A Study of the Nanshan Vinaya Tradition and Dàoxuān's Commentary on Conduct and Procedure

• Main Authors: Thomas Bradford Newhall, Thomas Newhall
• Other Authors: Yi-Hsun Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2012
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/04577296119584340746

碩士 === 佛光大學 === 佛教學系 === 100 === Throughout the history Buddhism in East Asia, many different traditions developed to explain Buddhist doctrines, but one that we know comparatively little about is the Vinaya tradition, or in Chinese, the Lǜzōng 律宗. This is the tradition of schol- ars who wrote about and explained the Vinaya, or Buddhist monastic laws, and among them, the monk Dàoxuān 道宣 (596-667) is considered the most infuential. The aim of this research is to provide a partial analysis of his earliest and most comprehensive work on the Vinaya called the Sìfēnlǜ shānfán bǔquè Xíngshì chāo 四分律刪繁補闕行事鈔, or in English, A Commentary on Conduct and Procedure: Abridgments and Emendations to the Four-part Vinaya. To do so, a survey of the historical background and impact of this text will be made, as well as an annotated translation and discussion of the text's first chapter. It was found that in this work, Dàoxuān was attempting to resolve some of the social problems of Buddhism in his time by providing a comprehensive manual on the Vinaya and monastic life as it was set out in the translated Vinaya texts, espe- cially the Four-part Vinaya [of the Dharmaguptakas], also known as the sìfēn lǜ 四 分律. It became perhaps the most authoritative work on the Vinaya in Chinese un- til at least the 11th century, and was an important factor in the Four-part Vinaya be- coming the standard used throughout China. The text itself explains several im- portant doctrinal points, one of which is the concept of the ESSENCE OF THE PRECEPTS or jiètǐ 戒體, a widely debated but fundamental concept in the understanding of karma and Buddhist morality in East Asia.