Zhū huíxiàng qīngguī 諸廻向清規
Pure Rules of the Various Dedication-Rites by 楓隱 Tenrin Fūin (撰)
About the work
A five-fascicle (full title Zhū huíxiàng qīngguī shì 諸廻向清規式) liturgical formulary of Zen ekō (廻向 — dedication-formulae used at the close of memorial-services, funeral-rites, and the periodic temple assemblies). Compiled by 楓隱 Tenrin Fūin (天倫楓隠) in the mid-Eiroku era (1565–66) as the closing colophon attests: “Eiroku era, in the boku-no-shi / boku-no-tora third month, an auspicious day; the remote dharma-descendant of Eigen [-ji], currently residing at Tenrin[-zan], kobitsu Fūin”. The cyclical-binom “丙丑” in the colophon is corrupt for either 乙丑 (Eiroku 8 / 1565) or 丙寅 (Eiroku 9 / 1566).
Abstract
The work is the most comprehensive Edo-period Japanese-Zen ritual-formulary preserved in the Taishō. The five-fascicle table of contents gives a near-exhaustive inventory of Zen liturgical occasions and the proper ekō (dedication-verse) for each. The principal categories:
- Daily rites (逐日): triple daily-period rites (sanji 三時), morning-meal (nichigetsu 日中), retreat-relaxation (hōsan 放參), daily sūtra-reading (kankin 看經).
- Periodic offerings (祝聖): imperial-blessing rites, performed both individually and at the rolling-canon-cabinet (rinzō 輪藏).
- Memorial-shrines: dawn / evening fukyō (諷經) chants at the founder’s pagoda (so-tō 祖塔), at the Earth-Spirit-Hall (Tu-di-tang 土地堂), at the patriarchs-hall (so-shi-dō 祖師堂), at the Hino-tokku shrine (Ka-toku 火徳), at the Vaiśravaṇa shrine (Idaten 韋馱天), at Puhua-shamen shrine (Fugen 普菴), and at the local guardian-spirit shrine (Chinju 鎭守).
- Buddhist-calendar observances: Three-Buddhas memorial dedication-rites; Buddha-Nirvāṇa memorial half-noon-meal (butsu nehan-ki han-zai 佛涅槃忌半齋); Buddha-birth memorial (butsujō shōki 佛誕生忌); the bath-Buddha verse (yoku-butsu-ge 浴佛偈); end-of-summer-retreat dedication (kessei-mansan fukyō); the Śūraṅgama Assembly (ryōgon-e 楞嚴會); the Buddha-Mother rite (butsu-mo 佛母); the seasonal end-and-beginning of confinement rites; the famous bodhi-day memorial half-noon-meal (Buddha-fulfilment-of-the-Way memorial half-meal 佛成道忌半齋).
- Pātracāra / merit-offering rites: the great Sega-ki 施餓鬼 (preta-feeding) ritual; the Suiroku-e 水陸會 (Water-Land Assembly); the Urabon-e 盂蘭盆 with both yū-en (結縁) and tsuizen (追薦) variants; the standard sega-ki (時正施食) at the equinoxes; and an array of abbreviated and temporary (rinji 臨時) versions.
- Patriarch and emperor memorial rites: anniversaries of Daruma 達磨 (達磨忌); Buddha’s parinirvāṇa half-meal (butsu-nehan-shukuki han-zai); the four-season founders’ rite (shisetsu kaisan so-shi fukyō); the daily three-period founder-dedication (mai-nichi sanji so-shi tsu-ekō); the emperor-memorial rites for the various retired emperors (sho hō-ō goki shukuki han-zai etc.).
- Specialised rituals: the eye-opening (kaigen kuyō 開眼供養) dedication; the National-Master-title-bestowal (kokushi shigō 國師諡號) dedication; the mortuary-tablet enshrinement (nyū-pai jodō 入牌祖堂) rite; the founder-installation dedication (so-shi anza 祖師安座 — for the ceremonial installation of a new abbot).
- Daily monastic rites: bowl-display (tenkō 展鉢) and jūnyō-bun (擧心經畢回向) — the closing dedication after Heart-Sūtra recitation; the Ten Buddha-Names (jū-butsu-mei 十佛名); the mealtime offertories (粥之呪願, 齋之呪願 — gruel and noon-meal vows); the Five Contemplations and Six Reflections (go-kan, roku-nen 五觀六念); the ato-bai 後唄 closing chant.
The work’s principal achievement is the systematisation of the jū-san-butsu 一十三佛 (Thirteen-Buddha) memorial cycle — a Buddhist-esoteric scheme correlating thirteen memorial intervals (from the first-seven-day to the thirty-third-year memorial) with thirteen guardian Buddhas/Bodhisattvas (Akṣobhya for the seven-seventh-year, Mahāvairocana for the thirteen-year, Ākāśagarbha for the thirty-third — the closing one in the closing fascicle). This memorial system is the standard Japanese-Buddhist mortuary calendar to the present day, and the Sho-ekō shingi-shiki is one of the earliest comprehensive written sources for it.
The work has been practical-canonical for Japanese Zen ritual: Sōtō-Zen and Rinzai-Zen alike have drawn from it, and its ekō formulae remain in continuous liturgical use.
Translations and research
No book-length Western-language treatment located. For Japanese-Zen ekō and the Thirteen-Buddha memorial system, see Yasuda Ryōken 安田玲憲, Zenshū kyō-yō kenkyū 禅宗教用研究 (Tokyo: Hōzōkan, 1985); Tagashira Sadao 田賀真男, Nihon bukkyō girei-shi no kenkyū 日本仏教儀礼史の研究 (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1979). For Suiroku-e and Sega-ki in Japanese Buddhism, see Michel Strickmann, Mantras et mandarins (Gallimard, 1996).
Other points of interest
The text is one of the most-used in living Japanese-Buddhist practice of all the Taishō works in division KR6t: its ekō are recited weekly at hundreds of temples. The text’s jū-san-butsu mortuary scheme is the practical basis of the modern Japanese funeral economy — the isshūki 一周忌, sankaiki 三回忌, shichikaiki 七回忌, jū-san-kaiki 十三回忌, and sanjūsan-kaiki 三十三回忌 memorial cycle that organises Japanese family mortuary practice.