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四分律

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Text ID
KR6k0009
Date
410–412
Dynasty
姚秦

Sìfēn lǜ 四分律

The Four-Part Vinaya (Skt. Dharmaguptaka-vinaya) by 佛陀耶舍 (Buddhayaśas, 等譯) and 竺佛念 (Zhú Fóniàn, 等譯)

About the work

The Sìfēn lǜ 四分律 — the complete Vinaya-piṭaka of the Dharmaguptaka school (Skt. Dharmaguptaka-vinaya) — is the single most important Vinaya text in East Asian Buddhism. In sixty fascicles, divided into four “parts” (四分 sì-fēn) corresponding roughly to (1) bhikṣu-vibhaṅga, (2) bhikṣuṇī-vibhaṅga + opening skandhakas, (3) skandhakas on monastic legal procedure, (4) skandhakas on monastic life + Pari-vāra-equivalent appendix. Translated at Cháng’ān 長安 between 410 and 412 CE under the patronage of Yáo Xīng 姚興 of the Later Qín 後秦 (姚秦) by the Kashmiri vinayācārya Buddhayaśas 佛陀耶舍 (佛陀耶舍) — who recited the text from memory — with the Liángzhōu translator Zhú Fóniàn 竺佛念 (竺佛念) as the principal Chinese-language redactor, and the assistance of Dào-hán 道含 and Huì-biàn 慧辯.

Prefaces

The Taishō text is preceded by the preface of Dàobiāo 道標 (recorded in the Chū sānzàng jìjí T55n2145 j. 11), which gives the translation circumstances. Buddhayaśas, having arrived from Kashmir, recited the entire Dharmaguptaka Vinaya from memory at the demand of Yáo Xīng — this oral basis is the textual peculiarity of the Sìfēn lǜ among the four Chinese Vinayas — while Zhú Fóniàn rendered the Sanskrit into Chinese. The translation was completed in Hóngshǐ 14 (弘始十四年, = 412 CE).

Abstract

The historical importance of the Sìfēn lǜ in Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese Buddhism cannot be overstated. From the 7th century onward — under the influence of Dàoxuān 道宣 (道宣) and his Nánshān 南山 Vinaya school — the Sìfēn lǜ became the practical Vinaya of all East Asian Mahāyāna Buddhism, displacing the rival Wǔfēn, Sēngqí, and Shísòng lines. Every Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese bhikṣu and bhikṣuṇī ordained in the East Asian transmission since the late Tang has been ordained according to this Vinaya — making the Sìfēn lǜ the largest-impact Vinaya text in the history of Buddhism.

The school identification is well-established: Dharmaguptaka (法藏部 Fǎzàngbù) was an offshoot of the Vibhajyavāda branch of the Sthaviravāda, founded according to tradition by Dharmagupta and active in northwestern India and Central Asia from the 3rd century BCE onward. The Sìfēn lǜ’s 250 bhikṣu and 348 bhikṣuṇī rules differ in detail from the parallel Pāli, Mahāsāṃghika, Mahīśāsaka, and Sarvāstivāda lines but agree in substance. The Dharmaguptaka was the dominant Vinaya school in the Gandhāran Buddhist centres on the Silk Road and was the first complete Vinaya transmitted to China — explaining its eventual canonical priority despite the later translation of the rival lines.

The Sìfēn lǜ was canonised as the official Chinese ordination Vinaya by imperial decree of Emperor Zhōngzōng 中宗 of the Tang in 709 CE (景龍三年), a decision driven by the prestige of Dàoxuān’s Nánshān school. From that date on, the Sìfēn jièběn (KR6k0010, KR6k0011) became the standard prātimokṣa recitation-text, and Dàoxuān’s compilations — the Sìfēn lǜ shānbǔ suíjī jiémó (KR6k0046), the Sìfēn lǜ shānfán bǔquē xíngshì chāo (KR6k0128), and the Sìfēn lǜ bǐqiū hánzhù jièběn (KR6k0131) — became the practical Vinaya manuals of the entire East Asian Buddhist world. The Sìfēn lǜ was likewise transmitted to Japan in 754 by Jiànzhēn 鑑真 (Jp. Ganjin), where it founded the Risshū 律宗 ordination tradition, and to Korea by Jajang 慈藏 in the 7th century.

The text contains, in addition to the 250 bhikṣu + 348 bhikṣuṇī rules with their vibhaṅga exposition, the standard skandhaka sections on upasaṃpadā (ordination), uposatha, vassa, pravāraṇā, kaṭhina, leather goods, medicine, robes, kośiya (silk), bedding, karmavācanā (legal procedure), schism (saṅghabheda), miscellaneous regulation, and the foundational councils — including a major recension of the First Council narrative.

Translations and research

  • Heirman, Ann. Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya. 3 vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 2002. — Major translation/study of the bhikṣuṇī-vibhaṅga with comparative Vinaya apparatus.
  • Heirman, Ann. The Discipline in Four Parts: Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya. Delhi, 2002.
  • Pachow, W. A Comparative Study of the Prātimokṣa. Santiniketan, 1955; reprint Delhi, 2000. — Detailed comparison.
  • Hirakawa Akira 平川彰. Ritsuzō no kenkyū 律藏の研究. Tokyo: Sankibō, 1960. — Comprehensive Japanese-language study of all four Vinayas.
  • Wáng Jiànguāng 王建光. Zhōngguó lǜ-zōng tōng-shǐ 中國律宗通史. Nanjing: Fènghuáng chūbǎnshè, 2008. — Comprehensive Chinese-language history of the Dharmaguptaka tradition in China.
  • Wèi Dào-rǔ 魏道儒. Zhōngguó fójiào lǜ-zōng 中國佛教律宗. Beijing: Zōngjiào wénhuà chūbǎnshè, 1995.
  • Yifa, Bhikṣuṇī. The Origins of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002.
  • Groner, Paul. Saichō: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School. Berkeley, 1984; rev. Honolulu, 2000. — Discusses the Sìfēn lǜ in Japanese transmission.

Other points of interest

The Sìfēn lǜ is the only complete Indian Vinaya whose translation is attested as purely oral-mnemonic rather than from a brought Sanskrit manuscript. Buddhayaśas reportedly demonstrated his memorisation by reciting an unrelated medical text from memory after one reading at Yáo Xīng’s request, securing imperial confidence in his ability to recite the entire Vinaya. This origin-story has occasioned philological debate (Demiéville 1953, Yifa 2002) about the textual authority of the Sìfēn lǜ against rival lines whose Chinese transmissions descend from physical Sanskrit manuscripts.

The text’s school identification has historically been controversial: Dàoxuān’s Nánshān school justified the use of a Hīnayāna Vinaya by Mahāyāna Buddhists by claiming that the Dharmaguptaka — whose name means “preserver of the Dharma” — had a special affinity to the Mahāyāna. This claim is supported by the unique Mahāyāna-friendly features of the Sìfēn lǜ’s closing chapters, including the tradition that the Dharmaguptaka added a “Bodhisattva-piṭaka” to its canon (an early Mahāyāna affinity).

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