Zhèng xíng jí 正行集
Collection of Correct Practice
A short ethical-behavioural manual by Báiyún Qīngjué 白雲清覺 (1043–1121), founder of the Báiyúnzōng 白雲宗 lay-Buddhist sectarian movement; companion text to KR6q0144 Chū xué jì
About the work
A one-juan short text, X63 n1254. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
Opening passage sets the doctrinal stance: “Now the jūnzǐ 君子 [superior person] is not [characterised] by status of nobility, nor by status of humbleness, nor by wealth, nor by poverty — only by his conduct-practice [xíng 行]. The jūnzǐ’s substance is perfected by déxíng 德行 [virtuous conduct] and augmented by xiàojìng 孝敬 [filial reverence]. Therefore his guǎnggù zhēnjìng 廣固貞淨 [expansive-solid-correct-pure] is not attained by worldly things.” The text then develops an extended parallelism between the jūnzǐ’s four virtues — guǎng (expansive, like the sea), gù (solid, like a mountain), zhēn (correct, like the pine), jìng (pure, like water) — and the practicing Buddhist’s conduct.
Distinctively, Qīngjué’s vocabulary — jūnzǐ 君子, dé xíng 德行, xiào jìng 孝敬 — is that of Confucian ethics rather than traditional Buddhist doctrinal vocabulary. This reflects the Báiyúnzōng’s signature Buddhist-Confucian syncretic position.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. Signature line: Xī-jīng Bǎoyìng sì shāmén shì Qīngjué shù 西京寶應寺沙門釋清覺述 (“composed by Qīngjué, śramaṇa of the Bǎoyìng sì in the Western Capital”). The Bǎoyìng sì 寶應寺 at Xī-jīng 西京 (Luòyáng) is Qīngjué’s early monastic residence prior to his Hángzhōu relocation.
Abstract
Companion to KR6q0144 Chū xué jì within the Báiyúnzōng corpus. Where the Chū xué jì provides doctrinal foundations, the Zhèng xíng jí provides ethical-behavioural guidance. Together the two constitute the basic curriculum of the Báiyúnzōng.
For Qīngjué’s biographical and doctrinal context see KR6q0144 and 清覺. The Bǎoyìng sì 寶應寺 residence referenced in the signature dates to Qīngjué’s pre-Hángzhōu period (pre-1093), indicating that the Zhèng xíng jí may predate the Chū xué jì. Alternatively, the signature may represent a later editorial re-attribution.
Dating bracket: notBefore 1093 (Qīngjué’s mature authorial career begins by this time), notAfter 1121 (Qīngjué’s death). Catalog dynasty 元 probably reflects the surviving recension’s editorial date rather than the original composition.
Translations and research
- ter Haar, B. J. 1992. The White Lotus Teachings in Chinese Religious History. Brill.
- 竺沙雅章 1982. 《中国仏教社会史研究》. Dōhōsha.
Other points of interest
The Zhèng xíng jí’s use of classical Confucian ethical vocabulary (jūnzǐ, dé xíng, xiào jìng) within a Buddhist pedagogical frame is characteristic of Qīngjué’s broader Báiyúnzōng doctrinal project, in which Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist elements are synthesised — the Sān jiāo biān 三教編 (“Treatise on the Three Teachings”) being his programmatic statement of this integrative stance. The syncretic position subsequently became a defining feature of various Sòng-Yuán-Ming lay-Buddhist sectarian movements (White Lotus, Lùozōng 羅宗, Huángtiān 黃天 etc.), for which the Báiyúnzōng served as an early prototype.