Sìfēn bǐqiūnī jiémófǎ 四分比丘尼羯磨法
Karmavācanā for Bhikṣuṇīs of the Four-Part Vinaya by 求那跋摩 (Guṇavarman, 譯)
About the work
A one-fascicle Dharmaguptaka bhikṣuṇī-karmavācanā compendium — the procedural handbook for the conduct of legal acts in the bhikṣuṇī-saṃgha — translated by Guṇavarman 求那跋摩 (求那跋摩) at Jiànkāng in 431 CE, just before his death. The text supplied the practical-procedural foundation for the early Chinese bhikṣuṇī-saṅgha; its translation was directly motivated by the historical re-establishment of the Chinese nuns’ lineage with Sri Lankan dual-saṅgha ordinations conducted by Guṇavarman’s disciples in 433.
Prefaces
Translator’s colophon: 宋罽賓三藏求那跋摩譯. The text presents the karmavācanā formulae for upasaṃpadā (full ordination), the bi-monthly uposatha, vassa, pravāraṇā, and the various bhikṣuṇī-specific procedures (the aṣṭa-gurudharma recitation, the dual-saṅgha ordination, etc.).
Abstract
The Sìfēn bǐqiūnī jiémó-fǎ has unique historical importance as the procedural-textual foundation of the Chinese bhikṣuṇī-lineage. The Chinese nuns’ saṅgha had been established in 357 CE by Jìngjiǎn 淨檢 with single-saṅgha ordination by bhikṣus alone — a procedure later considered defective by Vinaya purists. Guṇavarman’s translation of this Dharmaguptaka procedural compendium, together with the arrival of Sri Lankan bhikṣuṇīs led by Tieshaluo 鐵薩羅 (Devasarā), enabled the canonical dual-saṅgha upasaṃpadā of Chinese nuns at Jiànkāng’s Nán-lín-sì 南林寺 in 433. The procedural formulae used at that ceremony — preserved in this text — became the foundation of the entire Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese bhikṣuṇī-lineage. The Sri Lankan bhikṣuṇī-lineage itself died out in the 11th century, leaving the Chinese-derived lineages as the only surviving Theravāda-Dharmaguptaka bhikṣuṇī-saṅgha until the recent re-establishment efforts.
Translations and research
- Heirman, Ann. Rules for Nuns according to the Dharmaguptakavinaya. Delhi, 2002. — Discusses the procedural compendium.
- Tsai, Kathryn Ann. Lives of the Nuns: A Translation of the Pi-ch’iu-ni Chuan. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1994. — Historical context of the early Chinese bhikṣuṇī-saṃgha.
- Heirman, Ann. “Chinese Nuns and Their Ordination in Fifth Century China.” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 24.2 (2001): 275–304.
- Skilling, Peter. “A Note on the History of the Bhikkhunī-saṅgha (II): The Order of Nuns after the Parinirvāṇa.” World Fellowship of Buddhists Review 31.1 (1994): 29–49.
Links
- CBETA T22n1434
- 求那跋摩 DILA
- Dazangthings date evidence (430): [ 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