Nánshān zǔshī lǐzàn wén 南山祖師禮讚文
A Hymnody of Veneration for the Patriarch-Master of the Nánshān (Vinaya) School by 允堪 (Yǔnkǎn, 述)
About the work
A single-fascicle Northern-Sòng lǐzàn wén 禮讚文 for the death-anniversary of Nánshān Dàoxuān 南山道宣 (596–667), composed by Tiāntái shāmén Yǔnkǎn 天台沙門允堪 (允堪, 1005–1061), the most prolific Sòng lǜshī 律師 (Vinayamaster) before Língzhī Yuánzhào. Author signature: Tiāntái shāmén shì Yǔnkǎn shù 天台沙門釋 允堪 述. This is the third of the three Sòng Nánshān lǐzàn wén gathered by Yuánzhào (X1504–1506 = KR6k0207, KR6k0208, KR6k0209), and the most extended.
Prefaces
Yuánzhào’s collected preface (KR6k0207) titles Yǔnkǎn the Tiāntái Zhēnwù lǜshī 天台真悟律師 and reports that he “took both [Zhìyuán’s and Rényuè’s zàn] and used them, holding the text-as-sung-only insufficient, then once again wielded the brush, to suit the three-day cycle and to be performed sequentially in alternation” (兼而用之。以謂歌之不足。乃復操染。用擬三日。次第間行). Yǔnkǎn’s own opening prose passage opens jīshǒu Nánshān jiàozhǔ Xīmíng lǜshī 稽首南山教主西明律師 — “I bow my head before the Nánshān master, the Vinayamaster of Xīmíng[-sì].”
Abstract
Yǔnkǎn’s zànwén differs from Zhìyuán’s and Rényuè’s by completing the rite: where Zhìyuán supplied the prose-eulogy idiom and Rényuè the chanted-verse idiom, Yǔnkǎn cast the whole as a usable three-day-cycle (三日次第) liturgy, with full fèngqǐng 奉請 and gòngyǎng 供養 sequences keyed to the huìrì 諱日 anniversary. Standard Sòngonward Vinaya monasteries used this composite scheme. The eulogy stanzas survey Dàoxuān’s eight episodes from his birth (隋文治世京華降誕時身南山尊者), through receipt of the precepts, mountain-retreat vinaya-redaction, heavenly-spirit responses, fùfǎ transmission and zhuǎnshēn shàngshēng 轉身上昇 to Tuṣita. Composition is bracketed by Yǔnkǎn’s mature career (he held the abbacy at Línghuāsì 靈花寺 in Hángzhōu) and his death in 1061; notBefore–notAfter are set 1030–1061 accordingly. Yǔnkǎn was the principal Sòng commentator on Dàoxuān’s Sìfēn lǜ sub-commentaries (see KR6k0144 etc.); the zànwén belongs to the same Vinayarevival programme. The companion Dàzhì lǜshī lǐzàn wén for Yuánzhào (Yǔnkǎn’s heir) is KR6k0210.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA online: https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X1506
- 允堪 DILA
- Kanseki DB