Yīnmíng yì duàn 因明義斷
Settling Disputed Points in Hetuvidyā by 慧沼 (Huìzhǎo, 撰)
About the work
A one-juǎn topical sub-commentary by 慧沼 (Huìzhǎo, 651–714), the leading second-generation disciple of the Cí’ēn school after 窺基 (Kuījī), addressing controversial points in the interpretation of the Yīnmíng rù zhèng lǐ lùn KR6o0003 and Kuījī’s Dàshū KR6o0008. The text takes the form of a series of disputed-question discussions (義斷 = “settling [contested] points of meaning”) in which Huìzhǎo arbitrates between competing readings — particularly those advanced by Wénguǐ 文軌 KR6o0021 and other early-Táng “old commentators” (古疏家) on one side and Kuījī’s Dàshū on the other, almost always in favour of Kuījī. The work supplements Kuījī’s surviving commentary at points where the Dàshū is laconic or where its third juǎn breaks off; together with the Yìzuǎnyào KR6o0019 and the Xùshū KR6o0022 it forms Huìzhǎo’s three-part completion of Kuījī’s logic project.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T44N1841) lists no internal sub-divisions. CANWWW related-text pointers connect this commentary to the parent Yīnmíng rù zhèng lǐ lùn KR6o0003 (T32n1630).
Abstract
The colophon credits “淄洲大雲寺苾芻慧沼撰” — Huìzhǎo, monk (bhikṣu) of the Dàyún-sì 大雲寺 in Zīzhōu 淄洲 (Shāndōng), where he was based for much of his career. The opening preface offers an unusually fine survey of the Indian yīnmíng tradition: it traces the school’s lineage through Asaṅga (無著, the “eight branches of inference” bā-zhī 八支), Vasubandhu (世親, the “five-membered” wǔ-fēn 五分 syllogism), Dignāga (陳那, the “three-membered” sān-lì 三立), and Śaṅkarasvāmin (天主, the “two-fold awakening” èr-wù 二悟 of parārtha and svārtha). The body discusses thorny problems: (1) the analysis of the four contradictions (四相違), (2) the semblances of perception and inference, (3) the so-called “common-non-common” reasons (共不共因), and (4) the treatment of prasaṅga (歸謬). Throughout, Huìzhǎo defends what he takes to be Kuījī’s correct positions against rival interpretations, naming Wénguǐ and others by name. The work was composed sometime during Huìzhǎo’s mature period — after Kuījī’s death in 682 and before Huìzhǎo’s own death in 714; a window of c. 690–714 is the standard estimate.
Translations and research
- Takemura Shōhō 武邑尚邦. Inmyōgaku — sono genri to tenkai 因明學――その原理と展開. Kyoto: Hyakkaen, 1986. — Treats Huìzhǎo’s three yīnmíng works systematically.
- Shen Jianying 沈剣英. Yīnmíng xué yánjiū 因明學研究. Shanghai, 1985. — Includes detailed treatment of the Yìduàn.
- Frankenhauser, Uwe. Die Einführung der buddhistischen Logik in China. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1996.
Other points of interest
The Yìduàn is one of the principal sources for the lost portions of the early-Táng “old commentaries” (古疏) on the Rù lùn: Huìzhǎo quotes Wénguǐ, Jìngyǎn 淨眼, Dàoxuān 道宣 and other now-lost commentators by name, sometimes verbatim, in order to refute them. As a consequence the Yìduàn functions as a textual reservoir for early-Táng yīnmíng exegesis comparable to what Zenju’s Myōtō shō is for Shéntài.