Ji’s Sāṃkhya and the Jin qishi lun

Abstract

Starting with the middle of the Edo period in the 18th century, Japan witnessed the birth and development of an exegetical tradition on Paramārtha’s (Zhendi) 眞諦 translation of the Jin qishi lun 金七十論 (*Suvarṇasaptatiśāstra), a tradition which was to continue for nearly 200 years. Prior to this epoch no similar attempts are known to have existed. This may appear to us as a rather sudden and unexpected phenomenon. Why did the Jin qishi lun become the focus of such an intense scholarly interest in this epoch?

My earlier study of the Notes Concerning the Twenty-five Principles of Sāṅkhya (数論二十五諦記 Suron nijūgo tai ki) revealed that there was a difference between the understandings of Xuanzang’s 玄奘 (and his disciples’) concerning Sāṃkhya and the Jin qishi lun’s view. In the present paper, I examine whether the difference is found in Rinjō Kaidō’s 林常快道 Inmyō sanjūsan ka hon sahō sange kokō 因明三十三過本作法纂解鼓攻.