Xīn fù zhù 心賦注
Self-Commentary on the Rhapsody on the Mind
A four-juan auto-commentary by Yǒngmíng Yánshòu 永明延壽 (904–975) on his own original verse-composition the Xīn fù 心賦 (“Rhapsody on the Mind”), integrating copious citation from Buddhist scripture and the earlier Chán tradition
About the work
A four-juan auto-commentary text in the characteristic Chinese scholastic form: the author quotes a line or phrase of his own earlier fù (rhapsody) composition, then supplies extensive prose exposition interspersed with citations from sūtras, śāstras, and the Chán lineage-history. Full title Zhù xīn fù 註心賦. X63 n1231. Commentary on Yánshòu’s own earlier Xīn fù verse-text; commentedTextid not applicable because the parent text is by the same author and not separately catalogued.
The text opens with “Jué wáng tóng bǐng 覺王同稟” (“the Awakened King — together receive”), the opening line of the parent Xīn fù; the auto-commentary then adduces the Lèngjiā jīng 楞伽經 passage “Fó yǔ xīn wéi zōng, wú mén wéi fǎ mén 佛語心為宗，無門為法門” (“the Buddha’s speech takes mind as its foundational doctrine; no-gate as the dharma-gate”) — the same Lèngjiā jīng passage that structures the Zōngjìng lù KR6q0092. The extended auto-commentary proceeds through the full verse-text line by line, with rich citation from the broader Buddhist canon.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. The received text’s opening line gives the signature: Sòng Hángzhōu Huìrì Yǒngmíng sì Zhìjué chánshī Yánshòu shù 宋杭州慧日永明寺智覺禪師延壽述.
Abstract
The Xīn fù zhù together with the Zōngjìng lù KR6q0092 constitutes Yánshòu’s two principal scholastic works; the Wéi xīn jué KR6q0094 and Wànshàn tóngguī jí KR6q0093 are shorter / more accessible. The present auto-commentary’s four-juan scale places it as a substantial but more focused complement to the 100-juan Zōngjìng lù: the Xīn fù zhù concentrates specifically on the xīn 心 (“mind”) doctrine, while the Zōngjìng lù encompasses the full range of doctrinal categories.
Doctrinally the text exemplifies Yánshòu’s characteristic method of Huáyán-style 華嚴 integrative synthesis: passages from the Lèngjiā jīng and other sūtras are paired with Chán-lineage dialogue citations (Dānxiá héshàng 丹霞和尚, Cáoxī 曹溪, etc.) under Yánshòu’s unified interpretive frame that privileges the yī xīn 一心 “one-mind” doctrine.
Dating bracket: notBefore 960, notAfter 975.
Translations and research
- Welter, Albert. 2011. Yongming Yanshou’s Conception of Chan. Oxford.
- 冉雲華 1999. 《永明延壽》. Dōngdà túshū.
- 鎌田茂雄 1997. 《中国華厳思想史の研究》.
- 孔維勤 1983. 《永明延壽宗教論》. Tóngxìn chūbǎnshè.
Other points of interest
The auto-commentary genre (zì zhù 自注) in which an author supplies prose-commentary on his own earlier verse-composition is relatively rare in Chinese Buddhist literature but well-established in the secular literary tradition. Yánshòu’s deployment of the genre for the Xīn fù positions him within the broader literate-monastic tradition that consciously draws on Chinese secular poetic-commentarial practices; the same impulse underlies Yánshòu’s deliberate use of the fù 賦 (rhapsody) genre itself for the parent text. The result is a scholastic-poetic hybrid characteristic of Yánshòu’s intellectual programme.