A Newly Discovered Manuscript in the Collection of Denkō-ji Temple: The Shejiezhonglei-tu 摂戒種類図 by Yuanzhao

Abstract

Composed by Yuanzhao元照 （1048-1116）, known as the Vinaya master who revived the Nanshan school during the Northern Song dynasty, the Shejiezhonglei-tu 摂戒種類図 had been thought to have been lost. During a recent investigation of Tokuda Myōhon’s 徳田明本 collection at the Denkō-ji 伝香寺 in Nara, I discovered another manuscript of the text. This paper contains the full text based on this manuscript and a comparison with an alternative manuscript owned by the Tōshōdaiji-ji 唐招提寺.

The Shejiezhonglei-tu was finished by Yuanzhao in 1092, and the Denkō-ji manuscript was copied in the Edo period by Gaen-bō Chigaku 我円房智岳 （?-1690）, a priest of the Makio-san Byōdō shinno-in the Saimyō-ji 槙尾山平等心王院西明寺.

Yuanzhao’s argument in this work is that the 250 precepts listed in the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya are structured in such a way that the four pārājikas （sexual behavior, stealing, murder, and lying about one’s spiritual attainments） contain all of the remaining 246 precepts. As a result, Yuanzhao’s assertion that it is enough to observe the four pārājikas can be considered to have had a great influence on Japanese Buddhism. Due to the limitations of the space available here, further details will be presented in a separate paper.