Shízhùxīn lùn chāo 十住心論鈔
Compendium on the Treatise on the Ten Levels of Mind by 重譽 (撰)
About the work
A three-fascicle sub-commentary in question-and-answer format on Kūkai’s Jūjūshin-ron (KR6t0125), by Chōyo 重譽 of the 12th century. The work treats the principal doctrinal-disputational questions arising in the study of each of the ten mind-stages, with a focus on the contested transitional stages.
Abstract
Authorship. Chōyo.
Date. Within Chōyo’s career, 12th century.
Content. The work proceeds through Kūkai’s Jūjūshin-ron in order, treating each of the ten stages in turn. The opening question — on the third stage — is characteristic:
“Treatise [Jūjūshin-ron], chapter 3: Question. The Fearless-Infant Mind [stage 3]: is this name established with respect to the mind of the various devas, or otherwise?”
“Answer: as follows. [The proper answer is given.] Doubt: from both sides this is hard to settle. If one says ‘the mind of the various devas is named Fearless-Infant’…”
The Q&A method is dialectical: for each principal interpretive question, Chōyo presents (a) the standard scholastic answer, (b) the doubt or objection that may be raised, (c) the resolution of the doubt, often with multiple alternative resolutions and their relative merits.
The work focuses especially on the transitional stages (3, 7–10), where the principal doctrinal-disputational questions of the medieval Shingon tradition arise:
- The treatment of non-Buddhist religious experience at stage 3.
- The Madhyamaka-Yogācāra question at stage 7.
- The Tendai-Kegon comparative-ranking question at stages 8–9.
- The kemmitsu transition at stage 10.
Significance. Chōyo’s Shízhùxīn lùn chāo is one of the principal medieval Shingon Q&A sub-commentaries on the Jūjūshin-ron, complementing Saisen’s Xuánjìng chāo (KR6t0140) on the Bendō kemmitsu nikyō ron. Together with Yūkai’s later Shízhùxīn yìlín (KR6t0160), Chōyo’s work established the medieval Shingon scholastic framework for Jūjūshin-ron study.
Translations and research
- No Western-language translation located.
- Ryūichi Abé, The Weaving of Mantra (Columbia, 1999).