Yùzhì mìzàng quán 御製秘藏詮
Imperially Composed: Discourse on the Secret Canon by 太宗趙炅 (撰)
About the work
A thirty-juan imperially composed Buddhist doctrinal-discourse work by Sòng Tài-zōng 太宗 (Zhào Jiǒng, 939–997, r. 976–997). The work is structured as a discursive treatise (quán 詮) on the secret canon (mì-zàng 秘藏) — the deeper doctrinal teachings hidden behind the surface of canonical scripture, including tathāgatagarbha, prajñā, dharmakāya, and the integration of these into a unified Mahāyāna soteriological framework. Each section combines verse-prose composition with extensive interlinear-gloss apparatus. Preserved in the Goryeo Tripiṭaka at K1259. The second of four imperially-composed Buddhist works of Tài-zōng preserved in the Korean canon (KR6s0057, KR6s0058, KR6s0059, KR6s0060).
Prefaces
The text opens with an interlinear-glossed Yùzhì mìzàng quán xù 御製秘藏詮序 (“Imperial Preface to the Discourse on the Secret Canon”). In paraphrase:
The true-origin ultimate principle, secret-密 mystery-secluded subtle, is by means of the teaching expounded to clarify the ultimate. Mì 秘 is the meaning of secret-密-mystery-secluded. The Lotus Sūtra says: “Only Buddha and Buddha can know it.” Zàng 藏 is the meaning of canon-storing the true principle, the sea-receiving the hundred rivers. The Tathāgata’s secret dharma is also so. Therefore the Prajñāpāramitā-sūtra says: “All sentient beings are the tathāgata-garbha-piṭaka substance, namely the One Truth original nature; deluded are the ordinary, awakened are the sage.” The Śrīmālādevī-siṃhanāda-sūtra says: “In the bonds, named tathāgata-garbha; out of the bonds, named the Great Dharma-body.” The Mahāparinirvāṇa-sūtra says: “Named secret-canon is abiding stably here, can establish the great matter; spiritual-penetration as use.” Also it says: “I shall cause all sentient beings and my children, the four-classes assembly, all to dwell stably in the secret canon.” Yet this secret-dharma gate pervades all. The Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra says: “Among the sentient ones, named the buddha-nature; among the non-sentient ones, named the dharma-nature.” Therefore the Buddhas of the ten directions embrace the ten-thousand virtues, wonderfully verifying the constant body. The six-realms sentient beings deluded-and-turn-the-back on the One Truth, long sunk in the bitter-sea, unable to comprehend the heart-as-buddha, the body about to await departing-from-falsehood, seeking-truth — touching the realm and not knowing — therefore named the secret canon.
Quán is teaching — that is, letter-Prajñā. Using the letter-teaching to manifest the secret-canon’s principle. Through speech understanding the dharma; obtaining the meaning, forgetting the words. The Vimalakīrti-sūtra says: “Speech and letters all have the form of liberation.” From this, expounding this true ultimate. Great is it! [The] One Truth’s wonderful Way is the dark-lineage of the ten-thousand dharmas — gathering and holding-and-not-leaving, fine-dust embracing-and-broadly traversing-the-dharma-realm. Profound and unfathomable, secret and hard to know — the various Buddhas obtain it to transform the pure regions; the imperial-king obtains it to ascend to the precious throne, expounding its ultimate Way, entrusting it through speech-explication. Xù 序 is to set out the divine Way’s establishment of teaching, hanging fine words and clearly manifesting; declaring meaning and clarifying the dark, entering the inconceivable wonderful realm.
Abstract
Authorship and date: imperially composed by Sòng Tàizōng during his reign (976–997), most plausibly during the mid-to-late portion (ca. 980 – 997). notBefore = 980, notAfter = 997. Catalog dynasty 宋.
The work is one of the principal Northern-Sòng imperial doctrinal-Buddhist compositions and one of the most ambitious. Where KR6s0057 Liánhuá xīnlún is structured as huíwén (palindrome) verse-pyrotechnics, the Mìzàng quán is structured as a substantive doctrinal treatise combining canonical-citation analysis with imperial doctrinal exposition.
The doctrinal program — integrating tathāgatagarbha (the secret-canon hidden in all sentient beings), prajñā (the letter-teaching that manifests it), and dharmakāya (the Tathāgata’s substantive expression) — reflects Tài-zōng’s deep engagement with the synthesis-Mahāyāna doctrinal tradition that characterized late-Táng / Early-Sòng Chinese Buddhism. The citation-base draws on the Lotus, Avataṃsaka, Mahāparinirvāṇa, Prajñāpāramitā, Śrīmālādevī, and Vimalakīrti sutras — the standard Mahāyāna canonical core — together with the Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra. This represents the mature Northern-Sòng court doctrinal-Buddhist register.
Translations and research
No substantial dedicated Western-language secondary literature located. See KR6s0057 for general Tài-zōng-Buddhism references.
Other points of interest
The 30-juan extent makes this the largest of Tàizōng’s imperially-composed Buddhist works — substantially longer than the others. Its depth of doctrinal engagement (the Buddha-nature / dharma-nature distinction, the tathāgatagarbha in-and-out-of-bonds analysis from the Śrīmālādevī, the canonical-citation-driven argumentation) puts it firmly in the same league as contemporary monastic doctrinal works — and is one of the principal evidences for the deep doctrinal sophistication of Northern-Sòng court Buddhism, often underestimated in later historiography.
Links
- DILA authority: (no preserved authority entry for the imperial author)
- CBETA: K35n1259
- Author: Sòng Tàizōng 太宗 (Zhào Jiǒng 趙炅, 939–997, r. 976–997)
- Companion imperially-composed works: KR6s0057 Liánhuá xīnlún, KR6s0059 Xiāoyáo yǒng, KR6s0060 Yuánshí, KR6s0061
- Doctrinal sources cited: Lotus, Avataṃsaka, Mahāparinirvāṇa, Prajñāpāramitā, Śrīmālādevī-siṃhanāda, Vimalakīrti, Mahāprajñāpāramitā-śāstra