Nányuè Sīdà chánshī lìshìyuàn wén 南嶽思大禪師立誓願文
Establishing-Vow Text of the Great Chán Master Sī of Nán-yuè by 慧思 (Huìsī / Nányuè Huìsī, 撰)
About the work
A short single-juan autobiographical-doctrinal text by Huìsī 慧思 (515–577) — the second Tiāntái patriarch — declaring his bodhisattva-vow and providing rare autobiographical narrative of his pre-Nán-yuè spiritual development. The text is one of the most personal pre-Sòng Sinitic Buddhist documents and is a principal source for the modern reconstruction of Huìsī’s biography and doctrinal development.
Prefaces
The text in the Taishō recension opens directly with Huìsī’s autobiographical narration: “I have heard thus. Śākyamuni Buddha, in the Bēimén sānmèi guān zhòngshēng pǐn běnqǐ jīng (Compassion-Gate Samādhi Contemplation-of-Beings Chapter Origin Sūtra), expounded: the Buddha from the guǐchǒu year, 7th month, 7th day entered the womb. Reaching the jiǎyín year, 4th month, 8th day, was born. Reaching the rénshēn year, age 19, on the 2nd month…”
Abstract
Huìsī’s Lìshìyuàn wén preserves the most extensive autobiographical narrative we have for any pre-Sòng Sinitic Buddhist master. The work documents Huìsī’s spiritual development, his Mahāyāna bodhisattva-vow commitment, and his apocalyptic-eschatological reading of Buddhist history (in which Huìsī places himself in the mòfǎ 末法 [final-dharma] period and articulates his vow to preserve the dharma against the impending decline).
The eschatological framing is one of the most important pre-Sòng Sinitic Buddhist articulations of the mòfǎ doctrine and informed substantial subsequent Buddhist apocalyptic-eschatological discourse, particularly in the East-Asian Pure Land traditions.
The text contains internal dating evidence placing the composition in c. 558 CE.
Translations and research
- Magnin, Paul. La vie et l’œuvre de Huisi (515–577). Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 1979.
- Stevenson, Daniel B., and Kanno Hiroshi. The Meaning of the Lotus Sūtra’s Course of Ease and Bliss. Tokyo: International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2006.
- Hurvitz, Leon. Chih-i (538–597). Brussels, 1962.
Other points of interest
The Lìshìyuàn wén is one of the principal sources for modern scholarly disputes over Huìsī’s biographical and doctrinal development. Its eschatological framing has been particularly influential for the modern study of pre-Sòng Sinitic Buddhist apocalyptic-eschatological discourse.
Links
- CBETA online text T1933
- Kanseki DB
- Dazangthings date evidence (570) — Takakusu Junjirō and Watanabe Kaigyoku, eds. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Tokyo, 1924–1932; CBReader v 5.0, 2014.