Bā shí guījǔ zuǎnshì 八識規矩纂釋
Compiled-and-Explicated Edition of the Eight-Consciousnesses Verses by 廣益 (Xūzhōng Guǎngyì, 纂釋)
About the work
A single-fascicle late-Míng introductory commentary on the Bā shí guījǔ sòng 八識規矩頌 by 廣益 Xūzhōng Guǎngyì, the disciple of 德清 Hānshān Déqīng. Preserved in the Manji Xuzangjing 卍續藏 at X55n0894. Companion volume to Guǎngyì’s KR6n0104 Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn zuǎn (X48n0803), forming together a designed two-volume Yogācāra introductory set covering the two basic Cí’ēn didactic texts.
Prefaces
The text opens with a prefatory note (No. 894-A) by Hānshān explaining the rationale: “This guījǔ zuǎnshì — because the older commentaries used only the parent treatise’s prose and were difficult for students to enter; and because the contemporary Zhèngyì (= 明昱’s KR6n0132) and Jíjiě are at variance with each other, leaving students unable to decide — is now compiled by taking the old Bǔzhù (= KR6n0131 by 普泰) as the principal base, taking interpretations from the two [contemporary] schools and from the parent commentary, and fusing them into a single thread, with the Zhíjiě tradition consulted in parallel; precision and brevity are alternated according to need. The work is concentrated specifically on the doctrine of jìng and liàng (cognitive object and means of knowledge), since the analysis of xīnsuǒ (mental factors) and xíngxiàng (cognitive form) has already been provided in the Bǎifǎ zuǎn — to avoid duplication and tedium. Yet every character has its scriptural source, with no admixture of personal opinion. This was prepared by my attendant Guǎngyì when he was first entering the Wéishí gate; I instructed him on the proper method of investigation, that by working through the entire text once he might attain a steady grounding…”
Abstract
The Zuǎnshì is the standard late-Míng beginner’s primer on the Bā shí guījǔ sòng, designed to be read together with the parallel KR6n0104 Bǎifǎ zuǎn — the two volumes together constituting Hānshān’s prescribed two-stage entry into Yogācāra study. Working through the guījǔ under Hānshān’s direction, Guǎngyì gathered the existing commentary tradition (Pǔtài’s Bǔzhù, Míngyù’s Zhèngyì, the various contemporary jíjiě and zhíjiě) into a single readable exposition focused on the jìng / liàng doctrine that is the principal locus of disagreement among the late-Míng commentaries. The work was widely used in Hānshān’s lineage as the entry-text for guījǔ study.
The dating window 1622–1623 reflects Hānshān’s tiānqǐ rénxū (1622) endorsement of the parallel KR6n0104 Bǎifǎ zuǎn (where the same teaching arrangement is described) and his death in 1623.
Translations and research
- Shèng-yán 聖嚴, Míng-mò Fó-jiào yán-jiū 明末佛教研究, esp. pp. 222–223 on Guǎng-yì.
- Sung-peng Hsu, A Buddhist Leader in Ming China. Pennsylvania State UP, 1979.