Ēmítuó jīng zhāiyào yìjiě 阿彌陀經摘要易解
An Abridged and Accessible Exegesis of the Smaller Amitābha-sūtra by 真嵩 (Pántán Zhēnsōng, 述)
About the work
A short single-juǎn Qīng commentary on the Smaller Amitābhasūtra by the Pure Land monk 真嵩 Pántán Zhēnsōng of Tiānníngsì 天甯寺 in Pílíng 毗陵 (Chángzhōu, Jiāngsū). The genre title zhāiyào yìjiě 摘要易解 (“abridged and accessible exegesis”) indicates the popularising aim. The opening discussion notes that the sūtra had two principal Chinese translations — Xuánzàng’s Chēngzàn jìngtǔ Fó shèshòu jīng 稱讚淨土佛攝受經 (Tang) and the present Kumārajīva translation — and that the latter is preferred for liturgical use because of its concision; the rest of the work proceeds through Kumārajīva’s translation with brief paraphrastic gloss.
Abstract
Zhēnsōng’s exegetical method is straightforward and pedagogical: each technical term in the sūtra is unpacked into its components (e.g. Fó 佛 → jué 覺, with the standard threefold gloss as zìjué 自覺, juétā 覺他, juémǎn 覺滿), and each section of the sūtra is given a one-paragraph summary. There is no sustained doctrinal essay, no extended polemic, no Tiāntái or Huáyán technical framework — the work is a basic catechetical aid for the lay practitioner. The text is one of the smaller late-Qīng Pure Land manuals and is incorporated into the Xùzàngjīng as a representative document of the late-imperial Pure Land popularising tradition. Dating is by inference (c. 1700–1800); precise date not preserved.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.