Gēnběn shuō yīqiè yǒubù bìchú xíxué lüèfǎ 根本說一切有部苾芻習學略法
A Brief Method of Bhikṣu Training according to the Mūlasarvāstivāda by 拔合思巴 (ʼPhags-pa, 集)
About the work
A short single-fascicle Yuán Vinaya pedagogy manual for newly-ordained bhikṣus (bìchú 苾芻 — Yuán-Tibetan transliteration for the Skt. bhikṣu, replacing the older Chinese bǐqiū 比丘) according to the Mūlasarvāstivāda 根本說一切有部 by ʼPhags-pa 拔合思巴 (拔合思巴, 1235–1280). Author signature: 元帝師苾芻拔合思巴集 (Compiled by Imperial Preceptor and Bhikṣu ʼPhags-pa of the Yuán).
Prefaces
The work opens with an act of homage: 敬禮一切智 (“reverence to the Sarvajña”). It then sets out a three-fold framework for Vinaya training:
- Wèi dé lìng dé yífàn 未得令得儀範 (“the rule for obtaining what has not yet been obtained” — upasampadā).
- Yǐdé lǜyí bùfàn 已得律儀不犯 (“not violating the precepts already obtained”).
- (the third head, on continued training and gradual ascent in the precepts).
Abstract
The Xíxué lüèfǎ is the pedagogical companion to ʼPhags-pa’s KR6k0191 Yífàn (the karman-formulary for ordination). Together they constitute the practical introduction of the Tibetan-Buddhist Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya tradition into Mongol-imperial Buddhist practice. The text follows the gradual training schema of the Tibetan Sa-skya lineage’s instructional literature on the prātimokṣa-vow. Use of the transliteration bìchú 苾芻 (rather than the Chinese standard bǐqiū 比丘) is itself a marker of the Mūlasarvāstivāda lineage and persists thereafter in Tibetan-Buddhist Chinese-language texts.
Translations and research
- Petech, Luciano. Central Tibet and the Mongols (1990).
- Sperling, Elliot. Studies on Yuán-Tibetan religious institutions.
- Stearns, Cyrus. Studies on early Sa-skya tradition.