Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn yìjì 大乘起信論義記
Record of the Meaning of the Mahāyāna Awakening of Faith by 法藏 (Fǎzàng / Xiánshǒu, 撰)
About the work
A three-juǎn commentary on the Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn 大乘起信論 (KR6o0078, T32n1666) by 法藏 Fǎzàng (643–712), the third patriarch of the Huáyán 華嚴 school. With Wǒnhyo’s Qǐxìn lùn shū KR6o0101 and Huìyuǎn’s lost commentary, this is one of the běnlùn sānshī 本論三師 — the canonical three commentaries that grounded the Awakening of Faith exegetical tradition. Of these, Fǎzàng’s Yìjì became the most influential in China, supplying the later Huáyán framework for Tathāgatagarbha doctrine.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T44N1846) lists no internal sub-divisions for the Yìjì itself, but registers two related-text pointers: to the parent treatise KR6o0078 (T32n1666) and to Fǎzàng’s own supplementary Yìjì biéjì KR6o0106 (T44n1847). Cross-references to the East-Asian commentarial cycle pass through these two anchors.
Abstract
The colophon identifies the author as 京兆府魏國西寺沙門釋法藏撰. The Wèiguó xīsì 魏國西寺 was a major imperial monastery in Cháng’ān; the title “Wèiguó” was conferred by Empress Wǔ Zétiān 武則天 in 687, providing a terminus post quem of c. 687 if the commentary is dated by the seal-name; however, internal evidence (the framing of the doctrinal positions and the reliance on Wǒnhyo) suggests Fǎzàng began work on the Qǐxìn lùn much earlier, perhaps already in the 670s. The composition window 670–712 covers his mature career through to his death.
The Yì-jì opens with the same flowing prose-prologue as the Lóng-zàng recension KR6o0103 (the Qiánlóng editors’ rearrangement of the same commentary), develops the “one mind, two gates” framework adapted from Wǒnhyo, and then expounds the central doctrine of Tathāgatagarbha-pratītyasamutpāda (如來藏緣起): the matrix of the Buddha as the ground of dependent arising, equally generative of saṃsāra and nirvāṇa. This becomes the canonical statement of Huáyán xìng-qǐ 性起 doctrine, distinct from Yogācāra vijñāna-pratītyasamutpāda and Mādhyamika śūnyatā.
The Taishō establishes the text from the 高麗 base, collated against 甲 (the Kōyasan / Daigo manuscript) and 原 (a Tokugawa printed edition). A few sections diverge structurally between the Tang witnesses and the Lóngzàng recension; the Taishō prints both transmissions but as separate texts (T1846 here, plus L1600 = KR6o0103).
Translations and research
- Vorenkamp, Dirck. An English Translation of Fa-tsang’s Commentary on the Awakening of Faith. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen, 2004. — Full English translation of the Yì-jì; the only complete Western-language version.
- Hakeda, Yoshito S. The Awakening of Faith. New York: Columbia UP, 1967. — Translates the parent text with extensive citation of Fǎzàng’s commentary.
- Liebenthal, Walter. “New Light on the Mahāyāna-śraddhotpāda Śāstra.” T’oung Pao 46 (1958): 155–216.
- Gimello, Robert M. “Chih-yen and the Foundations of Hua-yen Buddhism.” Ph.D. diss., Columbia, 1976.
- Hamar, Imre, ed. Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007.
- Mochizuki Shinkō 望月信亨. Daijō kishin-ron no kenkyū 大乘起信論之研究. Tōkyō, 1922.
- Ishii Kōsei 石井公成. Kegon shisō no kenkyū 華嚴思想の研究. Tōkyō: Shunjūsha, 1996.
Other points of interest
The Yìjì and the Yìjì biéjì KR6o0106 together constitute Fǎzàng’s complete treatment of the Awakening of Faith; the two should be read in tandem. Sòng and later commentators (子璿 Zǐxuán, 宗密 Zōngmì) treat the Yìjì as the primary text and gloss it directly: thus KR6o0107 Bǐxuē jì (Zǐxuán’s 20-juan sub-commentary) is essentially a sub-commentary on this work.
Links
- CBETA
- DILA Authority (Fǎzàng): A001435