Sìfēnlǜ míngyì biāoshì 四分律名義標釋
Glosses on the Names and Meanings in the Sìfēnlǜ by 弘贊 (Hóngzàn, 輯)
About the work
A monumental forty-fascicle late-Míng / early-Qīng glossary of the names, places, terms, and technical vocabulary of the Sìfēnlǜ 四分律 (KR6k0001) compiled by Zàishēn Hóngzàn 在犙弘贊 (弘贊, 1612–1686), the Cáodòng 曹洞 monk and Vinaya specialist of Dǐnghúshān Qìngyúnsì 鼎湖山慶雲寺 in Guǎngdōng. The work is a complete philological-lexicographical resource for reading the Sìfēnlǜ and is preserved in both the Jiāxīng dàzàngjīng 嘉興大藏經 and the Manji canon.
Prefaces
The Manji edition opens with Hóngzàn’s own xù: 原夫律之為教也。乃三乘之寶筏。四雙之雲階。諸佛從斯而趣菩提 (“the vinaya as a teaching is the precious raft of the three vehicles, the cloud-stairs of the four pairs; all Buddhas advance to bodhi through it”). The preface narrates the Indian-origin transmission of Vinaya through Upāli, the 西域聖人 (sages of the Western regions), the gradual spread “westward to eastward Chinese soil” through Hàn-Wèi to Suí-Táng, and the recent (Sòng) decline of Vinaya scholarship as the motivation for the work.
Abstract
The Míngyì biāoshì is the most comprehensive late-Míng / early-Qīng Sìfēnlǜ glossary and the indispensable lexicographical companion to all subsequent Vinaya study. Hóngzàn’s encyclopedic scope and learning are visible throughout: each entry treats a Sanskrit transliteration or technical term with full philological apparatus, citing parallel passages in the other Vinaya recensions and in Yogācāra / Abhidharma literature. The work belongs to Hóngzàn’s vast post-1644 Vinaya output and reflects the Ming-Qing transition’s renewed concern with monastic discipline. Composition is bracketed by his post-1644 monastic career and his death in 1686.
Translations and research
- Wáng Qǐlóng 王啟龍. Studies on Hóngzàn and the Cáodòng-Vinaya synthesis.
- Dǐnghúshān zhì 鼎湖山志 (institutional gazetteer).