Liàngchù qīngzhòng yí 量處輕重儀
A Manual for Determining the Light and Heavy Disposition [of Deceased Monks’ Property] by 道宣 (Dàoxuān, 緝)
About the work
A two-fascicle Tang Vinaya manual by Dàoxuān 道宣 (道宣, 596–667) on the canonical disposition of property left behind by a deceased monk (wángsēng yīzī 亡僧衣資). The technical distinction qīngzhòng 輕重 (“light and heavy”) refers to the standard Vinaya division of monastic property into light (qīngwù — personal vestment, alms-bowl, books, etc., redistributed to the resident saṃgha) and heavy (zhòngwù — buildings, fields, durable property, retained by the monastery).
Prefaces
The Manji edition opens with a re-printing preface (Xīnkè liàngchù qīngzhòng yí xù 新刻量處輕重儀序): 亡僧衣資處斷甚難。蓋以聖教廣博而部計不同也 (“the disposition of a deceased monk’s vestments and possessions is exceedingly difficult, because the holy teaching is vast and the parts of it [i.e., the recensions] do not agree”). The preface identifies Dàoxuān as gāozǔ Nánshān Fǎhuì dàshī 高祖南山法慧大師 (“ancestral patriarch, Mt. Nánshān, the Great Master of Dharma-Wisdom”).
Abstract
The Liàngchù qīngzhòng yí is the principal Tang Vinaya manual on the canonical handling of a deceased monk’s estate — a recurrent practical problem in monastic life that the various vinaya recensions handled inconsistently. Dàoxuān synthesises the principal positions of the Sìfēnlǜ 四分律, the Sēngqí lǜ 僧祇律, the Wǔfēnlǜ 五分律, and the Shísònglǜ 十誦律 into a single operational manual for the Tang monastic establishment. The work belongs to Dàoxuān’s broader programme of institutional-ritual manuals (KR6k0178 Jiètán tújīng, KR6k0180 Zhāngfú yí, KR6k0182 Guījìng yí, KR6k0183 Xínghù lǜyí) that defined Tang monastic practice. Composition belongs to Dàoxuān’s mature Zhōngnán period.
Translations and research
- Schopen, Gregory. Buddhist Monks and Business Matters (2004) — for the broader Indian Vinaya context of monastic property regulation.
- Heirman, Ann. Studies on Vinaya in Tang practice.