Èrbù sēng shòujiè yíshì 二部僧授戒儀式
The Procedural Code for the Dual-Saṅgha Conferral of Precepts by 書玉 (Shūyù, 述)
About the work
A two-fascicle late-Qīng bhikṣuṇī-ordination manual by Yíjié Shūyù (書玉, 1645–1722) of Zhāoqìngsì 昭慶寺 in Hángzhōu, codifying the procedure for the dualsaṅgha (èrbù sēng 二部僧) ordination of women — the canonical procedure in which a candidate bhikṣuṇī receives the upasampadā first from the bhikṣuṇī-saṅgha and then from the bhikṣu-saṅgha. Author signature: Qīng Gǔháng Zhāoqìngsì chuánlǜ shāmén Shūyù shù 清 古杭昭慶寺傳律沙門 書玉 述.
Prefaces
(A) Èrbù sēng shòujiè yíshì yuánqǐ 二部僧授戒儀式緣起. The opening narrates the canonical authority for the rite (the Buddha’s institution of the bājìng fǎ 八敬法 fourteen years after enlightenment when he ordained Mahāprajāpatī), traces its codification by Nánshān Dàoxuān in his Sìfēn lǜ shānbǔ suíjī jiémó 四分律刪補隨機羯磨 (the parent text of KR6k0042) and the loss of Xíngshì chāo woodblocks over the centuries, and arrives at the 17th-century revival under Jiànyuè Dútǐ. Shūyù then gives a striking eyewitness account of an actual women’sordination event:
“In dīngwèi 丁未 spring, Mìzhào 蜜照, bhikṣuṇī abbess of Kūnshān, came up the mountain together with the dowager-Mrs Xú to make offerings; the women-students of the precepts who came with her requested full ordination. After half a month’s training they had grasped the wēiyí. The late master [Dútǐ] commanded Mìzhào ní to act as preceptor (héshàngní), Chāochén ní of Yángzhōu as karmavācanā officiant (jiémó), Yuánzhèng ní of Zhēnzhōu as instructor (jiàoshòu), with seven witnessing bhikṣuṇīs drawn for xìlà 戒臘 (precept seniority); they led some forty bhikṣuṇī-candidates out of the precincts to Yīyèān 一葉菴 in the southern hill, gathered the bhikṣuṇī-saṅgha there, and first conferred the běnfǎ 本法 [women’sonly first half]. The next day the abbess struck the [calling-]gavel and gathered the assembly; the héshàngní with the nine masters of the upper platform led the bhikṣuṇī-candidates up the mountain to seek the great precepts; the late master then gathered the dualsaṅgha and conferred upon them the perfect ordination. — This was the late master’s èrbù sēng ordination ritual.”
This dīngwèi spring may be Kāngxī 6 = 1667 (Dútǐ in his late years).
The narrative continues with Shūyù’s own situation: after Dútǐ’s death the èrbù sēng practice was widely abandoned and women received only singlesaṅgha ordination. A 壬午 (Kāngxī 41 = 1702) winter event involving the bhikṣuṇī abbess Jùyuán 巨源 (a Tánzhè lineage figure) and the lay-Buddhist Hánpíng Zhōu jūshì 翰屏周居士 brought the question back to Shūyù at Zhāoqìng; Shūyù then composed the present manual.
Abstract
The Èrbù sēng shòujiè yíshì is the canonical late-Qīng manual for the proper dualsaṅgha women’s ordination. It rebuilds the procedure on the basis of (i) the canonical bājìng fǎ of the Sìfēnlǜ / Mahīśāsakavinaya, (ii) Dàoxuān’s Suíjī jiémó, and (iii) the eyewitness oral tradition descending from Dútǐ’s Yīyèān event. The work sits beside Dútǐ’s Chuánjiè zhèngfàn (KR6k0226), supplementing it for the women’ssaṅgha procedural details. Composition is bracketed by the 1702 prompting event (壬午冬) and Shūyù’s later death; notBefore–notAfter are accordingly 1700–1715.
Translations and research
- Beata Grant, Eminent Nuns (2009) — context for late-Qīng bhikṣuṇī-ordination practice.
- For Mìzhào and the early-Qīng bhikṣuṇī network see also studies of Tánzhèsì 潭柘寺 and the Yángzhōu women’s-Buddhist circles.
Other points of interest
- The eyewitness narrative of Dútǐ’s Yīyèān dualsaṅgha ordination ca. 1667 is among the most important documentary witnesses to the early-Qīng restoration of canonical women’s ordination — a procedure that had largely lapsed since the late Sòng.
Links
- CBETA online: https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X1134
- 書玉 DILA
- Kanseki DB