Xīnxué púsà xíngyào chāo 新學菩薩行要抄
Compendium of Essential Practices for the New-Study Bodhisattva by 仁空 (記)
About the work
A single-fascicle practical handbook for the daily liturgical practice of the newly-ordained bodhisattva-monk, by Ninkū 仁空 (1309–1388), the founder of the Kurodani 黑谷 lineage on Mt. Hiei and a principal figure of the late-Kamakura / Nanboku-chō Tendai precept-revival movement. The work prescribes the daily and seasonal liturgical observances of the Brahmajāla-precept bodhisattva-monk: the six recollections, the robe-and-bowl regulations, the alms-system, the timed-meal procedure, the precept-recital, the proxy-vote (與欲), the rains-retreat, and the pravāraṇā. It is the Kurodani-lineage’s canonical procedural handbook and reflects Ninkū’s project of restoring full bodhisattva-precept observance within the Tendai school.
Abstract
Authorship. The colophon is explicit: “Daijō-ji śramaṇa Ninkū records.” Daijō-ji 大乘寺 was Ninkū’s principal monastic seat, likely identifiable with the Tendai precept-cloister later known as Saikyō-ji 西教寺 at Sakamoto (which Ninkū restored and which became the institutional centre of the Tendai Shingi-shingon-bumontō 真盛宗 [Shinsei tradition] in the late 15th century).
Date. No internal composition date. Ninkū lived 1309–1388; the work was composed during his mature teaching career at Daijō-ji, most plausibly between 1340 (his establishment at Saikyō-ji) and 1388 (his death). The Taishō text bears a 1400 Ōei 7 print colophon (early 月: dated 暮春初五日 = early-spring 5th day) by his disciple Myōkū 明空 of Rōzan-ji 廬山寺, with Shōchin 照珍 as fundraiser and Egyō 慧鏡 as scribe. notBefore = 1340, notAfter = 1388 is conservative.
The work is organized as ten chapters of practical liturgical procedure:
- Six Recollections (六念法): the canonical six daily commemorations — (i) the date of the lunar fortnight (“This morning is the X-th day of the dark half of the month, X days from the previous poṣadha”); (ii) the source of today’s food (“I now eat alone, having no invitation”); (iii) the date of one’s own bodhisattva-bhikṣu ordination, with how many rains-seasons (varṣa) completed; (iv) the status of one’s three robes and bowl (whether abhinirhāra has been performed); (v) the eating-with-the-community status (“I now eat depending on the assembly”); (vi) other recollections.
- Robe-and-Bowl Procedure (衣鉢法): regulations for the three robes (tricīvara), the bowl (pātra), and their care.
- Distribution-of-Purity Procedure (説淨法): the vaiyāvṛttika declaration of pure-disposition for robes and possessions.
- Time-Meal Procedure (時食法): the canonical mid-day eating regulation.
- Precept-Recital Procedure (説戒法): the bi-monthly poṣadha recital of the precepts.
- Proxy-Vote Procedure (與欲法): the procedure for transmitting consent when ill.
- Rains-Retreat Procedure (安居法): the three-month rains-retreat regulation.
- Pravāraṇā Procedure (自恣法): the rains-end mutual-confession ceremony.
- Renunciation Procedure (出家法): the bodhisattva-bhikṣu ordination procedure.
- Lay-Transformation Procedure (化俗法): the regulations for the bhikṣu’s interaction with the laity.
The handbook is adapted to the Tendai-Mahāyāna kaidan framework: where the Sì-fēn-lǜ Vinaya manuals presuppose the prātimokṣa of the śrāvaka, Ninkū’s text presupposes the Brahmajāla bodhisattva-precept ordination as foundational. This is the institutional principle of the Tendai Kurodani precept-revival.
The publication colophon by Myōkū records the work’s printing context: “The Xīnxué xíngyào miscellaneous question-and-answer text — the late master bequeathed it as a composition; later generations are to take it as the model. The junior brother Myōkū is fortunate to have inherited the master’s traces, and modestly thinks to disseminate it and encourage help. We have called on fellow-students to manifest the letters on the print-board, then deliver it to the Rōzan teaching-establishment, transmitting it forever to future study-companions.”
Translations and research
- No complete Western-language translation located.
- Paul Groner, Saichō: The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2000), gives background on the Tendai precept tradition.
- Tanaka Hisao 田中久夫, Eison Ninshō (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1983), for the wider Kamakura precept-revival context within which Ninkū worked.
- Shōkū-shū kanjō shiryō 證空宗灌頂史料 (Saikyō-ji, 1965 ff.), various papers on the Tendai Kurodani tradition.
Other points of interest
The work is one of the most concrete sources for the daily liturgical practice of the Tendai precept-revival movement of the late 14th century — the movement that produced the Anraku-in Tendai yuánjiè school of the Edo period and that animated the Tendai-Shingi schism (the Tendai Shingi-shū 天台真盛宗 of Shinsei 真盛, 1443–1495). The “Daijō-ji” of Ninkū’s colophon is the institutional ancestor of the Saikyō-ji 西教寺 at Sakamoto, modern headquarters of the Shinsei branch of Tendai.