Lǐmén lùn shù jì 理門論述記
Sub-commentary on the Treatise on the Gate of Reasoning by 神泰 (Shéntài, 撰)
About the work
A one-juǎn sub-commentary by Shéntài 神泰 (also Tài Fǎshī 泰法師), a senior translation-bureau colleague of 玄奘 (Xuánzàng), on Dignāga’s Yīnmíng zhèng lǐ mén lùn běn KR6o0001. Shéntài’s Shù jì is the earliest surviving Chinese commentary on the Nyāyamukha, and one of the very few sustained pieces of exegesis on the mūla text rather than on the simpler Nyāyapraveśa KR6o0003. The text begins with an unusually extensive lexical preface analysing the title-words yīnmíng 因明 (hetuvidyā), zhèng lǐ 正理 (nyāya), and mén 門 (gate); explains the doctrine of the three hetus — productive (生因), making-known (了因) and intellectual (智因) — and proceeds to gloss the verses and prose of the Mūla in order. It is an essential witness to the early Cí’ēn 慈恩 reception of Xuánzàng’s yīnmíng translations and was much used by later commentators including Kuījī 窺基 KR6o0008.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T44N1839) lists no internal sub-divisions. CANWWW related-text pointers connect this commentary back to the parent Yīnmíng zhèng lǐ mén lùn běn KR6o0001 (T32n1628).
Abstract
Shéntài 神泰 (fl. mid 7th c., 大慈恩寺) was one of 玄奘’s leading disciples and a major figure of the early Cí’ēn / Fǎxiàng 法相 school. He served as 證義 (verifier of meaning) in Xuánzàng’s translation bureau on a number of major Yogācāra projects, including the Yogācārabhūmi KR6n0001 and the Abhidharmakośa-bhāṣya. His writings on Buddhist logic include the present Lǐmén lùn shù jì on the Nyāyamukha and a separate sub-commentary on the Nyāyapraveśa KR6o0020 (Xuzangjing X53n0847). The Shù jì in its received form is incomplete: only the first portion survives, breaking off after the analysis of the opening verses. The Taishō edits the text from a Tōji 東寺 manuscript (“原” — original / 醍醐寺?) collated against an “甲” copy. The text’s authenticity is secured by abundant quotations in later Japanese Hossō (法相) commentaries, especially Zenju 善珠’s Inmyōronshō myōtō shō 因明論疏明燈抄 KR6o0009, which preserves much of the work where it is now lost. The terminological discussion of the three causal-types (生因 / 了因 / 智因) became the standard schema of Cí’ēn yīnmíng exegesis. Composition is undatable precisely; it must postdate the 650 translation of the Mūla and predate Shéntài’s death — likely between c. 650 and 680.
Translations and research
- Takemura Shōhō 武邑尚邦. Inmyōgaku — sono genri to tenkai 因明學――その原理と展開 [Yīnmíng studies: principles and development]. Kyoto: Hyakkaen, 1986. — Comprehensive Japanese study of the yīnmíng tradition, with attention to Shéntài’s commentaries.
- Shen Jianying 沈剣英. Yīnmíng xué yánjiū 因明學研究. Shanghai, 1985. — Modern Chinese treatment of Shéntài’s exegetical work.
- Frankenhauser, Uwe. Die Einführung der buddhistischen Logik in China. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996. — German monograph on the introduction of Buddhist logic to China; treats Shéntài’s commentaries.
Other points of interest
Shéntài’s Shù jì is indispensable for understanding how Xuánzàng himself taught the yīnmíng corpus, since Shéntài was a member of his translation bureau and presumably had access to Xuánzàng’s own oral exegesis. The numerous quotations from this work in later Japanese commentaries function in modern scholarship as a textual reservoir — much of what is now lost from the Chinese transmission has been recovered from those quotations.