Sìfēnlǜ shū 四分律疏
Commentary on the Sìfēnlǜ by 智首 (Zhìshǒu, 撰)
About the work
A surviving single fragment (originally many juan; only juan 9 is preserved in the Manji canon) of the Sìfēnlǜ shū by Zhìshǒu 智首 (智首, 567–635), the leading Sui–early-Táng Vinaya master and teacher of Dàoxuān 道宣 (道宣, 596–667). The Manji edition prints the surviving fragment with the signature 沙門釋 智者 撰 (Composed by the monk Zhìzhě) — a graphic variant for Zhìshǒu common in some Manji witnesses (cf. DILA A001269); the catalog and the standard tradition correctly identify the author as Zhìshǒu.
Prefaces
No preface in the surviving fragment.
Abstract
Zhìshǒu is conventionally regarded as the eighth patriarch of the Chinese Sìfēnlǜ tradition; his lost commentary was the principal source from which Dàoxuān, his disciple, drew the foundational Nánshānlǜ programme. The surviving fragment treats the yǔyùyī jiè 雨浴衣戒 (“rain-bathing garment precepts” — the rules in prātimokṣa nos. 27–28 governing acquisition and use of rain-cloth) and the zhéjiàoní jiè 輙教尼戒 (“rules on instructing nuns without authorization”). It analyses each rule under the formal scheme of yuánqǐ 緣起 (occasion of institution), fànxiāng 犯相 (violation profile, given here as wǔyuán / sìyuán 五緣/四緣 — the five or four conditions for full violation), kāiyuán 開緣 (exemption clauses), and parallel-text comparison (with the Sēngqí lǜ 僧祇律 and other recensions). The fragment is documentarily valuable as the only direct surviving witness to the early-Tang pre-Dàoxuān Sìfēnlǜ exegesis from which the Nánshān tradition emerged. The dating bracket is Zhìshǒu’s mature scholarly career.
Translations and research
- Funayama Toru 船山徹. Studies on Suí–early-Táng Vinaya scholarship.
- Wáng Jiànguāng 王建光. Zhōngguó lǜzōng tōngshǐ 中國律宗通史.