Shìmén guījìng yí 釋門歸敬儀
A Manual on Refuge and Reverence in the Buddhist Order by 道宣 (Dàoxuān, 述)
About the work
A two-fascicle Tang Vinaya-ritual manual on the practice of guī 歸 (taking refuge) and jìng 敬 (reverence) in the monastic establishment by Dàoxuān 道宣 (道宣, 596–667). The colophon at the head of the work supplies a precise date: 沙門釋道宣大唐龍朔元年於京師西明寺述 (Composed by the monk Dàoxuān at Xīmíngsì in the imperial capital, in the first year of Lóngshuò of the Great Tang) = 661 CE.
Prefaces
No separate preface; the work opens directly with the ten-fold structural division (shímén 十門), of which the first two heads are:
- Jìngběn jiàoxìng yī 敬本教興一 (“the rise of the teaching as the basis of reverence”) — explaining how, at the inception of the Buddhist mission, ritual had not yet been established and the Saṃgha must therefore appeal to holy teaching as the zhèngshǒu 信首 (head of faith).
- Jìshí hùfǎ èr 濟時護法二 (“rescuing the times and protecting the Dharma”) — explaining how, in latter-day declines, reverence is the principal vehicle for keeping the triratna in flourishing condition.
Abstract
The Guījìng yí is the principal Tang manual on the institutional practice of refuge-taking (guīyī 皈依) and on the jìnglǐ 敬禮 protocols for monastic life — including the etiquette of bows, the order of reverence, and the doctrinal framework of triratna-devotion. Composed at the Xīmíngsì in 661 CE during Dàoxuān’s mature decade in the imperial capital, the work is precisely datable. It belongs to the same institutional-ritual programme as KR6k0178 Jiètán tújīng, KR6k0180 Zhāngfú yí, and KR6k0181 Liàngchù qīngzhòng yí, and was decisive for the standard Tang Buddhist regulation of monastic ritual conduct.
Translations and research
- Funayama Toru 船山徹. Studies on Tang Buddhist ritual.
- Forte, Antonino. Studies on Tang Buddhism at Xīmíngsì.