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Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies, Vol. 50, No. 1, December 2001
NINKU
JITSUDO'S
VIEW
OF THE HINAYANA
PRE-CEPTS
Paul GRONER
INTRODUCTION Ninku jitsudo•m‹óŽÀ“±(1309-1388) was the center of a group of scholars during the Nanbokucho peried who conducted debates and lectures about four tra-ditions : Tendai, Esoteric Buddhism, Pure Land,and the perfect precepts (enkai‰~‰ú). Ninku served as the abbot of both Sangoji a major temple in the Seizan sect •¼ŽR
”h of the Jodoshu, and Rozanji œIŽRŽ›, a Tendaitemple. Over a period of more than thirty years, he composed a variety of works on the enkai, including temple rules, lectures, com-mentaries, and debate manuals. The result is a body of work on the Tendai precepts that
was unprecedented at the time.
In this paper, I explore one aspect of his thought : the integration of provisions from "Hi
nayana vinaya" in the Tendai interpretation of the precepts. If the Fanwangž•–Ô pre-cepts were to actually serve as guides to monastic discipline as Saicho (767-822) had pro-posed, they would need to be augmented with such sources. Ninku was not the first Tendai
monk. to use elements from the SifenluŽl•ª—¥, one of the vinaya, to augment the precepts of the Fanwangjing. Although Saicho had rejected the 250 precepts of the Sifenlu, he had allowed his monks to receive those precepts as an expedient (keju shokai ‰¼Žó•¬‰ú
•@after
they had practiced for twelve years. Annen, too, had allowed for the use of Sifenlu ordin-ations.1) In both cases, their acceptance of the Sifenlu was not spelled out in any detail. In contrast, Enchin had actively adopted Sifenlu elements when he wrote about ordinations. 2) However, for the most part, the Tendai tradition had actively rejected most elements of the Sifenlu.Ninku went considerably beyond these figures in his use of the "Hinayana" precepts. Below I consider his historical arguments for the use of the Hinayana precepts, his doctrinal
defense of their use, and several of their practical applications.
ARGUMENTS FROM HISTORICAL PRECEDENT Saicho had argued that solely Mahayana temples could be found in both India and China. By Ninku's time, enough reports had come from China to make it clear that even Chinese Tiantai monks were ordained with
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NINKU JITSUDO'S VIEW OF THE HINAYANA PRECEPTS (P.GRONER)
the Sifenlu.3) Thus Ninku sought historical precedents in sources that Saicho had not known . In the Kvoin zoji mondo ‹³‰@ŽGŽ––â“š (Questionsand answers about miscellaneous mat-ters of doctrinal halls), compiled in 1358, Ninku was asked about the origins of the lecturing tradition he espoused. In his answer, he identified the lecturing temples with the solely Mahayana temples that Saicho had mentioned 4) and then traced this tradition back to both India and China.
Question : Can examples of these three types ofhalls be found in India or China?
Answer : Solely Mahayana temples, solely Hinayana temples and mixed temples are found inIndia. 5 ) Saicho used the customs of India in writing his rules Maha
yana temples. In addition, Emperor Gaozong •‚•@ [1107-87, r. 1127-1162] classifiedtemples into three types : meditation temples, vinaya temples and lecturing temples. For each type, he established "five mountains and ten mon-asteries" (gozan jissetsu ŒÜŽR•\™‹).6) The vinaya temples resemble Hinayana temples because they primarily study the Hinayana vinaya-pitaka. Themeditation temples resemble the mixed temples
because the monks at them follow a mixture of Hinayana and Mahayana rules of dignity. The lecture temples resemble the solely Mahayana temples because the monks in them primarily transmit the three trainings (sangaku ŽOŠw) of Tendai. 7)
Among the sources for Mahayana temples in Indiacited by Saicho was Yijing's‹`•ò (635-713) travel diary. Saicho had cited Yijingto support his contention that certain temples in India were purely Mahayana temples, but had ignored a subseqent statement that Mahayana monks used the same precepts as Hinayana monks. 8) In fact, Yijing had travelled to India in search of the Mulasarvastivadin vinaya and had translated it upon his return. His travel diary contained detailed notes on the monastic practices he saw in India, many of which were based on the vinaya. Ninku cited Yijing in his rules and frequently discussed many of the same subjects that appear in Yijing's diary, often taking the same position as Yijing. Thus Saicho's citation of Yijing's diary provided Ninku with a way of introducing a wide variety of elements of the vitiaya whilearguing that they had been followed in Indian solely Mahayana monasteries.
DOCTRINAL ARGUMENTS From a doctrinal perspective, Ninku justified the use of Hinayana precepts in several debate topics found in the Kaijusho i (Compilation on the pearl of the precepts). These have titles such as whether the bodhisattva precepts should be considered in terms of Hinayana and Mahayana, whether beings at all levels of the four teachings can receive the essence of the precepts, and whether the five precepts are thebases of both the Hinayana and Mahayana precepts. 9) In all of these discussions, Ninku breaks
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NINKU JITSUDO'S VIEW OF THE HINAYANA PRECEPTS (P.GRONER)
down the divisions between the Hinayana and Mahayana precepts, opposing a view held by many Tendai scholars that the gulf between , the Hinayana and Mahayana precepts was so great that the Sifenlu was not to be used. At times he suggested that the essence of the precepts is the same for all, but that the practice of the precepts varies according to a prac-titioner's faculties. He cited a passage in theFanwangjing to argue that the Buddha preached the Fanwangjing immediately after his enlightenment. 10) Because some people could not observe the Fanwang precepts, the Buddha then preached the various sets of precepts found in texts such at the Sifenlu. Ninku thus used the model of the relation between Hinayana and Mahayana advanced in the Lotus sutra to explain how the various sets of precepts were related. 11)
Ninku argued against Tendai views that had stressed how the Fanwang precepts were suited to those who followed the Distinct and Perfect Teachings (betsuen •Ê‰~), not by flatly denying the validity of their view, but by arguing that he followed an interpretation based on the Pusajie yiji •ìŽF‰ú‹`‹L, a commentary on the Fanwangjing traditionally at-tributed to Zhiyi. On the basis of a passage inthe Pusajie yiji, Ninku argued that the second fasicle of the Fanwangjing, the section with the precents in it, should be considered to be an independent text (ippon ikkan ˆê•iˆêŠª) . This one fascicle text encompassed all other teachings and embodied "Purely Perfect (jun 'en•ƒ‰~) Teachings." When the Fanwangjing had been interpreted as a mix of Distinct and Perfect Teachings, the precepts could be in-terpreted as being completely distinct from theHinayana precepts. However, when the text was interpreted as embodying the purely perfectteaching, then its teaching could be found in any other teaching, much as the teaching of the Lotus sutra was implicitly present in all the other teachings. Thus the Hinayana preceptscould be interpreted as embodying the per-fect teaching.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF THE HINAYANA PRECEPTS Ninku began the Shingaku bosatsu gvovosho •VŠw•ìŽF•s—v•´(Essentials concerning bodhisattvas who have just begun studying) by urging his followers to. use the following six types of mindfulness :
1. When the next fortnightly assembly will be held ;
2. Whether one has received an invitation to eat (away from the monastery) ; 3. How many years of seniority one has accumulated by successfully completing rainy
season retreats ;
4. Whether one has exceeded the permitted number of robes and other possessions ;
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NINKU JITSUDO'S VIEW OF THE HINAYANA PRECEPTS (P.GRONER)
5. Whether one is eating with his order ;
6. Whether one is free of illness and able to practice assiduously. 12)
Ninku also mentioned the six mindfulnesses in the Zausho •À‰Eçâ (Comppilation to be kept at the right side of one's seat) , but did not list them individually. 13) In that text, Ninkunoted that even though they had their origins in a "Hinayana" text, Mahayana practitioners had often used them. The six mindfulnesses were so important that they were to be taught to a practitioner on the day of his ordination, and the practitioner was instructed to recite them everyday.
Several centuries 'earlier, Enchin had complained that the monks of Nara ridiculed Tendai monks for ignoring this list. 14) Ninku noted that the source for this list of six is the Mahcsa-nghika-vinava. The contents of the six types ofmindfulness reveal Ninku's emphasis on the careful observance of such basic rituals of monastic life as the fortnightly assembly and the rainy season retreat. In addition, other rules composed by Ninku include procedures to be followed to obtain permission to stay away fromthe monastery overnight for up to seven days during the rainy season (junichi Žó“ú) andfor carring out the ritual at the conclusion of the rainy season by which all the participants criticize each other by noting anywrong-doings they have seen, heard or suspected (jijiŽ©œ“) . Some of these observances had been briefly mentioned in the Fanwangjing, but Ninkuaugmented these passages with elements from "Hinayana" sources.
In a note (uragaki) on the procedures for receiving permission to spend up to seven days away from the monastery during the rainy seasonretreat, Ninku expressed his uncertainty about the Mahayana procedures for this ritual ;instead he adopted the procedures found in the Sifenlu.15) The contents of the note shed light on the procedures Ninku used in formul-ating his rules for the monasteries. He read a variety of souces, both Hinayana and Mahayana. Preference was given to Mahayana sources, but when the Mahayana souces lacked detail or clarity,he would turn to the vinaya. Within the Mahayana sources,preference was given to the Fanwangjing. But when the Fanwangjing was not clear, other sources, such as the Dichilun ’nŽ•Œo(Dasabhumika) or theDazhidulun ‘å’q“x˜_ might be used.
CONCLUSION Ninku's acceptance of certain elements from the Sifenlu did not mean that he was ready to ordain monks with the Sifenlu. He was acutely aware of the flow of Tendai history and respected Saicho's decision to use the Fanwang precepts in ordinations. His views are clearly expressed in his criticisms of Shunjo's attempts to return the Tendai
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NINKU JITSUDO'S VIEW OF THE HINAYANA PRECEPTS (P.GRONER)
School to the use of Sifenlu ordinations interpreted from a Chinese Tiantai perspective .16)
1) Groner, Saicho : The Establishment of the Japanese Tendai School, pp. 195-205 ; Groner "Th
e Fan-1nwang ching and Monastic Discipline in Japanese Tendai A Study of Annen's Futsu ju-bosatsukai koshaku," in Robert Buswell (ed.) Buddhist Apocryphal Literature, pp. 277-78. 2) Groner, Saicho, pp. 301-12. 3) Gyojisho (TaishoUniversity manuscript), fascicle 2, part 4. 4) Groner, Saicho, pp. 138-141. 5) This classification of temples is based on Saicho's idio-syncratic interpretation of Xuanzang's travel diary. For Saicho, the classification referred ,to the types of precepts used in the monasteries. Tendai monks were expected to use only the Fanwang, precepts. Xuanzang, however, used the classification to refer to the types of doctrines studied and rituals perfomed, not the precepts observed. 6)For Tiantai participation in the five mountain system, see Huang Minzhi, Songdai fojiao shehuijingji shiliunji, pp. 314-15. 7) T74 : 785b. 8) Kenkairon, Dengyo Daishi zenshul 1 : 55-56 ;T 54 : 205c ; Takakusu Junjiro, A Record of the Buddhist Religion as Practiced in India and theMalay Archipelago (London : Clarendon press, 1896), p. 14. 9) Kaijusho 1.1,1.7,1.5. I have relied on a manuscript of text copied by Fukuda Gyoei. References are to the fascicle and section number. I thank the editors of the ZokuTendaishu zensho for their help in obtaining this and other texts. 10) T24 : 1004a24. 11) One of the clearest expositions of this view is found at the end of the Gyojisho. 12) T74 : 779c. The six mindfulnesses are found in several vinaya texts, see T 22 : 549a and : 225b ; Daoxuan “¹•é also used them (Oda 1640b). 13) T83: 529a 14) Enchin, Bussetsu Kanfiugen bosatsu gydhokyo
m onku goki, BZ(Suzuki ed.) 6 : 132c. 15) Shinbosatsu gyoyosho, T 74 : 784c. 16) See my article on Ninku's view of ordinations in Japan Review, forthcoming.
