The Fahua jing wen waiyi is preserved in a Dunhuang manuscript kept in the Shanghai Museum. We can read a photocopy of that text in Shanghai bowuguan cang Dunhuang Tulufan wenxian, volume one (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1993). After this publication, the transcription of the text was included in Zangwai fojiao wenxian, the second volume (ed. by Fang Guangchang, Beijing: Zongjiao wenhua chubanshe, 1996, pp. 293-354). This text is not an interlinear commentary on the Lotus Sutra, but a kind of commentary which takes up some important issues concerning the Lotus Sutra and develops them in a question-and-answer format. This manuscript was copied by a monk in 545 according to the colophon. Needless to say, the text must have been compiled earlier than 545. Therefore it is very important material with regard to the study of Chinese commentaries on the Lotus Sutra. This paper provides a general survey of the text.
