Huáyánjīng chíyàn jì 華嚴經持驗記
Records of Efficacious Responses [Resulting from] Maintaining the Avataṃsaka Sūtra
compiled by 周克復 (Zhōu Kèfù / Tóngshàn dàorén, fl. mid-17th c., 纂)
About the work
A 1-juan early-Qīng anthology of Avataṃsaka-cult miracle-narratives, the Avataṃsaka component of 周克復’s coordinated five-text chí-yàn jì 持驗記 series. Companion to KR6r0072 Fǎ-huá-jīng chí-yàn jì, KR6r0073 Guān-yīn-jīng chí-yàn jì, the Jīn-gāng-jīng chí-yàn jì (X87 no. 1635), and the Jìng-tǔ chén-zhōng (X62 no. 1172). Composition window c. 1659–1670.
Abstract
The work draws on KR6r0085, KR6r0087, KR6r0088, and miscellaneous Sòng-Yuán-Míng anecdote material to produce a streamlined chronological compendium of Avataṃsaka-cult efficacious-response narratives, organised along the same editorial principles as Zhōu Kèfù’s other chí-yàn jì — terse prose, accessible register, focus on the miraculous outcome over doctrinal context. The selection moves from the Liù-cháo through the Suí-Táng-Sòng-Yuán-Míng down to the early Qīng, with substantial late-Míng / early-Qīng material new to the chí-yàn genre.
The work is the most compact of the canonical Avataṃsaka-cult anthologies — at 1 juan, considerably shorter than KR6r0085’s 1 juan or even KR6r0087’s 1 juan — and was designed to circulate as a pocket-format devotional handbook for lay practitioners undertaking Avataṃsaka recitation. The text was first printed in the early Qīng under Zhōu’s own auspices and was incorporated into the Manji Xuzangjing (X77 no. 1534).
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary monograph located. See the discussion under KR6r0072 for the broader chí-yàn jì genre.
- 鎌田茂雄, Chūgoku Kegon shisōshi no kenkyū (Tokyo, 1965).
- 釋見曄, 《明代高僧叢林與佛教史學》 (Taipei, 2007).
Other points of interest
The relative compactness of the Avataṃsaka chí-yàn jì — 1 juan rather than the 2 juan of the Lotus and Avalokiteśvara counterparts — reflects the more restricted late-imperial popular-devotional reach of the Avataṃsaka compared to those texts. The Avataṃsaka remained primarily a doctrinal-scholastic text in the late-imperial period, with the Lotus and Avalokiteśvara dominating the lay-recitation and household-altar regime. Zhōu Kèfù’s series records this asymmetry through its differential page-count.
Links
- CBETA: X77n1534