This thesis is engaged in a scriptural interpretation contrast upon the Heart Sūtra (The referred title as the Heart Sūtra will be adopted hereafter on many occasions on behalf of its Sanskrit title, the Prajñāpāramitā Hṛdaya Sūtra.) among the commentarial traditions in Medieval China. The commentarial campaign of the Heart Sūtra launched from the 7th century, and the ensuing mission of commentating was still undertaken by a number of commentators amidst the later hundreds of years. Those commentators including Kuījī窺基, Fǎzáng法藏, Dàdiān大顛 and Zhìyuán智圓, who represented their individual monastic genealogies were all formally transmitted the teachings by the patriarchs of religious traditions, Yogācāra, Huáyán, Chán and Tiāntái. The contrast is administered amongst the four traditions corresponding to the specific illustrations towards the implications within the texts of the Heart Sūtra. At first, Huáyán and Tiāntái stand for the two major religious denominations which were noted for their individual teachings in commentating the Buddhist scriptures, which the Fivefold Teachings of Huáyán School went together with the Fourfold Teachings of Tiāntái School in Medieval China. On the other hand, Yogācāra and Chán hold quite divergent perspectives upon the explanations of phenomena. Yogācāra School stresses the existence of dependent origination in all phenomena, whereas Chán School emphasizes the emptiness of all phenomena. In the course of the scriptural interpretation contrast among these four commentarial traditions, we can see that they hold variant opinions on commentating the Heart Sūtra, but they actually did not contradict one another. Sometimes we can find that they mutually take advantage of the tenets of the other religious sects but not just the teaching of themselves in doing their commentaries. Furthermore, the introduction of the historical legends happened upon Xuánzàng and Kūkai as well as the linguistic inspection within the shorter text of the Heart Sūtra helps to acknowledge the origin of it, and which brings about a series of discussions over the main text and the mantra of this sūtra. Next, the quest towards the exegetical recognitions upon the heart of the Heart Sūtra corresponding to the above four Chinese commentarial traditions favors to identify the hermeneutical methodologies of them quite to accord with the individually monastic heredities. It is also noteworthy that in the process of contrasting the specific commentaries, we can find that the above four Chinese commentarial traditions play dramatic roles in offering their idiosyncratically philosophical thoughts, and that also favors us to cognize the respective teachings which convey the monastic experiences and Buddhist academic disciplines that specify the individually religious inheritances, and meanwhile makes us embrace a deeper and broader speculation upon the entailments within the text of the Heart Sūtra illustrated by the four traditions.
目次
Abstract i Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Contents vi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 1.1 Background and Problem Statement 2 1.2 Motivation and Purpose 6 1.3 Literature Review 7 1.4 Methodology 13 1.5 Structure of the Thesis 15 Chapter 2: An Overview of the Heart Sūtra Corresponding to the Scriptural Interpretation in Medieval China 17 2.1 Access to the Heart Sūtra Pertaining to the Commentarial Campaign in Medieval China 17 2.2 Exploring the Origin of the Heart Sūtra Based on the Scriptural Interpretation in Medieval China 21 2.3 The Exegetical Recognition upon the “Heart” of the Heart Sūtra in Medieval China 38 2.4 Conclusion 43 Chapter 3: The Commentarial Contrast between Fǎzáng and Zhìyuán upon the Heart Sūtra 47 3.1. The Background Story and the Monastic Lineage of Fǎzáng 47 3.1.1 The Background Story of Fǎzáng 47 3.1.2 The Monastic Lineage of Fǎzáng 49 3.2 The Commentary of Fǎzáng upon the Heart Sūtra 51 3.3. The Background Story and the Monastic Lineage of Zhìyuán 59 3.3.1 The Background Story of Zhìyuán 59 3.3.2 The Monastic Lineage of Zhìyuán 61 3.4. The Commentary of Zhìyuán upon the Heart Sūtra 62 3.4.1 The Theme of the Heart Sūtra 63 3.4.2 The Interpretation of the Whole Text 66 3.5 Conclusion 72 Chapter 4: The Commentarial Contrast between Kuījī and Dàdiān upon the Heart Sūtra 76 4.1. The Background Story and the Monastic Lineage of Kuījī 76 4.1.1 The Background Story of Kuījī 76 4.1.2 The Monastic Lineage of Kuījī 79 4.2 The Commentary of Kuījī upon the Heart Sūtra 81 4.3. The Background Story and the Monastic Lineage of Dàdiān 93 4.3.1 The Background Story of Dàdiān 93 4.3.2 The Monastic Lineage of Dàdiān 95 4.4 The Commentary of Dàdiān upon the Heart Sūtra 96 4.5 Conclusion 102 Chapter 5: Conclusion 105 Appendix I: The Commentaries of the Heart Sūtra in Medieval China 109 Appendix II: The Route of the West Journey of Xuánzàng 112 Appendix III: Photocopy of Rubbing - Transliteration of the Heart Sūtra out of the Fangshān shíjīng by Amoghavajra 113 Appendix IV: Photocopy of Rubbing-Transliteration of the Heart Sūtra out of the Fangshān shíjīng by Maitreya-bhadra 114 Appendix V: Bōrě fómǔ xīnzhòu般若佛姆心咒 115 Appendix VI: The Attached Note about the Dhāranī 116 Bibliography 117 Primary Sources 117 Secondary Sources 118 Website 119
