Debates on the Sanron School Recorded in the Hosshōji Mihakkō Mondōki

Abstract

This paper examines the characteristics of all debates on the Sanron 三論 school recorded in the Hosshōji mihakkō mondōki 法勝寺御八講問答記, currently owned by the Tōdaiji library. The Hosshōji mihakkō mondōki was collected and copied by Sōshō 宗性 (1202–1278). The text contains 320 debates on the Sanron school. Of those, 123 were founded on the opinion of the Chinese monk Huiyuan 慧遠 (334‒416). This number is larger than the number of debates on the opinion of Jizang 吉蔵 (549‒623). Many of the 123 Huiyuan-related debates are also recorded in the Daijō gishō shō 大乗義章抄, a commentary on Huiyuan’s Dasheng yizhang 大乗義章 and a copy of which is owned by the Minobu Bunko 身延文庫 in the Minobusan Kuonji 久遠寺.