Ēmítuó jīng zhù 阿彌陀經註
Annotations on the Smaller Amitābha-sūtra by 鄭澄德 (Zhèng Chéngdé, 註) and 鄭澄源 (Zhèng Chéngyuán, 註)
About the work
A late-Qīng lay-Buddhist annotated edition of the Smaller Amitābhasūtra by the brothers 鄭澄德 Zhèng Chéngdé (style Xuéchuān 學川) and 鄭澄源 Zhèng Chéngyuán (style Xuélàng 學烺), completed in 咸豐 11 (1861). The work belongs to the late-Qīng Zōngjìngtáng 宗鏡堂 lay-Buddhist publishing programme in Hangzhou (named for 永明延壽 Yǒngmíng Yánshòu’s Zōngjìng lù). The preface by Xǔ Yuèshēn 許樾身 of Rénhé 仁和 frames the project as part of a forty-eight-volume Pure Land-oriented collectanea (the Zōngjìngtáng cóngshū) of which this annotated edition is the first item; Xǔ describes the text as opening “with the daily practice schedule for the Western [Pure Land] meditation” (Xī dìng kè 西定課) followed by the sūtra-with-annotations.
Abstract
The Zhù is a relatively brief practical-devotional annotation rather than a sustained doctrinal commentary. Each section of the sūtra is followed by a short marginal gloss explaining technical terms and clarifying difficult phrases. The annotation is interlaced with the daily-practice ritual structure (Xī dìng kè) that frames the text as a daily-recitation edition: the text is presented for use as part of the bodhisattva-precept holder’s daily devotional regime, with sections demarcated for morning and evening recitation. The work is a representative document of the late-Qīng lay-Buddhist movement that produced parallel texts by 彭際清 Péng Jìqīng (the Yuēlùn trilogy KR6p0003, KR6p0013, KR6p0028), 魏源 Wèi Yuán (the Huìyì KR6p0001), and 王耕心 Wáng Gēngxīn (the Zhōnglùn KR6p0004).
The author’s own preface (Zìxù 自序) signs as Jìngyè xuérén púsà jiè Zhèng Chéngdé (Xuéchuān) Zhèng Chéngyuán (Xuélàng) and stresses the brothers’ devotional rather than doctrinal aim: “If, every day, you practise from this book, light will surely come to receive you” (依我此書。每日修持。必有光明來相接引).
Translations and research
- Goossaert, Vincent. “Late Qing Buddhist Lay Movements.” In Modern Chinese Religion II: 1850–2015. Brill, 2016 — for the late-Qīng lay-Buddhist publishing context.
- Welter, Albert. Yongming Yanshou’s Conception of Chan in the Zongjing lu. Oxford UP, 2011 — for the Zōng-jìng-táng lineage and its devotion to Yánshòu’s tradition.