Wǔfēn bǐqiūnī jièběn 五分比丘尼戒本
The Mahīśāsaka Five-Part Prātimokṣa for Nuns by 明徽 (Míng Huī, 集)
About the work
A one-fascicle compilation of the bhikṣuṇī-prātimokṣa drawn from the Mahīśāsaka Vinaya (KR6k0001) by the southern Liáng-dynasty (南梁) monk Míng Huī 明徽 (明徽). The text presents the rules in the standard bhikṣuṇī schema: 8 pārājika + 17 saṃghāvaśeṣa + 30 naiḥsargika + 210 pāyantika + 8 pratideśanīya + 100 śaikṣa + 7 adhikaraṇa-śamatha — totalling 380 rules in this recension. The text was prepared for the practical use of the bhikṣuṇī-saṃgha in the bi-monthly uposatha assembly.
Prefaces
The Taishō text opens with the chapter heading and the standard uposatha opening formula. The compiler’s colophon identifies Liáng 梁 and Míng Huī 明徽 as the redactor (jí 集, “compiled”); no formal preface survives. The text is documented in the Kāiyuán shìjiào lù 開元釋教錄 (T55n2154) j. 13.
Abstract
The text is the only Mahīśāsaka bhikṣuṇī-prātimokṣa preserved as a separate work in the Chinese canon. Buddhajīva’s parent Wǔfēn lǜ (KR6k0001) of course contains the rules in their vibhaṅga form; the present text extracts them as a continuous recitation-list. The compilation is significant in Chinese Buddhist history because it provided the practical recitation-text for nuns of the Mahīśāsaka lineage during the period when that lineage was still vital — before the Sìfēn lǜ (KR6k0009) of the Dharmaguptakas became the universal practical Vinaya in China under Dàoxuān’s Nánshān school. Comparative philological studies (Heirman 2002, Roth 1970) treat this bhikṣuṇī-prātimokṣa as a key witness for reconstructing the development of the bhikṣuṇī-Saṃgha rules across schools.
Translations and research
- Heirman, Ann. Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya. 3 vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2002. — Comparative apparatus uses the Wǔfēn bǐqiūnī jièběn throughout.
- Hirakawa Akira 平川彰. Monastic Discipline for the Buddhist Nuns: An English Translation of the Chinese Text of the Mahāsāṃghika-Bhikṣuṇī-Vinaya. Patna: K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1982. — Comparative discussion of all four Chinese bhikṣuṇī-prātimokṣas.
- Roth, Gustav. Bhikṣuṇī-Vinaya: Manual of Discipline for Buddhist Nuns. Patna: K. P. Jayaswal Research Institute, 1970. — Comparison with Sanskrit Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda fragments.
Links
- CBETA T22n1423
- 明徽 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (522): [ T ] T = CBETA [Chinese Buddhist Electronic Text Association]. Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新脩大藏經. Edited by Takakusu Junjirō 高楠順次郎 and Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡邊海旭. Tokyo: Taishō shinshū daizōkyō kankōkai/Daizō shuppan, 1924-1932. CBReader v 5.0, 2014. (source)
- Kanseki DB