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禮佛儀式

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Text ID
KR6k0239
Date
1660–1686
Dynasty
清

Lǐ Fó yíshì 禮佛儀式

The Ritual Code for the Veneration of the Buddha by 弘贊 (Hóngzàn, 編)

About the work

A single-fascicle early-Qīng liturgical manual by Hóngzàn (弘贊, 1612–1686) for formal Buddhaveneration. The opening biāotí 標題 specifies the schedule: huò zhòuyè liùshí, huò rì sānshí, huò chénhūn èrshí 或晝夜六時或日三時或晨昏二時 — “[to be performed] at the six watches of day-and-night, or at the three daywatches, or at morning-and-evening.” Author signature: Guǎngzhōu Nánhǎi Bǎoxiànglín shāmén Hóngzàn biān 廣州南海寶象林沙門　弘贊　編.

Opening polemical frame

The opening rubric announces the work’s polemical motive: “Reverences nowadays mostly contravene the regulations and do not match the canonical teaching: some err in the order of namerecitation but know nothing of how to praise the Buddha’s surpassing virtue; some lack inner reverence and do not know how to repent and dedicate. If the dharma is not understood, how can one cast off dust and obtain merit so as to summon the highest fruit? Hence the sūtras and treatises both lay out five methods and emphasise praise of virtue.” Hóngzàn then sets out the proper sequence: enter the incense-altar, compose the body and still the thoughts, hold the Buddha’s marks in mind, raise the censer with both hands at the knee, and chant the standard Huáyán-derived offering-verse Jièxiāng dìngxiāng jiětuō xiāng 戒香定香解脫香 (“incense of precepts, of meditation, of liberation”).

Structural Division

The fascicle proceeds:

  1. Opening offering — jièxiāng dìngxiāng incense-verse from the Huáyán’s wǔfēn fǎshēn 五分法身 (precepts, meditation, wisdom, liberation, knowledgevisionofliberation), augmented with xiānghuāyún 香花雲 verses where flowers are offered.
  2. Universal salutation of the Three Jewels (pǔlǐ Sānbǎo 普禮三寶) — opens with the verse Jīshǒu yīqiè chūshìjiān, sānjiè zuì zūn gōngdé hǎi 稽首一切出世間。三界最尊功德海, followed by the Lǐfó mièzuì zhòu 禮佛滅罪呪 (a dhāraṇī from the Bǎochuángshèng jīng 寶幢勝經 said to surpass billions of Buddhaprostrations in merit).
  3. The full hundred-stanza eulogy-cycle, drawing on the bhadrakalpa one-thousand-Buddhas list and the standard jīnglùn sources.

Abstract

The Lǐ Fó yíshì is the central member of Hóngzàn’s threepart liturgical sequence (KR6k0238 / KR6k0239 / KR6k0240). Its programmatic claim is that proper Buddhaveneration is essentially eulogistic (zàndé 讚德, “praising the virtues”), and not merely nomenclatural recitation; the manual is constructed around zàncí 讚詞 stanzas which the practitioner is expected to chant with full awareness of their canonical referents. Composition is bracketed by Hóngzàn’s mature Bǎoxiànglín / Dǐnghúshān career; notBefore–notAfter are 1660–1686.

Translations and research

No substantial Western-language secondary literature located.

Other points of interest

  • The Lǐfó mièzuì zhòu is presented as inculcating Wúliàngshòu Fó 無量壽佛 rebirth at death — Hóngzàn here folds Pure-Land salvific ends into the standard Buddhaveneration ritual.

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