随函音义是指附于佛经函末或卷末,对佛经中疑难字词进行注音、辨形和释义的一种音义体。现存《思溪藏》附载有大量随函音义,其中保存有众多佛经疑难俗字形体,可补充历代辞书漏收的佛经俗字;由于其采取随经注释的形式,故这些疑难俗字很容易还原到所出经文原文中去识别,有助于我们了解一些俗字的来源,从而使得这些字更具生命力,并可以之增补已有疑难俗字的同形字体,这对于汉语俗字研究具有重要价值。
Affiliated exegetics,attached to the end of volumes of Buddhist sutras,refer to the sound-sense word forms intended to provide pronunciation,form and sense to those puzzling words in the texts. By providing explanation for Buddhist sutras and precise contexts for the correct understanding of those ancient characters,the affiliated exegetics put life to those words,and as such,they are very valuable in the study not only of Buddhist sutras but of ancient Chinese folk characters.