Shì mó hē yǎn lùn zàn xuán shū 釋摩訶衍論贊玄疏
Commentary Praising the Profound Doctrine of the Shi Moheyan Lun by 法悟 (Fǎwù, 撰)
About the work
A five-juǎn sub-commentary on the [[KR6o0084|Shì Móhēyǎn lùn 釋摩訶衍論]] by the Khitan / Liáo monk 法悟 (Fǎwù, fl. 1080s–1090s) — though the catalog meta classes the dynasty as 宋, the imperial preface attributing the work to the Liáo emperor Tiānyòu 天佑 (the personal name of Liáo Dàozōng 道宗, r. 1055–1101) firmly places it in the Liáo. The work is preserved both in the Sòng Qīshā edition 磧砂藏 and in the Manji-zokuzōkyō 卍續藏經 (X45). The Khitan / Liáo court patronised the Shì Móhēyǎn lùn as a foundational doctrinal treatise; this Zànxuán shū was the most important and most extensive of the Liáo sub-commentaries.
Structural Division
CANWWW does not record an internal sub-division. The text is divided only by juǎn (1–5).
Abstract
The text opens with a long imperial preface, “釋摩訶衍論贊玄疏引文 / 貞亮翼贊同德致理功臣開府儀同三司守太保兼中書令監修國史知樞密院事上柱國燕國公食邑七千五百戶實封… 臣耶律孝傑奉勑撰” — the preface is by the Liáo Khitan official Yēlǜ Xiào-jié 耶律孝傑 (Yelü Xiaojie), one of the principal officials of the Liáo court, who composed the preface at the order of Tiān-yòu Huáng-dì (Liáo Dào-zōng). The preface places the Shì Móhē-yǎn lùn in lineage with Aśvaghoṣa’s [[KR6o0078|Awakening of Faith]] and Nāgārjuna’s commentary, and praises Fǎ-wù’s commentary as the latest and finest in this lineage. The work is registered in the Liáo Liáo-zàng canonical lists and was carried via the Khitan canon to Korean and Japanese transmission.
The author Fǎwù is otherwise poorly attested but should be understood as a major Liáo Buddhist scholastic of the late eleventh century, working at one of the principal Khitan-court patronised monasteries. His sub-commentary represents the high point of Liáo Buddhist scholasticism on the Shì Móhēyǎn lùn and was textually authoritative for subsequent Korean Goryeo and early Japanese Shingon readings.
Translations and research
- Buswell, Robert E., Jr. The Formation of Ch’an Ideology in China and Korea. Princeton, 1989. — Treats the broader Korean / Liáo apocryphal tradition.
- Plassen, Jörg. Recent works on the Shì Móhē-yǎn lùn commentarial tradition.
- Steinhardt, Nancy Shatzman. Liao Architecture. Honolulu, 1997. — General context on Liáo Buddhist culture.
Other points of interest
The text is the most extensive and most authoritatively-attested of the seven Chinese / Liao sub-commentaries on the Shì Móhēyǎn lùn (KR6o0085–0090); it is the only one with an imperial preface and the only one preserved in both the Sòng Qīshā edition and the Manji-zokuzōkyō. Its preface by Yēlǜ Xiàojié is also of historical interest as one of the few Khitan-court Buddhist documents preserved in the canon.