Dàshū bǎitiáo dìsān zhòng 大疏百條第三重
The One-Hundred Clauses on the Great Commentary, Third Recension by 聖憲 (撰)
About the work
A ten-fascicle scholastic-doctrinal commentary by 聖憲 Shōken (1307–1392), a major Nanbokuchō-period Daigo-ji Sanbō-in scholar. The work treats one-hundred selected doctrinal clauses (百條) from the Mahāvairocanasūtra Commentary (大日經疏 Dàrìjīng shū) of Yīxíng 一行 — the foundational commentary on the Shingon root-text — and is the third successive recension (第三重) of an earlier tradition of one-hundred-clause Shingon-scholastic question-and-answer.
Abstract
Method: systematic doctrinal question-and-answer (兩方也 ryōhō ya — “consider both sides”) exposition of one-hundred selected doctrinal questions from the Dàrìjīng shū. Each clause receives an exposition opening with the clause-citation, a question-statement (問), and a two-sided analysis (the ryōhō — “two-sided”) that examines the doctrinal options before reaching a settled conclusion.
Representative opening (Clause 1: Six-Great Dharma-body 六大法身):
“Q: The passage says ‘reaching upward to the dharma-body, reaching downward to the six paths.’ In this present passage, can the ‘dharma-body’ be called Mahāvairocana? A: Not so. Two-sided analysis: If one says it is not Mahāvairocana — the present passage clarifies that the six-greats are the substance-and-aspect of the four-maṇḍala, and the four-maṇḍala-transformed include the ten realms. Yet, considering the Jūjūshin-ron, Hōyaku etc. on their dedicatory-and-respectful prefaces, when the six-greats and four-maṇḍala are separately worshipped, Mahāvairocana is named among the four-maṇḍala. If so, the ‘reaching-upward dharma-body’ in the present passage should especially point to Mahāvairocana. Moreover, when the Buddha-bodies are classified, they do not exceed four kinds; Mahāvairocana is the natural-character dharma-body. How can he not be called dharma-body? Certainly, then, this is the citation-of-the-Buddha-realm…”
Doctrinal range: the one-hundred clauses cover the foundational topics of Shingon doctrine — Six-Great Dharma-body, Four-Maṇḍala, Three-Secrets, Five-Buddha-wisdoms, Vajradhātu / Garbhadhātu, Sokushin jōbutsu, Mahāvairocana-pravacana, Acala, etc. — each treated through the ryōhō dialectical method.
Significance: one of the major works of Nanbokuchō Shingon scholasticism, and a principal documentary witness to the Daigo Sanbō-in scholastic tradition of the fourteenth century. Companion to Unshō’s later Edo-period Daisho dangi (KR6t0246) which continues the same scholastic-commentarial tradition.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language translation located.
- For the medieval Japanese Dàrì-jīng shū commentary tradition: Tomabechi Seiichi 苫米地誠一, Daigo-ji Sanbō-in monzeki to chūsei mikkyō (2005).