Huāyánzōng yīchéng kāixīn lùn 華嚴宗一乘開心論
The Kegon-School Treatise on Opening the Mind to the One Vehicle by 普機 (撰)
About the work
A six-fascicle Kegon doctrinal treatise by Fuki 普機 (also Fuki-ki), expounding the Avataṃsaka’s doctrine of the One Vehicle (yī-chéng 一乘) through the dual methodology of 証成道理 (proof-by-realisation) and 聖言道理 (proof-by-sacred-word). The text uniquely applies the Hetuvidyā 因明 (Buddhist logic) tradition of bǐ-liàng 比量 (inference) to Kegon doctrine: the author claims to advance “eighty-one inferences” as a “net of correctness” (yē-wǎng 耶網, lit. “Indra’s net”) for the proof of the One Vehicle, and to organise a thousand doctrinal items under each of the ten huā-yán fǎ-jiè 華嚴法界 (Avataṃsaka dharma-realm) topics.
Abstract
Authorship and dating: The colophon at the end of the work signs the author as “Shì Fuki-zhuàn” 釋普幾撰 — “the [Buddhist] śramaṇa Fuki has composed this.” Fuki 普機 (also documented as 普幾, with the same pronunciation; DILA A001233) is recorded only through this single canonical attribution. The text’s distinctive application of the Hetuvidyā inferential apparatus to Kegon doctrine suggests an author trained in both schools — a profile typical of the late-Heian / Kamakura kengaku (general scholarship) tradition. Without external dating evidence, notBefore = 900, notAfter = 1300 is a conservative bracket.
Doctrinal content: the work is built around a remarkable scholastic apparatus. The opening of the third gate sets out “two methodological tracks”: 証成道理 (“proof by realisation,” i.e. by direct contemplative insight) and 聖言道理 (“proof by sacred word,” i.e. by scriptural-canonical evidence). The first track is implemented via bǐliàng — eighty-one numbered formal inferences in the standard Hetuvidyā zōngyīnyù 宗因喩 (thesis-reason-example) structure — designed to establish the One Vehicle doctrine on logical grounds. The text presents the 圓印量圖 (“circular-seal inference diagrams”) — visual diagrammatic representations of these inferences, which the Taishō notes have been replaced with placeholder “[IMAGE]” markers.
The closing fascicle articulates the 十圓 (ten-fold roundness) of the Avataṃsaka: 念圓 (perfection of moment), 劫圓 (perfection of kalpa), 佛圓 (perfection of buddha), 衆圓 (perfection of assembly), 儀圓 (perfection of ritual), 教圓 (perfection of teaching), 義圓 (perfection of meaning), 意圓 (perfection of intent), 益圓 (perfection of benefit), 普圓 (universal perfection) — a synthesis of Fa-zang’s 法藏 Avataṃsaka metaphysics with the yi-niàn yī-qiè (one-thought-all-things) doctrine of Kegon. The work concludes by referring to 旨歸文 — the Avataṃsaka jué-shù tradition of Fa-zang 法藏 — as its primary source.
The work is one of the more idiosyncratic Japanese Kegon treatises in the Taishō canon: its determined application of the Hetuvidyā inferential apparatus to Kegon doctrine has no clear parallel in the broader Japanese Kegon tradition and may represent a unique medieval experiment.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
- Mochizuki, Bukkyō daijiten, s.v. Fuki 普機 and Kegon-shū ichijō kaishin ron 華嚴宗一乘開心論.
Other points of interest
The text’s use of logic diagrams (圓印量圖) is one of the very few medieval Japanese Buddhist works to attempt the formal-logical visualisation of doctrinal argument. The diagrams themselves are not preserved in the Taishō reproduction — only the “[IMAGE]” placeholder markers — making the work a partial witness to a medieval Japanese tradition of doctrinal visualisation that is otherwise largely lost.
Links
- CBETA: T72n2326
- DILA authority: A001233 (普機)