Bùsà wén děng 布薩文等
Upoṣadha Text and Others anonymous (Dunhuang manuscript)
About the work
A single-juan anonymous Dunhuang Buddhist liturgical text-collection, preserved at T85 no. 2853. The principal text is a substantive upoṣadha (bù-sà 布薩, uposatha) liturgical script for the bi-monthly precept-confession assembly, with associated dedicatory and pedagogical materials. The work is closely paralleled by KR6s0044 (T2852) and together they constitute the principal Dunhuang witnesses to the upoṣadha liturgical tradition.
Prefaces
The text has no auto-preface or byline. It opens immediately with a doctrinal preamble (paraphrased): “The various Buddhas manifest and arise — by good upāya, transforming things. The various beings look up and revere; the base delusion dissolves and disappears. Although the dharma-explication is the three vehicles, precepts □ □ □ □ □ □ — dull, opening-and-closing, with differences. All that is seen and heard, all receive the prevailing benefit. This assembly’s matter is so. At the time, my □ □ □ □ extending to the instruction-ācārya, who is the master of encouragement-and-the-Way. About to cause the true wind broadly to fan, the Buddha-sun again to clarify □ □ □ thanks at the end. Earth and gentry display the merit of listening-and-hearing. At the time, opening the precious land, raising the golden banner; the incense-smoke and the auspicious □ □ □ □…”
[The text continues through the upoṣadha liturgical sequence, including precept-recitation, confession-formulae, and assembly-merit-dedication.]
Abstract
Authorship and date are unrecoverable. The work is, like KR6s0044, a Dunhuang vinaya-ritual script for upoṣadha observance. The opening preamble’s reference to the opening of the precious land and raising of the golden banner suggests this version was prepared for a particularly auspicious upoṣadha — possibly one with imperial / regional patronage, or marking the establishment of a new precept-platform. notBefore = 600, notAfter = 1000 (the standard bracket).
The text complements KR6s0044 in providing more elaborate ceremonial framing and dedicatory material — the more concrete, practical sentences in KR6s0044 suggest an actual ceremony script, while the more elaborate preamble of the present text suggests a more ceremonious or formal occasion. Together the two texts constitute the principal Dunhuang witnesses to the late-Táng / Five-Dynasties upoṣadha liturgical tradition.
Translations and research
See KR6s0044. Specific to the more elaborate ceremonial bù-sà genre:
- Paul Groner, scholarship on East Asian vinaya and precept-platform institutions.
- Heng-ching Shih 釋恆清, scholarship on Chinese-Buddhist precept-conferral.
Other points of interest
The reference to instruction-ācārya (教授闍梨) is a Sanskrit-derived title (upādhyāya / ācārya) preserved in transliteration, indicating the upoṣadha ceremony’s roots in the Indian vinaya tradition even in this Dunhuang Chinese liturgical context.
Links
- DILA authority: (no preserved authority entry)
- CBETA: T85n2853
- Companion upoṣadha text: KR6s0044 Rù bù-sà táng shuō jì wén děng (T2852)
- Doctrinal source: Sìfēn lǜ 四分律 (T1428, Dharmaguptaka-vinaya)