This paper takes up Jizang’s 吉蔵 view of the Nirvana Sutra. To investigate this issue, Jizang’s Niepan jing youyi 涅槃経遊意 and Da banniepan jing shu 大般涅槃経疏 (which is not extant, but whose fragments were assembled from some writings of Sanron monks) are very important. Further, the numerous references to the Nirvana Sutra in Jizang’s works are also important. After introducing Hirai Shun’ei’s research and my own studies, this paper takes into consideration the structure and thought of the Niepan jing youyi, which has, to date, not been sufficiently investigated. Jizang regarded “non-acquisition” (wusuode 無所得) as the thematic thrust of not only the Nirvana Sutra, but of all Mahāyāna sūtras. This shows Jizang’s fundamental Buddhist stance. Concerning various problems of the Nirvana Sutra, the Niepan jing youyi introduces some theories of the preceding era, takes them up for critique, and shows Jizang’s own ideas, which are also mainly based on the notion of “non-acquisition.” The manuscript of the Niepan jing youyi is not of good quality and in terms of its content, it is not well organized, which leads to difficulties in its interpretation. This paper clarifies only its outline. In the future, I will aim for a more detailed level of research, including a comparative study with Guanding’s 灌頂 Da banniepan jing xuanyi 大般涅槃経玄義.
