Jiě huò piān 解惑篇
Chapters for Dispelling Delusions
A two-juan early-Qīng Buddhist apologetic compilation by Zàishēn Hóngzàn 在犙弘贊 (1612–1686), the major Cáodòng-lineage Vinaya master and abbot of Dǐnghúshān Qìngyúnsì 鼎湖山慶雲寺 in Zhàoqìng 肇慶 (Guǎngdōng). The title reflects the classical Buddhist-apologetic genre of answering Confucian and anti-Buddhist objections (jiě huò 解惑 “resolving delusions”), paralleling earlier works in the same genre (KR6q0181 Xù yuán jiào lùn by Shěn Shìróng 沈士榮, KR6q0182 Dào yú lù by Yáo Guǎngxiào 姚廣孝).
About the work
A two-juan Buddhist apologetic compilation, J35 B325. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
Hóngzàn’s preface engages the classical question of how an outsider can grasp the Buddha’s wisdom (Fó zhī zhì xún nán cè duó yě zāi 佛之智洵難測度也哉): if even great bodhisattvas cannot fully fathom it, how can ordinary seekers? He cites the classic images of limited understanding — zuò jǐng guān tiān 坐井觀天 (“sitting in a well observing the sky”), the xī jī 醯雞 (vinegar-fly) unable to grasp the sea’s vastness — to characterise the anti-Buddhist critics who judge Buddhism by limited conceptual categories.
The two juan assemble classical Buddhist-apologetic materials: proofs of Buddhism’s canonical authority, rebuttals of Confucian critiques of monastic celibacy and filial piety, refutations of the claim that Buddhism is foreign to Chinese culture, defences of Buddhist cosmological-ethical claims, etc. Hóngzàn’s Cáodòng-monastic perspective combined with his Vinaya-specialist institutional seriousness gives the work a distinctive orientation: apologetic from within a rigorous disciplinary tradition.
Abstract
See Hóngzàn’s existing person note for biographical details. The Jiě huò piān is one of Hóngzàn’s several apologetic-pedagogical works produced during his long Dǐnghúshān abbacy. His other Kanripo-canonical work is KR6q0132 Wéishān jǐng cè jù shì jì — his commentary on the classical Chán admonitory text.
Hóngzàn’s doctrinal orientation — strongly critical of late-Míng / early-Qīng Chán factional polemics (which he considered “fúkuā bùshí 浮誇不實” — “frothy boasting without substance”) — made him distinctive among his contemporary Chán authors in turning instead toward Vinaya and apologetic writing. The Jiě huò piān is therefore consonant with his broader preference for systematic-didactic over polemical writing.
Dating: notBefore c. 1650 (start of Hóngzàn’s mature productive period at Dǐnghúshān); notAfter 1686 (Hóngzàn’s death).
Translations and research
- Welch, Holmes. 1968. The Buddhist Revival in China. Background on the post-Míng Guǎngdōng Buddhist tradition to which Hóngzàn belonged.
- Eberhard, Wolfram. Various studies on Guǎngdōng Chinese religious history.
- No substantial study located specifically on J35 B325.
Other points of interest
The Jiě huò piān is one of Hóngzàn’s several apologetic-pedagogical works addressing late-imperial Chinese Buddhism’s persistent cultural legitimation-challenges. The work’s Guǎngdōng provenance (produced at Dǐnghúshān in the South-Chinese Lingnan region) places it within the important early-Qīng Cantonese Buddhist revival, distinct from the Jiāngnán-centred Chán publishing network dominated by the Yuánwù and Hóngchú lineages.
Links
- CBETA J35nB325
- Kanseki DB
- Hóngzàn’s other Kanripo work: KR6q0132 Wéishān jǐng cè jù shì jì.
- Parallel Míng-era apologetic works: KR6q0181 Xù yuán jiào lùn (Shěn Shìróng), KR6q0182 Dào yú lù (Yáo Guǎngxiào).