Guījiè yàojí 歸戒要集
Essential Anthology on the Three Refuges and the Five Precepts by 弘贊 (Hóngzàn, 輯)
About the work
A three-fascicle early-Qīng anthology by Zàishēn Hóngzàn (弘贊, 1612–1686) on the guījiè 歸戒 — the three refuges (sānguī 三歸: Buddha, Dharma, Saṅgha) and the five lay precepts (wǔjiè 五戒: non-killing, non-stealing, sexual abstinence, no false speech, no intoxicants). Author signature: Yuèdōng Dǐnghúshān shāmén shì Hóngzàn Zàishēn jí 粤東鼎湖山沙門釋 弘贊在犙輯.
Prefaces
(A) Guījiè xù 歸戒序, by Hóngzàn himself, dated Kāngxī guǐmǎo zhòngxià Dǐnghúshān bǐqiū Hóngzàn shí 康熈癸卯仲夏鼎湖山比丘弘贊識 — i.e. 1663 (Kāngxī 2), middle month of summer.
The preface lays out a fivepaired correspondence between the Confucian five constants (wǔcháng 五常: rén 仁 humanity, yì 義 right conduct, lǐ 禮 ritual propriety, zhì 智 wisdom, xìn 信 trustworthiness) and the Buddhist five lay precepts:
“The five constants celebrate one lifetime; the five precepts contribute merit through many kalpas… To receive the precepts and abandon killing — without seeking rén, rén manifests of itself; to uphold the precept and depart from theft — without venerating yì, yì spreads of itself; to keep the precept and remove sexual transgression — without practising lǐ, lǐ establishes itself; to follow the precept and rest from false-speech — without expecting xìn, xìn is achieved; to receive the precept and cut off intoxicants — without engaging zhì, zhì shines of itself.”
This wǔjiè / wǔcháng correlation is the standard Mahāyāna-Confucian harmonisation, with classical antecedents going back to the Tíwèi Bōlì jīng 提謂波利經 of the Northern Wèi.
Structural Division
Fascicle 1: Shòu sānguī fǎ 受三歸法 (the rite of taking refuge): canonical sources from the Sìfēnlǜ (the early refuge-takings of the merchant brothers Tíwèi 提謂 and Bōlì 波利 at the Bodhitree, of Yaśas, of the Buddha’s parents), the wording of the formal triśaraṇagamana, and the rubrics for the rite.
Fascicle 2: the Five Precepts treated one by one, with full canonical citations and Hóngzàn’s commentary.
Fascicle 3: ancillary topics — the zhāifǎ 齋法 (lay fasting), the relationship between the guījiè and the higher precepts (shāmí and bǐqiū), and the standard huíxiàng (dedication of merit) formulae.
Abstract
The Guījiè yàojí is the principal early-Qīng lay-Buddhist manual produced by the Dǐnghúshān school. It systematises the canonical and pedagogical material on the three refuges and five precepts for both lay reception and clerical instruction. The work is precisely datable to 1663 by its preface (Kāngxī 2, guǐmǎo); notBefore–notAfter are both 1663.
The companion piece is KR6k0234 Bāguān zhāifǎ (the eight-precepts-and-fast manual for lay observance on the six monthly poṣadha days), produced by Hóngzàn around the same time at the same monastery.
Translations and research
No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.
Other points of interest
- The wǔjiè / wǔcháng correlation in the preface is one of the cleaner Qīng-period restatements of the medieval Tíwèi Bōlì jīng harmonisation.
Links
- CBETA online: https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X1129
- 弘贊 DILA
- Kanseki DB