On the Background of Daoxuan’s Theory of the “Essence of the Precepts” as Found in His Jiemo shu

Abstract

One common topic for East Asian commentators on the Buddhist Vinaya is the concept known as the “essence of the precepts” or jieti 戒体. This is the idea that, upon ordination, ordinands became imbued with certain “essence” that certifies their ordination and helped them maintain the precepts as long as they remained ordained. The Tang-dynasty scholar and monk Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667) elaborates on this theory in several places in his oeuvre, but perhaps the most influential version of this theory comes from his Jiemo shu 羯磨疏 (“Commentary on karman”), where he explains that that the “essence of the precepts” is composed of “seeds” (zhongzi 種子) in the “fundamental storehouse consciousness” (benzangshi 本蔵識).

Because this theory is derived from Yogācāra thought, most historians have pre-supposed that this idea, in contrast to the more traditional explanation found in his Xingshi chao 行事鈔, was borne out of Daoxuan’s interactions with the famous translator and scholar of Yogācāra works Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–660), while Daoxuan worked at the latter’s translation bureau. However, in his commentaries on Daoxuan’s work, the Song-dynasty monk Yuanzhao 元照 (1048–1116), as well as a few modern scholars, have asserted that his theory owes more to pre-existing ideas found in the Yogācāra texts principally translated by Paramārtha (Chi. Zhendi 真諦, 499–596), such as the She Dasheng lun 摂大乗論 (Mahāyānasaṃgraha) and the Dasheng qixin lun 大乗起信論 (“The awakening of faith in the Mahayana”).

Regarding the actual creation of this work, it was found that although Daoxuan began writing the Jiemo shu several years before he met Xuanzang, this work was further edited and enlarged in the years following his stint at Xuanzang’s translation bureau. Nevertheless, his view of the structure of consciousness in this work seems to derive from a variety of works that pre-date Xuanzang. In particular, ideas and terminology from the Dasheng qixin lun as well as the Dasheng yizhang 大乗義章, attributed to Huiyuan 慧遠 (523–592) of Jingying si 浄影寺 were shown to be clearly present in his explanation of the “essence of the precepts.” This shows that although influence from Xuanzang and his translations cannot be ruled out entirely, Daoxuan appears to have drawn heavily on these earlier scholars even after his time at the translation bureau.