Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2014

Abstract

This is a translation of the Manual on the Procedures for Conferring the Bodhisattva Precepts (T.24.1499.1104c19- 1106b27) by Xuanzang (602-664) and the preface to it written by the monk Jingmai (T.24.1499.1106c3-29). Xuanzang was a Chinese monk and a translator of Buddhist scriptures. Although it is recorded that Xuanzang translated this manual in 649, he may have written it himself based on the Yoga-ca-- s rabhu-mi-s´astra in 100 fascicles. After travel through Central Asia and India from 629 (or 627?) to 645, he translated 75 Buddhist scriptures in 1,335 fascicles into Chinese, including a number of major Yoga-ca-ra Buddhist texts. He is said to have translated this manual in 649 at Dacien-si Temple in Chang’ an. Chinese Buddhists in particular and East Asian Buddhists in general adopted two major versions of Bodhisattva precepts, the version of the Chinese apocryphal Brahma- Net Su-tra’s Bodhisattva precepts containing ten major and forty-eight minor precepts and the version of Yoga-ca-ra Bodhisattva precepts from Indian Buddhism. Two major versions of the Yoga-ca-ra Bodhisattva precepts, Dharmaks, ema’s (385-433) version (T.24.1500.1107a2-1110a24) and Xuanzang’s version, are available. East Asian Buddhists generally adopted the Brahma- Net Su-tra’s Bodhisattva Precepts, ordained laypersons and monastics with these precepts and recited the precepts during two confession days per month. While Dharmaks.ema included just a list of Bodhisattva precepts in one text, Xuanzang made two texts, one explaining the procedures and another listing the precepts. Even though there are several English translations of the Brahma- Net Su-tra (T.24.1484.997b9-1010c23), there has been no English translation of Xuanzang’s manual or his precept list. Of the two Chinese versions of Yogaca- ra Bodhisattva precepts, made based primarily upon the fifteenth Chapter on Bodhisattva Precepts of the Section of Bodhisattva Stages of the Division of Original Stages of the Yoga-ca-rabhu-mi-s ´astra (T.30.1579.510c7-523a12), although the earlier version by Dharmaks, ema has been translated into English, the later version by Xuanzang has not been translated into English until now. The Xuanzang’s manual has the appearance of being the first fascicle of a longer document. The translators feel that Xuanzang might have included his list of four major and the forty-five minor Bodhisattva precepts (T.24.1501.1110b2-1115c22) as a second fascicle. More research is needed to discover when and why the two fascicles were divided in the Taisho- canon. Also, because the preface should logically come before the manual it introduces, for the current translation, the order of these has been switched from that found in the Taisho- edition. Again, more research is needed to discover when and why the preface section was placed after the manual section.

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See: http://db.koreascholar.com/Article?code=312335

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