Kanro Eisen’s 甘露英泉 Criticism of Ming Dynasty Chan

Abstract

Kanro Eisen 甘露英泉, a Sōtō monk of the Edo period, promoted the Sixteen Article Precepts of the Sōtō school 十六条戒 in his Shirako zuishō 尸羅敲随章, criticizing the Chinese style of precept ceremony popular in the Ming Dynasty.

Chan monks who came to Japan from Ming China during the Edo period introduced the Sandankai precepts 三壇戒 （Three platforms precept ceremony） to Japan, which caused confusion with the conventional concept of precepts of the Japanese Zen schools, Sōtō and Rinzai.

The Japanese Sōtō school prescribes only the sixteen article precepts as authentic Mahāyāna precepts. On the other hand, the Sandankai precepts of the Ming dynasty prescribes both Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna precepts.

It is difficult to determine the priority between the sixteen article precepts of the Sōtō school and the Sandaikai precepts of Chinese Ming Chan. Therefore I would briefly conclude that Kanro Eisen’s claim is an exaggerated representation to protect the precept identity of the Sōtō school.