The Mahāyāna（摩訶衍）and the Great Vehicle（大乘）in the Shi moheyan lun（釈摩訶衍論）:Why is the Title “The Expiation of the Moheyan lun（釈摩訶衍論）”?

Abstract

　The Shi moheyan lun, which is a commentary on the Daijō Kishinron (“The Awakening of Faith in Mahāyāna”; Ch. Dasheng qixin lun), refers to the Kishinron in both its title and its text as “moheyan lun” (i.e., “Treatise on Mahāyāna”) and demonstrates the Shi moheyan lun’s unique understanding of moheyan (i.e., “Mahāyāna”). To clarify this, I examine interpretations of the Shi moheyan lun by the priests Huiyuan, Wonhyo, Fazang, Tankuang, Daehyeon, Zongmi, and Zhenjie in relation to passages in the Kishinron in which the term “moheyan” is used. I found that commentaries other that the Shi moheyan lun show a common tendency to replace “moheyan” (Jp. makaen) with “da sheng” (Jp. daijō). However, the parts where the Shi moheyan lun uses the former term do so without any change. This is because moheyan [intelligence] is privileged over da sheng [dullness], and in moheyan, the scope has been expanded to include newly coined concepts of non-dual Mahāyāna and jūrokusen nippō. Therefore, this means that the Shi moheyan lun argues that the Kishinron explains a broader and more magnificent “moheyan” (i.e., “Mahāyāna”) than is encompassed by the term “da sheng” (Jp. daijō), which is why the work was entitled Shi moheyan lun rather than Shi dasheng qixin lun.