Jizang · 549–623 CE · 三論玄義

The School Explains Itself.

Jizang founded the Sanlun — Three Treatise, Chinese Madhyamaka — school on three works this site has already translated in full: the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, the Twelve Gate Treatise, and the Hundred Treatise. This treatise is his own apologia for that school, written by imperial command at the Sui court. It refutes four sects in turn — the outsiders of India and China, the Abhidharma, Satyasiddhi, and a mistaken grasp of the Mahāyāna itself — then reveals what is true: Nāgārjuna's own prophesied authority, the guiding doctrine proper to each of the four treatises this school defends, an entire history of how the Buddhist community first split into schools, and finally an exhaustive exegesis of the very name Zhonglun, "the Middle Treatise."

Browse the 14 parts → Translation notes →

How to read this collection

Jizang's own opening paragraph gives the whole map: two gates, "refuting the false" and "revealing the true," with four sects to refute and a further extended account of what the three treatises actually teach once refutation is complete. This collection follows that same two-gate structure across fourteen parts, splitting at the natural topic breaks Jizang himself marks with his own recurring 次明, "next, making clear," rather than at even intervals — so some parts carry a single tightly focused argument and others carry an entire chapter of Indian sectarian history.

Jizang is the recognized founder of this school and its acknowledged authority on what the three treatises mean, so this collection does not manufacture a separate ancient commentator the way the site's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā and Hundred Treatise pages do with Piṅgala and Vasu. His own prose is the primary text throughout; the reading notes are Ru-Yi Meditation Center's own structural and cross-referential observations, offered honestly as such.

What each part page includes

The full, verbatim Chinese source text beside our English translation, verified for complete coverage against the base text.
Reading notes on what each argument claims, against whom, and how it connects to the rest of the treatise.
Direct cross-links to the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā, Twelve Gate Treatise, and Hundred Treatise wherever this treatise cites, defends, or classifies them.
Honest flagging of places where sources genuinely conflict, rather than a forced harmony.

14 of 14 parts — complete

~22,300 Chinese characters of root text translated in full

T1852 the base text, Jizang's own composition, Taishō volume 45

The Treatise's Own Structure

Jizang's opening paragraph names two gates. The first, refuting the false, rebukes four sects in ascending order of sophistication — outsiders, who posit both a self and real phenomena; the Abhidharma, which has seen through the self but still clings to real phenomena; Satyasiddhi, which sees the emptiness of both but does not carry the insight to completion; and a mistaken Mahāyāna, which can fall into a subtler version of the very same trap. The second gate, revealing the true, spans everything after — Nāgārjuna's authority, the treatise's own guiding doctrines, the schism history, and the final exegesis of the treatise's own title.

Parts 1–2

摧外道 — Crushing the Outsiders

Four erroneous Indian accounts of cause and effect, then Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Confucius weighed against the Buddha through Sengzhao's and Kumārajīva's own testimony.

Parts 1–2 · complete

Parts 2–3

折毘曇 — Breaking the Abhidharma

Six historical collections of Abhidharma, then ten distinct faults — from contradicting the very concept of the way to losing both truths at once.

Parts 2–3 · complete

Parts 3–5

排成實 — Pushing Aside Satyasiddhi

Harivarman's own biography, then ten proofs it remains Hīnayāna despite real sophistication, closing with a Kashmiri pilgrim's testimony from Kumārajīva's own bureau.

Parts 3–5 · complete

Parts 5–6

呵大執 — Rebuking the Mistaken Mahāyāna

Huiguan's five-period scheme dismantled sūtra by sūtra, and three ways of losing the two truths, closing the entire refuting-the-false half of the work.

Parts 5–6 · complete

Parts 6–7

顯正 · 人正 — Revealing the True Person

Nāgārjuna's own prophesied authority from the Laṅkāvatāra and Mahāmāyā sūtras, and the case that the three treatises' emptiness is no one-sided teaching.

Parts 6–7 · complete

Parts 8–9

The Schism History

Why sūtra and treatise depend on each other, and a full genealogy of the Buddhist schools — the First Council, Mahādeva's controversies, and twenty schools in all.

Parts 8–9 · complete

Parts 10–12

顯正 · 法正 — Revealing the True Teaching

General and particular treatises, how each of the four treatises is named, each one's own guiding doctrine, and eight reasons four works are still called three.

Parts 10–12 · complete

Parts 13–14

釋中論名題 — Exegesis of the Title

Why the treatise is named in exactly three characters, and every sense in which "the middle" can be understood — closing the entire work.

Parts 13–14 · complete

Read by Part

All fourteen parts are translated in full. Each links to the complete bilingual text with reading notes.

Part 1 · 摧外道（一） The Two Gates, and the Four Errors of the Outsiders The treatise's own map of itself, and the four erroneous Indian accounts of cause and effect. Part 2 · 摧外道（二） The Chinese Masters, and the Six Kinds of Abhidharma Sengzhao and Kumārajīva on Laozi and Zhuangzi, and the opening of the second sect. Part 3 · 折毘曇・排成實（一） Ten Faults in the Abhidharma Ten distinct faults, and Harivarman's own biography opening the third sect. Part 4 · 排成實（二） Nine Proofs That Satyasiddhi Is Hīnayāna Sengrui's testimony, and nine of ten proofs against Satyasiddhi's Mahāyāna reputation. Part 5 · 排成實（三）・呵大執（一） The Kashmiri Kṣatriya, and the Fourth Sect Opened The tenth proof completed, and a Mahāyāna master's own confident opening claim. Part 6 · 呵大執（二）・顯正（一） Against the Five Periods and the Two Truths Huiguan's scheme dismantled, and Nāgārjuna's own prophesied authority. Part 7 · 顯正（二） Is the Three Treatises' Teaching Truly Final? A chain of objections pressing toward nihilism, and essential and functional correctness. Part 8 · 顯正（三） How Sūtra and Treatise Depend on Each Other The agent/patient dissolution, and the opening of the great schism history. Part 9 · 顯正（四） The Schools Multiply: Twenty Schisms in Full The Sthavira's own lineage, the Vātsīputrīya, the Sautrāntika, and the final tally of twenty. Part 10 · 顯正（五） General and Particular Treatises, and How They Are Named Classifying the whole landscape of Buddhist treatise-literature, and the two kinds of wisdom. Part 11 · 顯正（六） The Guiding Doctrine of Each of the Four Treatises Why the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā takes the two truths as its own guiding thread. Part 12 · 顯正（七） Why Three Treatises, Not Four Eight reasons, four kinds of the provisional, and Āryadeva's public debates against Nāgārjuna's hidden brush. Part 13 · 顯正（八） Exegesis of the Title Zhonglun Two sequences of Middle-Contemplation-Treatise, and why exactly three characters. Part 14 · 顯正（九） The Many Meanings of "the Middle" One, two, three, and four middles, and a final survey closing the entire treatise.

Translation Notes

Recurring terms, kept consistent with this site's existing Madhyamaka corpus. See the full translation notes for the complete glossary and structural table, and also this site's note on translation method.

破邪顯正 — refuting the false, revealing the trueThe treatise's own two-part method, named in its opening paragraph and organizing the entire work.

二諦 — the two truthsConventional and ultimate truth, identified here as the Mūlamadhyamakakārikā's own guiding doctrine — matching this site's existing Madhyamaka usage.

中道 — the middle wayGiven an entire dedicated exegesis in Parts 13–14: one way, or two, three, or four "middles," depending on context.

四宗 — the four sectsOutsiders, Abhidharma, Satyasiddhi, and mistaken Mahāyāna — the treatise's own ranked taxonomy of error.

通論／別論 — general treatise / particular treatiseWhether a work addresses confusion across both vehicles at once or only one; classifies all three treatises already on this site as Mahāyāna general treatises.