Xiàngzōng bā yào jiě 相宗八要解
Explication of the Eight Essential [Texts] of the Characteristics-School by 明昱 (Gāoyuán Míngyù, 著)
About the work
A single-fascicle late-Míng commentary by 明昱 Gāoyuán Míngyù on the eight foundational Yogācāra texts compiled by 洪恩 in KR6n0143 Xiàngzōng bā yào 相宗八要. Preserved in the Manji Xuzangjing 卍續藏 at X55n0900. The function-marker zhe 著 (“authored”) is here equivalent to jiě (explication); the work supplies a running commentary on each of the eight texts in the Bā yào curriculum.
Structural Division
The text follows the canonical Bā yào sequence (cf. KR6n0143) — Yīnmíng rù zhènglǐ lùn → Bǎifǎ míngmén lùn → Bā shí sòng → Wéishí sānshí lùn → Guān suǒyuányuán lùn → Liù líhé shì → Guān suǒyuányuán lùn shì → Zhēn wéishí liàng — providing a detailed Cí’ēn-school philological reading of each.
Prefaces
No separate authorial preface in the extant edition; the text opens directly into the running commentary on the first of the eight texts.
Abstract
The Jiě is Míngyù’s principal late-Míng Bā yào commentary, presenting the eight foundational Yogācāra texts as an integrated reading-course in the strict Cí’ēn-school philological tradition that he champions throughout his corpus. Where Zhìxù’s parallel KR6n0145 Bā yào zhíjiě tends to read the texts integratively in light of his Tiāntái-Yogācāra synthesis, Míngyù’s Jiě sticks closely to the Cí’ēn-school orthodox readings transmitted through Pǔtài and consolidated by Míngyù’s own work. The Jiě together with Zhìxù’s Zhíjiě are the two principal commentaries on Hóngēn’s Bā yào compilation.
The dating window 1590–1620 brackets Míngyù’s productive Wànlì period.
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.