Jí gǔjīn fódào lùnhéng 集古今佛道論衡
Collected Records of Past and Present Buddhist-Daoist Disputations
compiled by 道宣 (Dàoxuān, 596–667, 撰)
About the work
A 4-juan early-Tang documentary anthology of Buddhist-Daoist court debates from the Hàn through the early Tang, compiled by 道宣 Dàoxuān 道宣 at the Xīmíngsì 西明寺 in Cháng’ān. The autographic preface dates the work to Tang Lóngshuò 龍朔 1 = 661 (preserved in the source’s title-line: “唐龍朔元年於京師西明寺實錄”). Transmitted in Taishō 52 as T2104.
Prefaces
Dàoxuān’s preface frames the work as a documentary record of the Buddhist-Daoist debates: “The Unsurpassed Buddhist-Awakening rises far beyond the cage [of human conventions], surpassing the three realms and standing alone, severing the four streams and being called Sage. Thus its ramparts cover the great-thousand worlds, its sound-and-teaching reaches the eight assemblies. Thus the diamond-throne stands at the centre of Jambudvīpa, where the perfectly-awakened one is established and spreads the techniques of skill …” — establishing the work’s framing assumption that the Buddhist tradition is the comprehensive sage-teaching, with which Daoism must be set in comparative dialogue.
Abstract
The work assembles, in chronological order, the principal Buddhist-Daoist court debates and disputations from the late Hàn through 661:
- Hàn Mǐng-dì 漢明帝 era — the classical debate between the Indian monks Kāśyapa Mātaṅga 摩騰 and Dharmaratna 法蘭 and the Daoist priests at the Hàn court.
- Six Dynasties debates — the disputations under the various Northern and Southern dynastic establishments, including the Wèi Tàiwǔdì persecution-context disputation (440s) and the Liáng Wǔdì religious-policy disputations.
- Suí-Tang debates — the Suí Wéndì religious-policy debates, the Suí Yángdì disputations, and the major early-Tang court disputations under Tàizōng 太宗 and Gāozōng 高宗 — with verbatim records of the principal exchanges.
The work is one of the principal documentary sources for the early-Tang Buddhist-Daoist religious-political conflict — the conflict that would culminate in the great Wǔzōng persecution of 845 (which Dàoxuān did not live to see).
The text is closely related to its continuation KR6r0140 Xù jí gǔjīn fódào lùnhéng by Zhìshēng 智昇 (composed early 8th c.), which extends the documentary record into the Wǔ Zétiān and Xuánzōng reigns.
Translations and research
- Stanley Weinstein, Buddhism under the T’ang (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987) — uses the Lùn-héng extensively for early-Tang Buddhist-state relations.
- Tang Yongtong 湯用彤, Suí-Táng Fó-jiào shǐ gǎo 隋唐佛教史稿 — Chinese-language survey.
- Charles D. Orzech, Politics and Transcendent Wisdom (1998).
- Antonino Forte, Mingtang and Buddhist Utopias in the History of the Astronomical Clock (Roma / Paris, 1988) — uses the Lùn-héng for the Wǔ-Zhōu period.
- 雷聞, 《效郊宗廟禮》 — Tang religious-policy survey.
Other points of interest
The work is the principal source for many specific Buddhist-Daoist court disputations whose only extant record is what Dàoxuān preserves. Many of the preserved Daoist contributions are themselves of considerable importance for the history of medieval Daoism, and the work has been used by Daoist-historical scholarship (notably by Anna Seidel and by Stephen R. Bokenkamp) for its preservation of otherwise-lost Daoist-doctrinal materials.
Links
- CBETA: T52n2104