Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s5.t11: A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago
Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c7.s5.t11
- Language
- English
A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practised in India and the Malay Archipelago
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Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas was written by Monk Yi Jing in Tang Dynasty. It is a book about religious disciplines written by Yi Jing when he stayed in Sumatra and it emphasises religious discipline about diet and daily life, worship and admiration of the Buddha, dietary hygiene and other aspects of Indian monks.
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Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas is one of important works of Yi Jing and is codified in the second year of Tianshou (691 CE) of Empress Wu Zetian. When Yi Jing came back from India, he stayed in Srivijaya Empire in South Sea (present-day Sumatra, Indonesia) on the way. During his stay, he wrote *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* and *Great Monk's Biography Who Seek the Doctrine from Tang to India*. After the books were written down, Yi Jing asked Dajin, a Chinese monk to take a petition to the Emperor for building temple in the West, a copy each of *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* and *Great Monk's Biography Who Seek the Doctrine from Tang to India* as well as 10 other new translated scriptures for submission at the Imperial Court in Chang'an.
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Purpose of Writing
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The purpose for Yi Jing going to India was to study Buddhism. He spent a long time living in India's Nalanda Monastery and also visited some temples in India and South Sea area. At every place he visited, he paid special attention to observe the religious lives and regulations of monks and monk groups ie actual theory and practice of Buddhism and compared them with that of in China at that time. Yi Jing thought, the disciplines practiced and the regulations implemented in Indian temples were models for Chinese Buddhists to follow. *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* written by Yi Jing, based on what he saw and heard, "complies with the holy teaching and practice the significant doctrine." He wanted to introduce Buddhist disciplines practiced in India to China through this book. At his eyes, only by this, can Chinese Buddhism be developed correctly.
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Main Contents
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*Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* was composed in four scrolls, further divided into 40 chapters which included following contents.
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It has a pretty long preface which introduces the world view of Buddhism, common situations of Indian religion, origin of Buddhism and its sects, current status of Buddhist sects and situations about Mahayana and Hinayana. The main purpose of Yi Jing was to explain the origin and relationship between each sect of Buddhism. He mentioned the [Figure: Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas (*Nanhai Jigui Neifa Zhuan*)]
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main facts of Indian Buddhism at that time that “sects and groups were developed from different origins, and they have similar inheritance but four main outlines”. There were four main sects. The first was A li ye mo he seng zhi ni jia ye, Zhouyun Holy Mass Sect. It was divided into seven branches. Each pitaka of their Triptitaka had more than 1,00,000 odes making it a total of 3,00,000 odes for the whole Triptika. These could be translated and edited into 1,000 scrolls. The second was A li ye shi ta bi luo ni jia ye, Zhouyun Holy Honor Seat Sect. With three branches, it had the same cannon as that of the first one. The third was the A li ye mu luo sa po xi di po to zhi ni jia ye, Zhouyun Holy Root Sect. With four branches, it also had the same cannon as that of the first one. The fourth was A li ye san mi li di ni jia ye, Zhouyun Holy Positive Power Sect. It had four branches, 2,00,000 songs in three cannons and 30,000 songs in regulation. There were many similar as well as different doctrines among the four sects whose practices developed according to current situations. We used to divide them into five sects that were not heard by western countries”. “There are also many other branches and sects with different names, which are same as I already talked, so no more unnecessary words. All in all, in India and states in South Sea, there are four *nikayas*.” Accounts of Yi Jing, based on his own observation, are very important for understanding Indian Buddhism in the seventh century. By Yi Jing’s records we can see that Buddhist disciplines’ sustenance and spread closely relates to sects. Yi Jing wrote: “Then there were people who manifest disciplines and gather differently. There were men who uphold disciplines and are divided differently. As I saw and heard, different cannons teach differently.”
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There was another purpose for Yi Jing’s preface. He wanted to explain the Indian Buddhist disciplines that he introduced in *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* basically belonged to a sectarian system to endure and spread. “All talked herein are basically based on the study of (Buddhist) sects and things of other sects are not mixed in.” Yi Jing also talked of popularity of Buddhist sects and disciplines at that time, “The distribution levels of the four sects are not quite the same in different kingdoms. In kingdom of Magadha, people learn all the four sects but Root Sect is the most popular. There are three sects in Luotu and Xindu with the Positive Power Sect being the most popular and largest. In the northern kingdoms, there are four sects and Holy Mass is the largest. In southern kingdoms, people revere Honour Seat Sect but other sects also exist. In eastern kingdoms, four sects exist in mixed form. In Lion Island, people revere Honor Seat Sect but repel Holy Mass Sect. In kingdoms in South Sea, the revered one is Root Sect, sometimes Positive Power Sect and now other two sects are aslo included.” “South to Zhanbo is Linyi. In this kingdom, there are more Positive Sect and few Root Sect.” “But in the east part, people practice dharmaraksa. In the centre part, it is all-inclusive. In the very south, Root Sect is very flourishing. But those who recite Ten Songs and Four Division take the scripture as titles.” These are very important materials for studying Buddhism in India, Southeast Asia and China at present.
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Based on contents in 40 chapters, main ones are the following: I) Diet and Hygiene: Food and water are divided into clean and dirty and people need to eat clean food and drink clean water; rinse the mouth and wash hands after meals; brush teeth in the morning; toilets should be kept clean; take bathe frequently etc. II) Daily Life: This discusses stringent regulations related to kinds of seat - sleeping mat and pillow used, methods to wear robes, acceptance of donation from benefactor, reception of monks from outside, burial of monks, disposal of property or goods after the death of monks and life in summer. III) Fitness and Medicine. This informs that walking is beneficial to health; why do people get sick and methods for medication and warnings on making medicines from urine. Extensive knowledge about ancient Indian medicine is presented providing important information for studying Indian medicine and the history of medical exchanges between India and China. IV) Worship Buddha and Praise Buddha: This describes methods of consecrating Buddha, making Buddha statues, building pagodas, chanting merit and praise of Buddha and respecting teachers and Buddha. V) Astronomy. The 30ᵗʰ chapter addresses how to observe and measure time in one day, how to measure seasons in one year as well as how to talk about the ancient Indian method of calculation of time for monsoon rains. A comprehension of astronomical information described here provides good material to study the history of astronomy and in some cases, the details provided here are the only material source. VI) Ancient Indian Education. Yi Jing describes details of education in ancient Indian, especially in the case of Sanskrit education. He also mentions a series of classics related to Sanskrit grammar including *Learn to Talk* and *Scripture of Sudanluo* (*Pāṇinisūtra*). In addition to *Pāṇinisūtra*, he also referred to the ancient Indian Sanskrit grammarian Patanjali and Bhartṛhari and "explanations" or "interpretations" they wrote. He also recorded the procedures for learning these cannons. Yi Jing's recording is very critical and some of the details cannot be easily understood. This requires further research and study.
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Significance of the Book
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After *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* was sent to China, it became quite popular in the Buddhist community. There are three extant ancient transcripts: one was found in the Dunhuang Library Cave and the other two are kept in Japan. It is identified that the transcripts were copied during the 8^th^ century CE which is less than a century from the formation of the transcripts. Therefore, we can realise the popular situation at that time. Same as *Great Monk’s Biography Who Seek the Doctrine from Tang to India* and other books, when Yi Jing died or at the latest after his death, *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* "was incorporated into the imperial project". After copying by generations, most contents are still in the Tripitaka.
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*Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* contributes great values to contemporary studies on the history of Indian Buddhism, Chinese Buddhism, Sino-foreign relationship history in Tang Dynasty and even general history, geography, culture, and social life in ancient India and South Sea area, specially with regard to the situation of Indian Buddhist Sangha's internal religious life in the 7^th^ century CE, the book provides almost most upto date and detailed information. Here take the problems of comprehension of Mahayana and Hinayana as an example. Indian Buddhism was divided into Mahayana and Hinayana and 18 sects were Hinayana, almost without a doubt. Yi Jing listed Indian Buddhist's four major sects' (ie four nikayas) names, inheritance and the number of cannons. This text is referenced in many studies to illustrate the distinction between sects but the sentence: "there was no certain distinguish among four sects" as a supplement after the text is often overlooked. In fact, according to Yi Jing, it mainly understood sects by the distinction of disciplines but as for the four sects are concerned, each maintained their own traditional discipline, with monks in each sect having faith both in Mahayana and in Hinayana, without distinct limitation. In other words, the four sects Yi Jing said were not all Hinayana.
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Influence to the World
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Like *Biographies of Faxian*, *Tang Western Regions*, *Great Monk’s Biography Who Seek the Doctrine from Tang to India* and *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* drew the attention of Western and Japanese scholars at an early time. At the end of 19^th^ century CE, Japanese scholars Kenjiu Kasawara and Ryauon Fujishima translated some important portions of *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* into French. Russian scholar V. P. Wasil'ev translated some portions into Russian. The complete English version was translated by another Japanese scholar Junjiro Takakusu and the book was published in 1896 by the Oxford University Press, with its name being *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas by I-Tsing*.
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After Junjiro Takakusu's English version was published, *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* became known by Western and Indian scholars. Because of translation's completeness and higher study level, Junjiro's English version is still the best version abroad so far and it is still being reprinted in India now. Besides, Junjiro's English version was translated based on Qing Dynasty's carving copies but not the precise one so the translation's quality was affected. This book is being translated for over 100 years and some aspects are obviously require modification and supplement from contemporary perspective.
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In 2000, *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas*’s another English version was published in the United States entitled *Buddhist Monastic Traditions of Southern Asia* which was translated by the Chinese Buddhist scholar Li Rongxi, and published by the Japanese Buddhist Mission Association in Berkeley, California, USA (Berkeley: Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai). In 1959, there was a Japanese version adopted into *Volume 84 of Japan-China Writing and Account Compilation in All National l Scriptures* published in Japan. The version was translated by Ono Genmyo (Xiaoyexuanmiao) as early as in 1936.
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In 1995, Zhonghua Book Company published *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas with Annotations*, annotated by Prof. Wang Bangwei. The new version included the original text, check notes and annotations. On the aspect of checking, the version used two kinds of transcripts from Tang Dynasty, one was from Dunhuang Library Cave and the other one was the Nara period transcript stored in Japan, and six kinds of carving copies from Song to Ming dynasties, included Korean version as well as *Taisho-pitaka* printed in Japan. It collected most versions, so it could be called as the precise version. While checking and annotating Yi Jing’s original book, this version annotated people’s names, place names, history, geography and religious vocabularies in detail as well as adding the original text in Sanskrit when necessary. And many appendixes and indexes were attached in the book. It should be deemed as the most detailed, most complete and most useful version for studying *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas*. In 2009, Zhonghua Book Company published this book again, and the author modified some details for the 1995 edition before reprinting, and more appendixes were added.
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In 2004, Japanese scholars Miyabayashi Akihiko (Pinyin: Gonglin Zhaoyan) and Kato Eiji (Pinyin: Jiateng Rongsi), published a renewed Japanese version entitled *Modern Language Translation of A Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas*. There were detailed annotations included in this book either. This is the latest fruit for Japanese scholars studying *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas* and many contents quoted Wang Bangwei’s *Account of Buddhism Sent from the South Seas with Annotations*.
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(*Wang Bangwei*)
Cites (2)
- Aṣṭādhyāyī — Pāṇini, Sanskrit
- 大正新脩大藏經 — Classical Chinese