Ēmítuó jīng lüèjiě 阿彌陀經略解
Concise Exegesis of the Smaller Amitābha-sūtra by 大佑 (Qú’ān Dàyòu, 述)
About the work
A single-juǎn concise commentary on the Smaller Amitābhasūtra by the early-Míng Tiāntái master 大佑 Qú’ān Dàyòu 蘧菴大佑 (1334–1407). The author’s preface (the Ēmítuó jīng lüèjiě xù), signed Wújùn shāmén Dàyòu 吳郡沙門大佑, frames the work as a brief introduction to the sūtra in the manner of an explanatory companion (shū 疏 in compressed form) — directed at lay practitioners rather than scholastic readers. The preface specifically invokes 窺基 Kuíjī’s Mítuó tōngzànshū 彌陀通讚疏 (T1758) and Sìmíng 知禮 Zhīlǐ’s tradition as the authoritative precedents.
Abstract
The Lüèjiě is one of two principal early-Míng commentaries on the Smaller Sukhāvatīvyūha, alongside 袾宏 Yúnqī Zhūhóng’s substantially later and much more developed Shūchāo KR6p0019. Dàyòu’s text follows the classical kēpàn 科判 sequence: introductory matter (the five doctrinal categories wǔzhòngxuányì 五重玄義 of the Tiāntái xuányì tradition), continuous gloss of the sūtra-text, and concluding liútōng 流通 (transmission) section. The doctrinal frame is the SòngYuán Tiāntái synthesis — yīxīnsānguān, the liùjí, and the late-Sòng emphasis on chēngmíng 稱名 — but presented in a notably abbreviated and accessible form suitable for the early-Míng reading public.
The work circulated widely from the late fourteenth century, and a century later 傳燈 Yōuxī Chuándēng (1554–1628) produced a substantially expanded sub-commentary on it under the title Ēmítuó jīng lüèjiě yuánzhōngchāo 阿彌陀經略解圓中鈔 KR6p0018; the parent Lüèjiě and Chuándēng’s Yuánzhōngchāo together became the standard Tiāntái-school Pure Land textbook in the late Míng and early Qīng. The dating bracket (c. 1370–1407) covers Dàyòu’s mature period; the precise date of composition is not preserved.
Translations and research
- Yu Chün-fang. The Renewal of Buddhism in China. Columbia UP, 1981.
- Shi Shengyan 釋聖嚴, Míng-mò Fójiào yán-jiū 明末佛教研究. Taipei: Dōngchū chūbǎnshè, 1987 — discusses Dàyòu in the lineage leading to Zhūhóng.