Jīnglǜ jièxiàng bùsà guǐyí 經律戒相布薩軌儀
Procedural Liturgy for the [Reading of the] Precept-Marks from the Sūtras and Vinaya at the Poṣadha by 如馨 Gǔxīn Rúxīn (纂要)
About the work
A one-fascicle late-Míng combined precept-conferral and poṣadha manual by Gǔxīn Rúxīn 古心如馨 (如馨, 1541–1616), the principal zhōngxìng lǜzǔ 中興律祖 (“Patriarch of the Vinaya Revival”) of the late-Míng Buddhist reform. Author signature: Hóngyǎn píní shāmén Rúxīn zuǎnyào 弘演毗尼沙門(如馨)纂要 — “compiled-and-essentialized by the Vinaya-spreading bhikṣu Rúxīn”. Composition date is undated, but the work must fall within Rúxīn’s mature Vinaya-revival period from his founding of the Gǔlín lǜsì 古林律寺 ca. 1580 to his death in early 1616.
Abstract
The Jīnglǜ jièxiàng bùsà guǐyí is the principal short-form combined precept-conferral manual of the late-Míng Vinaya revival — the textbook that consolidated and standardized the Vinaya-school’s reformed practice across the Sìfēn lǜ 四分律 (“Four-part Vinaya”) tradition that Rúxīn revived. Its scope is comprehensive: a single fascicle covering, in serial order, every precept-class from layperson to bodhisattva, plus the procedural framework for the fortnightly bùsà 布薩 (poṣadha) recitation.
The opening lyric sòng 頌 sets the work’s self-image: “the three robes draped on the body cross beyond the dust-world; the buddhas of the sands of the Ganges all once did the same; Kāśyapa keeps his robe to await Maitreya, dynasty after dynasty the high monks transmit it patriarch-to-patriarch”. Rúxīn’s prefatory paragraph likewise frames the project in latter-day-dharma (mòfǎ 末法) terms: “to make the true dharma long abide in the world; to make the right faith of beings unbroken; to serve as a model for those after; to make a great regulating standard”.
The structural sequence covers:
- Yōupósāi yōupóyí wǔjiè 優婆塞優婆夷五戒 (the five precepts for laymen and laywomen);
- Bājiè 八戒 (the eight precepts of the bāguānzhāi 八關齋);
- Shāmí shíjiè 沙彌十戒 (the ten novice precepts);
- Bǐqiū èrbǎi wǔshí jiè 比丘二百五十戒 (the 250 bhikṣu precepts) — divided in the standard Sìfēn lǜ sequence: 4 pārājika, 13 saṅghāvaśeṣa, 2 aniyata, 30 naiḥsargika-pāyantika, 90 pāyantika, 4 pratideśanīya, 100 śaikṣa, 7 adhikaraṇa-śamatha — totalling 250;
- Bǐqiūní jiè 比丘尼戒 (the bhikṣuṇī precepts);
- Púsà jiè 菩薩戒 (the bodhisattva precepts of the Fànwǎng jīng 梵網經 (KR6k0076));
- Bùsà guǐyí 布薩軌儀 (the procedural protocol for the fortnightly poṣadha).
The guǐyí section is unusually compact for the genre — Rúxīn’s design objective is to provide a travel-able (i.e., portable, complete-in-one-fascicle) handbook for itinerant Vinaya practice, in contrast to the multi-fascicle exegetical Vinaya literature of 元照 Yuánzhào and the Sòng tradition. The closing colophon notes that “the Vinaya-monk Rúxīn donated the [proceeds of] his robe and bowl to have [this work] cut into woodblocks for circulation” (lǜxué shāmén Rúxīn juān yībō zhī zī qǐnzǐ liúxíng 律學沙門如馨捐衣鉢之資鋟梓流行) — confirming the work was distributed gratis as a Vinaya-revival missionary text.
The terminal Pure-Land-leaning verses signal Rúxīn’s jièjìng shuāngxiū 戒淨雙修 (Vinaya-Pure-Land dual-cultivation) integrative orientation: “body-and-mind in this single life, swiftly born to the Land of Comfort, face the Amitābha and personally receive the prediction-of-buddhahood” (sù shēng Ānyǎng miànlǐ Mítuó qīnshòu jìbié 速生安養面禮彌陀親授記莂).
Translations and research
- For Rúxīn’s place in late-Míng Buddhism, see Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (Oxford University Press, 2008), and the comprehensive Chinese-language treatment in Wáng Jiànguāng 王見光, Míngmò Qīngchū Zhōngxìng lǜzōng yǎnjiū 明末清初中興律宗研究 (Taipei: Fǎgǔ wénhuà, 2018).
- For the Bǎohuáshān Lóngchāngsì 寶華山隆昌寺 lineage that descends from Rúxīn through 寂光 Sānmèi Jìguāng, see Sìfēn lǜ shànfánbǔquē xíngshìchāo (KR6k0128) commentaries from the Bǎohuá tradition.
- Daoyuan/Shi-Dao 道影 vol. 4 has Rúxīn’s portrait and biographical sketch.
Other points of interest
- The Jīnglǜ jièxiàng bùsà guǐyí is the single attributed work of Gǔxīn Rúxīn; his eleven dharma-heirs produced the more substantial body of the late-Míng Vinaya literature.
- The terminal Pure-Land verses contain the unusual line “do not study mouth-Chán” (xué dào mò xué kǒutóu chán 學道莫學口頭禪) — a polemic against late-Míng kǒutóu chán (verbal-only Chán) consistent with Rúxīn’s Vinaya-centric reform stance.
- Through Rúxīn’s heir 寂光 Sānmèi Jìguāng, the Gǔlín line became the dominant Qīng-period Vinaya school via Bǎohuáshān; the present manual is its early-Míng foundational text.