Daoxuan

Daoxuan
Daoxuan
	Daoxuan (ICP) (Nara National Museum)
Personal
Born	596; Chang'an,Shaanxi,China
Died	667; Chang'an, Shaanxi, China
Religion	Buddhism
Parent	Qian Shen (Chinese:Tiền thân)
School	East AsianDharmaguptaka

Daoxuan(Chinese:Nói tuyên;pinyin:Dàoxuān;Wade–Giles:Tao-hsüan;596–667) was an eminent Tang dynastyChinese Buddhistmonk. He is perhaps best known as the patriarch of the four-partVinayaschool (Chinese:Bốn phần luật tông).^[1]Daoxuan wrote both theContinued Biographies of Eminent Monks(Xù gāosēng zhuàn tục cao tăng truyền ) and theStandard Design for Buddhist Temple Construction.Legends retold in his biographies also associate him to a relic of the Buddha which came to be called Daoxuan's tooth (Daoxuan foyaNói tuyên răng Phật ), one of the four tooth relics enshrined in the capital of Chang'an during theTang dynasty.He is said to have received the relic from Nezha (Chinese:Kia tra;Sanskrit:Naṭa), a divinity associated with Indra.^[2]

Daoxuan wrote five commentaries on the four-part Vinaya known as the Five Great Works of Mount Zhongnan. He was also part of the translation team that assistedXuanzangin translating sutras from Sanskrit into Chinese.^[3]

Daoxuan was an influential cataloguer.^[4]His catalogue of Buddhist scriptures, theCatalogue of the Inner Canon of the Great Tang(Datang neidian luĐại Đường nội điển lục ), akaNèidiǎn Catalog(T2149) in 10 scrolls (juanCuốn ), was commissioned by the EmperorGaozongand completed in 664. TheNèidiǎn Cataloghelped to define the shape of the Chinese Buddhist Canon in future years. Influenced by the apocalyptic Mo-fa or theory of the end of the Dharma, Daoxuan was particularly concerned to expose and denounce suspicious (yiweiNghi ngụy ) or fake (weiNgụy ) sutras. He even witnessed the wholesale burning of texts suspected of being fake.^[5]TheNèidiǎn Catalogis also notable for being the first bibliographical work to attribute theHeart SutratoXuánzàng,who died in 664, the same year as the catalogue was completed.

Daoxuan is also noted for his admonishments to the Emperor Gaozong of the Tang for issuing an edict requiring that monastics bow before the emperor. His petition succeeded in the cancellation of that edict.^[6]

Early life

Daoxuan was born in 596, probably in the Sui capital of Da xing cheng rầm rộ thành, later renamedChang'an(present-dayXi'an). He was born to the Qian tiền family and his mother was of the Yao Diêu family, two prominent clans hailing from the region of the lower Yangtze river basin (Jiangnan Giang Nam ). Daoxuan's origins differ depending on the sources. TheSong Biography of Eminent Monksstates that he was from either Dantu đan đồ in present-dayJiangsu,or Changcheng trường thành in present-dayChang xingdistrict,Zhe gian g.Scholarly consensus today seems to agree with theKaiyuan shijiao luKhai nguyên thích giáo lục, which states that his family hailed from Wu xing Ngô hưng in present-dayHuzhoucity, Zhe gian g. A good argument has been made for his birth place being Jingzhao kinh triệu, also known as Chang'an, where his father probably emigrated in the 580s.^[7]According to theSong Biography of Eminent Monks,Daoxuan was of good stock: descendant of Qian Rang tiền làm (89–151), Han dynasty Governor of Guangling Quảng Lăng, and Qian Le tiền nhạc (fl. 436), Grand Astrologer underEmperor Wen(424–453) of the Liu-Song. He was the son of Qian Shen tiền thân, a high official at the Chen court acting as Director at the Ministry of Personnel (shangshu libu thượng thư Lại Bộ ).^[8]When the Sui took power, Daoxuan's family, alongside the families of many other Chen officials, were sent to the new capital in northwest China, a scene poignantly alluded to in theJi shenzhou sanbao gantong luTập Thần Châu tam bảo cảm thông lục:

When the Sui had overcome the Chen, the entire kingdom's [Chen ruling elite], heads bared and hands bound, were moved west [to Da xing cheng (Chang'an)].

Cập Tùy diệt trần, cử quốc lộ đầu, mặt trói tây dời.^[9]

This move to the north most likely took place before he was born and he would have therefore grown up in Da xing cheng, not Wu xing. However, because his family came from the south, culturally Daoxuan remained a southerner. The difference between northerners and southerners would shape Daoxuan's who, according to Chen Huaiyu, put much stock in the cultural superiority of the south as he himself tried to develop Buddhism in the northern capital.^[10]

In Daoxuan's preface to his interview with the spirits, he wrote how from a young age he was interested in tales of the supernormal, recounting that:

When I was young, I delighted in learning many [different things] from those texts that draw out [examples of] rare and extraordinary [occurrences]. The Soushen [ji] investigates the supernormal, [and there are also] the Mingxiang [ji], the Mingbao [ji], the Jingyi [ji] the Shuyi [ji], tales of anomalies that record the unseen, [I] have read through them all.

Dư thiếu nhạc thấy nhiều biết rộng hi thế rút tục chi điển tịch. Cố 《 lục soát thần 》 nghiên thần, 《 minh tường 》, 《 minh báo 》, 《 tinh dị 》, 《 thuật dị 》, chí quái lục u, đã từng duyệt chi.^[11]

Zanning wrote that Daoxuan was intellectually precocious, reading broadly and capable of composing verse by the age of nine. This mark of genius indicates, if anything, that he was brought up in a wealthy family that had the means to invest in his education. At the age of fifteen, as Daoxuan showed a fondness for Buddhist teaching and an aversion to worldly matters, he joined the monastic order.^[12]Under the tutelage of Huiyun tuệ quần (564–637) at Riyan Monastery ngày nghiêm chùa, he began his practice and was, according to theSong Biography of Eminent MonksbyZanning,tonsured soon thereafter.

References

^Buswell & Lopez 2013,p. 215.
^Strong 2007,p. 187.
^Wong 2018,p. 110.
^Tokuno 1990.
^Tokuno 1990,pp. 48–50.
^Jülch 2016,pp. 2–3.
^Cây mía, yên đạt. "Nói tuyên の chi kia giới luật sử thượng に với はる địa vị".Chi kia phật giáo sử học.3(2): 2.
^Tống cao tăng truyền(in Chinese). pp. T2061.790b8–10.
^Tập Thần Châu tam bảo cảm thông lục.pp. T2106.414c10–11.
^Chen, Huaiyu (2007).The Revival of Buddhist Monasticism in Medieval China.New York: Peter Lang Publishing. p. 21.
^Nói tuyên luật tương cảm thông lục.pp. T2107.436a4–8.
^Đằng thiện, chân trừng (1986). "Nói tuyên の xuất từ をめぐって".Phật giáo sử học nghiên cứu.28(2): 19.

Sources

Attwood, Jayarava. (2019)."Xuanzang's Relationship to the Heart Sūtra in Light of the Fangshan Stele".Journal of Chinese Buddhist Studies.32:1–30.
Buswell, Robert Jr;Lopez, Donald S. Jr.,eds. (2013).Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism.Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 215.ISBN 9780691157863.
Jülch, Thomas, ed. (2016).The Middle Kingdom and the Dharma Wheel: Aspects of the Relationship Between the Buddhist Saṃgha and the State in Chinese History.Sinica Leidensia. Leiden and Boston: Brill Academic Publishers.ISBN 978-9004309654.
Strong, J.S.(2007).Relics of the Buddha.Princeton University Press.ISBN 978-0-691-11764-5.
Tokuno, Kyoko (1990). "The Evaluation of Indigenous Scriptures in Chinese Buddhist Bibliographical Catalogues". In Buswell, Robert E (ed.).Chinese Buddhist Apocrypha.University of Hawaii Press. pp. 31–74.
Wong, Dorothy (2018).Buddhist Pilgrim-Monks as Agents of Cultural and Artistic Transmission: The International Buddhist Art Style in East Asia, ca. 645-770.Singapore: NUS Press National University of Singapore.ISBN 978-9814722599.

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Early life

References

Sources

Further reading