Lives of the nuns biographies of Chinese Buddhist nuns from the fourth to sixth centuries : a translation of the Pi-ch'iu-ni chuan |
 |
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
|
 |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. | 3. The Ch'i Dynasty |
| 4. |
|
|
 | Lives of the nuns |  |
3. The Ch'i Dynasty
Emperor Wen-hui (of Ch'i) (biography in Nan ch'i shu, chap. 21; and
Nan shih, chaps. 5, 44); and Prince of Ching-ling, Wen-hsüan Wang (biography
in Nan Ch'i shu, chap. 40; and Nan shih, chaps. 5, 44).
Northeast of the capital, the present city of Nanjing. It was a famous
and thriving center of Buddhism and the site of many temples.
Although an inscription written by Shen Yüeh in honor of this nun is
not found in her biography, one is found in another collection, the Ku chin t'u
shu chi ch'eng (Complete collection of records ancient and modern), vol. 506.
It reads,
in standards of affection and wonderful enlightenment.
She dismissed thought to rely upon emptiness,
and trained her mind to complete her study.
Days, endless days;
years, faraway years;
The wind shifts, the lightning flickers,
but the principle of change does not waver.
In spirit she reached a distinguished goal;
in form she died the same as all.
At the time of her death we joined in bitter mourning,
in sorrow that the light is gone.
And among the stately pines, whirlwinds overturn parasols;
among the majestic mountains storms fling aside cloaks.
I inscribe a record of her chaste rule, seeking to make
known this remarkable nun.
If her age at death and the date of death are correct, then she was fifteen
when she left home to become a nun.
Chang Tai (413-483), made governor of I Province (present-day Ssuch'uan
Province) about 475, held the post for four years, and served in other
offices afterward (biography in Nan Ch'i shu, chap. 32; and Nan shih,
chap. 31).
The dwelling place of the immortals is one of the names referring to
Deer Park where the Buddha first turned the Wheel of the Law. See Mochizuki,
Bukkyō-daijiten 5:5079.a.
Concourse with animals is not unique to Buddhism but is a characteristic
of shamans and holy men of all traditions.
Chinese Buddhist writings often use the term great conversion to refer
to the teachings of the Buddha.
This is the teaching that the external world consists only of dharma
marks or the defining characteristics of dharmas, the elements of the universe.
Shrīmālā-devī-simhanāda-sūtra (Sheng-man shih-tzu hou i sheng ta
fang pien fang kuang ching), or The Lion's Roar of Queen Śrīmālā, T. 12, no.
Also see bibliography for reference to translation into English.
The text literally says "the four classes of society." These are, in
descending order of importance in the traditional view, the gentry, including
officials and scholars; peasants; artisans; and merchants.
Great Final Nirvāna Scripture (Ta pan nieh-p'an ching) (Mahāparinirvāna-sūtra),
T. 12, nos. 374, 375, 376. See Répertoire, p. 47. The nun could
have used any one of these three versions. A fourth version is a much later
translation. The Nirvāna Scripture is not a short text.
Seng-tsung (438-496) (biography in Kao seng chuan 8:379.c); and
T'an-pin (d. 473/477) (biography in Kao seng chuan 8:373.a-b); Hsüan-ch'ü
(subbiography in Kao seng chuan 8:375.c).
In the developed doctrine of the Great Vehicle, there are ten fundamental
bodhisattva precepts: abstention from killing or harming living beings;
from theft or taking what is not given; from engaging in illicit sensual pleasures;
from telling lies; from slander and gossip; from harsh speech; from frivolous
and senseless talk; from covetousness; from ill will and malice; and from
wrong views or heretical opinions. Four of the ten concern misuse of speech.
Brought forth a response to her holiness, see introduction, about devotion
to Kuan-yin or other Buddhist deities.
According to Buddhist tradition, Pindola, one of the Buddha's disciples,
exhibited his supernatural powers, acquired as a result of meditation, in front
of non-Buddhists. It is an offense against the discipline to exhibit one's supernatural
powers, and as a punishment the Buddha ordered him to refrain from
entering nirvana so that he could provide a field of merit for those who would
live during the last degenerate age of Buddhism. The cult of Pindola flourished
in China, and in some instances is associated with the cult of Maitreya, the
next Buddha, and his heaven, Tushita. See Lévi and Chavannes, "Les seize
arhat," pp. 250ff, 267-268ff; Fa yüan chu lin (Forest of pearls in the garden
of the law), pp. 609.c.6-611.a.14, 610.b.17; Ching pin-t'ou-lu fa ching
(Method for inviting Pindola) T. 32, no. 1689, 784.c.7-8; T'ang, Han wei
liang-chin nan-pei-ch'ao fo-chiao shih, p. 219.
This was either a supernatural manifestation or a very old, white scar
freshly burned character for Buddha on his chest appears in Prip-Møller, Chinese
Buddhist Monasteries, p. 322.
The phrase "as the Classic of History says" does not specifically appear
in the text. Chinese writings are full of allusions to the classics whose contents
became a stock source for phrases and sentences, much as the King James Version
of the Bible and the works of Shakespeare are now stock sources for the
English language. The reference has been added in the translation simply to
point out a little more explicitly to the English-speaking reader that the indigenous
tradition underlies much of this Buddhist material. The quotation comes
from the Classic of History, part 5, The Books of Chou, book 1, "The Great
Declaration," part 2, where the complete quotation is "I have heard that for
the good man doing good, one day is not enough; and for the wicked man
doing evil, one day is also not enough."
Fa-yin and Seng-shen. Fa-yin has no separate biography but is mentioned
in the table of contents to Kao seng chuan as appearing in the biography
of Seng-shen, whose biography is in Kao seng chuan 9:399.c. In fact, Fa-yin's
name does not appear in Seng-shen's biography and perhaps has
accidently been dropped out at some point in the transmission of the text.
Both monks appear in the table of contents to the Meisōden-shō (Ming seng
chuan ch'ao) of Pao-ch'ang but are not extant.
Seng-tsung and Fa-yüan. See biography 42 for Seng-tsung. The text
does not supply the full name of the monks. Although this is common practice,
it nevertheless sometimes creates ambiguity, and this is true in the case of
the monk Yüan who is tentatively identified as Fa-yüan whose biography
appears in Kao seng chuan 8:376.c.
Samantabhadra (universal sage) is the name of a great bodhisattva who
appears in the Flower of the Law Scripture and who is depicted as riding on a
six-tusked white elephant.
T'an-ch'i and Fa-yüan. The title masters of exegesis does not appear in
the biography. The two monks are classed in that category in Kao seng chuan.
Fa-yüan is the same monk as mentioned in biography 44. T'an-chi is mentioned
briefly in the biography of T'an-pin in Kao seng chuan 7:373.b.6; and
also has a partially extant biography in Pao-ch'ang's Meisōden-shō (Ming
seng chuan ch'ao).
The text says eighteenth night, but this is most likely an error because
the woman who is the subject of biography 47 also burned herself alive at the
same time as T'an-chien, and her biography says the eighth night, and also
because the numinous or spiritually propitious night for the act would be the
eighth and not the eighteenth. See introduction.
Reading Sheng in conformity with the Sung, Yüan, and Ming editions.
These are the ways of (1) the arhat or hearer, who gains enlightenment after
hearing the Buddhist teaching preached; (2) the solitary Buddha who becomes
a Buddha through his own efforts without hearing the teaching from others;
and (3) the bodhisattva who follows the bodhisattva path and use his accomplishments
to teach and to help others.
Visualizing the Buddha in one's presence: literally reads pan-chou (san-mei
ching), or Pratyutpanna-samādhi-sūtra (The practice of constant meditation
scripture), T. 13, no. 418. It describes a ninety-day ceaseless practice. See
also T. 13, nos. 417, 419. The summer of austerities of mind and body could
refer to this ninety-day practice. The text had been translated at a very early
date, sometime between a.d. 167 and 186. See Oda, Bukkyō-daijiten, p. 1435
and Mochizuki, Bukkyō-daijiten, pp. 2569, 4215.
Provinces of Ching and Shan, included the general region of Hupei,
Honan, and the central portion of Shensi.
Master of Meditation Hsüan-ch'ang. His biography is in Kao seng
chuan 8:377.a. No dates for his birth or death are recorded. He was a soothsayer
and magician, among other things.
Spells, or dhāranī, were not to harm or help someone but were for
developing, within the practice of meditation, a supernatural power for
retaining the good effects of the practice, such as never forgetting any of the
Buddhist teachings that were once learned.
Despite the same last name, there is no reason to assume that the nun
and the scholar were related.
The five classics are the Book of Changes, Book of Odes, Book of History,
Book of Rites, and Spring and Autumn Annals.
Hui-chi (biography in Kao seng chuan 8:379.a). When he was a young
man just freshly received into the monastic community, he became a peripatetic
scholar, traveling around to inquire of various masters the meanings of
the many Buddhist scriptures. Later, he was famous in his own right for his
knowledge of the scriptures.
Chinese Buddhists traditionally accepted either the eighth or the fifteenth
day of the second month as the day of the Buddha's final nirvana. Also
see introduction.
Yü Province, covered the present-day territory of Anhui Province, western
section, and the eastern section of Honan Province.
I-k'ang. The prince was not named as the grand general until the sixteenth
year of yüan-chia (439), but in traditional Chinese biographical writing
the usual practice was to refer to individuals by their latest or highest titles,
regardless of anachronisms (Sung shu, chap. 68; Nan shih, chap. 13).
Kingdom Convent, read kuo in place of yüan from the Sung, Yüan, and
Ming editions and in conformity with the reading in Sung shu, chap. 69.
The nuns T'an-lan and Fa-ching were involved in a political intrigue.
Fa-ching is mentioned in Sung shu, chap. 69, because of the intrigues.
K'ung Hsi-hsien, son of K'ung Mo-chih. K'ung Hsi-hsien, his fellow
conspirators, and many members of his family were executed in the twenty-second
year of the yüan-chia (445). The punishment of a criminal usually
meant punishment of the whole family (Sung shu, chaps. 69, 93; Nan shih,
chap. 33).
| Lives of the nuns | |