Liánzōng bì dú 蓮宗必讀
Required Reading for the Lotus-School by 古崑 (Gǔkūn lǎorén, 集)
About the work
A short single-juǎn Pure Land catechetical anthology compiled (jí 集) by the late-Qīng Hangzhou-area monk 古崑 Gǔkūn lǎorén 古崑老人 — one of his four short Pure Land anthologies preserved in the Xùzàngjīng 卍續藏 alongside Jìngtǔ suí xué KR6p0106 (X1187), Jìngtǔ bì qiú KR6p0107 (X1188), and Jìngtǔ shénzhū KR6p0117 (X1198). The title Liánzōng bì dú (“required reading for the Lotus-School”) frames the work as a basic-level pastoral primer for the Liánzōng 蓮宗 (Pure Land = “Lotus-School”) devotee: an entry-level introduction to Pure Land cosmology, xìnyuànxíng 信願行 doctrine, and chímíng practice.
Abstract
The Liánzōng bìdú zǒngxù 蓮宗必讀總序 opens with the canonical Pure Land position: the Pure Land path is the jiūjìng zhī fǎ 究竟之法 (ultimate teaching) of all Buddhas; Amitābha vowed in his yīndì 因地 (causal stage) “observing this principle, vastly to receive [all beings]”; Śākyamuni in his guǒchéng 果成 (fruition stage) “in accordance with this principle, broadly extended his tongue to praise it.” The text invokes the mòfǎ yìyì rén xiūxíng, hǎn yī dé dào, wéi yī niànfó dé dù 末法億億人修行罕一得道唯依念佛得度 (“in the end-times-of-the-dharma, of the hundreds-of-millions of practitioners, scarcely one attains the Way; only by depending on niànfó are they delivered”) — the canonical late-imperial formulation of Pure Land soteriological exclusivity in the mòfǎ age — and Ǒuyì Zhìxù’s celebrated formula on the elementary character of xìnyuànzhuānchí mínghào 信願專持名號 (“faith, vow, and exclusive holding-of-the-Name”).
The body of the text comprises selected canonical and pastoral passages from the Jìngtǔ sānjīng core corpus together with excerpts from the standard Pure Land patristic literature, organised into thematic sequences. The register is more elementary than Gǔkūn’s other anthologies and is conceived for the entry-level lay-Buddhist practitioner.
Preserved in the Xùzàngjīng 卍續藏 as X1197. The dating bracket adopted (1860–1890) covers Gǔkūn’s principal active period.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.