Xiūyè yàojué 修業要決
Essential Decisions on the Practice of [Pure-Land] Discipline by 證空 Shōkū (記)
About the work
A single-fascicle Pure-Land practice manual by 證空 Shōkū (1177–1247), founder of the Seizan branch of Jōdoshū. The colophon signature attributes it to “Sai-no-yama Yoshimine-dera shamon Shōkū” 西山善峯寺沙門證空 — Shōkū’s institutional title at his Sai-no-yama temple. The work focuses on the practice-side of Pure-Land discipline (修業 shugyō — the actual praxis of nenbutsu) as distinct from the doctrinal-theological side treated in his Senchaku mitsuyō-ketsu KR6t0326.
Abstract
The work opens with an exegesis of Shàndǎo’s Fǎshìzàn 法事讃 (“Praises for Dharma-Affairs”, T1979) — specifically the opening line zhuǎnjīng xíngdào wǎngshēng jìngtǔ 轉經行道往生淨土 (“Revolving-the-sūtra and walking-the-Way: rebirth in the Pure Land”) — drawing out the practical implications of liturgical circumambulation (行道) and sūtra-recitation (轉經) as auxiliary aids to the nenbutsu practice. The body of the text addresses (i) the four modes of cultivation (四修 shi-shu: long-term, exclusive, uninterrupted, reverent) of nenbutsu, drawn from the Wǎngshēng lùnzhù of Tánluán; (ii) the three categories of beneficiary (上品上生 et al. of the nine-grade taxonomy from the Contemplation Sūtra); (iii) the seasonal liturgies of the Pure-Land tradition (the betsuji-nenbutsu retreats, the jūya-nenbutsu ten-night sessions, the raisan hymn-singings); and (iv) the deathbed (臨終 rinjū) practice protocols.
The text functions as a Seizan-line practical complement to the more theoretical Mitsuyō-ketsu: where the Mitsuyō-ketsu sets out the doctrinal foundations of Seizan Pure-Land, the Yō-ketsu prescribes the actual ritual and meditative praxis — making the two together the doctrinal-and-practical foundation of the Seizan school.
Date. Shōkū’s Sai-no-yama period, c. 1212–1247. No internal precise date.
Translations and research
No complete Western-language translation has been located. Treated in: Fujimoto Kiyohiko 藤本淨彦, Seizan jōdokyō no kenkyū (Hōzōkan, 1988); Itō Yuishin 伊藤唯眞, Jōdo-shū no seiritsu to tenkai (Yoshikawa Kōbunkan, 1981); critical text in Seizan zensho (1928–35).
Links
- CBETA online
- Companion: KR6t0326 (Senchaku mitsuyō-ketsu — Seizan-line doctrinal work)