Jiémó 羯磨
Karmavācanā (Dharmaguptaka karma-procedure compendium) by 曇諦 (Tán Dì / Dharmasatya, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Dharmaguptaka karmavācanā compendium translated by Tán Dì 曇諦 (曇諦) at Luòyáng under the CáoWèi 曹魏. Together with KR6k0013 (康僧鎧’s Tánwúdé lǜbù zájiémó), this is one of the two earliest practical Vinaya documents in Chinese. The two texts overlap substantively but differ in selection and arrangement of karma formulae.
Prefaces
Translator’s colophon: 曹魏曇諦譯. The text is documented in the Chū sānzàng jìjí (T55n2145) j. 2 and the Lìdài sānbǎo jì (T49n2034).
Abstract
The Jiémó is the second-earliest Chinese Vinaya document and represents an alternate redaction of the Dharmaguptaka karmavācanā tradition transmitted to the Cáo-Wèi capital. The two early jiémó compilations of Kāng Sēngkǎi (KR6k0013) and Tán Dì (KR6k0014) supplied the practical-procedural foundation of Chinese Buddhism long before the parent Sìfēn lǜ of Buddhayaśas was translated in 410–412. Their continued use even after the Sìfēn lǜ arrived demonstrates the early monasteries’ dependence on these compact procedural handbooks. Modern scholarship (Hirakawa 1960, Yifa 2002) treats them as foundational documents of Chinese monastic institutional history.
Translations and research
- Hirakawa Akira 平川彰. Ritsuzō no kenkyū 律藏の研究. Tokyo: Sankibō, 1960.
- Yifa, Bhikṣuṇī. The Origins of Buddhist Monastic Codes in China. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002.
Links
- CBETA T22n1433
- 曇諦 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (254, 530): [ 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