Jìn xīnyì Dàfāngguǎngfó huāyánjīng biǎo 進新譯大方廣佛花嚴經表
Memorial Submitting the New Translation of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra (with Total Catalogue) by 弘景 (撰); critical edition by 方廣錩 (整理)
About the work
The formal biǎo 表 (memorial) submitted to Wǔ Zétiān 武則天 by Hóngjǐng 弘景 on the completion of Śikṣānanda 實叉難陀’s “new translation” of the Avataṃsaka-sūtra (T10n0279, the Bāshí huáyán 八十華嚴 — “Eighty-fascicle Huáyán”; also known as Tángyì 唐譯, Xīnyì 新譯, or Xīn-jīng 新經), preserved with its accompanying Zǒng-mù 總目 (Total Catalogue) in Pelliot 2314 from the British Library Dūnhuáng collection. P.2314 is in three sections: (1) the Jìn-jīng biǎo 進經表 itself (40 lines); (2) the Zǒng-mù proper (55 lines); (3) a roster of co-translators (16 lines).
Abstract
The Bāshí huáyán was begun in the Dàbiànkōngsì 大遍空寺 of Luòyáng on 14 March 695 (WǔZhōu Zhèngshèng 1) — Wǔ Zétiān herself opening the proceedings, composing the preface, and brushing the title — and continued at the Fóshòujìsì 佛授記寺 to its completion on 8 October 699 (Shènglì 2). The biǎo presented here was drafted by Hóngjǐng 弘景 (634–712, the TiāntáiLǜ master, student of Guàndǐng) on that day. Wǔ Zétiān’s preface for the new sūtra is preserved canonically and also at Dūnhuáng (P.2481); the Zǒngmù and Jìnjīng biǎo are not — they appear in no historical Buddhist catalog and are absent from all canonical editions. The titles of the Jìnjīng biǎo and Zǒngmù are recorded in the Dūnhuáng Lónglù nèi wúmíng jīnglùnlǜ 龍錄內無名經論律 (P.3202) — a Guīyìjūn 歸義軍-period bibliographic register of canonical-but-uncatalogued texts at Dūnhuáng — and the Huáyánzōng jīnglùn zhāngshū mùlù 華嚴宗經論章疏目錄. P.2314 contains multiple WǔZhōu xīnzì 新字 but is inconsistent in their use; combined with the Lónglù witness, this places the manuscript copy in the late 8th–early 9th c.
The work has compound importance: (1) The Jìn-jīng biǎo is the earliest extant primary witness to the translation history of the Bāshí huáyán; it preserves details that Sòng-period sources only paraphrase. (2) The Zǒng-mù is structurally clearer than the transmitted Bāshí huáyán table-of-contents (it gives a precise mapping of qī-chù jiǔ-huì sānshí-jiǔ-pǐn 七處九會三十九品 — the Avataṃsaka’s traditional “seven places, nine assemblies, thirty-nine chapters” framework — to the 80 fascicles), and shows minor variations in pǐn 品 titles from the standard transmitted Bāshí huáyán. (3) The translator-roster supplies the most reliable list of those who participated in the translation team, an issue on which canonical biographical sources are inconsistent.
The composition date is precisely fixed: 8 October 699 CE (the day the Bāshí huáyán translation completed and the biǎo was presented).
Translations and research
- Fāng Guǎngchāng 方廣錩, Bā—shí shìjì fójiào dà-zàng-jīng shǐ 八——十世紀佛教大藏經史 (Beijing: Zhōngguó shèhuì kēxué, 1991) — extensive treatment of the Bāshí huáyán canonization.
- Forte, Antonino, Mingtang and Buddhist Utopias in the History of the Astronomical Clock: The Tower, Statue and Armillary Sphere Constructed by Empress Wu (Rome and Paris: ISMEO, 1988) — context on Wǔ Zétiān’s Buddhist patronage.
- Forte, Antonino, A Jewel in Indra’s Net: The Letter Sent by Fazang in China to Ŭisang in Korea (Kyoto: Italian School of East Asian Studies, 2000).
- Hamar, Imre, ed., Reflecting Mirrors: Perspectives on Huayan Buddhism (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2007).
Other points of interest
The Zǒngmù’s explicit qīchù jiǔhuì sānshíjiǔpǐn mapping resolves several long-standing ambiguities in Huáyán-school exegesis about the structural organisation of the Bāshí huáyán. The translator-roster is the most reliable source for identifying Fǎzàng 法藏’s exact role in the project — settling debates between competing later biographical traditions.
Links
- CBETA
- T10n0279 (the Bāshí huáyán itself)
- IDP record for P.2314
- IDP record for P.2481 (Wǔ Zétiān’s preface)