聞分館君 Ask BunKanKun

唐大薦福寺故寺主翻經大德法藏和尚傳

3 min read

Text ID
KR6r0044
Date
904–904
Dynasty
新羅

Táng Dà Jiànfúsì gù sìzhǔ fānjīng dàdé Fǎzàng héshàng zhuàn 唐大薦福寺故寺主翻經大德法藏和尚傳

Biography of the Late Abbot and Translation-Bureau Eminence Reverend Fǎzàng of Dà Jiànfú Monastery of the Táng

composed by 崔致遠 (Choe Chiwon / Cuī Zhìyuǎn, 857–after 908, 撰) of Silla 新羅, in 904

About the work

The principal biography of 法藏 (Fǎzàng, 643–712) — the third patriarch of the Huáyán 華嚴 school and the most important systematiser of Huáyán doctrine in Táng China — composed in 904 (Táng Tiānfù 天復 4) by the Silla scholar-official 崔致遠 (Choe Chiwon / Cuī Zhìyuǎn). 崔致遠 was the most distinguished Silla literatus to have lived and worked in Táng China, and his composition of 法藏’s biography reflects the close ties between the Silla Buddhist establishment (where Huáyán was a dominant tradition through the work of Ŭisang 義湘) and the Chinese Huáyán lineage. Preserved in the Taishō (T50 no. 2054).

Abstract

The biography is in one juan and follows the standard hagiographic form: ancestry, birth, entry into the saṃgha, principal teachers, doctrinal achievements, imperial relations, and death. 法藏’s ancestry is traced to the Sogdian merchant community in Cháng’ān (the surname 康 Kāng indicates Sogdian origin from Samarkand). The text records his apprenticeship under 智儼 (Zhìyǎn, 602–668), the second Huáyán patriarch; his role in the Huáyán translation projects under Empress 武則天 (Wǔ Zétiān, especially the new translation of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra by Śikṣānanda); his doctrinal compositions (the Wǔjiào zhāng 五教章, the Tánxuán jì 探玄記, and others); his close relations with the Empress and with the Táng court more generally; and his death at Dà Jiànfú-sì 大薦福寺 in 712.

崔致遠 composed the biography after his return to Silla in 884, late in his life. The dating of 904 is given in the colophon and is secure. The text is the principal source for 法藏’s life and the foundational document for the East Asian Huáyán hagiographic tradition. As composed by a Silla scholar, it also implicitly highlights the Silla-China Buddhist linkages of the period.

Translations and research

  • Chen Jinhua, Philosopher, Practitioner, Politician: The Many Lives of Fazang (643–712) (Leiden: Brill, 2007) — the major modern study of 法藏, with extensive use of KR6r0044.
  • Robert M. Gimello, “Chih-yen and the Foundations of Hua-yen Buddhism” (Ph.D. diss., Columbia, 1976) — for 智儼 and the Huáyán lineage in which 法藏 stands.
  • Peter Lee, Lives of Eminent Korean Monks: The Haedong Kosŭng-jŏn (Cambridge MA: Harvard UP, 1969) — for the Silla Buddhist context of 崔致遠.
  • Peter Yun, “Confucian Ideology and the Tang Empire,” and other articles on 崔致遠’s political-cultural position.

Other points of interest

崔致遠 is the most celebrated Silla scholar-official to have served in the Táng. His composition of 法藏’s biography is one of the most important documentary expressions of the deep Sino-Silla Buddhist connections of the late Táng period.

Graph View

Backlinks