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芝園遺編

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Text ID
KR6k0216
Date
1070–1116
Dynasty
宋

Zhīyuán yíbiān 芝園遺編

Posthumous Compilation from the Zhīyuán [Garden] by 元照 (Yuánzhào, 錄); 道詢 (Dàoxún, 集)

About the work

A three-fascicle posthumous compilation of miscellaneous Língzhīsì writings of Yuánzhào (元照, 1048–1116, the Língzhī Dàzhì lǜshī), gathered by his Southern-Sòng disciple-successor Dàoxún 道詢 (道詢, dates not preserved). Zhīyuán 芝園 (“Auspicious-Mushroom Garden”) was the studio name of Yuánzhào at Língzhīsì 靈芝寺 (lit. “Numinous-Lingzhi-Mushroom Monastery”) in Hángzhōu; yíbiān 遺編 designates the residual writings not gathered into the principal Zhīyuán jí 芝園集 (KR6k0217).

Structural Division

The internal mùlù gives:

  • Upper fascicle: Jiètǐ zhāng 戒體章 (treatise on the substance of the precepts), Chífàn tǐ zhāng 持犯體章 (the substance of upholding-and-violating), Chífàn jùfǎ zhāng 持犯句法章, Lǜzōng yào 律宗要 (essentials of the Vinaya school), Dà xiǎo chéng lùn 大小乘論 (on the great and lesser vehicles), Shǐzhōng jiè yào 始終戒要 (essentials of the precepts from beginning to end).
  • Middle fascicle: Shòu Dàchéng púsà jiè yí 授大乘菩薩戒儀 (rite for conferring the bodhisattva precepts), Tìfà yíshì 剃髮儀式 (tonsure rite), Shòujiè fāngbiàn 受戒方便 (preliminaries for ordination), Jiàn Míngzhōu Kāiyuánsì jiètán shìwén bìng Zhèng chéngxiàng bá 建明州開元寺戒壇誓文(并鄭丞相跋) (foundinginscription for the jiètán 戒壇 ordination platform at Kāiyuánsì in Míngzhōu, with the colophon by Chancellor Zhèng — i.e. Northern-Sòng Zhèng Jūzhōng 鄭居中 or Zhèng Jiè 鄭挺?), Jiè shāmí wén 誡沙彌文.
  • Lower fascicle: Wèi Jiǎng shūmì kāijiǎng yàoyì (qǐng jiǎnshī fù) 為蔣樞密開講要義(請簡詩附) (essentials for the inaugural lecture sponsored by Privy-Counsellor Jiǎng — Jiǎng Zhīqí 蔣之奇 (1031–1104), with the sponsorship-poem appended), Wèi Gāolì sēngtǒng Yìtiān kāijiǎng yàoyì 為高麗僧統義天開講要義 (essentials for the inaugural lecture given for the Goryeo monk-supremo Ŭich’ŏn 義天 [1055–1101]), Shàng Zhāān fǎshī shū 上樝菴法師書 (letter to Master Zhāān), Nánshān lǜzōng zǔchéng túlù 南山律宗祖承圖錄 (genealogical chart of the Nánshān Vinaya patriarchate), Nánshān lǜshī zhuàn chánglù bìng bá 南山律師撰長錄(并跋) (long catalogue of works by [Dàoxuān], with colophon).

Prefaces

Yuánzhào’s own opening note for the Jiètǐ zhāng dates that piece precisely: Xīníng sānnián, hòu ānjū rì, shì Yuánzhào yú Nánshān zǔshī jiémóshū lùchū jiètǐ zhāng 熙寧三年。後安居日。釋元照於南山祖師羯磨疏錄出戒體章 — i.e. 1070 / Xīníng 3, day after the conclusion of the rains-retreat. This is the earliest dated piece in the collection.

Abstract

The Zhīyuán yíbiān is the principal source for Yuánzhào’s theological writings on the precept-body (jiètǐ 戒體) and his occasional compositions for major patrons. It contains his earliest dated independent treatise (Jiètǐ zhāng, 1070) and his two most historically resonant kāijiǎng yàoyì 開講要義 inaugural-lecture pieces — the one for Jiǎng Zhīqí (Privy-Counsellor and biographer of Bái Jūyì), and the one for Ŭich’ŏn 義天 of Goryeo, who visited Hángzhōu in 1085 during his year of study in Sòng China. The Goryeo lecture-piece is among the more important documents of Sòng-Goryeo Buddhist contact. The Jiàn Míngzhōu Kāiyuánsì jiètán shìwén records the inscription Yuánzhào composed for the founding of the jiètán ordination-platform at Kāiyuánsì in Míngzhōu (Níngbō), an important episode in the Sòng revival of formal bhikṣu ordination. Composition of the yíbiān itself is bracketed by the Xīníng-3 piece (1070) and Yuánzhào’s death (1116); Dàoxún’s posthumous jí 集 must postdate 1116. notBefore–notAfter are accordingly set 1070–1116 for the contents.

Translations and research

  • For the Yuánzhào / Ŭich’ŏn contact: see Robert Buswell, “Ŭich’ŏn”, in Encyclopedia of Buddhism (2004), s.v., and Sŏngch’ŏl Sŭnim’s standard biographies of Ŭich’ŏn.
  • For the Jiètǐ zhāng and Sòng jiètǐ doctrine: discussion in Stanley Weinstein and Ann Heirman’s surveys of post-Tang Vinaya thought.

Other points of interest

  • The volume is the principal source for the chart-genealogy Nánshān lǜzōng zǔchéng túlù, the canonical Sòng version of the Nánshān Vinaya patriarchal lineage.
  • The Wèi Gāolì sēngtǒng Yìtiān kāijiǎng yàoyì is one of the principal documentary witnesses to Sòng-Goryeo Buddhist contacts in the late 11th c.

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