Guǎngshī wúzhē dàochǎng yí 廣施無遮道場儀
Ritual Manual for the Universal-Almsgiving Unrestricted Sacred Assembly anonymous Dàlǐ-kingdom Āzhālì compilation; critical edition by 侯沖 (整理)
About the work
A Chinese Buddhist Tantric dào-chǎng-yí 道場儀 fragment, untitled in its original manuscript and so editorially titled by Hóu Chōng. Author and original juàn-count are unknown. The text is a wú-zhē-huì 無遮會 (Skt. pañca-vārṣika — “unrestricted, universal-almsgiving” assembly) liturgy, identifiable as belonging to the Āzhālì 阿吒力 esoteric ritual tradition active in the Dà-lǐ-guó 大理國 (937–1253) — the post-Nán-zhāo 南詔 successor kingdom of Yúnnán.
Abstract
The manuscript was discovered in August 1956 at the Dǒngshì zōngcí 董氏宗祠 (Dǒng-clan ancestral shrine) of Běitāngtiān 北湯天 in Fèngyí 鳳儀, Dàlǐ Báizú zìzhìzhōu 大理白族自治州, Yúnnán; it is now held by the Yúnnán Provincial Library. The reverse side of the same paper bears the Dàlǐguó manuscript copy of Zōngmì 宗密’s commentary on the Yuánjué jīng 圓覺經 (Dàfāngguǎng yuánjué xiūduōluó liǎoyì jīng shū 大方廣圓覺修多羅了義經疏). Both Guǎngshī wúzhē dàochǎng yí and the related Dàhēitiān shén dàochǎng yí (KR6v0067) were copied first; the Yuánjué shū on the reverse was copied later. Comparison of the manuscript hand argues that this yí manual is from the same Dàlǐguó scriptorium tradition as the Yuánjuéshū (the Yuánjuéshū is firmly Dàlǐguó). Composition window therefore brackets the Dàlǐguó period: 937–1253.
The text is unrecorded in any historical Chinese Buddhist catalog or canon. Wúzhē 無遮 ritual liturgy is rare in surviving Chinese Buddhist documents — the form is canonical (the wúzhēhuì is a recognised Indic-Buddhist almsgiving institution attested in Chinese pilgrim accounts of Indian Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna monasteries) but its actual liturgical text is poorly preserved. The Bei-tang-tian discovery is therefore a major gain for the history of esoteric Buddhist ritual in Yúnnán and Sòng-period China more broadly. Hóu Chōng’s edition transcribes from microfilm (Yúnnán Provincial Library) and corrects against the original; no collation copy.
Translations and research
- Hou Chong 侯沖, Yúnnán Āzhālì jiào-pài jí qí jīngdiǎn yán-jiū (Beijing: Zhōngguó shū-jí, 2008) — extensive treatment of the Bei-tang-tian discoveries.
- Hou Chong 侯沖, “Bei-tang-tian xiě-jīng yán-jiū,” in Yúnnán fójiào yán-jiū luncóng (Kunming, multiple yrs).
- Yáng Xuézhèng 楊學政, Yúnnán mìjiào yán-jiū (Kunming: Yúnnán mínzú, 1989).
- Howard, Angela F., Summit of Treasures (Trumbull, CT: Weatherhill, 2001) — context on Dà-lǐ-guó esoteric Buddhism.
Other points of interest
The Bei-tang-tian Dǒng-clan shrine deposit — discovered in August 1956 — is one of the most important Dàlǐguó manuscript caches; it includes the Yuánjuéshū manuscript, this ritual, the related KR6v0067 Dàhēitiān shén dàochǎng yí, the Chóngguǎng shuǐlù fǎshī wúzhē dàzhāi yí 重廣水陸法施無遮大齋儀 (preserved in fragments), and other esoteric ritual texts unique to the Dàlǐguó Āzhālì tradition.