Shì Móhēyǎn lùn lìyìfēn lüèshì 釋摩訶衍論立義分略釋
A Brief Exposition of the Establishment-of-Doctrine Section of the Mahāyāna Commentary by 濟暹 (Jìxiān / Saisen, 撰)
About the work
A one-fascicle topical exposition by the late-Heian Ono-ryū 小野流 Shingon scholar 濟暹 (Saisen, 1025–1115) of the Lìyìfēn 立義分 (the “Establishment-of-Doctrine Section”) of KR6o0084 Shì móhēyǎn lùn 釋摩訶衍論 (T1668). Preserved in Taishō vol. 69 (no. 2287). The Japanese title is Shaku Makaen-ron ryūgi-bun ryakushaku. The Lìyìfēn corresponds to the second of the five sections of the parent Shakuron, where its doctrinal architecture of the thirty-two-fold dharma-system is established.
Prefaces
The work has no formal authorial preface. It opens directly with the structural framework of the Lìyìfēn:
付釋論立義分本數文。作指事
不二摩訶衍者。三十二種本法總體也。根本摩訶衍中開八種故者。所入根本總體門。開初重所入八法也。一心法界三大義中各開二種故者。能依趣入別相門之中第二重所入八法也。次又一心法界三大義各二種故者。初重能入八門也 問。何故不云開二種門耶 答。門法無一定故也。謂與第二重十六法門爲所依之法體故。與初重所…
“On the Lìyìfēn (the Establishment-of-Doctrine Section) of the Shakuron, the foundational enumeration, prepared as a zhǐshì (pointing-out):
‘The Non-Dual Mahāyāna (不二摩訶衍) is the total body of the thirty-two-fold root-dharmas. The phrase ‘in the Root Mahāyāna (根本摩訶衍) eight are opened’ refers to the Gateway of Total Body Entered — that is, the first set of eight dharmas entered. The phrase ‘in the one-mind dharma-realm (一心法界) and the three great meanings (三大義) two each are opened’ refers to the Second-Layer Gateway of Particular-Mark Entered — eight dharmas of the second layer entered. And ‘again, in the one-mind dharma-realm and the three great meanings two each’ refers to the First-Layer Gateway of Entering — eight gates by which one enters. Q: Why is it not said ‘two kinds of gates opened’? A: The gate-dharmas have no fixed number; they serve as the dharma-body on which the sixteen second-layer dharma-gates depend…”
The text proceeds in question-and-answer form through the systematic structure of the Lìyìfēn.
A transmission colophon at the end of the text — incorrectly numbered “No.2287” in the print though distinct from KR6o0094 — records “永久五年四月一日書了 求法僧” — “Copied on the 1st day of the 4th month of Eikyū 5 (1117) by Dharma-seeking monk.” This places the surviving manuscript witness within two years of Saisen’s death.
Abstract
The Lìyìfēn luèshì and the Juéyí huìshì chāo KR6o0093 together represent Saisen’s two principal engagements with the Shakuron. Where the former is a polemical defence of the text’s authenticity, the present Luèshì is a doctrinal exposition of the most challenging structural section. The Lìyìfēn’s thirty-two-fold dharma-system — which expands the Awakening of Faith’s “one mind two gates three greatnesses” into a more elaborate Esoteric schematism — is the most distinctive doctrinal contribution of the Shakuron and consequently the most demanding to expound.
Saisen treats the structure as a three-layered architecture: (1) the Gateway of Total Body Entered (8 dharmas), (2) the Second-Layer Gateway of Particular-Mark Entered (8 dharmas), (3) the First-Layer Gateway of Entering (8 gates). The doctrinal payoff is the systematic correlation between the Awakening of Faith’s mind-doctrine and the Esoteric thirty-two-fold mandala. This correlation is the principal Shingon doctrinal use of the Shakuron.
Composition window: c. 1075–1115, Saisen’s mature scholarly period at Daigo-ji 醍醐寺. The Eikyū 5 (1117) copy-colophon establishes the terminus ante quem of the manuscript transmission.
Translations and research
- Kushida Ryōkō 櫛田良洪. Shingon mikkyō seiritsu katei no kenkyū 真言密教成立過程の研究. Tokyo: Sankibō, 1964.
Other points of interest
The Lìyìfēn of the Shakuron is one of the most influential doctrinal-architectural passages in the entire late-Heian and Kamakura Shingon scholastic tradition. Saisen’s Luèshì established the standard Japanese reading of this passage; the subsequent commentaries by 覺鑁 KR6o0092 and 頼寶 KR6o0097 depart from Saisen’s framework only marginally. The three-layered dharma-gateway architecture introduced here became, via the Shakuron-lineage, foundational to the doctrinal-mandala correlations of the medieval Shingon establishment.
Links
- CBETA
- DILA Person Authority (Saisen): A001857