Zhànchá shànè yèbào jīng xíngfǎ 占察善惡業報經行法
The Practice-Method of the Sūtra of Divining the Karmic Retribution of Good and Evil Acts compiled by 智旭 (Zhìxù, Ǒuyì 蕅益, 集)
About the work
X1485 in one fascicle is the ritual handbook (行法 xíngfǎ) for the practice of the Zhànchá divination, compiled by 智旭 (Ǒuyì Zhìxù, 1599–1655). It is the third and most practically-oriented member of Zhìxù’s tripartite Zhànchá-commentarial project, complementing the doctrinal [[KR6i0548|Xuányì (X370)]] and [[KR6i0549|Yìshū (X371)]]. The Xíngfǎ gives the ritual procedure for actually conducting the wood-block divination ceremony, including liturgical formulas, repentance procedures, and the integration of the divination with the broader Tiāntái zhǐguān meditation practice.
Prefaces
The work opens with a table of contents in eight items: (1) Origin (緣起), (2) Exhortation to Practice (勸修), (3) Selection of Co-Practitioners (簡擇同行), (4) The Wood-Block Divination Pattern (占察輪相), (5) The Proper Cultivation of Confession-Method (正修懺法), (6) Separate Clarification of the Two Contemplative Paths (別明二種觀道), (7) Appendix: The Wood-Block Divination Method (附占輪相法), (8) Appendix: The Buddha-Offering Liturgy at the Repentance Altar (附懺壇中齋佛儀). The opening section establishes the rationale: “The Buddhas and bodhisattvas pity beings caught in the cycle of karmic obstruction more than a mother her child. Therefore the various skilful means by which they teach the way out of saṃsāra. But beings do not understand the conditioning of karmic retribution and so do not know how to abandon evil and cultivate good. Pure faith waxes thinner by the day; the five impurities of kaṣāya-time grow stronger. Through this affliction, the bodhisattva Jiānjìngxìn questioned the Buddha; the Tathāgata in turn praised the merits of Kṣitigarbha and instructed him to establish skilful means. So Kṣitigarbha set forth the three wood-block divinations to display the distinctions of good and evil, and the two contemplative paths to lead beings back to the one-truth realm.”
Abstract
The body of the Xíngfǎ unfolds in eight chapters following the table-of-contents structure. The principal contributions are:
(4) The Wood-Block Divination Pattern — detailed practical instructions for the construction of the blocks (cut to a length of less than one inch, four flat sides marked with characters, ends tapered for easy rolling), the disposition of the practice space, the casting procedure, and the interpretation of the configurations. Zhìxù gives specific block-marking schemes for the first divination (revealing past-life karma), second divination (revealing present-life difficulties), and third divination (revealing the auspiciousness of contemplated actions).
(5) The Proper Cultivation of Confession-Method — a full liturgical sequence integrating the divination with the Tiāntái-school fǎhuá sānmèi repentance-meditation tradition. The practitioner enters the ritual space, recites the threefold refuge, makes obeisance to the Buddhas and Kṣitigarbha, recites the Mahā-Kāruṇika-mantra, performs the wood-block divination, interprets the result, performs the confession of any revealed karmic obstruction, and concludes with merit-transfer (pariṇāmanā).
(6) The Two Contemplative Paths — the integration of the divination practice with the śamatha-vipaśyanā meditation framework, glossed in Tiāntái terminology as zhǐguān. The practitioner having received instruction through the divination is to embark on the contemplative path proper, with the divination serving as a continuing diagnostic tool.
The Xíngfǎ is one of the most detailed Chinese-language Buddhist ritual handbooks for a single divination practice and is foundational for the modern revival of the Zhànchá practice in Chinese and Taiwanese Buddhist monasteries.
Translations and research
See KR6i0548 for the relevant secondary literature.
Other points of interest
The Xíngfǎ preserves the only detailed Chinese-language instructions for the actual ritual conduct of the wood-block divination, and is the basis for the modern revival of the practice in some Chinese-speaking Buddhist monasteries.