The Diamond Sūtra (Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra) is one of the most widely circulated scriptures in Chinese Buddhism. Beyond the monastic sphere, it has long permeated popular religious life and enjoyed broad appeal among both literati and commoners. Consequently, commentaries on the Diamond Sūtra have appeared in great numbers throughout history, each exhibiting distinctive characteristics. In the early Republican period, the Buddhist lay scholar Jiang Weinong (1872–1938), driven by his deep interest in and
sustained research on the Diamond Sūtra, systematized his studies and, at the urging of figures such as Jiang Weiqiao (1873–1958), delivered a series of lectures that were transcribed and published as the monumental Lectures on the Diamond Sūtra. This work stands as a highly significant and integrative early-modern commentary on the Diamond Sūtra. In his
Lectures, Jiang Weinong places particular emphasis on “contemplative insight” (guanzhao), the prajñā of emptiness, linking it closely with lines of thought concerning Tathāgatagarbha and Buddha-nature. While he expresses special admiration for earlier exegetes of the Tiantai tradition, notably Zhiyi (539–598) and Zhixu (1599–1655), he nevertheless rejects the Tiantai convention of interpreting scriptures through the framework of the “three truths” (san di). Moreover, he advances a position distinct from the Tiantai and Huayan doctrinal classifications, which typically subsume the Diamond Sūtra under the “Common Teaching” (tongjiao), the “Distinct Teaching” (biejiao), or the “Initial Teaching” (shijiao). Although Jiang adopts the Tiantai scheme of the “fivefold profound meaning” (wuchong xuanyi) to explicate the title of the sūtra, he unequivocally asserts that the Diamond Sūtra represents an “ultimately perfect and sudden teaching.” This deliberate elevation of its doctrinal status is inseparably connected with his interpretive strategy of integrating prajñā with Tathāgatagarbha thought. Through an analysis of the exegetical features of the Lectures on the Diamond Sūtra, this article investigates Jiang Weinong’s hermeneutical stance and his synthesis of ideas distilled from earlier commentaries. It further examines the original insights and distinctive characteristics of the interpretive approach he thereby established, and on the basis of this highlights the historical and intellectual significance of the Lectures on the Diamond Sūtra within the broader history of Diamond Sūtra interpretation.
Keywords:
Jiang Weinong, Lectures on the Diamond Sūtra, prajñā, Tathāgatagarbha, two truths