National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This manuscript is a commentary on volume 1 of Kegonkyô shichikashô (Essays on the Seven Sections of the Huayan jing (Skt., Avatamsaka sutra; Flower Garland Sutra)) by Fazang (643-712), third patriarch of the Huayan (J., Kegon) sect. The Essays on the Seven Sections are also known as Miscellaneous Essays on the Flower Garland Sutra (Ch., Huayan zazhangmen; J., Kegon zasshômon). In the edition from the Taishô Daizôkyô (complete compendium of the Buddhist canon from the Taishô period (1912–26)) (volume 45), it is listed as Kegonkyô myôhôbon nairitsu sanbôshô, Volume 2, which consists of a first volume with chapters on the Three Buddhist Treasures (J., sanbô) and Continuous Arisings (J., ruten), and a second with chapters on Dependent Arising from the Dharma Realm (J., hokkai engi), Perfect Voice (J., en’on), Dharma Body (J., hôshin), Ten Ages (J., jusse), and Essential Principles (J., gengi).
The present manuscript contains only the chapters from Continuous Arisings (corresponds to the volume 45, p. 617 in the Taishô canon) to the beginning of Perfect Voice (ibid, p. 620).
The text here is an incomplete, annotated copy of this commentary written in the hand of the priest Gyônen (1243–1321). Two volumes of a commentary on the Seven Sections of the Huayan jing authored by a Korean priest Dongwon Tongcho (n.d.) exist, however, this fragmentary work by Gyônen is invaluable as the only extant copy of such a commentary on this work in Japan.