Sìfēnlǜ kāizōng jì 四分律開宗記
Records on Opening the Tenets of the Sìfēnlǜ by 懷素 (Huáisù, 撰)
About the work
A ten-fascicle Tang commentary on the Sìfēnlǜ 四分律 (KR6k0001) by Huáisù 懷素 (懷素, 624–697), the founding master of the Dōngtǎ 東塔 (“Eastern Pagoda”) Sìfēn school — the third of the three competing Tang Vinaya schools (alongside Dàoxuān’s Nánshān and Fǎlì’s Xiāngbù). Kāizōng 開宗 (“opening the school’s tenets”) signals the foundational doctrinal-systematic intent of the work.
Prefaces
The Manji edition opens with a mùcì 目次 listing the contents of each juan in běn / mò 本/末 sub-divisions (“from the opening title-establishment to the explanation of the Tripiṭaka head-titles”, etc.).
Abstract
The Kāizōng jì is the principal surviving witness to the Dōngtǎ 東塔 Sìfēnlǜ tradition and the doctrinal counterpart to Huáisù’s celebrated karman compilations KR6k0047 Sēng jiémó and KR6k0048 Ní jiémó. The work mounts a systematic attack on the Nánshān doctrinal positions of Dàoxuān (道宣), particularly on the jiètǐ 戒體 (“substance of the precepts”) question; it represents the Yogācāra-influenced reading of Vinaya that follows from Huáisù’s earlier collaboration with Xuánzàng 玄奘 on the Yogācārabhūmi translation. Although the Dōngtǎ school did not displace the Nánshān in the long run, the Kāizōng jì remained a landmark of Tang Vinaya scholarship and was studied in the Sòng-period Lǜzōng curriculum as the principal alternative voice to the Nánshān synthesis. Composition belongs to Huáisù’s mature career (post-670, after his Vinaya specialisation under Dàoxuān).
Translations and research
- Funayama Toru 船山徹. Studies on Tang Vinaya schools.
- Wáng Jiànguāng 王建光. Zhōngguó lǜzōng tōngshǐ 中國律宗通史.