Jiàojiè xīnxué bǐqiū xínghù lǜyí 教誡新學比丘行護律儀
Vinaya Decorum for the Instruction of Newly-Ordained Bhikṣus on Protective Conduct by 道宣 (Dàoxuān, 述)
About the work
A short single-fascicle pedagogical manual on Vinaya conduct for newly-ordained bhikṣus by Dàoxuān 道宣 (道宣, 596–667). The work is essentially a digest, in operational form, of Dàoxuān’s larger Sìfēnlǜ shānfán bǔquē xíngshì chāo 四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔 (KR6k0017), reduced to a short, memorisable pedagogical resource for the novice.
Prefaces
The Manji edition opens with a re-printing preface by a Japanese editor of Niúmén Zhèngdìng jiàoyuàn 牛門正定教院 (Fānkè jiàojiè lǜyí xù 翻刻教誡律儀敘): 諸善律儀，佛家之柱石也 (“the goodly Vinaya rules are the pillar-stones of the Buddha’s house”). The preface notes that Dàoxuān’s Xíngshì chāo is too vast (hàohàn 浩瀚) for novices, prompting Dàoxuān to compose the present condensed manual in wén jiǎn yì shēn 文簡義深 (“simple text, deep meaning”) form.
Abstract
The Xínghù lǜyí is the standard Tang Vinaya novice-instruction manual and provides the operational reduction of Dàoxuān’s larger Xíngshì chāo programme. The work treats the conduct expected of a xīnxué bǐqiū 新學比丘 — a newly fully-ordained monk in his first years — under the conventional headings of xínghù 行護 (protective conduct): proper deportment in the residential monastery, in alms-rounds, at communal rituals, in personal practice. Its institutional importance is signalled by the work’s wide circulation in Tang and post-Tang monasteries; in Japan it became one of the principal Vinaya pedagogical resources for the early-Edo period (note the Japanese editor’s Fānkè preface). Composition belongs to Dàoxuān’s mature Zhōngnán period.
Translations and research
- Funayama Toru 船山徹. Studies on Tang Buddhist Vinaya pedagogy.
- Heirman, Ann. Studies on Tang Vinaya in monastic context.