Yīnmíng rù zhèng lǐ lùn shū qián jì 因明入正理論疏前記
Earlier Notes on the Commentary on the Treatise on Entering Correct Reasoning by 智周 (Zhìzhōu, 撰)
About the work
A three-juǎn sub-commentary by 智周 (Zhìzhōu, 668–723), the leading third-generation master of the Cí’ēn 慈恩 / Fǎxiàng 法相 school after 慧沼, glossing the difficult points of 窺基 (Kuījī)‘s Yīnmíng rù zhèng lǐ lùn shū (the Dàshū) KR6o0008. Together with the same author’s Hòu jì KR6o0024 and the much shorter Shū chāo KR6o0025 this forms what the tradition calls Zhìzhōu’s “three records” (智周三記) on Kuījī’s Dàshū. The Qián jì covers — by the convention of the title — the upper portion of Kuījī’s Dàshū, with the Hòu jì taking up the lower portion. As sub-sub-commentary it both helps readers parse Kuījī’s frequently elliptical phrasing and resolves the divergences between Kuījī and Huìzhǎo on contested points, generally siding with Huìzhǎo’s interpretations.
Structural Division
The Xuzangjing recension of this text is not in CANWWW. The work is a sub-commentary on Kuījī’s commentary KR6o0008 on the Rù lùn KR6o0003.
Abstract
The Xuzangjing edition prefixes a Sòng or early-Yuán “engraving preface” 刻因明入正理論疏前後二記序 narrating the cataloging history: it identifies Zhìzhōu as the author of the “two records” (前記後記) and praises Kuījī for the Dàshū and Huìzhǎo for the Yìduàn KR6o0018 and the Zuǎnyào KR6o0019, noting that the “Dàshū itself was not yet glossed at the level of detail required to make the work practically useful” — a need which Zhìzhōu’s two records were composed to meet. Composition is normally placed in Zhìzhōu’s mature period at the Pǔguāngsì 普光寺 in Cháng’ān, c. 700–723. The Xuzangjing transmits the text from a Japanese manuscript line; in China the text was little circulated after the late Táng. The internal structure follows Kuījī’s Dàshū lemma by lemma; Zhìzhōu typically opens each unit with a “疏…” (Kuījī says…) lemma, followed by his gloss.
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.
- Shen Jianying 沈剣英. Yīnmíng xué yánjiū 因明學研究. Shanghai, 1985.
Other points of interest
The triplet Qián jì KR6o0023, Hòu jì KR6o0024, and Shū chāo KR6o0025 forms the late-Táng Cí’ēn school’s standard sub-commentarial apparatus on Kuījī’s Dàshū; their close interweaving with Huìzhǎo’s three works (KR6o0018, KR6o0019, KR6o0022) constitutes the entire body of the “Cí’ēn three masters” (慈恩三家 — Kuījī, Huìzhǎo, Zhìzhōu) commentarial output on Buddhist logic.