Guānzhōng chuànglì jiètán tújīng 關中創立戒壇圖經
An Illustrated Manual on the Founding of the Ordination Platform in Guānzhōng by 道宣 (Dàoxuān, 撰)
About the work
A short single-fascicle illustrated manual (tújīng 圖經) on the founding and operation of the jiètán 戒壇 (ordination platform) in Guānzhōng 關中 — the metropolitan region of Cháng’ān — by Dàoxuān 道宣 (道宣, 596–667). Author signature: 大唐京師西明寺沙門釋道宣撰 (Composed by Dàoxuān, monk of Xīmíngsì in the imperial capital of the Great Táng). The work is preserved in Taishō vol. 45 as T1892 and is included in CANWWW div31.xml under that id.
Prefaces
Dàoxuān’s autograph xù opens the work in characteristic apologetic vein: “余以闇昧，少參學府，優柔教義，諮質賢明…” (“In my dullness I have studied at the schools from a young age, gently exploring the meaning of the teaching, consulting the wise…”). The preface then proceeds to the substantive history of the jiètán and the rationale for the present manual.
Abstract
The Jiètán tújīng is Dàoxuān’s principal manual on the institutional and ceremonial form of the ordination platform — the consecrated space at which monastic upasampadā (full ordination) is performed in the Chinese Vinaya tradition. The work presents (1) the canonical-Indian precedents (the platform at Mt. Vulture and the Ganges-side platforms), (2) the Chinese genealogy of platform-construction from Hàn-Wèi through Suí-Tang, and (3) Dàoxuān’s own institutional manual for the platform as he established it at Jìngyèsì 淨業寺 in Guānzhōng in Qiánfēng 2 = 667 CE — the year of his death. The preface and post-colophon both date the foundation to Qiánfēng 2 / 2 / 8 (= 8 March 667); the work is therefore precisely datable. As the foundational document of the Chinese ordination platform institution, the work was decisive for all subsequent East Asian jiètán design (Japan via Ganjin, Korea, Vietnam) and remains the principal reference for the institutional history of the Chinese ordination ceremony.
Translations and research
- McRae, John R., and Tom Tillemans (eds.). Buddhist and Pali Studies in Honour of Damoaka Geshe — for studies on Dàoxuān’s Jiètán.
- Funayama Toru 船山徹. Bukkyō no shisō: Tō-jidai no kairitsu (Buddhist thought: Vinaya in the Tang era).
- Heirman, Ann. Studies on Chinese Vinaya in Tang context.
- McRae, John R. Seeing through Zen (2003) — for the institutional context of Tang Buddhist establishments.