Hanshan Deqing; Zhaolun; Zhaolun luezhu; Buddhism of the Ming
摘要
This paper is a preliminary study of Hanshan Deqing’s 憨山德清 (1546-1623) Zhaolun luezhu 肇論略注 (General Annotation on the Zhaolun). As the first indigenous commentary on Nagarjuna's Madhyamaka philosophy in Chinese Buddhism, the Zhaolun 肇論 (Treatises of Sengzhao) composed during the first half of the fifth century has invited many discussions. Before directly probing into the content of the text and the method how Hanshan Deqing annotated the Zhaolun, we are confronted with a dispute over the date of birth of its author, Sengzhao 僧肇(384?-414). Therefore, this paper will first recap the recent scholarship dealing with Sengzhao's life in the Gaoseng zhuan 高僧傳 (Biographies of Eminent Monks) compiled in the Liang, which is the origin of this issue, and then provide a different depiction from Hanshan's Zhaolun luezhu as another possible solution to the debate. However, the purpose of this discussion is to analyze the meaning and value of these diverse annotations, instead of confirming that which record of Sengzhao’s life is more accurate than the others. Next section returns us to the historical setting of Hanshan’s age when the Zhaolun luezhu was compiled. Accounting for one of later commentaries on the Zhaolun, the Zhaolun luezhu mirrors many important characters of Buddhism in the later Ming dynasty. It was an era marked by political corruption as well as intellectual diversity, making Hanshan exert himself to reconcile relationship between Buddhism, society and politics, and to synthesize Chan and doctrine 禪教, xing and xiang 性相, and three religions 三教 (Buddhism, Daoism and Neo-Confucianism) with his sophisticated philosophy of Mind adopted from Tiantai, Weishi and, in particular, Huayan thoughts. The evidence for this can be seen in the massive use of concepts adduced from relevant sutras in most of Hanshan’s works and discourses. As Huijin 慧浸 (active during 1617) wrote in the epilogue 跋 attached to the Zhaolun luezhu, Hanshan was deemed as a conveyer of Sengzhao. Besides, Hanshan could discern Sengzhao’s main purpose of composing these treatises, and thus was able to dissolve the prejudice and various misunderstandings from historical critics for the Zhaolun. The second section aims at examining Hanshan's motivation of annotating the Zhaolun, and tries to present this text within the scope of Hanshan’s biography and ideological background. Even though recent researchers have questioned the authorship of some chapters of the Zhaolun, on which those exegists made no remarks, it is essential to analyze the structure of the text so as to unveil, clarify some basic problems, and even further understand the relationship between Hanshan and his annotation. As a result, as the final section of this preliminary study, I’m going to present some features of the Zhaolun luezhu by comparing with other exegeses chronologically and comparatively in order to see the characteristic of the Zhaolun luezhu. And find how Hanshan’s personality, ideas, and life influenced the way of compiling the Zhaolun luezhu.
I. Introduction 141 II. Review of the Disputations over the Life of Sengzhao 142 II. Hanshan Deqing’s Life and Motivation of Annotating the Zhaolun 144 III. Structure and Style of the Zhaolun luezhu 146 IV. Conclusion. 150
