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比丘受戒錄

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Text ID
KR6k0235
Date
1660–1686
Dynasty
清

Bǐqiū shòujiè lù 比丘受戒錄

A Record of Bhikṣu Ordinations by 弘贊 (Hóngzàn, 述)

About the work

A single-fascicle early-Qīng historical-cum-procedural treatise by Zàishēn Hóngzàn (弘贊, 1612–1686) of Dǐnghúshān, surveying the canonical and postcanonical history of bhikṣu ordinations in China. Author signature: Dǐnghúshān shāmén Hóngzàn Zàishēn shù 鼎湖山沙門　弘贊在犙　述.

Structural Division

The work proceeds historically:

  1. Canonical foundation: the Buddha’s Bodhitree transmission of the sānjù jìngjiè (three pure precept-baskets) to bodhisattva-disciples; his subsequent codification at Lùyuàn and Wángshèchéng of the wǔpiān qījù 五篇七聚 (five subcategories and seven groupings) of the prātimokṣa and the standard ten-monk karmavācanā.
  2. The “central versus borderlands” rule: the canonical exception (Sìfēnlǜ: zhōng zhì shí rén shòu jù; biān xǔ wǔ rén dé jiè 中制十人受具。邊許五人得戒) — at the request of Mahākātyāyana the Buddha allowed five-monk karmavācanā in border-regions (“border” = the four cardinal limits of the Madhyadeśa: white-wood-tuned country in the east, Jìngshàntǎ in the south, Yīshīlí xiānrén shān in the west, Zhùguó in the north). China is 57,000+ lǐ east of the central country and falls under the border rule.
  3. Chinese reception: Zhèndàn 震旦 (China) had no Buddhist transmission for 1,000+ years after the Buddha’s parinirvāṇa; the legendary 60 BCE / 65 CE arrival of the Yǒngpíng 永平 mission of Hàn Míngdì 漢明帝 (with Cài Yīn 蔡愔, the Eighteen Envoys); the encounter with Móténg 摩騰 (Kāśyapamātaṅga) and Fǎlán 法蘭 (Dharmaratna) in the Yuèzhī country, the bringing of the 60-myriad-character Sanskrit canon east; the famous first 1,000+ ordinations by Liú Jùn 劉峻 in 71 CE — but at this stage with only the triśaraṇa + daśaśīla, no upasampadā, since the canonical five-monk karmavācanā group was not yet present.
  4. Successive milestones: the late-Hàn arrival of the five Zhī Fǎlǐng 支法領 monks who could administer the upasampadā; the early-Wèi (3rd c.) translation of Tánmójiāluó 曇摩迦羅 (Dharmakāla) in Lǎoyáng of the Sìfēn jiémó and jièběn — the proper inception of canonical Chinese bhikṣu ordination.

Abstract

The Bǐqiū shòujiè lù is part historical narrative, part procedural code: Hóngzàn uses the canonical zhōngbiān (central-and-borderlands) rule as the doctrinal frame for surveying the early Chinese reception of the upasampadā and its surviving institutional inheritance into the early Qīng. It is a key Dǐnghúshān contribution to the bǎizhàng-Dǎoxuān tradition of Chinese-Buddhist selfhistoricisation. Companion to the parallel women’ssaṅgha Bǐqiūní shòujiè lù (KR6k0236). Composition is bracketed by Hóngzàn’s mature Dǐnghú career; notBefore–notAfter are accordingly set 1660–1686.

Translations and research

  • For the canonical zhōngbiān (central-borderlands) rule: see Erik Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China (Leiden, 1959; rev. 2007).
  • For the historical narrative of early Chinese ordinations and the Yǒngpíng mission: standard treatment in Tang Yongtong 湯用彤, Hàn-Wèi liǎng-Jìn Nán-Běicháo Fójiào shǐ 漢魏兩晉南北朝佛教史.

Other points of interest

  • Hóngzàn’s careful tracking of the early Chinese gradual recovery of the canonical karmavācanā (from triśaraṇa + daśaśīla only, in 71 CE → five-monk upasampadā under the Zhī Fǎlǐng group → ten-monk upasampadā with Dharmakāla in the Wèi) is a classic Buddhist-Chinese self-narrative.

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