Shì mó hē yǎn lùn tōng xuán chāo 釋摩訶衍論通玄鈔
Notes Penetrating the Profound Doctrine of the Shi Moheyan Lun by 志福 (Zhìfú, 撰)
About the work
A four-juǎn sub-commentary on the [[KR6o0084|Shì Móhēyǎn lùn 釋摩訶衍論]] by the Khitan / Liáo monk 志福 (Zhìfú, fl. late 11th century), of the Dōngshān Chóngxiānsì 東山崇仙寺 (“Mount Eastern, Esteem-Sage-Monastery”), composed under the patronage of Liáo Dàozōng 道宗 (Tiānyòu emperor, r. 1055–1101). The work is preserved only in the Manji-zokuzōkyō 卍續藏經 (X46) and is paired with [[KR6o0087|Fǎwù’s Zànxuán shū (T772)]] as one of the two principal Liáo Buddhist commentaries on the parent treatise.
Structural Division
CANWWW does not record an internal sub-division. The text is divided only by juǎn (1–4).
Abstract
The text opens with an imperial preface, “釋摩訶衍論通玄鈔引文 / 天佑皇帝御製” — an “imperial composition” by Liáo Dào-zōng himself (or composed in his name). The preface narrates the lineage of the parent treatise: Aśvaghoṣa 馬鳴 composed the [[KR6o0078|Awakening of Faith]], Nāgārjuna 龍樹 composed the Shì Móhē-yǎn lùn commentary upon it, and various later masters composed sub-commentaries. The emperor mentions specifically that “the Sòng monks Lán-tuó 蘭陀 and Fá-tí 筏提” translated the work earlier (preserving the fictitious translator-figures of the parent treatise’s apocryphal origin), and that “the masters Fǎ-zàng 法藏 and Yuán-xiǎo 元曉 commented on it” — though in fact neither Fǎ-zàng nor Yuán-xiǎo (Wonhyo) wrote commentaries on the Shì Móhē-yǎn lùn itself; they wrote on the [[KR6o0078|Awakening of Faith]] (cf. KR6o0105, KR6o0101). The emperor then announces that he has commissioned Zhì-fú of the Chóng-xiān-sì to compose a new sub-commentary that “broadly gathers the original” 博採 the meaning. This royal-patronage context places the work firmly in the Liáo court Buddhist programme of the late eleventh century.
The author Zhìfú is otherwise poorly attested but is described by the emperor as a master “of Vulture-Peak (鷲嶺) lineage and Garuda virtue (鵬聲) excellence” — high doctrinal honorifics. The work is paired with Fǎwù’s [[KR6o0087|Zànxuán shū]] as the two principal Liáo readings of the Shì Móhēyǎn lùn.
Translations and research
- 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 Liáo imperial preface is a remarkable witness to the Khitan court’s serious engagement with the Shì Móhēyǎn lùn; the Liáo court patronised this apocryphal text as a foundational doctrinal authority comparable to the Awakening of Faith itself. The two Liáo sub-commentaries (this one and KR6o0087) constitute the principal Liáo Buddhist scholastic literature on the topic.