Dàshèng qǐxìn lùn nèiyì lüètàn jì 大乘起信論內義略探記
Brief Record of an Inquiry into the Inner Meaning of the Awakening of Faith by 太賢 (Tàixián / Daehyeon, 作)
About the work
A one-juǎn topical commentary on the Awakening of Faith by the Silla Yogācāra master 太賢 (Tàixián / Daehyeon, fl. mid-8th century). Tàixián was the leading transmitter of the 玄奘 Xuánzàng / Cí’ēn 慈恩 Yogācāra tradition in Korea — known there as Hǎidōng Yúgā zǔ 海東瑜伽祖 (“the patriarch of yoga east of the sea”) — and his approach to the Qǐxìn lùn therefore reads it through a Yogācāra lens, in contrast to the Huáyán reading developed by 法藏.
Structural Division
CANWWW (T44N1849) lists no internal sub-divisions; the related-text pointer is to the parent text KR6o0078 (T32n1666).
Abstract
The text is signed simply 太賢作 (“composed by Tàixián”), without a place-name. It opens with a statement of method: “In commenting on this treatise I roughly open two gates: first, stating the great meaning of the treatise; second, probing the meanings within the treatise” (粗開二門。一述論大意。二探論中義). The “great meaning” section sets out the Mahāyāna context: “since the true source is silent and serene, it cannot be measured by consciousness; since the dharma-nature is empty and condensed, it cannot be expounded in words…” — but the text then turns to detailed glosses on specific Yogācāra-relevant topoi: the eight consciousnesses, the ālayavijñāna, the Tathāgatagarbha / ālaya identification, the xūn-xí 熏習 (vāsanā) doctrine.
Tàixián’s reading is significant historically because it represents the Yogācāra-school engagement with a text that the Huáyán school had largely claimed for its own. He treats the Qǐ-xìn lùn as a sub-stratum of the Yogācārabhūmi-śāstra and Cheng-wei-shi lun tradition rather than as the foundational document of Tathāgatagarbha-pratītyasamutpāda. Composition is bracketed by Tàixián’s documented activity period c. 740–770 (he conducted royal merit ceremonies in 753).
The Taishō establishes the text from the 高麗 base collated against 原 (a Tokugawa Japanese printing).
Translations and research
- Buswell, Robert E., Jr. Cultivating Original Enlightenment. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2007. — Background on Korean Yogācāra and its engagement with Tathāgatagarbha doctrine.
- Charles Muller, A. Korean Buddhist Canonical Texts. (Various entries via the Digital Dictionary of Buddhism.)
- Kim, Young-tae 김영태. Han’guk pulgyo yŏn’gu 韓國佛教研究. Seoul, 1985. — Treats the Tàixián corpus.
Other points of interest
Tàixián’s inclusion in the Taishō Vol. 44 alongside the Huáyán-school commentaries reflects the modern editorial decision to gather all Qǐxìn lùn commentaries together regardless of doctrinal tradition. In its original Silla and Tang context, however, this work would have circulated in Yogācāra-school networks separate from the Huáyán transmission of 法藏 and 元曉.
Links
- CBETA
- DILA Authority (Tàixián): A000152