Chuánjiè zhèngfàn 傳戒正範
The Authoritative Code for Transmitting the Precepts by 讀體 (Dútǐ, 撰)
About the work
A four-fascicle early-Qīng jiètán 戒壇 (ordination-platform) manual by Jiànyuè Dútǐ (讀體, 1601–1679), the foundational handbook of the three-tier ordination (sāntán 三壇) regime — shāmí jiè 沙彌戒 (novice precepts), bǐqiū jiè 比丘戒 (full bhikṣu precepts) and púsà jiè 菩薩戒 (bodhisattva precepts) — at Bǎohuáshān Lóngchāngsì 寶華山隆昌寺. The work superseded all earlier ordination manuals in mainstream Chinese-Buddhist practice and remained the standard Chuánjiè handbook through the late-Qīng and Republicanera Chinese saṅgha.
Prefaces
(A) Chuánjiè zhèngfàn xù 傳戒正範序, signed Shùnzhì gēngzǐ suì gūxǐyuè shàngsì rì zhù Nánkāng Yúnjūshān Qiānhuá tóngmén jiè dìzǐ Jièxiǎn dùnshǒu bài tí 順治庚子歲姑洗月上巳日住南康雲居山千華同門戒弟子戒顯頓首拜題 — i.e. 1660 (Shùnzhì 17), 3rd lunar month, shàngsì (3rd day), composed at Yúnjūshān in Nánkāng by Huìshān Jièxiǎn 晦山戒顯 (戒顯, 1610–1672), Dútǐ’s tóngmén jièdìzǐ 同門戒弟子 (precept-fellow disciple from the Qiānhuá lineage). Jièxiǎn’s preface celebrates the recovery of the ordination-platform tradition under Dútǐ: “After the Línggǔ and Qiānhuá two old masters [i.e. Sānmèi Jìguāng and his successor] reopened the great wasteland of [Vinaya], all the broad sea and far corners knew how to receive the precepts, and the way of Nánshān stood again resplendent in restoration… Our preceptor Master Jiànyuètǐ, with iron-and-stone heart and vajra bone, immersed in the five subcanons, succeeded as master of the Qiānhuá line — and grieved that, while ordination platforms have been opened all over the empire, those who consider their study are dim and have heard nothing, those who watch their procedural rules find them slack and unstandard. Hurried through seven days, they finish all three platforms; Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna are not distinguished, the saṅghas of monks and nuns are not differentiated… With heart taking the kēmó 羯磨 (karmavācanā) lightly and treating its readings as oldpaper, knowing nothing of kāizhē 開遮 (permission and restriction)…” — and frames Dútǐ’s Chuánjiè zhèngfàn as the corrective.
Structural Division
The four fascicles partition the sāntán sequence:
- Fascicle 1: Chūtán shòu shāmí jiè qián qǐngjiè chànhuǐ yí 初壇授沙彌戒前請戒懺悔儀 (the pre-novice-ordination repentance procedure) and the formal conferral of the ten śrāmaṇera precepts.
- Fascicle 2: the Èrtán — the formal bhikṣu ordination in the white-monkey-pattern karmavācanā with sānshī qīzhèng 三師七證 (three preceptors and seven witnesses), the báisì jiémó 白四羯磨 (the four-step procedural reading), and the post-upasampadā admonition.
- Fascicle 3: the Sāntán — the bodhisattva precepts, conferred according to the Fànwǎng 梵網 ten major + fortyeight minor precepts.
- Fascicle 4: the parallel bhikṣuṇī ordination cycle and the closing rites.
Abstract
The Chuánjiè zhèngfàn is the foundational Bǎohuáshān ordination manual that standardised Chinese Buddhist upasampadā for the next three centuries. It rebuilt the ritual on three principles: (i) clear separation of the three platforms (sāntán) with a thirtyday (rather than seven-day) minimum; (ii) strict observance of the karmavācanā protocol, including its kāizhē permission/exception clauses; (iii) full restoration of the èrbù sēng dualsaṅgha procedure for women’s ordinations. Composition is bracketed by Dútǐ’s accession to Bǎohuáshān (1645) and Jièxiǎn’s preface (1660); notBefore–notAfter are accordingly 1645–1660.
Translations and research
- Holmes Welch, The Practice of Chinese Buddhism, 1900–1950 (Harvard, 1967), pp. 247 ff. — descriptive account of the modern Chinese ordination ritual, which preserves the Chuánjiè zhèngfàn substantially intact.
- Bingenheimer, Marcus, Vinaya in the Modern Chinese Buddhist Saṅgha (various). For Dútǐ’s biography see Bǎohuáshān zhì, juan 7.
Other points of interest
- The single most consequential early-Qīng Vinaya production, in terms of subsequent ritual practice.
Links
- CBETA online: https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X1128
- 讀體 DILA
- 戒顯 DILA
- Kanseki DB