Dà chàn huǐ wén lüè jiě 大懺悔文略解
Brief Exposition of the Great Repentance Text
A two-juan Qīng Vinaya-school commentary on the Dà chàn huǐ wén 大懺悔文 (“Great Repentance Text”), a composite ritual-liturgical text used in Chinese Buddhist monastic repentance-practice. Commentator: Yíjié Shūyù 宜潔書玉 (1645–1722), the major late-Qīng Vinaya master and abbot of Zhāoqìngsì 昭慶寺. Prefaced on the jiātí jídàn 迦提吉旦 (first auspicious day of the Kārttika-month [Sanskrit kṛttikā, lunar 8th/9th month]) of Kāngxī 48 = 1709.
About the work
A two-juan prose commentary on a classical Buddhist ritual-liturgical text, J30 B260. Non-commentary on a single parent text in the Kanripo corpus (the parent text is itself a composite not separately catalogued); commentedTextid omitted.
The parent text “Dà chàn huǐ wén”: per Shūyù’s preface, a composite repentance-liturgy combining three historical strata:
- The Táng-era translation by Amoghavajra 不空 (705–774) of the Sānshíwǔ fó míng jīng 三十五佛名經 (Sūtra of the Thirty-Five Buddha-Names) — the core list of 35 Buddhas whose names are invoked for repentance.
- The Sòng-era translation by Bùdòng sānzàng 不動三藏 (Skt. Ekottarikāgama-associated) adding a further 53 Buddha-names at the front.
- The ten great vows of Samantabhadra (Pǔxián shí dà yuàn 普賢十大願偈) appended at the end.
The composite produces 108 acts of repentance — corresponding to the 108 classical Buddhist kleśas (defilements).
Shūyù’s commentary provides: biographical notices on the original translators and compilers; doctrinal exposition of each Buddha-name’s specific ritual-efficacy function; detailed instructions for ritual performance (when to kneel, when to prostrate, how to vocalise); cross-references to parallel repentance-liturgies. A preliminary fán lì 凡例 (editorial principles, ten points) explains his editorial decisions.
Abstract
See 書玉’s person note for details. This work, completed four years before the KR6q0210 Yíshān lǐ fó fā yuàn wén lüè shì, represents another of Shūyù’s Vinaya-school ritual-liturgical commentaries. Together the two works exemplify the late-Qīng Vinaya school’s sustained commentarial attention to practical monastic ritual-practice.
Shūyù’s preface reveals his specific pedagogical motivation: “The later people’s roots are shallower; they simply kneel and recite. Those who recite are many but those who comprehend are few. Since the mind is not sincere, how could it affect the Buddha’s resonance?” The commentary is therefore addressed to practising monks and laypeople who use the Dà chàn huǐ wén in daily devotion but lack doctrinal-understanding of what they are reciting.
Dating: notBefore / notAfter both 1709 (Shūyù’s preface-date).
Translations and research
- Welch, Holmes. 1968. The Buddhist Revival in China.
- Bianchi, Ester. Various studies on Chinese Vinaya.
- Stevenson, Daniel B. Studies of Chinese Buddhist repentance ritual.
- No substantial Western-language monographic study located specifically on J30 B260.
Other points of interest
The Dà chàn huǐ wén lüè jiě is a core document of Qīng Chinese Buddhist ritual-practice: the Dà chàn huǐ wén itself has been — from the late-imperial period to the present day — among the most widely-used repentance-liturgies in Chinese Buddhist monastic practice. Shūyù’s commentary, representing the authoritative late-Qīng Vinaya-school exposition, has served as a standard reference work for monastic educators and practitioners well into the modern period.
The commentary also contributes to the philological-historical record of Chinese Buddhist repentance-liturgy, by documenting the tripartite compositional history of the parent text (Táng, Sòng, and appended Samantabhadra vows) and by providing bibliographic traces of the successive translators and compilers.
Links
- CBETA J30nB260
- Kanseki DB
- Shūyù’s other Kanripo work: KR6q0210 Yíshān lǐ fó fā yuàn wén lüè shì (1713).
- Parent texts in the Buddhist canon: the Sānshíwǔ fó míng jīng and related repentance-liturgy materials.