzhēn 1 (1628).
Translations and research
- Shèng-yán 聖嚴, Míng-mò Fó-jiào yán-jiū 明末佛教研究.
- Yoshimura Makoto 吉村誠, Chūgoku Yuishiki shisōshi kenkyū. Tokyo: Daizō shuppan, 2013.