1. “Explanation of Terminology” 釋名: corresponding to chapters 1 through 25 of Nāgârjunaʼs Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā
2. “Revealing and Uniting the Teachings” 開會: corresponding to chapter 26 (i.e., “Investigation of Nirvāṇa” (Nirvāṇaparīkṣā) and chapter 27 of Nāgârjunaʼs Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā (excluding the penultimate and final verses of Chapter 27, Nāgârjunaʼs “Investigation of Mistaken Views” 觀邪見品 (Dṛṣṭiparīkṣā))
3. Penultimate and final verses of Nāgârjunaʼs “Investigation of Mistaken Views” 觀邪見品 (Dṛṣṭiparīkṣā), Chapter 27

Jizang explained that the tripartite chapter division 三段分科 of Nāgârjunaʼs Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā was first developed by Senglang 僧朗 of Mount She 攝山 (located in modern-day Jiangsu Province). Mt. She was a major center for Madhyamaka studies through the Southern Qi 南齊 (479–502) and Liang 梁 (502–557) dynasties and was home to such Mādhyamika luminaries as Sengquan 僧詮 (n.d.), Senglang 僧朗 (n.d.), and Falang 法朗 (507–581). However, Jizang also attributed a similar tripartite division to the 5th- and 6th-century Mādhyamika masters from the north, who had followed the method of systematic chapter division 科章, in contrast to the commentator Tanying, who had presented his work as a “direct exegesis” 直解釋 of Nāgârjunaʼs Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā. As Jizang describes:

From [the Mādhyamika masters of] Mt. She was transmitted the division of the 27 chapters [of MMK] into three sections. The first 25 chapters refute the distorted Hīnayāna doctrine and elucidate the Mahāyāna contemplative practices. The second section contains two chapters (i.e., “Investigation of Twelvefold Conditioned Arising” 觀十二因緣品 (Dvādaśâṅga parīkṣā) and 'Investigation of Mistaken Views'  觀邪見品 (Dṛṣṭiparīkṣā)), which refute the Hīnayānist heterodoxies and disputes the Hīnayāna contemplative practice. The third section (comprising the penultimate and final verses of chapter 27) further elucidates the Mahāyāna contemplative practice and encourages taking refuge in the Buddha. 自攝嶺相承分二十七品以為三段：初二十五品破大乘迷失，明大乘觀行。次有兩品，破小乘迷執，辨小乘觀行。第三重明大乘觀行，推功歸佛。 (T 1824.42.7c24 –27.)

In his Zhong guan lun shu, Jizang drew heavily from the verse-by-verse commentary of Piṅgala 青目, which Kumārajīva and his translation team had rendered into Chinese together with Nāgârjunaʼs Kārikā in 406 C.E. Jizang also extensively cited an early commentary by Kumārajīvaʼs leading disciple, Tanying 曇影. Jizangʼs preface to Zhongguan lun shu notes that Tanying trained in Madhyamaka and Abhidharma under Kumārajīva. The Tōiki dentō mokuroku 東域傳燈目錄 (completed in 1094) by the Kōfukuji-based monk Eichō 永超 lists ten commentaries on Nāgârjunaʼs Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā composed during the Southern Qi, Sui, and Tang Dynasties (T 2183.55.1159a16–25). However, of these ten commentaries, only Jizangʼs Zhongguan lun shu remains extant. The ten commentaries are:

1. Jizang, Zhongguan lun shu 中觀論疏 : ten fascicles
2. Jizang, Zhong lun lüe shu 中論略疏 : one fascicle
3. Jizang, Zhong lun xuan 中論玄 : one fascicle
4. Yuankang 元康, Zhong lun shu 中論疏 : six fascicles
5. Yuankang, Zhong lun sanshi liu menshi 中論三十六門勢 : one fascicle
6. Falang 法朗, Zhong lun xuan 中論玄 : one fascicle
7. Zhilin 智琳, Zhong lun shu 中論疏 : five fascicles
8. Tanying, Zhong lun 中論疏 : two fascicles
9. Master Shuo 碩法師, Zhong lun shu 中論疏 : sixteen fascicles
10. Zhong lun zhigui 中論旨歸 (author unknown): one fascicle

In his Zhongguan lun shu, Jizang takes some pains to refute the Brahmanical dogma of the soul (ātman) postulated by the philosophers from the Sāṃkhya 數論 and Vaiśeṣika 勝論 traditions. Kumārajīva had transmitted the Mūlamadhyamaka-kārikā together with the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra 成實論, and Kumārajīvaʼs leading disciples were conversant with the Abhidharma doctrines of the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra as they were in the Madhyamaka. However, Jizang repudiated the Tattvasiddhi-śāstra as an unorthodox work of crypto-Hīnayāna 小乘 metaphysics. Ultimately, it was Jizangʼs views that came to define the orthodox transmission of Madhyamaka (Chinese: Sanlun 三論) across East Asia. It is worth noting that the Japanese Heian-period scholiast Anchō 安澄 (763–814) composed a detailed sub-commentary on Jizangʼs Zhongguan lun shu, the Chū ron soki 中論疏記 .

Hirai Shun'ei 平井俊栄. 1965. “Sanron kyōgaku seiritsushi no sho mondai -- Nansei Chirin Chūron-so ni tsuite.”  In Komazawa Daigaku Bukkyō Gakkai nenpō. vol. 23 (3)143–161.

----. 1967. “Chūgoku Sanron-shū no rekishiteki seikaku.”  In Komazawa Daigaku Bukkyō Gakkai nenpō. vol. 25 (3)78–102.

----. 1976. Chūgoku Hannya shisōshi kenkyū -- Kichizō to Sanron gakuha 中国般若思想史研究―吉蔵と三論学派 . Shunjūsha.

----. 1990. Sanron-shū kyōgaku no kenkyū. Shunjūsha.

[Chinese Buddhist Canonical Attributions Database]