Guānwúliángshòu jīng zhízhǐshū 觀無量壽經直指疏
Direct-Pointing Commentary on the Sūtra on the Contemplation of Amitāyus by 續法 (Bǎitíng Xùfǎ, 集)
About the work
A two-juǎn commentary by the early-Qīng Huáyán-school 華嚴宗 master 續法 Bǎitíng Xùfǎ 柏亭續法 (1641–1728), on the Guānwúliángshòu fó jīng 觀無量壽佛經. The author’s preface (the Guānjīng zhízhǐshū xù 觀經直指疏序) frames the work as a “direct-pointing” (zhízhǐ 直指) reading of the sūtra — a Huáyán-mediated reading that integrates the Guānjīng into the yīxīn fǎjiè 一心法界 (“one-mind Dharma-realm”) doctrine of the Huáyán school, rather than the Tiāntái yīxīnsānguān of 知禮 Zhīlǐ’s Miàozōngchāo KR6p0007. The structural framework is the standard Huáyán sì fǎjiè 四法界 (four Dharma-realms): each contemplation is read in turn through the shìfǎjiè 事法界 (phenomenal), lǐfǎjiè 理法界 (noumenal), lǐshì wúài 理事無礙 (unobstructed mutuality), and shìshì wúài 事事無礙 (mutual interpenetration of all phenomena) — culminating in the doctrine that the Pure Land is the Huáyányánjiào 華嚴嚴境 (“Adorned Realm of the Huáyán”) itself.
Abstract
Xùfǎ is the principal early-Qīng restorer of the Huáyánzōng (清涼宗 Qīngliángzōng), and the Zhízhǐshū is his most sustained Pure Land commentary. The work belongs to a group of Pure Land works he produced in the 1680s–1710s, including the Ēmítuó jīng lüèzhù 阿彌陀經略註 KR6p0026 (a brief annotated Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha). His distinctive doctrinal claim is that the Pure Land of Amitābha is not a separate realm reached by rebirth but a manifestation of the totalising Dharma-realm (fǎjiè 法界) within consciousness itself — a position that integrates Pure Land devotion into the Huáyán-school metaphysics established by Fǎzàng 法藏 (643–712) and Chéngguān 澄觀 (738–839). This Huáyán-Pure Land synthesis is the principal contribution of Xùfǎ’s school to early-Qīng Buddhist thought and is the doctrinal predecessor of 彭際清 Péng Jìqīng’s still more thoroughgoing late-Qīng synthesis.
The dating bracket adopted (c. 1690–1714) covers the period of Xùfǎ’s mature output — the Zhízhǐshū was probably composed in the late 1690s or early 1700s. The Xùzàngjīng recension is based on the original Hangzhou cutting.
Translations and research
- Hamar, Imre. A Religious Leader in the Tang: Chengguan’s Biography. Tokyo: International Institute for Buddhist Studies, 2002 — for the Huáyán background.
- Hamar (ed.), Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007.
- Wáng Lěi 王雷, Péng Jì-qīng jū-shì-fó-jiào sī-xiǎng yán-jiū. Beijing, 2017 — discusses the Xùfǎ → Péng Jì-qīng Huáyán-Pure Land lineage.
No dedicated monograph on the Zhízhǐ-shū is located.