Jīngānglǐ 金剛禮
Vajracchedikā Worship Liturgy compiled by 通理 (Tōnglǐ, 集); critical edition by 達照 (整理)
About the work
A Liáo-period Chinese Buddhist lǐ-chàn 禮懺 (“worship-and-confession”) liturgy based on the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra (T08n0235), in one fascicle, by Tōnglǐ 通理 (1048–1098) — the eminent Liáo monk who oversaw the continuation of the Fáng-shān shíjīng 房山石經 stone-engraving project (1093–1095). The text is structured in eight sections, opening with a head-cartouche “Jīngāng-lǐ yī-běn, Tōnglǐ dàshī jí” 金剛禮一本，通理大師集 with a performative directive “offerings and fàn-tàn 梵歎 as usual; chant by the Cí-shì-lǐ 慈氏禮 melody”. The Cí-shì-lǐ 慈氏禮 (“Maitreya Worship”) melody is now lost, so the precise musical setting is unrecoverable, though it likely shared the yú-yùn 行腔 / jiē-yùn 接腔 (lead-and-respond) form still active in Chinese Buddhist zàn singing.
Abstract
The work was composed during Tōnglǐ’s Fángshān shíjīng engraving period: between his fund-raising for the project in Liáo Dàozōng Dàān 9 (1093) first month and the engraving stoppage in Shòuchāng 1 (1095). After the stoppage Tōnglǐ retired to Liánhuāyù 蓮花峪 in the Fángshān hills; he was later summoned by Dàozōng as Nèidiàn chànhuǐzhǔ 內殿懺悔主 (“master of confession-rituals at the Inner Hall”), confirming his expertise in chànfǎ 懺法.
The text is unrecorded in any Chinese Buddhist catalog and absent from the canon. As a lǐchàn genre, Jīngānglǐ combines (a) sūtra-recitation merit-generation (niànjīng gōngdé 念經功德), (b) confession of sins, and (c) refuge-taking and merit-transfer formulae — the closing line being the standard Mahāyāna dedication “lǐchàn guīyī jìng, suǒ jí zhū shèngyīn, shī yīqiè qúnshēng, jiē gòng chéng fódào” (worship-and-confession-and-refuge complete; the holy causes thereby gathered, may they be given to all sentient beings, that all may attain the Buddha-way).
The Liáo-period stone-engraving of the work has not survived; transmission is via Chinese-Buddhist manuscript circulation in north China. Dázhào’s edition reconstructs the text from the available manuscript witnesses.
Translations and research
- Tián Qīng 田青, Zhōngguó zōngjiào yīnyuè 中國宗教音樂 (Beijing: Zōngjiào wénhuà, 1997) — discusses zàn 讚-genre Buddhist liturgical singing in the fàn-tàn mode, possibly preserving Táng-period musical features.
- Wāng Juān 汪娟, Dūnhuáng lǐ-chàn-wén yán-jiū (Taipei: Fagu wenhua, 1998).
- Yáng Cèngwén 楊曾文 ed., Zhōngguó fójiào shǐ 中國佛教史, vol. 4 (Beijing: Zhōngguó shèhuì kēxué, 1993) — chapter on Liáo Buddhism, on Tōnglǐ’s role in the Fáng-shān shíjīng project.
- Dá-zhào 達照, Jīngāng-jīng zàn yán-jiū (Beijing: Zōngjiào wénhuà, 2002).
Other points of interest
The directive to chant the Jīngānglǐ by the Císhìlǐ melody is one of very few Liáo-period musical-liturgical cross-references that survive. The genre relationship is also notable: Jīngānglǐ (sūtra-as-worship-object) is doctrinally continuous with the Tǔfān-period KR6v0071 Jīngāng wǔlǐ, but compositionally independent — Tōnglǐ does not appear to have known the Dūnhuáng text, and his manual is built around different gāthā.