ornamenting the departed

stephen f. teiser

Ornamenting the Departed: Notes on the Language of Chinese Buddhist Ritual Texts

his essay originated in a concrete problem of philology I encoun­ T tered early in my study of liturgical manuscripts from Dunhuang: how to understand the meaning of the word zhuangyan 莊嚴, “to orna­ ment.” The word appears consistently in what I believe to be a crucial phrase in medieval Buddhist liturgies, the locution in which merit cre­ ated by the performance of good deeds is transferred to the benefici­ aries of the ritual. The phrase (here used twice) typically reads: Gathering these many good acts and unlimited excellent causes, we use them first to ornament the deceased [in] the spirit road where they have been reborn. We pray that their spirits be reborn in a pure land, that their consciousness be seated on a lotus platform, that they bid farewell to the five impurities, and that they forever escape the six heavens [of desire]. We further take these excellent good acts and offer them to ornament the sponsors of the rite and their family. We humbly pray that their minds be like the clear moon, always bright in spring and summer, and their bodies be­ come the sturdy pine, unchanging in fall and winter.” 總斯多善無 限勝因先用莊嚴亡者所生魂路. 惟願神生淨土識坐蓮臺長辭五濁之中永 出六天之外. 又持勝善奉用莊嚴齋主眷屬等. 伏願心同朗月春夏恆明體侶 貞松秋冬不變.1 My problems were fundamental, beginning with how to construe the meaning of the word zhuangyan. The standard encyclopedic diction­ aries for classical Chinese, spoken Chinese, and Chinese Buddhist terms provided different suggestions about how to interpret the word: it could mean “serious” or “seriously,” “to ornament” or “to decorate,” “to be endowed with virtue,” or “to prepare,” “to array,” or “to establish.”2

1 The liturgy, contained in the middle of an untitled formulary of prayers, is entitled “A Piece for Deceased Parents” 亡父母文. The formulary is on the verso side of the scroll S. 1441; an identical liturgy is contained on P. 3825; edited in Huang Zheng 黃徵 and Wu Wei 吳偉, Dunhuang yuanwen ji 敦煌願文集 (Changsha: Yuelu shushe, 1995), pp. 61–62. 2 Cai Jinghao 蔡鏡浩, Wei Jin Nanbeichao ciyu lishi 魏晉南北朝詞語例釋 (Nanjing: Jiangsu guji chubanshe, 1990), pp. 379–80; Ciyi 慈怡 et al., eds., Foguang dacidian 佛光大辭典, 2d edn. (Gaoxiong: Foguang chubanshe, 1988–89), pp. 4776b–77a; Hirakawa Akira 平川彰, Buk-

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In addition to questions of meaning, there were sociolinguistic ques­ tions about what strata of language and society the word comes from. Recent scholarship has emphasized the significant place of vernacular Chinese expressions in early translations of Buddhist scriptures from Indian languages, and some opinions regarded the word zhuangyan as an early vernacular term. Was the use of the word in ritual manuscripts a case of Buddhist authors incorporating the spoken language into their text, a practice we know occurred in the translation of canonical sˆtras, vinaya texts, and treatises? Other interesting problems were raised by textual variation: my survey of other manuscript sources revealed a host of other expressions (for example, zixun 資勳), most of which mean “to help” or “to assist,” used in place of this one in exactly the same ph(r)ase of the rite. This essay is intended to honor the memory of Denis C. Twitch­ ett. The subject — the paying of tribute to teachers and ancestors — is, of course, intentionally chosen. But beyond that, the questions raised herein are intended to honor Denis’s insistence on the thorough criti­ cism of primary sources, close attention to questions of language, and the importance of bringing the study of manuscripts and other excavated materials to bear on our knowledge of traditional China.3

The Problem

The Dunhuang corpus, now believed to number upwards of 50,000 individual manuscripts scattered across collections in Europe, Asia, and North America, contains several hundred individual pieces of liturgy.

ky± Kan-Bon daijiten 佛教漢梵大辭典 (Tokyo: Reiyˆkai, 1997), no. 3155.20, pp. 1015b–16a; Li Weiqi 李維琦, Fojing ciyu huishi 佛經詞語匯釋, Wei Jin Nanbeichao hanyi Fojing yuyan yanjiu congshu 魏晉南北朝漢譯佛經語言研究叢書 (Changsha: Hunan shifan daxue chuban­ she, 2004), pp. 398–405; Luo Zhufeng 羅竹風 et al., eds., Hanyu dacidian 漢語大辭典 (Hong Kong: Sanlian shudian; Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe, 1986–1993) 9, p. 428a; Mochi­ zuki Shink± 望月信亨, Bukky± daijiten 佛教大辭典, rev. edn. ed. Tsukamoto Zenryˆ 塚本善 隆 (Tokyo: Sekai seiten kank± ky±kai, 1954–1963), pp. 2607a–9b; Morohashi Tetsuji 諸橋 轍次, Dai Kan-Wa jiten 大漢和辭典 (Tokyo: Taishˆkan shoten, 1984–1986), no. 31035.59; Nakamura Hajime 中村元, Bukky±go daijiten 佛教語大辭典 (Tokyo: T±ky± shoseki, 1975), pp. 717d–18a; Zhang Qiyun 張其昀, ed., Zhongwen dacidian 中文大辭典, rev. edn. (Taipei: Huagang chuban youxian gongsi, 1979), no. 31795.178; Zhang Yushu 張玉書 et al., eds., Peiwen yunfu 佩文韻府 (Taipei: Shangwu yinshuguan, 1967), p. 1474b; Zhongguo dacidian bianzuanchu 中國大辭典編纂處, ed., Guoyu cidian 國語辭典 (Taipei: Taiwan Shangwu yin­ shuguan, 1966), p. 2742a. 3 I would like to express my gratitude to three colleagues who read earlier drafts closely and generously provided important comments: Chen Jinhua 陳金華, Funayama T±ru 船山徹, and Robert Sharf. I also thank others who provided helpful comments and corrections: Timothy H. Barrett, Stephen Bokenkamp, Chen Huaiyu 陳懷宇, Chi Limei 池麗梅, Paul Copp, Benja­ min Elman, Thomas Hare, Michael J. Hunter, Martin Kern, Victor H. Mair, Susan Naquin, Stuart H. Young, and Jimmy Yu.

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Ascertaining the precise number of extant liturgies depends on what one counts as a liturgical text: a complete physical manuscript, scroll, or booklet; a text explicitly titled “ritual text” (zhaiwen 齋文, or some­ times yuanwen 願文 [“prayer text”]); a formulary of individual pieces; or an individual piece designed to be used on a specific liturgical oc­ casion. The most recent modern collation, Huang Zheng’s 黃徵 and Wu Wei’s 吳偉 Dunhuang yuanwen ji 敦煌願文集, which determines its sample using all of these criteria and more, runs to 984 pages. Com­ posed and copied by monks in Dunhuang, the liturgies were used in a wide range of rituals conducted by monks, including funerals and memorial services for laypeople, monks, and nuns; preparatory feasts for the cultivation of posthumous merit; healing rituals; rituals pray­ ing for safe childbirth; blessings for a wedding; prayers for the safety of sons serving in the army; animal funerals; rituals celebrating the lantern festival (usually 1/15); rituals celebrating buddha’s birthday (usually 2/8); rituals celebrating the ghost festival (yulanpen hui 盂蘭盆 會 on 7/15); and prayers to accompany the dedication of temples, the commissioning of statues, and the copying of sˆtras. Most of the datable manuscripts were put together in the eighth through tenth centuries, when the Tibetan kingdom and then the Zhang 張 and Cao 曹 families ruled Dunhuang and other important towns in the Hexi corridor. The texts provide an unparalleled window onto Chinese ritual practice dur­ ing these centuries. The serious study of Buddhist liturgy is still in its infancy.4 Hence this essay, part of a larger project on Dunhuang materials, remains ten­ tative and exploratory. The importance and breadth of the field of study can hardly be overstated: imagining an afterlife and providing comfort for the ancestors was probably the most important role of Buddhism in Chinese history. It was certainly the arena in which most Chinese people over the centuries encountered Buddhist ideas and engaged in Buddhist practice. Buddhist ritual went through many stages of develop­ ment in China. Most of the sources for the early stages of this religious realignment are lost to us, since aside from purely monastic liturgies contained in vinaya sources (most dating from the early-fifth century) and polished literary pieces written by famous literati (assembled in Guang hongming ji 廣弘明集 [664] and similar collections), few materi­

4 Helpful studies focusing on the earlier and later stages of Buddhist liturgy, respectively, are Kamata Shigeo 鎌田茂雄, Chˆgoku no Bukky± girei 中國の仏教儀禮 (Tokyo: Daiz± shup­ pan, 1986); and Marcus Günzel, Die Morgen- und Abendliturgie der chinesischen Buddhisten, Veröffentilichungen des Seminars für Indologie und Buddhismuskunde der Universität Göt­ tingen 6 (Göttingen: Seminar für Indologie und Buddhismuskunde, 1994).

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als concerning religious practice survive. It is likely that over the long term, the main profit to be derived from the study of Dunhuang liturgies will lie in establishing a base-line for documenting religious practice as it was managed by lower-level Buddhist monks — a window into the rituals for laypeople performed by the local town priest. Beginning in the Song dynasty with the liturgies of Zunshi 遵式 (964–1032) and oth­ ers, surviving sources for the study of Chinese Buddhist liturgy become more numerous. The materials collected in the late Ming by Zhuhong 祩宏 (1535–1615) together with handbooks for daily ritual services (titled Recitations for Morning and Evening Services [Zhaomu kesong 朝暮課 誦]) compiled down to the present offer rich sources for the historical study of these traditions. In other articles I have argued that this genre of text can profit­ ably be defined by reference to the performance of the rituals it was designed to accompany.5 The best way to make sense of a liturgy is, in short, to analyze the relationship between the language of the text and the steps of the ritual. I have divided the longer liturgies into eight sections based on my interpretation of set phrases and different styles of language in each section. For present purposes the content of such texts can be described as prefatory sections (sections 1–5) that set forth general Buddhist principles and the specific ritual occasion at hand; (6) a section containing the crux of the ritual in which the merit produced by the prior ritual action is transferred to or bestowed upon the beneficiary, summed up by the word zhuangyan, “to decorate,” “to ornament,” or “to benefit”; (7) a section praying for specific benefits, such as rebirth in a pure realm or a return to good health; and (8) a concluding section of benedictions. As I will explain more fully below, the phrase in which the word zhuangyan appears is long and complex but its grammar is clear: zhuang- yan is used as a transitive verb acting upon a direct object. The perform­ ers of the rite use the merit “to ornament” “the deceased.” But what precisely is the meaning of zhuangyan here?

5 Taishi Wen 太史文 [Stephen F. Teiser], “Shilun zhaiwen de biaoyanxing” 試論齋文的 表演性, Dunhuang Tulufan yanjiu 敦煌吐魯番研究 10 (2007), pp. 295–308; and idem, “Wei wangzhe yuan: Dunhuang yishi wenlei dingyi chutan” 為亡者願, 敦煌儀式文類定義初探, trans. Xie Huiying 謝惠英, in Shengzhuan yü chanshi: Zhongguo wenxue yu zongjiao lunji 聖傳與禪 詩, 中國文學與宗教論集, ed. Li Fengmao 李豐楙 and Liao Zhaoheng 廖肇亨(Taipei: Zhong­ yang yanjiuyuan, Zhongguo wenzhe yanjiusuo, 2007), pp. 284–307. My interpretation of the apocryphal Scripture on the Ten Kings (Shiwang jing 十王經) follows a similar route, argu­ ing that it should be understood as a performative text; see “The Scripture on the Ten Kings” and the Making of Purgatory in Medieval Chinese Buddhism, Kuroda Institute, Studies in East Asian Buddhism 9 (Honolulu: U. Hawai’i P., 1994); and “Hymns for the Dead in the Age of the Manuscript,” The Gest Library Journal 6.2 (Spring 1992), pp. 26–56.

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Several specialists in early vernacular literature have addressed some of the lexical questions. Their research as a whole utilizes the paradigm for the study of Chinese Buddhist language outlined in Erik Zürcher’s seminal article of 1977.6 As is well known, Zürcher argued that the corpus of some twenty-nine Buddhist texts translated from San­ skrit into Chinese between 150 and 220 ad preserves roughly 1,000 compound words, most of them binomes, reflecting the vernacular lan­ guage of the time. In further work, scholars have combed through other early texts, Buddhist and non-Buddhist, for vernacular expressions and shown how the process of group translation may have contributed to the prominence of the spoken language in Buddhist translations.7 The word zhuangyan occupies an interesting position in this re­ evaluation of the history of the Chinese language. The claims recently advanced for this binomial expression are that it originated in the ver­ nacular language; that it may have first been used in surviving sources in Buddhist translations; that it appears soon after that in Xun Yue’s 荀 悅 (148–209) Record of the Han Dynasty (Han ji 漢紀, completed in 203); and that it was used in a plethora of medieval Buddhist literature and literati writings, leading up to its frequent use in Buddhist liturgies. In a recent work Bai Huawen 白化文 summarizes the process: Terms from Buddhist texts translated into Chinese, especially terms translated by meaning [rather than sound], often underwent an extension of meaning, even developing as far as the spoken language and the common written language… . Thus, one might advance this hypothesis: From the time of the Wei, Jin, and North­ ern and Southern Dynasties, when translating Buddhist scriptures, the earliest translators matched up two words of similar mean­ ing, zhuang 莊 and yan 嚴, to create this translated term to cover broadly the surprisingly diverse meanings of the word discussed 6 Erik Zürcher, “Late Han Vernacular Elements in the Earliest Buddhist Translations,” Jour- nal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association 13.3 (1977), pp. 177–203. See Zürcher’s im­ portant elaborations: idem, “A New Look at the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Texts,” in Koichi Shinohara and Gregory Schopen, eds., From Benares to Beijing: Essays on Buddhism and Chinese Religion in Honour of Prof. Jan Yün-hua (Oakville, Ontario: Mosaic Press, 1991), pp. 277–304; and idem, “Vernacular Elements in Early Buddhist Texts: An Attempt to Define the Optimal Source Materials,” Sino-Platonic Papers 71 (1996), pp. 1–31. 7 Cao Shibang [Tso Sze-bong] 曹仕邦, Zhongguo Fojiao yijing shi lunji 中國佛教譯經史論 集, Dongchu zhihui hai 東初智慧海 16 (Taipei: Dongchu chubanshe, 1990); Karashima Seishi 辛嶋靜志, A Glossary of Dharmarak™a’s Translation of the Lotus Sutra, Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica 1 (Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Bud­ dhology, Soka University, 1998); Liang Xiaohong 梁曉虹, Fojiao yu hanyu cihui 佛教與漢語 詞彙, Foguang wenxuan congshu 佛光文選叢書 (Sanchong, Taiwan: Foguang, 2001); Victor H. Mair, “Buddhism and the Rise of the Written Vernacular: The Making of National Lan­ guages,” JAS 53.3 (1994), pp. 707–51; and Sun Weizhang 孫維張, ed., Foyuan yuci cidian 佛 源語詞詞典 (Beijing: Yuwen chubanshe, 2007), pp. 347–48.

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above, which further developed into being quoted in the popular speech of secular people. Xun Yue’s use of the word seems to be an intentional usage of a foreign term to substitute for the older, native expression “to adorn” [shizhi 鈰治], just as our modern youth use “bye-bye” [baibai 拜拜] to represent “goodbye” [zaijian 再見], in order to be fashionable.8 Bai’s discussion touches on all the major issues of this study: When was the word first used? What were its various meanings? What linguistic and social forces may be discerned at work behind the unbalanced his­ torical record left to us? What is the role of the vernacular language in the development of Buddhism? Why is the word used so consistently in the ritual texts of medieval Buddhism?

A Late Han-dynasty Vernacularism?

In studying the history of the expression zhuangyan, one approach is to consider the meaning of the two individual characters that constitute the word. Zhuang and yan appear separately in many early texts, but only in the Later Han dynasty do they begin to be linked in a binomial expression. The meanings of zhuang 莊 in early sources include: 1. the personal name of emperor Ming 明 of the Han, which became a tabooed character; 2. the appearance of strong or flourishing grass (Duan Yucai’s 段玉裁 commentary on the Shuowen jiezi 說文解字); 3. a large road (Erya 爾雅) 4. solemn or serious (Lunyu 論語); 5. a homonym used for zhuang2) 裝, “to wear” or “to don clothing.”9 As I note, below, only the last meaning comes close to the sense re­ quired in the binomial expression zhuangyan. Its ancient pronuncia­ tion had ce 側 as an initial and yang 羊 as a final, and it was in the yang 陽 rhyme class; the Guangyun 廣韻 assigns it the level tone, the yang 陽 rhyme class, and the initial of zhao 照. The early meanings of the word yan 嚴 include: 1. to give an order quickly or to be in haste (Shuowen jiezi); 8 Bai Huawen, Hanhua Fojiao canfang lu 漢化佛教參訪錄 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2005), pp. 208–9. I correct what I believe to be a misprint, emending 經市俗人 to 經世俗人. Bai’s ex­ ample of the contemporary use of baibai to represent English “bye-bye” involves the translit­ eration of a foreign term’s sound; better examples would be translations based solely on mean­ ing, such as diannao 電腦 for “computer” and quanshixue 詮釋學for “hermeneutics.” 9 I rely especially on Wang Li 王力, Wang Li Guhanyu zidian 王力 古漢語字典 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2000), p. 1063a; and Shuowen jiezi gulin 說文解字詁林, ed. Ding Fubao 丁 福保 (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, 1966), vol. 2, pp. 465a–67b.

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2. dignified (“Xiaoya” 小雅 of the Shijing 詩經); 3. to respect (Liji 禮紀); and 4. to put in order (Eastern Han poetry).10 Its ancient pronunciation had yu 語 as initial and jian as a final, and it was in the tan 談 rhyme class; the Guangyun assigns it the level tone, the yan 嚴 rhyme class, and the initial of yi 疑. Momentarily setting aside the question of sound and looking only at the lexical meanings of the two words individually, early uses of the individual words do not provide a strong precedent for the pairing of zhuang and yan as a binomial expression. How would they work as a compound predicate? The closest one gets to the meaning of the bi­ nome’s meaning of “ornament” is to put together zhuang in the sense of “to wear” with yan in the sense of “dignified.” Perhaps more important than lexical explanations for the meaning of the individual characters are the sounds involved. Already in Shuo- wen jiezi Xu Shen had pointed out that zhuang was tabooed because it was the personal name of emperor Ming of the Han, and early sources include the homophones zhuang 2) 裝 and zhuang3) 妝. Zhuang 2) with the clothing signifier is the first of many homophones that would be called into service in the early centuries of the Common Era to attempt to specify the meaning of this word when it was used to indicate the act of decorating, ornamenting, or dressing up. Other later ones include zhuang 3) 妝, zhuang 4) 糚, and zhuang5) 粧. The principle of phonological substitution is apparent as early as Sima Xiangru’s 司馬相如 (179–117 bc) prose-poetry, in which zhuang seems to be used in the sense of one of its homophones, zhuang 2) 裝 (“to wear”). The line in question occurs in the “Rhapsody on the Im­ perial Park 上林賦.” It reads, in the version transmitted in Sima Qian’s 司馬遷 (ca. 145–86 bc) Records of the Historian (Shiji 史紀), “beautifully dressed and incised with decoration (jingzhuang keshi 靚莊刻飭).”11 This citation cannot be decisively dated, however, and the entire chapter in the Shiji may well derive from a later textual tradition, as several schol­

10 See Wang, Wang Li Guhanyu zidian, p. 142a–b; Shuowen jiezi gulin vol. 2, pp. 1311b–13b. 11 Sima Qian 司馬遷 (ca. 145–86 bc), Shiji 史紀, in Xinjiaoben Shi ji sanjiazhu bing fubian erzhong 新校本史記三家注並附編二種, Zhongguo xueshu leibian 中國學術類編 (Taibei: Ding­ wen shuju, 1981), p. 3039. I read the expression more literally, following Yves Hervouet, Le chapitre 117 du Che-ki: Biographie de Sseu-ma Siang-jou, Bibliothèque de l’Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises 23 (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1972), p. 130: “fards délicats, parure d’une chevelure sculptée.” Other translators, based on the commentary by Guo Pu 郭璞 (276–324), read more into the line. Cf. David R. Knechtges, Wen xuan or Selections of Refined Literature, vol. 2: Rhapsodies on Sacrifices, Hunting, Travel, Sightseeing, Palaces and Halls, Rivers and Seas, Xiao Tong (501–531) (Princeton: Princeton U.P., 1987), p. 107: “Faces powdered and painted, hair sculpted and trimmed”; and Burton Watson, Records of the Grand

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ars have noted.12 In his commentary on the line, Guo Pu understands the word zhuang to indicate decoration or the application of make-up. He explains the expression this way: “‘Beautifully dressed’ means that they have powdered themselves with white and dusted themselves with black 靚莊粉白黛黑也.”13 The first attested use of the binomial expression zhuangyan occurs in Xun Yue’s Record of the Han. As is well known, Xun Yue completed the book in 203 after five years of labor.14 His scope of work had been defined by emperor Xian 獻 (r. 189–220). The emperor considered the 100-juan History of the [Former] Han (Han shu 漢書) by Ban Gu 班固 (32–92) too prolix and commissioned Xun Yue to write a history of the dynasty that was easier to read. Xun Yue’s compilation, totaling 30 juan, drew on Ban Gu’s work and other early historical records but used slightly different wording, arranged the material more economi­ cally, and employed only the annals format. Xun Yue’s linguistic interventions are clear in his use of the word zhuangyan, which occurs in a description of the state of Nanyue 南越 (located in modern Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Vietnam), the border kingdom that had tributary relations with the Han court and was absorbed into the Han empire under emperor Wu 武 (r. 140–86 bc). Xun Yue summarizes the politics behind the decision by the Nanyue court to accept Han dominion, a position advocated by the queen mother, a woman of Chinese descent, when the king was a mere boy. Most of the members of the Nanyue court were in favor of the move, which promised to bring enfeoffment and other Han privileges to the local elite, and they prepared themselves to receive the envoys bear­ ing official insignia from the Han court. One local official, Lü Jia 呂 嘉, opposed the submission to Han authority. Xun Yue’s conclusion to the episode reads, “The king and the queen mother all ornamented

Historian of China by Sima Qian (Hong Kong: Research Centre for Translation, Chinese Uni­ versity of Hong Kong; New York: Columbia U.P., 1993) 2, p. 281: “With painted faces and carved hairpins.” 12 On the different transcriptions of this line in early sources, see Jian Zongwu 簡宗梧, Han fu yuanliu yu jiazhi zhi shangque 漢賦源流與價値之商榷, Wenshi zhexue jicheng 文史哲學集 成 50 (Taibei: Wen shi zhe chubanshe, 1980), p. 71. On the textual problems of this chapter of the Shiji, see Martin Kern, “The ‘Biography of Sima Xiangru’ and the Question of the Fu in Sima Qian’s Shiji,” JAOS 123.2 (April-June 2003), pp. 303–16, esp. 308–11. 13 Quoted in Shiji, p. 3039. 14 Hu Yujin 胡玉縉 and Wang Xinfu 王欣夫, eds., Siku quanshu zongmu tiyao buzheng 四庫 全書總目提要補正 (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1964), pp. 388–90; A. F. P. Hulsewé, “Han chi 漢紀,” in Michael Loewe, ed., Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide (Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China, Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, 1993), pp. 113–14; and Zhao Guozhang 趙國璋 and Pan Shuguang 潘樹廣, Wenxianxue dacidian 文 獻學大辭典 (Yangzhou, Zhejiang: Guangling shushe, 2005), p. 373b.

208 ornamenting the departed themselves [zhuangyan], preparing to appear in court. The Yue minis­ ter Lü Jia, [however,] did not wish to affiliate 王太后皆莊嚴將入朝. 越相 呂嘉不欲內屬.”15 Here, the readiness of the ruling family to enter the Chinese imperium is indicated by their donning of proper court attire. Xun Yue uses the word zhuangyan as a binomial expression in a verbal position in the sentence. The word means something like “to dress for­ mally” and is applied to ceremonial occasions demanding formal attire and serious deportment. A comparison of Xun Yue’s description of the event with earlier historical writing suggests that his use of the word zhuangyan is an inno­ vation in the history of the Chinese language. In his chapter on Nanyue in Records of the Historian, Sima Qian describes the same event. He writes, “The king and the king’s queen mother put in order many sets of formal clothing as provisions for appearing in court 王王太后飭治行裝重齎為入 朝具.”16 The circumstances under which the action takes place are the same as in Xun Yue’s description: preparation of a formal wardrobe by the ruler for official audience in court. The wording, however, is rather different: a binomial verb (shizhi, “to put in order”), an adjective-noun expression used as direct object (xingzhuang, “formal clothing” or the clothes worn for important occasions that take place outside the home), and a measure of quantity (chongji, “many sets”) used adverbially. Xun Yue’s putative model, Ban Gu’s History of the Han, largely follows Sima Qian’s wording but uses an alternate word after “many.”17 From whence did Xun Yue’s use of the word zhuangyan derive? A reasonable hypothesis would be that he drew on the use of the word in the vernacular. Given our lack of knowledge of the spoken language of the time and the different forces of history that have led to the preser­ vation of some sources and the loss of others, certainty in such linguis­ tic matters is not possible. What is clear is that before the end of the Eastern Han dynasty, the word was an accepted binomial expression whose meaning was understood to be derived from a combination of its two components, and it could be placed in a nounal or verbal posi­ tion in a sentence.18 15 Han ji 漢紀, Xun Yue 荀悅, Renren wenku 人人文庫 170 (Taibei: Taiwan shangwu yin­ shuguan, 1979), p. 137. Another interpretation of this line is that the word zhuangyan here means “prepared clothing for travel” (zhunbei xingzhuang 準備行裝); see Li, Fojing ciyu hui- shi, p. 404. 16 Shiji, p. 2972. 17 Ban Gu 班固 (32–92), Han shu 漢書, in Xinjiaoben Han shu jizhu bing fubian erzhong 新 校本漢書集注並附編二種, Zhongguo xueshu leibian (Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1986), p. 3854: 王王太后飭治行裝重資為入朝具. 18 See, for instance, Sun Weizhang 孫維張, Foyuan yuci cidian 佛源語詞詞典 (Beijing: Yu­ wen chubanshe, 2007), pp. 347–48, who makes the claim that the verbal use of the binome

209 stephen f. teiser

Once established in the second century or so, the word, in its vary­ ing written forms, was used in a variety of literary sources. Outside of Xun Yue’s usage of the word, another early attestation is in Record of the Han Compiled in the Eastern Lodge (Dongguan Han ji 東觀漢記). Com­ piled in five separate installments between the years 72 and 220, the majority of the original text in 143 juan was lost by modern times. In any event, the text (as reconstructed from surviving quotations during the Qing dynasty) uses the second variant, zhuangyan2), in the biography of Liu Kuan, a man known for his calm demeanor and resolve under difficult circumstances. One story in his biography describes how his wife, wishing to test his temper, directed a maid to wait until Liu Kuan was dressed for an appearance in court and then smear his clothes with bloody meat to see if he would get angry. Liu did not change his ex­ pression, merely asking if the maid had stained her hand in preparing the meat. The account reads: Kuan’s wife tested his resolve. Waiting until he had to appear in court, after he had finished ornamenting himself she sent a maid to take meat and smear the juice all over his court attire. The maid complied. Kuan’s supernatural appearance did not change; he merely said calmly, “You soaked your hand with juice.”19 The same phrase, “after finishing his ornamentation 裝嚴已訖,” occurs in the recounting of the episode in the History of the Later Han (Hou Han shu 後漢書) and other sources.20 Some idea of the regularization of orthography for the word can be gleaned from word counts of collections of early texts. Of course, the results of these controlled surveys are limited by the arbitrary nature of the collections (some of which consist of one long individual work, some of which are collections of many smaller texts), the wide range in genre and date of individual texts included in the collections, and the

“derives from the extended meaning of the ancient Chinese expression ‘to dress oneself for­ merly and properly 裝飾端正.’” Harbsmeier’s grammatical analysis provides examples of the use of the binome as a complex noun, complex intransitive verb, and complex transitive verb; see Christoph Harbsmeier, “Thesaurus Linguae Sericae: An Historical and Compara­ tive Encyclopaedia of Chinese Conceptual Schemes,” http://tls.uni-hd.de/Lasso/TLS, search­ ing under zhuangyan. 19 Dongguan Han ji 東觀漢記, Liu Zhen 劉珍 (ca. second century), in Dongguan Han ji jiao­zhu 東觀漢記校注, ed. Wu Shuping 吳樹平 (Zhengzhou: Zhengzhou guji chubanshe, 1987), p. 474. On the compilation and editions of the text, see Hans Bielenstein and Michael Loewe, “Tung kuan Han chi,” in Loewe, ed., Early Chinese Texts, pp. 471–72; Hu and Wang, eds., Siku quan- shu zongmu tiyao buzheng, pp. 445–46; and Zhao and Pan, Wenxianxue dacidian, p. 300b. 20 Fan Ye 範曄 (398–445), Hou Han shu 後漢書, in Xinjiaoben Hou Han shu bing fubian shisanzhong 新校本後漢書並附編十三種, Zhongguo xueshu leibian (Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1981), p. 888.

210 ornamenting the departed

Table. Frequency of the Word Zhuangyan in Early Collections

Source: Academia Sinica Scripta Sinica database 漢籍全文資料庫, http://140.109.138.249/ihp/hanji.htm fact that the original collections themselves largely use later, printed editions as their basis. Within these limitations, however, clear patterns emerge. Electronic searching of the Academia Sinica Scripta Sinica da­ tabase (漢籍全文資料庫) shows that from the Han dynasty through the Tang dynasty, the most commonly used orthography was zhuangyan 莊 嚴, which occurs in the vast majority of sources (see table). Within the top three collections of texts in which the word occurs, it occurs 2,552 times. The second most common orthography was zhuangyan2) 裝嚴, which occurs 176 times in the top three collections of texts in which the word occurs. The least common orthography was zhuangyan3) 妝嚴, which occurs 8 times in the top three collections of texts in which the word occurs.

211 stephen f. teiser

e A R L Y B uddhist T ranslations

The data derived from the word counts tabulated in the table also demonstrate that the word zhuangyan is used overwhelmingly in Bud­ dhist sources: two-thirds of all usages of the word in three orthographic forms (2,010 occurrences out of 3,029) are in the Buddhist canon. Next come Daoist sources (481 occurrences), Tang prose (192 occurrences), pre-Tang prose including fiction (175 occurrences, aggregating two collections), Song-Yuan dynasty local sources (122 occurrences), and transformation texts from Dunhuang (49 occurrences). The use of the word in Buddhist sources is important not only because of the numbers but also because the first attested usage of the word in any surviving sources is in Buddhist texts translated from In­ dian languages between twenty-five and fifty years prior to the com­ position of Xun Yue’s text. Perhaps the earliest use of the word occurs in the corpus of the early Parthian monk, An Shigao 安世高, who was active in Luoyang and Kuaiji between 148 and 170. Among his works on breath control and the enumeration of doctrine, his translation of an early, incomplete version of the Yogƒcƒrabhˆmi (Daodi jing 道地 經) includes the use of the word zhuangyan as a predicate in the sense of “ornament” or “dress up formally,” applied to different ways that people can be attired. The passage occurs in a chapter discussing the supernatural penetrations the adept can achieve by practicing differ­ ent forms of meditation, including contemplation of impurities. The passage in question stresses the importance of maintaining mindfulness and analysis no matter what the object of contemplation might be. The text states, “Or if he sees a man or sees a feeble person; or if he sees an old man, a full grown man, or a youth; or if he sees [a person dressed] formally and properly, or with chest exposed, or wearing clothing, or ornamented [zhuangyan]; or any other [sight], it is thus. It is like the fact that throughout the continuum of mental states there is the presence of thought; everything that exists is no different than this.”21 An Shigao and his team of translators clearly understood zhuangyan to refer to how a person dresses. Another early foreigner who trans­ lated Indic texts into Chinese in Luoyang was the Yuezhi (Scythian?) monk Lokak™ema (known in Chinese as Zhi Loujiachen 支婁迦讖 or Zhi Chen 支讖; ca. 167–186), credited by later historians with introducing the first Mahƒyƒna texts to Chinese Buddhists. In his translation idiom Lokak™ema extended the metaphorical range of the word zhuangyan,

21 Daodi jing 道地經 (Yogƒcƒrabhˆmi), An Shigao 安世高 (ca. 148–170), T no. 607, vol. 15, p. 236a; emending 壯 to 莊 (strong or full grown) based on sense.

212 ornamenting the departed applying it not only to a person’s act of dressing but also to the deco­ ration of physical space and cosmic realms. One of Lokak™ema’s more interesting applications of the word occurs in his translation of The Per- fection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (A™¾asƒhasrikƒ prajñƒpƒramitƒ, Daoxing bore jing 道行般若經) in a passage discussing the adornment not of people but of mountains. Lokak™ema notes that the proper exercise of the perfection of wisdom is marked by no-thought (wunian 無念), which is not the complete absence of mental activity but rather the lack of dualistic thinking. One of the metaphors he uses to explain the concept is the attitude taken by the king of mountains, Mount Sumeru, toward the majestic Heaven of Thirty-Three located on its peak and hence con­ sidered its crown. Lokak™ema writes, “It can be compared to the peak of Mount Sumeru having Trƒyastri¿ªa Heaven as a decoration. Mount Sumeru, however, does not form this thought: I should place atop me the ornamentation [zhuangyan] of Trƒyastri¿ªa Heaven.”22 Lokak™ema also uses the word to indicate the religious act of or­ namentation, specifically, the offering of flowers to a holy person’s rel­ ics. In his translation of the scripture describing the realm of Ak™obhya (Echu 阿閦) buddha, he portrays the scene in which Ak™obhya achieves final nirvƒ¡a, which is the occasion for miraculous events and the en­ lightenment of many beings. After the buddha’s relics reproduce spon­ taneously, beings from the entire universe are moved to make offerings to the buddha’s remains. Lokak™ema writes, “At that time all the peo­ ple in the three thousand great-thousand realms made offerings to his body and made stˆpas out of the seven jewels. Those three thousand great-thousand realms are supposed to use stˆpas of the seven jewels and golden colored lotus blossoms for ornamentation 當以七寶塔及葉金 色蓮華而莊嚴.”23 Here “ornamentation” applies to the act of venerating relics and adorning a shrine. From this sense of ornamenting a holy being it is not far to another semantic field for the word: the beautiful, pleasant, and soteriologically effective objects that are found in a buddha’s land (buddhak™etra, focha 佛刹), a realm where a buddha resides and in which a direct encounter with the buddha preaching the dharma will bring expedited enlighten­

22 Daoxing bore jing 道行般若經 (A™¾asƒhasrikƒ prajñƒpƒramitƒ), Lokak™ema (Zhi Loujia­ chen 支婁迦讖; ca. 167–186), T no. 224, vol. 8, p. 467a. 23 Echu Foguo jing 阿閦佛國經 ([²rya] ak™obhya tathƒgatasya vyˆha), Lokak™ema, T no. 313, vol. 11, p. 671a. There is significant doubt that the text in its current form is Lokak™ema’s work; see Jan Nattier, A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations: Texts from the Eastern Han 東漢 and Three Kingdoms 三國 Periods, Bibliotheca Philologica et Philosophica Buddhica 10 (Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 2008), pp. 85–86.

213 stephen f. teiser ment. In Lokak™ema’s translation of the Bhadrapƒla sˆtra, for instance, the text begins with the bodhisattva Bhadrapƒla (Batuohe 颰陀和) asking the buddha to describe the methods that bodhisattvas should practice. One of his questions, in the midst of a long list, concerns how bodhisattvas can bring into being a buddha’s realm. Bhadrapƒla describes the bodhisat­ tvas: “carrying out their wisdom, they gradually pursue the completion of a buddha realm and the ornamentation of all lands 莊嚴諸國土.”24 The semantic range of the word zhuangyan was thus already exten­ sive before the end of the Han dynasty. The word was applied, usually in verbal position, to the donning of clothing, the majestic appear­ ance of sacred mountains, the religious embellishment of relics and shrines, and the production of beautiful sites in Buddhist paradises. This last implication was soon to become foundational for later Bud­ dhist usage, as it figures prominently in the text describing Amitƒyus/ Amitƒbha (Emituo 阿彌陀) buddha, the translation of which is attributed to Sa¿ghavarman (Kang Sengkai 康僧鎧; ca. 252), the Sogdian monk active in Luoyang.25 The text describes the long process by which the monk Dharmakƒra (Fazang 法藏, “Dharma Store”) in front of the bud­ dha Lokeªvararƒja (Zizaiwang 自在王, “Sovereign King of the World”) took forty-eight vows to deliver sentient beings from suffering, became a bodhisattva, fulfilled his vows, and took up residence in the land of bliss. The word zhuangyan is used consistently in the verbal position, taking “land” as a direct object. In this particular text, the word is probably a translation of the Sanskrit vyˆha, which in classical Sanskrit

24 Banzhou sanmei jing 般舟三昧經 (Bhadrapƒla sˆtra, or, reconstructed from the Tibetan: Pratyutpanna buddha sa¿mukhâvasthita samƒdhi sˆtra), Lokak™ema, T no. 418, vol. 13, p. 903c; cf. Paul Harrison, trans., The Pratyutpanna Samƒdhi Sutra Translated by Lokak™ema Translated from the Chinese (Taish± Volume 13, Number 418), BDK English Tripi¾aka 25-II, 25-III (Berke­ ley: Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 1998), p. 10. For similar uses of the word in a later translation of the same text, see Banzhou sanmei jing 般舟三昧經 (Bhadrapƒla sˆtra, or, reconstructed from the Tibetan: Pratyutpanna buddha sa¿mukhâvasthita samƒdhi sˆtra), Lokak™ema, T no. 417, vol. 13, p. 898a. For the dating of these two texts, I follow Paul Harrison, The Samƒdhi of Direct Encounter with the Buddhas of the Present: An Annotated English Translation of the Tibetan Version of the “Pratyutpanna-Buddha-Sa¿mukhƒvasthita- Samƒdhi-Sˆtra” with Several Appendices Relating to the History of the Text, Studia Philolog­ ica Buddhica, Monograph Series 5 (Tokyo: The International Institute for Buddhist Stud­ ies, 1990), pp. 207–72; Kajiyama Yˆichi 梶山雄一, “Hanju zanmai ky±” 般舟三昧経, in Kan mury±ju ky±, Hanju zanmai ky± 観無量壽経,般舟三昧経, J±do Bukky± no shis± 浄土仏敎の思 想 (Tokyo: K±dansha, 1992) 2, pp. 242–57; and Nattier, Guide to the Earliest Chinese Bud- dhist Translations, pp. 81–83. 25 The textual criticism and dating of this text is a knotty issue; it is certainly not a work by Sa¿ghavarman. For an up-to-date study that supports an attribution to Dharmarak™a (Zhu Fahu 竺法護; ca. 265–313), see Shi De’an 釋德安, “Wuliangshou jing yizhe kao: Yi Fojing yu­ yanxue wei yanjiu zhuzhou” 無量壽經譯者考, 以佛經語言學為研究主軸, M.A. Thesis, Nanhua daxue 南華大學 (Taiwan, 2005); available at libserver2.nhu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/ getfile?URN=etd-1211105-172826&filename=etd-1211105-172826.pdf.

214 ornamenting the departed sources refers to “placing apart, distribution, arrangement”26 and in Buddhist sources can mean “establish” or “array.”27 Thus, in addition to its sense of “ornamenting” a buddha land (used in the translation below), the word can mean “establish” a pure realm or “array” a para­ dise with beautiful sights. The buddha said to ²nanda, “Having spoken these verses, bhik™u Dharma Store said to the buddha [Sovereign King of the World], ‘Respectfully, World-Honored One, I have awakened the mind intent on supreme, perfect enlightenment. I pray you explain the dharma of the scriptures to me fully, so that I can cultivate the adoption of buddha lands and the purification and ornamentation of unlimited marvelous lands. Cause me swiftly in this world to attain perfect enlightenment and remove the various roots of birth and death, hardship and suffering.’” The buddha said to ²nanda, “Then the buddha Sovereign King of the World told the bhik™u Dharma Store, ‘You should yourself know how to cultivate the ornamentation of a buddha land.’ The bhik™u said to the buddha, ‘Its meaning is vast and deep, beyond my comprehension. I pray that the World-Honored One will ex­ tensively explain the practices of the pure lands of all buddhas and thus-come ones. After hearing it, I shall cultivate in accordance with what is preached and fulfill my vows.’ At that time the bud­ dha Sovereign King of the World recognized his nobility and the depth and breadth of his vows and proclaimed the words of the scripture. ...” “Then the buddha Sovereign King of the World ... revealed all to him in accord with his wishes. Then the bhik™u, having heard of the ornamenting and purifying of the countries (yanjing guotu 嚴靜 國土) preached by the buddha and having seen them all, resolved upon his unsurpassed, extraordinary vows. His mind was serene and his aspirations free of attachment, unmatched in any world. He

26 Sir Monier Monier-Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary Etymologically and Philologi- cally Arranged with Special Reference to Cognate Indo-European Languages, 2d edn. (Oxford: Oxford U.P., 1899), p. 1041a, citing the Rƒmƒyana. 27 Nakamura, Bukky±go daijiten, p. 717d, meaning no. 1: “something established; establish; bright splendor; arrange beautifully, something arrayed 建 立すること. 建立. 光輝. みごとに配 置, 排 列されていること,” citing the pure land text I translate here and the Diamond Sˆtra, dis­ cussed below. On Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit vyˆha, Edgerton writes: “(1) mass, large amount . . . . (2) in Mahƒyƒna works (not in Pƒli), arrangement, but with regular overtones of marvelous, supernatural, magical arrangement, esp. of Buddha-fields. . . . it seems to me essentially sim­ ple, tho no one English word is appropriate . . .”; Franklin Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary, vol. 2: Dictionary (New Haven: Yale U.P., 1953), p. 520.

215 stephen f. teiser

completed the precepts for five kalpas and contemplated the adop­ tion of the pure practices of ornamenting the buddha countries.” ²nanda asked the buddha, “How long is the lifespan in those buddha countries?” The buddha replied, “Their buddhas’ lifespans are forty-two kalpas.” [The buddha continued,] “Then bhik™u Dharma Store adopted the pure practices of the two hundred and ten ko¾is of marvelous buddha lands. After completing this cultivation, he went to that buddha, knelt down at his feet, circumambulated him three times, joined his palms, and stood. He said to the buddha, ‘I have already adopted the pure practices for ornamenting a buddha land.’ The buddha told the bhik™u, ‘Now you may preach — you should know that this is the time. Encourage and delight the entire great as­ sembly. Upon hearing it, bodhisattvas will cultivate this dharma; the conditions are fulfilled for them to complete their unlimited great vows.’ The bhik™u said to the buddha, ‘Please grant me your attention. I will fully proclaim my vows.’”28 Western-language scholarship over the past thirty years has begun to appreciate the broad range, the early date, and the Buddhological com­ plexity of concepts of the pure land, of which Amitƒyus’s Sukhƒvat… is only one example.29 This text, along with Lokak™ema’s translation of the Ak™obhya text cited above, represents in its Chinese version what would become one of the standard works among the pure land litera­ ture. In it the term zhuangyan is used frequently in reference to the fea­ tures of a buddha field or pure land. As noted above, the original Sanskrit in the Sukhƒvat… text that is rendered with the Chinese word zhuangyan was probably vyˆha, which has led some scholars to translate the Chinese as “establishment/estab­ lishing” rather than “ornamentation/ornamenting.”30 Similarly, schol­ 28 Foshuo wuliangshou jing 佛說無量壽經, attributed to Sa¿ghavarman (Kang Sengkai 康僧 鎧; ca. 252), T no. 360, vol. 12, p. 267b–c; other English translations are noted below. 29 Luis O. Gómez, trans.,The Land of Bliss: The Paradise of the Buddha of Measureless Light, Sanskrit and Chinese Versions of the Sukhƒvat…vyˆha Sutras, Studies in the Buddhist Traditions (Honolulu: U. Hawai’i P., 1996); Paul M. Harrison, “Buddhƒnusm¬ti in the Pratyutpanna- Buddha-Sa¿mukhƒvasthita-Samƒdhi-Sˆtra,” Journal of Indian Philosophy 6 (1978), pp. 35– 57; Jan Nattier, “The Realm of Ak™obhya: A Missing Piece in the History of Pure Land Bud­ dhism,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 23.1 (2000), pp. 71–102; Richard K. Payne and Kenneth Tanaka, eds., Approaching the Land of Bliss: Religious Praxis in the Cult of Amitƒbha (Honolulu: U. Hawai’i P., 2004); and Gregory Schopen, “Sukhƒvatî As a Generalized Religious Goal in Sanskrit Mahƒyƒna Literature,” Indo-Iranian Journal 19 (1977), pp. 177–210. 30 Inagaki Hisao, trans., The Three Pure Land Sutras, in collaboration with Harold Stewart, 2d rev. edn. (BDK English Tripi¾aka 12-II, III, IV) (Berkeley: Bukky± Dend± Ky±kai and Nu­ mata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2003), pp. 12–14; Gomez, Land of Bliss, pp. 164–65, usually translates “adorn a Buddha-land.”

216 ornamenting the departed ars translating the Sansrkit vyˆha have proposed “magnificent display” (Gomez), “wonderful arrangements” (Schopen), “dispositions,” and “manifestations” (Edgerton).31 While these understandings of the term can indeed be wrung out of the Chinese, it would seem that the more decorative sense of the word, having to do with beautification of ap­ pearance in accordance with virtue, is more prevalent in the other early attested uses cited above. The question of how to interpret the meaning of words in Chi­ nese translations from Sanskrit is further complicated by the fact that translation from Sanskrit, a complex historical process spanning nearly a millennium, was rarely under the control of a single person who commanded Sanskrit, spoken Chinese, and the Chinese written lan­ guage. Each major translator of texts — or more accurately, each team of native Chinese and foreigners assembled under a (usually foreign) translation master — developed his (its) own distinctive translation idiom. This is especially true prior to Kumƒraj…va (Jiumoluoshi 鳩摩 羅什; 350–409). After him, the four-character phrasing in prose pas­ sages that was popular during his time became the new standard for all forms of Buddhist prose composition — both translations from foreign languages and pieces authored in Chinese — and his particular mix of transliteration (by sound) and translation (by meaning) was made more regular. As Boucher, Harrison, Karashima, and Nattier have recently demonstrated, the most productive method is to study in depth the 31 Gomez offers “magnificent display” (Land of Bliss, p. 3) and then adds in a note: “Suf­ fice it to say that the semantic range of the word vyˆha seems to include all of the follow­ ing: ‘array,’ ‘display,’ ‘arrangement,’ ‘host,’ ‘multitude,’ ‘grandeur,’ ‘splendid manifestation,’ ‘splendid display,’ and perhaps even ‘splendor’ and ‘magnificence’” (p. 223, n. 1). Gregory Schopen translates the term k™etravyˆha as “wonderful arrangements in [my] sphere of activ­ ity” in “The Manuscript of the Vajracchedikƒ Found at Gilgit: An Annotated Transcription and Translation,” in Luis O. Gómez and Jonathan A. Silk, eds., Studies in the Literature of the Great Vehicle: Three Mahƒyƒna Buddhist Texts (Ann Arbor: Collegiate Institute for the Study of Buddhist Literature and Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, The University of Michigan, 1989) , p. 138, n. 14; Thesaurus Literaturae Buddhicae, website of the University of Oslo, Faculty of Humanities, Vajracchedikƒ Prajñƒpƒramitƒ, translates the term k™etravyˆha as “dispositions of a field”; https://husmann.uio.no/polyglotta/index.php?page=fulltext&library =TLB&vid=11&home=lib. Edgerton (Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary 2, p. 520a) offers “manifestations (or arrangements) of the Buddha-fields.” See also Jan Gonda, “The Meaning of the Word Ala¿kƒra,” in S.M. Katre and P.K. Gode, eds., A Volume of East- ern and Indian Studies Presented to Professor F. W. Thomas, C.I.E., on His 72nd Birth-Day 21st March 1939 (Bombay: Karnatak Publishing House, 1939), pp. 97–114; idem, “²bhara¡a,” New Indian Antiquary 2.2 (May 1939), pp. 69–75; Hara Minoru 原実, “Ga¡ºa-vyˆha daimei k±” Ga¡ºa-vyˆha 題名考, in Indo shis± to bukky±: Nakamura Hajime hakushi kanreki kinen ronshˆ インド思 想と仏 教 , 中村元博士還暦記念論集, ed. Nakamura Hajime hakushi kanreki kinen­ kai 中村元博士還暦記念會 (Tokyo: Shunjˆsha, 1973), pp. 21–36; Kajiyama Yˆichi 梶山雄一, Satori e no henreki: Kegon ky± nyˆhokkai bon さとり へ の 遍 歴 , 華厳経入法界品 (Tokyo: Chˆ± K±ronsha, 1994) 1, pp. 443–48; and Murakami Shinkan 村上真完, “Vyˆha (sh±gon) k±, toku ni Ga¡ºa-vyˆha no gen’i ni tsuite” Vyˆha (荘厳)考, 特に Ga¡ºa-vyˆha の原 意について, Indo tetsugaku Bukky±gaku 印度哲學仏教學 18 (2003), pp. 52–72.

217 stephen f. teiser

vocabulary developed by each of the major translators; only then can scholars make defensible guesses about the original Sanskrit that might have underlay the Chinese translations.32 A recent study of a long text translated by Kumƒraj…va shows that even within a single text, the word zhuangyan was used to render a variety of Sanskrit words.33 Given the lack of a regularized translation lexicon (such as was developed in the later Tibetan translation of Sanskrit canons), it should not be surprising to see, then, that the word zhuangyan was used to trans­ late a number of Sanskrit terms. Most common, perhaps, were words based on the particle ala¿ plus the root √k¬- such as ala¿-kƒra, “the act of decorating; ornament, decoration,” and ala¿-√k¬i, “to make ready, prepare; to decorate, ornament.” Vyˆha (“display,” “arrangements,” “dispositions,” as noted above) was next most common. A third com­ mon Sanskrit word for which early Buddhist translators chose the word zhuangyan was bhˆªa¡a, meaning “decorating, adorning” and “embel­ lishment, ornament, decoration.”34 Since our focus is China and Chinese sources and because my Sanskrit abilities are limited, I leave full consideration of the Indologi­ cal questions to my more competent Buddhological colleagues. More­ over, a thorough study of the meanings of the word zhuangyan in early Chinese Buddhist translations is beyond the scope of this essay. The brief survey offered here suggests that the word was used in a number of senses: to dress up or ornament by donning clothing; to ornament the external appearance of physical objects by analogous means; to decorate or embellish the appearance of religious sites; to bring into existence the beautiful sites of a buddha’s realm; to create an array, 32 Daniel Boucher, “Buddhist Translation Procedures in Third-Century China: A Study of Dharmarak™a and His Translation Idiom,” Ph.D. diss. (University of Pennsylvania, 1996); Paul M. Harrison, “The Earliest Chinese Translations of Mahƒyƒna Sˆtras: Some Notes on the Works of Lokak™ema,” Buddhist Studies Review 10.2 (1993), pp. 135–77; Karashima Seishi, A Glossary of Dharmaraksa’s Translation of the Lotus Sutra, Bibliotheca Philologica et Philo­ sophica Buddhica 1 (Tokyo: The International Research Institute for Advanced Buddhology, Soka University, 1998); Jan Nattier, A Few Good Men: The Bodhisattva Path according to the Inquiry of Ugra (Ugraparip¬cchƒ), Studies in the Buddhist Traditions (Honolulu: U. Hawai’i P., 2003). The task is made even more daunting because most of the excellent encyclopedias of Buddhist terminology are based largely on the close study of the corpora of only three major translators: Dharmarak™a, Kumƒraj…va, and Xuanzang. Translations produced before, after, and in between these three figures remain understudied. 33 See Zhang Youjun 張幼軍, “‘Zhuangyan’ yici Fan-Han duikan” 莊嚴一詞梵漢對勘, Yuyan yanjiu 語言研究 26.1 (March 2006), pp. 97–100. 34 Examples of the three Sanskrit words in Buddhist texts are based on the listing in Hiraka­ wa, Bukky± Kan-Bon daijiten, no. 3155.20, pp. 1015b–16a. Sanskrit orthography and English translation are based on Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary, pp. 94b (alam), 1041a (vyˆha), and 764b (bhˆªa¡a); and Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Diction- ary, vol. 2, pp. 67b–68a (ala¿k¬taka), 520a–b (vyˆha), and 411b (bhˆªa¡ƒ). See also the stud­ ies noted above of the words vyˆha, ala¿kƒra, and ƒbhara¡a.

218 ornamenting the departed arrangement, or disposition of things. Rather than being a neologism coined exclusively in a Buddhist context, it is possible that the word was part of the vernacular language in the first few centuries. As the Chinese written language was becoming increasingly standardized, it was written with a few variant homophones.

Broader Uses

Building on the early meanings of the word surveyed above, be­ tween the Han and the Tang dynasties the word zhuangyan was deployed in new ways, applied to a broader range of subjects, and used by dif­ ferent groups of writers. These developments undoubtedly contributed to the later use of the word in Tang-dynasty ritual texts. “Ornaments” of various kinds were believed to be present in the worlds of many different buddhas, not just the purified realms of the ten directions that included the pure lands of Amitƒyus and Ak™obhya. The earlier translation (in 60 juan) of the Avata¿saka sˆtra (Dafang- guangfo huayan jing 大方廣佛華嚴經), completed by Buddhabhadra (Fo­ tuobatuoluo 佛陀跋陀羅; 359–429) in 421, for instance, begins with a description of the setting in which the historical buddha, ˜ƒkyamuni, preached the sˆtra: Thus have I heard. Once, when the buddha was at the holy site of the attainment of extinction in the state of Magadhƒ, he began to achieve full enlightenment. The ground was like a diamond, fully endowed with glory and purity, decorated with (zhuangshi 莊飾) all the jewels and various flowers. Wondrous wheels of jewels were full and pure. Unlimited numbers of wondrous colors variously ornamented it (zhongzhong zhuangyan 種種莊嚴) like a great ocean. Jeweled posts and canopy coverings were bright with reflections. Flower garlands of wondrous scent went around them in circles, and nets of the seven jewels covered the top of them. Unlimited jewels rained down, manifesting the power of mastery. The flow­ ers and leaves of all the various kinds of jeweled trees were bright and flourishing. The buddha’s spiritual power caused this location to be broadly and eminently made glorious and pure, bright and reflecting everywhere, assembling all of the astounding, wondrous jewels, a holy site ornamented by unlimited good roots (wuliang shangen zhuangyan 無量善根莊嚴). The bodhi tree was tall and distinguished. Its trunk was made of lapis lazuli, its branches and twigs of wondrous jewels that were ornamented and pure (zhuangyan qingjing 莊嚴清淨). Its jeweled

219 stephen f. teiser

leaves hung like layers of clouds, with flowers of jewels of the vari­ ous colors interspersed among them. It had wish-fulfilling mani jewels as its fruit. The light from the tree lit up the ten directions. All kinds of transformations performed Buddhist rituals without reaching a limit, broadly manifesting the teaching of the way of the great vehicle (Mahƒyƒna) and the bodhisattva. Because of the buddha’s power, they [the beings who appeared through transfor­ mation] constantly produced all the wondrous sounds praising the immeasurable virtue of the Thus Come One.35 The same text uses similar vocabulary to describe many adornments of Vairocana’s realm. Another important development was the use of the word zhuang- yan to describe any kind of good quality or property, usually termed a “virtue” or “merit” (gongde 功德, Skt.: gu¡a or pu¡ya) in Buddhist texts. In Kumƒraj…va’s translation of another, later version of the pure land text earlier translated by Sa¿ghavarman, for instance, Amitƒyus’s realm is repeatedly described as being “ornamented with virtues” (gongde zhuangyan 功德莊嚴). Throughout the narrative the buddha explains the delights of the pure land, including pools of water, jewels, lotus flowers, wondrous food, birds, music, and the preaching of the dharma. Four such sections end with the capping sentence, “The fulfillments of the land of ultimate bliss are in this way ornamented with virtues.”36 Good qualities characterize not only places or realms but also persons or beings. That is to say, the virtue of ornamentation is a sign indicating the power of the buddha who accomplishes the act of or­ namentation. In his rendition (perhaps creation) of the Commentary on the Great Perfection of Wisdom, Kumƒraj…va explains how only buddhas are capable of producing the kind of miraculous transformations that accompany their preaching of an important doctrine. He contrasts a buddha’s powers with those of lesser beings, such as gods and de­ mons, whose abilities are limited to small acts of magic. Kumƒraj…va says that ˜ƒkyamuni’s intention in ornamenting the entire cosmos was

35 Dafangguangfo huayan jing 大方廣佛華嚴經 ([Buddha] Avata¿saka sˆtra), Buddhabhadra (Fotuobatuoluo 佛陀跋陀羅; 359–429), T no. 278, vol. 9, p. 395a. Cf. the later translation of the Avata¿saka (in eighty juan), which uses similar wording to describe the same scene, Dafang- guangfo huayan jing 大方廣佛華嚴經 ([Buddha] Avata¿saka sˆtra), ˜ik™ƒnanda (Shichanantuo 實叉難陀; 652–710), T no. 279, vol. 10, p. 1b–c. 36 Foshuo emituo jing 佛說阿彌陀經 (Sukhƒvat… [am¬ta] vyˆha), Kumƒraj…va (Jiumoluoshi 鳩 摩羅什; 350–409), T no. 366, vol. 12, pp. 346c–47c. Cf. Inagaki, “The Land of Utmost Bliss is filled with such splendid ornaments” (The Three Pure Land Sutras, pp. 104–5); Gomez, “in the Land of Supreme Bliss, good qualities and ornaments like these are brought to perfection” (Land of Bliss, pp. 146–47).

220 ornamenting the departed to reveal the higher truth of the perfection of wisdom. The buddha’s dressing up of the physical world is thus another method for helping people develop their capacity to achieve enlightenment. The original line of the sˆtra on which Kumƒraj…va is commenting reads, “At that time, these three thousand great-thousand worlds were transformed into grounds completely covered by jewels and flowers, ornamented by pendant silken banners and canopies, fragrant trees, and flowering trees.”37 Kumƒraj…va’s commentary explains how the ornamentation was made possible: This was accomplished through the transformations (bianhua 變化, nirmƒ¡a) of the buddha’s unlimited spiritual strength. There ex­ ist the small objects transformed through human spells, conjuring techniques, and the small objects transformed by demons and spir­ its, nƒga kings, and the various gods, but human types and kings of Brƒhma heaven are all incapable of causing the three thousand great-thousand worlds to be turned into jewels. When the buddha enters the mental state of fourteen transformations38 in the four levels of meditative absorption (chan 禪, dhyƒna), he is capable of causing all of the flowers and scented trees and all of the ground in the three thousand great-thousand worlds to be ornamented and all sentient beings to become harmonious and turn their minds to­ ward the good. For what purpose? He ornaments these worlds in order to preach the prajñƒpƒramitƒ [perfection of wisdom]. Kumƒraj…va continues his explanation of how the buddha’s special skills of ornamentation surpass the abilities of lesser beings. Just as normal human beings beautify their home before receiving a guest, the buddha acts as the greatest host of all, fully ornamenting the cosmos in order to attract all sentient beings. Induced by the physical splendor, sentient beings will aspire to perform acts of goodness, their deeds will become progressively noble, and through a cyclical process of augmentation, they will in the end achieve supreme, perfect enlightenment. All this is due, in Kumƒraj…va’s analysis, to the superior merit or virtue of a bud­ dha: all the worlds he ornaments “are produced from great merit.”39

37 Mohe bore boluomi jing 摩訶般若波羅蜜經, trans. Kumƒraj…va, T no. 223, vol. 8, p. 1218c. 38 The particulars of the “mental state of fourteen transformations” (shisi bianhua xin 十 四變化心) are outlined in Apidamojushe lun 阿毘達磨俱舍論 (Abhidharmakoªa bhƒ™ya), attrib­ uted to Vasubandhu (Shiqin 世親), translated by Xuanzang 玄奘 (602–664), T no. 1558, vol. 29, p. 144a–c. 39 Dazhidu lun 大智度論 (Mahƒprajñƒpƒramitopadeªa), Kumƒraj…va, T no. 1509, vol. 25, pp. 133c–34a.

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Two centuries later the great proponent of Huayan metaphysics, Fazang 法藏 (643–712), would summarize this way of understanding the word zhuangyan in his commentary, Notes Exploring the Profundity of the Flower Garland Sˆtra (Huayan jing tanxuan ji 華嚴經探玄記). The second chapter of the sˆtra describes at length the many ornaments of Vairocana’s realm, including its beautiful flowers, dazzling lights, and decorated pillars. Focusing specifically on the word zhuangyan, Fazang explains that “ornament” has two senses: “One sense is ‘to be replete with virtues (jude 具德).’ The other sense is ‘to apply decoration (jiaoshi 交飾).’”40 Other developments in the understanding of ornamentation re­ volve around the distinction between ornaments or virtues that are in­ ner and those which are outer. Some sources make the distinction and insist that both types are important. Kumƒraj…va’s Commentary claims that buddhas possess both inner and outer ornamentation. He writes, “Objects used for ornamentation can be internal or external. Dhyƒna and concentration, wisdom, and such virtues are all internal ornamen­ tation. Mighty bodily appearance and complete observance of the pre­ cepts are external ornamentation. A buddha completely fulfills both internal and external.”41 The distinction between different forms of ornamentation — inner and outer, higher and lower, transcendent and worldly — was put to different uses in medieval Chinese Buddhist discourse. The Diamond Sˆtra, for instance, explains how a bodhisattva negates the normal sense of ornamentation in order to arrive at a truer, dialectical understand­ ing of ornamentation. The discussion occurs in a passage that would become central to the later Chan tradition — precisely the school of thought that used highly polished phrases to champion the cause of the unadorned. In the Diamond Sˆtra ˜ƒkyamuni asks his major inter­ locutor, Subhˆti, “Does a bodhisattva adorn a buddha land?” Subhˆti responds, “No, indeed not, World Honored One. For what reason? Be­ cause the ornamenting of buddha lands is a non-ornamentation. This is called [true] ornamentation.”42

40 Huayan jing tanxuan ji 華嚴經探玄記, Fazang 法藏 (643–712), T no. 1733, vol. 35, p. 163b. 41 Dazhidu lun, Kumƒraj…va, T no. 1509, vol. 25, p. 274c. 42 Jingang bore boluomi jing 金剛般若波羅蜜經 (Vajracchedikƒ), Kumƒraj…va, T no. 235, vol. 8, p. 749c. The passage continues, “The buddha said, ‘For this reason, Subhˆti, bodhisattva- mahƒsattvas should thus give rise to purified thought. They should not give rise to thought while attached to form, nor to sound, smell, taste, touch, or mental objects. They should give rise to thought without being attached to anything.’” Compare the translation by Suzuki, which follows the technical meaning of the Sanskrit vyˆha (“array”): D. T. Suzuki, A Manual of Zen

222 ornamenting the departed

Other writers believed that the external ornamentation of deli­ cately carved statues and imposing buildings in Buddhist temples was needed to inculcate an attitude of reverence toward deities and respect for the dharma. Emperor Jianwen 簡文 of the Liang dynasty (r. 550– 552), the third son of the illustrious emperor Wu 武 (r. 502–550), was a lavish patron of the Buddhist establishment. The Buddhist historians praise him for his piety and munificence, laying blame for his short reign on the powerful warlord and would-be emperor, Hou Jing 侯景 (d. 552). By contrast, the standard histories record one disaster after another during his reign, from military defeats to eclipses and famine; they make no mention of his support for temples other than to note that he wrote commentaries on Daoist philosophy and that his Bud­ dhist compositions filled three hundred scrolls.43 One of the emperor’s more interesting compositions provides instructions to the Buddhist clergy concerning the importance of magnificent appearances. He be­ gins the piece by noting that although the temples of the realm are highly ornamented, their artwork and buildings do not succeed in lead­ ing their viewers to heights of piety and vision. He writes, “The foun­ dations of the sa¿ghârƒmas [gardens of the order] and caityas [shrines] are lined up. Although much ornamentation has been provided [duo she zhuangyan 多設莊嚴] and offerings have been fully cultivated, when one regards their external traces there should be an excess of floweri­ ness, and in the ground of their intention they do not propagate [the dharma] fully.”44 Writing around the same time about temples in the north, Yang Xuanzhi 楊衒之 (d. 555) also uses the word zhuangyan to describe the

Buddhism (1950; New York: Grove Press, 1960), p. 43: “Because to set a Buddha-land in ar­ ray is not to set it in array, and therefore it is known as setting it in array.” In some versions of the Platform Sˆtra, Huineng claims that he achieved enlightenment when the fifth patriarch reached this passage (“They should give rise to thought without being attached to anything”); see Philip B. Yampolsky, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch: The Text of the Tun-huang Manuscript (New York: Columbia U.P., 1967), p. 133; and John R. McRae, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch, Translated from the Chinese of Zongbao, BDK English Tripi¾aka Series (Berkeley: Bukky± Dend± Ky±kai and Numata Center for Buddhist Translation and Research, 2000), pp. 23, 116 n. 56. 43 Yao Cha 姚察 (533–606) and Yao Silian 姚思廉 (d. 637), Liang shu 梁書, j. 4, in Xin- jiaoben Liang shu fu suoyin 新校本梁書附索引, Zhongguo xueshu leibian (Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1980), pp. 103–9; Li Yanshou 李延壽 (ca. 618–676), Nan shi 南史, j. 8, in Xinjiaoben Nan shi fu suoyin 新校本南史附索引, Zhongguo xueshu leibian (Taibei: Dingwen shuju, 1981), pp. 229–34. For Buddhist accounts, including the note that he personally visited Dazhuangyan Monastery 大莊嚴寺 on ceremonial occasions at least twice, see Zhipan 志磐 (Song dynasty), Fozu tongji 佛祖統紀, T no. 2035, vol. 49, pp. 351c, 450c; and Benjue 本覺 (Yuan dynasty), (Lidai biannian) Shishi tongjian 歷代編年釋氏通鑑, Z no. 1516, vol. 76, p. 56b. 44 “Yu seng zheng jiao 與僧正教,” in Daoxuan 道宣 (596–667), Guang hongming ji 廣弘明 集, T no. 2103, vol. 52, p. 210b.

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ornamentation of Buddhist buildings and ritual pomp. Commenting on Mingxuan Nunnery 明懸尼寺, he writes, “It has a three-story pagoda without ornamentation 未加莊嚴.” Turning to a tall buddha statue in Changqiu Monastery 長秋寺, he states that the statue, which includes an elephant mount, is paraded around the city during celebrations such as the buddha’s birthday. On such occasions, preceded by statues of lions and other guardians, the statues are specially garbed for the procession: “For ornamentating Buddhist ceremonies 莊嚴佛事, they always use gold and jade. The craftsmanship is so marvelous it is hard to express.”45 Further understanding of the extension of the notion of ornament may be gained by considering its use in Daoist circles. Following the lead of scholars working on early interactions between Buddhist and Daoist ritual traditions, the logical place to look for reverberations of the notion of ornament is in the Lingbao 靈寶 tradition.46 As is well known, the “Numinous Treasure” tradition began with scriptures believed to have been revealed to Ge Chaofu 葛巢甫 (ca. 402), underwent codifica­ tion and canonization by Lu Xiujing 陸修靜 (406–477), and during the Tang dynasty was reformulated under the influence of Shangqing 上清 (“Highest Clarity”) ideas and ritual traditions. In some respects the sur­ vival of many Lingbao texts among the Dunhuang manuscripts and the difficulty of dating precisely the transmitted texts in the Ming-dynasty Daoist canon add to, rather than simplify, the problems of dating. One cosmological text, perhaps dating from as early as the middle of the sixth century, offers a comprehensive vision of the world and the ritual system put in place by the deities and priests of the tradi­ tion. Entitled Scripture of the Most High Numinous Treasure That Penetrates Mystery on Retribution for Deeds and Causation (Taishang dongxuan lingbao yebao yinyuan jing 太上洞玄靈寶業報因緣經), the text presents itself as the

45 Yang Xuanzhi 楊衒之 (d. 555), Luoyang qielan ji 洛陽伽藍記, T no. 2092, vol. 52, pp. 1004c–5a, 1002c, respectively. Cf. Yi-t’ung Wang, trans., A Record of Buddhist Monasteries in Lo-yang by Yang Hsüan-chih, Princeton Library of Asian Translations (Princeton: Princeton U.P., 1984), p. 68 (“there was a three-storied stˆpa that was not particularly magnificent”) and 45–46 (“The sumptuous Buddhist decorations were all made of gold or jade, with a distinctive workmanship difficult to describe”). 46 See Stephen R. Bokenkamp, “The Silkworm and the Bodhi Tree: The Lingbao Attempt to Replace Buddhism in China and Our Attempt To Place Lingbao Taoism,” in Religion and Chinese Society: A Centennial Conference of the École française d’Extrême-Orient, ed. John La­ gerwey (Hong Kong and Paris: Chinese University Press and École française d’Extrême-Ori­ ent, 2004) 1, pp. 317–39; idem, “Sources of the Ling-pao Scriptures,” in Michel Strickmann, ed., Tantric and Taoist Studies in Honour of R.A. Stein, Mélanges chinois et bouddhiques 21 (Brussels: Institut Belge des Hautes Études Chinoises, 1983) 2, pp. 434–86; and Erik Zürcher, “Buddhist Influence on Early Taoism: A Survey of Scriptural Evidence,” TP 66.1–3 (1980), pp. 84–147.

224 ornamenting the departed responses of the Most High Lord of the Way (Taishang daojun 太上 道君) to questions asked by the Perfected One of Universal Salvation (Puji zhenren 普濟真人). At the beginning of the story, the Heavenly Worthy of Primordial Beginning (Yuanshi tianzun 元始天尊) emits a ray of light from between his eyebrows that illuminates the realms located in the ten directions. Struck by the light emanating from the heavenly worthy, beings in the ten directions follow the chief deity of their re­ spective direction and travel to the heavenly worthy’s seat. The deities of the ten directions and their retinue are described in great detail; the grandeur of their decoration highlights the world-illuminating power of the chief deity, the heavenly worthy. The scripture’s description of the first contingent, led by the deity of the south, sets the pattern for the retinues coming from the other nine directions. The text reads: At that time the Heavenly Lord of the Nine Energies (Jiuqi tianjun 九炁天君) of the eastern realm led his entire retinue of unlimited residents to the assembly and sat to the east. He erected a throne of the ten laws and ornamented it with one hundred treasures, nu­ minous canopies with the nine kinds of light, numinous banners of the ten absolutes, blue banners and blue curtains, blue pillows and blue cushions. Miraculous dragons drummed and played music. They circumambulated all around, burned incense, and strewed flowers. Ten thousands and many millions of numinous candles of the nine kinds of light and miraculous lanterns of the four kinds of brightness cast light in front.47 While the pantheon of the Lingbao tradition was organized along Daoist lines, this text makes clear that, at the same time, some basic concepts of space, including the relation between the ten directions and the chief deity, as well as the rituals of circumambulation, offering flowers, and decoration, were similar to Buddhist ones. Nor should it be surprising to find the word zhuangyan used in Dao­ ist rituals analogous to Buddhist rites of ancestral memorialization. The structure of an eighth-century liturgy is similar to that of the Buddhist ritual texts that furnished our original jumping-off point in this essay. The entire chapter of the liturgy is entitled “Transfer and Ornamenta­

47 Taishang dongxuan lingbao yebao yinyuan jing 太上洞玄靈寶業報因緣經, D no. 336, vol. 10, p. 402b. On the dating of the text, see Ren Jiyu 任繼愈, ed., Daozang tiyao 道藏提要 (Bei­ jing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1991), no. 335; Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen, The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the “Daozang” (Chicago: U. Chicago P., 2004), pp. 518–20; and Yoshioka Yoshitoyo 吉岡義豊, “Sand± h±d± kakai gihan no sei­ ritsu ni tsuite” 三洞奉道科誡儀範の成立について, in D±ky± kenkyˆ 道教研究, vol. 1, ed. Yoshi­ oka Yoshitoyo and Mishieru Suwamie ミシェルスワミエ [Michel Soymié] (Tokyo: Shy±shinsha, 1965), pp. 5–108.

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tion (Huixiang zhuangyan pin 迴向莊嚴品).” The actions are identical to those performed in Buddhist contexts: first merit is created through offerings, then the merit is transferred to named recipients in order to ornament or to benefit them. The basic concepts, including trans­ fer (huixiang), merit (gongde 功德), and ornament (zhuangyan), overlap between the two ritual traditions. The sequence of action in this part of the Lingbao ritual follows three steps. First, the participants in the ritual take refuge in the various deities assembled in the sacred space. Second, the participants bow to the deities. Third, they pray that the merit deriving from the ritual be used to ornament specific groups of people. The third step begins: Now, in the ritual space, the chief donor and others offer up prayers to the Heavenly Worthy of the Unsurpassed Numinous Treasure in the East, and to all the worthies, all the sages, all the great per­ fected ones, all the great lads, and all of the worthies and sages of the ten directions, in the worlds of complete darkness and va­ cuity, whether hidden or manifest. The master of repentance So- and-So first prays (yuan 願) that this merit be taken (yi sigongde 以 斯功德) and fully used for ornamentation (bianxi zhuangyan 遍悉 莊嚴), above benefiting (shang zi 上資) the imperial family, their one million forebears and ten thousand ancestors, the former au­ gust ones, imperial mother and father, and the venerable spirits of the seven ancestral temples. May their spirits be dispatched to the Purple River, their earth-souls refined at the Red Mound. May they be bathed in the Pond of Treasures and rest leisurely in the Wondrous Garden. May they be cloaked in flowing robes of crimson and don rosy crowns of jade. May they mount clouds of the three elements and ride the chariot of eight bells, passing through the passes blocked by ice and undertaking services of jade purity. May they face the vacuous augustness and come shoulder- to-shoulder with the sage on high. May they be selected for a po­ sition as a spirit or perfected one, their name join the list of the various offices. May they be placed in the upper realms and bring advantage and peace to the lower lands. May they always protect their ancestral temples and forever make the sacrifices prosper­ ous. May their offering of longevity never be exhausted and their good fortune be as widespread as heaven. . . . Next we pray (ciyuan 次願) for the prior souls of nine genera­ tions of ancestors of the master of repentance So-and-So, that his family and relatives and all their dependents, those already de­ ceased and those who will be transformed later, new souls and old

226 ornamenting the departed

consciousnesses. May they bear the marks of the treasure and all achieve salvation via the bridge of the law . . . .48 In the Lingbao liturgical text the beneficiaries begin with the imperial family, extend to the local community, and end with the sponsor’s own family. The boons wished for conform to the rewards of longevity, the extensive topography and system of paradises, and the regalia posited by the Lingbao tradition. Nevertheless, there is a strong overlap be­ tween this text and Buddhist liturgical manuscripts in terms of ritual structure, extending to the names assigned by the liturgist to the steps of the ritual and the words in the prayer designed to accomplish the ritual acts. The two traditions shared a common ritual syntax, which in all likelihood originated in early Buddhist liturgies.

Buddhist Liturgies from Dunhuang

As noted at the beginning of this essay, the word zhuangyan per­ forms a crucial function in a central part of medieval Buddhist ritual: it is used consistently in the portion of the ritual in which the benefits derived from the donor’s gift are bestowed upon the beneficiary of the ritual. It is significant that, in addition to its recurrence in the script of the ritual, the word is used by liturgists to name this specific section of the text and, correspondingly, this specific step in the performance. A liturgy for the ending of a period of mourning assigns the follow­ ing titles to its specific sections: “Praising the Virtues [of the buddha]” (Tande 嘆德), “Purpose of the Feast” (Zhaiyi 齋意), “Place of Practice” or “Ritual Actions” (Daochang 道場), and “Ornamentation” (Zhuangyan 莊嚴).49 Furthermore, compilations of phrases for use in this portion of Buddhist memorial rites use the same expression as a subtitle for that section of the rite. Examples include: 1. “Ornamenting a Monk” (Seng zhuangyan 僧莊嚴), 2. “Ornamentation of a Daughter ” (Nü zhuangyan 女莊嚴), 3. “Ornamentation of a Military Officer” (Wu zhuangyan 武莊

48 Taishang cibei daochang xiaozai jiuyou chan 太上慈悲道場消災九幽懺, pref. Li Hanguang 李含光 (8th c.), D no. 543, vol. 16, pp. 657b–58b. See Ren, Daozang tiyao, no. 539; and Schip­ per and Verellen, Taoist Canon, pp. 566–67. 49 See the liturgy for a memorial service, entitled “Tuofu wen 脫服文,” S. 2832. Another copy of the same text is Dx 1285v (Dx 2172v); reproduced in Eluosi kexueyuan dongfang yanjiusuo Shengbidebao fensuo 俄羅斯科學院東方研究所聖彼得堡分所, Eluosi kexue chuban­ she dongfang wenxuebu 羅斯科學出版社東方文學部, Shanghai guji chubanshe 上海古籍出版 社, eds., Eluosi kexueyuan dongfang yanjiusuo Shengbidebao fensuo cang Dunhuang wenxian 俄 羅斯科學院東方研究所聖彼得堡分所藏敦煌文獻, Dunhuang wenxian jicheng 敦煌文獻集成 (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe; Moscow: Eluosi kexue chubanshe dongfang wenxuebu, 1992–2001), vol. 8, p. 61b; the liturgy is cited and partially transcribed in Hao Chunwen 郝春 文, “Guanyu Dunhuang xieben zhaiwen de jige wenti” 關於敦煌寫本齋文的幾個問題, Shoudu shifan daxue xuebao (shehui kexue ban) 首都師範大學學報 (社會科學版) 1996.2, p. 66.

227 stephen f. teiser

嚴), 4. “Ornamentation of the Deceased” (Wang zhuangyan 亡莊嚴), 5. “Ornamenting a Minister” (Zhuangyan shangshu 莊嚴上書), and 6. “Or­ namenting a Child” (Zhuangyan haizi 莊嚴孩子).50 In this respect, then, the word zhuangyan may be considered a form of indigenous practical reflection, a category produced, unprompted, by the makers of the text and performers of the ritual. In their usage, the word summarizes and crystallizes the fundamental action they believe to be taking place in this segment of the ritual. The way the word is used takes us close to the native categorization of religious ritual. This section of the liturgy is the performative crux of the text. It is performative in the strict sense because the uttering of its words in the appropriate, clearly defined ritual setting accomplishes an action, and it is crucial because without it, the ritual fails. Other portions of the text can be elided or left unsaid, but if the words here are not pronounced by the performers, then the intention of the ritual is not achieved. Ab­ sent these words, the merit produced through ritual actions floats away, unassigned to any specific being or group of recipients. This section of the prayer consists usually of one long sentence. By speaking that single sentence, the results of the actions of the participants in the ritual are gathered up and bestowed upon the beneficiary. Typically, the sentence reads, “We take this merit and the broad causes of goodness and use them first to ornament the donor of the feast in front of the altar 以是 功德廣大善因先用莊嚴座前齋主.”51 The reason why this section of the lit­ urgy is so important is directly connected to the logic of Buddhist ritual. In the Buddhist scheme of things, all actions have results: good deeds result in good consequences, evil deeds in bad consequences. The ritu­ als examined here are built on that basis. Not only is the present con­ dition of the parties to the ritual conditioned by their previous actions, especially deeds in previous lifetimes, but the actions performed in the current ritual will have results in the future. A fundamental tenet of this system is that good results (called merit, pu¡ya, variously rendered as gongde 功德 or fu 福) are not restricted to the original performer of the deed. The results of deeds can be dedicated to others. Scholarship in Buddhist studies has in the past few decades begun to focus on this complicated and important question. Here, suffice it to say that prec­

50 Examples are drawn from: 1. S. 343, edited in Huang and Wu, Dunhuang yuanwen ji, p. 19; 2. S. 5639, edited in ibid., p. 214; 3. S. 5639, edited in ibid., p. 215; 4. S. 5639, edited in ibid., p. 215; 5. S. 5639, edited in ibid., p. 216; 6. P. 2058, edited in ibid., p. 249. 51 Liturgy for a preparatory feast entitled “Yuanwen 願文” in an untitled formulary, S. 343; reproduced in Huang Yongwu 黃永武, ed., Dunhuang baozang 敦煌寶藏 (Taibei: Xinwenfeng chuban gongsi, 1981–1986), vol. 3, p. 178a; another version is P. 2915, edited in Huang and Wu, Dunhuang yuanwen ji, pp. 11–13.

228 ornamenting the departed edents for these beliefs were well established in Buddhism outside of China and prior to the development of Mahƒyƒna streams of thought. In the Dunhuang ritual texts, this nearly universal Buddhist transaction involving the transference of the karma is accomplished by speaking the words in this part of the ritual. The central utterance effecting the transfer of goodness is a rather complicated sentence. It uses key terms taken from basic Buddhist concepts and the vernacular language, and it combines them in a syn­ tactical structure built out of many sub-phrases. Before examining the grammar of the more common ornamental phrases, it is worth consid­ ering why this portion of the liturgy is so explicit and so complicated. One reason is the number of participants in the ritual. Each ritual text invokes, explicitly or implicitly, at least three parties to the ritual: the sponsors, the performers, and the beneficiaries, and often there is overlap between these groups. Within the frame of the utterance, the three parties do not necessarily exist in the same time and place. The sponsor need not necessarily be present, having provided funds for the participation of monks and nuns serving as priests. The beneficiaries can be deceased spirits making a passage to the other world or an ail­ ing person sick at home while the rite is being performed elsewhere. By some definitions, prayer involves a ritualized interaction between the supplicant, on the one hand, and beings (the deceased, buddhas, and gods) and things (merit, virtue), on the other hand, that are not physi­ cally present in the same way that the human participants in the ritual are present. They are not visible, but the speech act assumes their pres­ ence, and of course actors in the ritual behave as if they were present. In light of this complexity, this section of the liturgy seems designed to state especially clearly what it is accomplishing: who the sponsors are, what the actors are doing, how the results of the action will affect the beneficiaries. The language of this section is metapragmatic, as some linguistic anthropologists define the term: In contrast to everyday conversation, where such matters can tac­ itly be assumed, addressing invisible interlocutors may require that the participants in the speech event or even its location be clearly referred to. The need to be explicit may also extend to the nature and purpose of the speech act being undertaken. Much of the con­ tent of spells and prayers is metapragmatic, that is, it reflexively refers to the very actions it is undertaking. One reason is presum­ ably that the supposed participants do not all share the same spa­ tiotemporal context, or do not share it in quite the same way.52

52 Webb Keane, “Religious Language,” Annual Review of Anthropology 26.4 (1997), p. 50.

229 stephen f. teiser

In grammatical terms, we might diagram the sentence introduced at the beginning of this section as: Co-verb Noun1) Adverb Verb1) Noun phrase [Verb2) Noun2) ] 以 功德 先 用 [莊嚴亡者] Take Merit First Use [To Ornament Deceased] A literal translation might be: “We take this merit and first use it to ornament the deceased.” Many variations are found in the Dunhuang materials. In place of the co-verb yi 以 (“taking”) we sometimes encoun­ ter zong 總 (“gathering up”), kao 考 (“completing”), or chi 持 (“taking” or “holding”). In English translation, this is the word we are most tempted to drop, since translating it requires a participial phrase that clutters the prose. Thus, an alternate and more economical translation of the sen­ tence introduced above, but which disguises the co-verb, would be: “We use this merit and the broad causes of goodness first to ornament the donor of the feast, in front of the altar.” An even shorter abbreviation would displace all of the action to the noun phrase (consisting of transi­ tive verb and object) at the end: “We first ornament the deceased with merit.” Many texts substitute gongli 功力 (“power of achievements”), shengyin 勝因 (“superlative causes”) or shanyin 善因 (“good causes”) for the word “merit.” All of these variants conform to the logic of karma. In addition, many ornamental sections include more than one transfer of merit, in which case they usually designate a first beneficiary, a sec­ ond, and sometimes a third. Typically these second and third actions of ornamentation are qualified as “next” (ci 次) or “final” (hou 後). Usually the multiple dedicatees occupy positions in the social world increasingly distant from the primary recipient (in contrast, perhaps, to the pattern of the Lingbao text discussed in the previous section). When only one ornamentation is involved, the adverb usually says that all the merit is “fully” (zong 總) dedicated to one beneficiary. In sum, the relatively complex linguistic structure of the ornamental phrase reflects the rela­ tive complexity of the performative situation. Once the grammar of the phrase is understood — its linguistic syntax as well as the grammar of the ritual process — other variants are easier to appreciate. A liturgy for a deceased mother, for instance, includes two transfers of merit, the first to assist the deceased mother, and the second to benefit the grieving family. The first ornamenta­ tion reads, “We complete this superlative merit, these unlimited good causes, and use them first to offer assistance to her deceased soul and departed consciousness. 考斯勝福莫限良緣先用奉資亡靈去識.” The sec­ ond one states, “Secondly, we take this superlative goodness and use

230 ornamenting the departed it next to ornament those utmost in filial piety. 又持勝善次用莊嚴至孝 等.”53 Thus, the merit deriving from the performance of Buddhist ser­ vices can be assigned to multiple beneficiaries. The same grammar is used to dedicate merit to individuals karmically connected to the pri­ mary beneficiary of the ritual. In a liturgy for a healing ritual, for in­ stance, the first assignment of merit to the sick person is supposed to be shared with his enemies or other pathogenic forces which, in the Chinese Buddhist system of curing, were deemed responsible for the illness. The cause of the sickness thus mollified, the liturgy aims the second transfer at treatment, invoking the powers of the famous Bud­ dhist physician, J…vaka. The ornamentation sections plus the prayer sections following them read: We take this especially superlative merit and transfer it to and or­ nament the patient. 以斯殊勝功德迴向莊嚴患者. In this world and in the next life, should he have enemies or creditors, those to whom he owes money or owes his life, we pray that he be able to share this merit with them, so that they will develop pleasant thoughts, give up their enmity, drop their claims, and be reborn in the path of the humans or among the gods, never becoming enemies or ad­ versaries. We further take this merit and use it as ornamentation. 又持是福即用莊嚴. [May he] give up his ailments and be restored to his former condition. Further, may J…vaka’s wondrous medicine be sprinkled on him and infuse his body and mind, the spiritual soup of prajñƒ ever flowing among his four great elements. [May] the various buddhas increase the count of his years, and the nƒgas and gods bestow a talisman of deathlessness.54 Another avenue for investigating the meaning of the word zhuang- yan is to analyze words that liturgists used in place of it.55 What were

53 This prayer is entitled “A Piece for a Deceased Mother” (Wangbi wen 亡妣文). It is a section of an untitled formulary. It exists in two copies: S. 343, reproduced in Huang, Dun- huang baozang, vol. 3, p. 177a; and P. 2915; following the edition in Huang and Wu, Dun- huang yuanwen ji, pp. 6–8. Kao 考 (“complete”) is more commonly written as zong 總, “gather together,” in Dunhuang prayer texts. 54 This prayer is entitled “A Piece for Sickness” (Huanwen 患文). It is contained in the un­ titled formulary, S. 343, reproduced in Huang, Dunhuang baozang, vol. 3, p. 181a; P. 3259 is a second witness; edited in Huang and Wu, Dunhuang yuanwen ji, pp. 24–25. In the second half of the lines quoted here, I transpose the order of the ornamentation phrase (“We further take this merit . . .”) and the prayer phrases (“ [May he] give up his ailments . . .”), since they diverge from the standard order. The reading of the phrase “transfer to and ornament” 迴向 莊嚴 follows the reading in P. 3259 as reported in the edition of Huang and Wu, Dunhuang yuanwen ji. 55 Variations of the phrase of ornamentation in Dunhuang manuscripts are noted in Huang Zheng 黃征, “Dunhuang yuanwen ‘zhuangyan,’ ‘zixun,’ ‘zizhuang’ kaobian 敦煌願文莊嚴資 勳資莊考辯,” orig. published 1999; rpt. Dunhuang yuyan wenzixue yanjiu 敦煌語言文字學研 究 (Lanzhou: Gansu jiaoyu chubanshe, 2001), pp. 213–20; and Zeng Liang 曾良, Dunhuang

231 stephen f. teiser

the synonyms or words of similar function that writers and copyists of ritual texts used in the relevant section of liturgy? These constitute dif­ ferent interpretations of the significance of the word and the working of the ritual. One variant is the longer phrase, “transfer to and orna­ ment” (or “to ornament by transferring to 迴向莊嚴,” noted in the cur­ ing liturgy cited immediately above). This addition makes clear that ornamenting and transferring merit are considered parallel. Another addition is the combination of the ideas of “assistance” and “ornament” in one expression, zizhuang 資莊. A liturgy for a funeral for a man sur­ named Li , for instance, reads, “Collecting unbounded merit and acts of goodness, holding the unsurpassed pure achievements, we use them all to assist and ornament Sir Li in the path of spirits 納無邊之福善, 秉莫大之清熏, 並用資莊李公神道.”56 Rather than adding to the phrase containing the word zhuangyan, other ritual manuscripts substitute dif­ ferent binomial expressions for zhuangyan. The liturgy for a deceased mother noted above uses the word fengzi 奉資, “offer assistance to” the deceased. This locution does not invoke any sense of decoration, while still making clear the respectful relation of offering between sponsors and beneficiary. Perhaps the most common substitution for zhuangyan in this phase of the liturgy among the Dunhuang manuscripts is the word zixun 資勳, sometimes written with the homophone zixun2) 資薰, meaning “to provide help” or “to aid.” One short liturgy for a final memorial service held at the beginning of the third year after death survives in two separate copies, S. 1441 and S. 2832, both of which are formularies. In S. 1441, the relevant phrase reads, “Taking these many good deeds, we gather them together and use them to ornament 以斯多善總用莊嚴.” The wording in S. 2832 is identical, except zixun substitutes for the word zhuangyan: “Taking these many good deeds, we gather them together to provide help.”57

wenxian ziyi tongshi 敦煌文獻字義通釋, Nanqiang congshu 南強叢書 2 (Xiamen: Xiamen daxue chubanshe, 2001), p. 197. 56 The prayer, entitled “For the Father of Number Eleven Li 李十一父,” occurs in the middle of an untitled formulary, sections of which bear the date of 759, S. 4264; edited in Huang and Wu, Dunhuang yuanwen ji, p. 127; photographic facsimile in Huang, ed., Dunhuang baozang, vol. 37, p. 201a. I disagree with Huang and Wu’s collation of the text. They read 無秉英之清 熏, the first three characters of which I read as 秉莫大. The word 無 is marked for deletion in the original manuscript by the inclusion of three small dots to its right; 秉 is read correctly; 英 should be read 莫; and they elide 大. 57 The prayer is not titled in the first recension, and is titled Sanzhou 三周 in the second recension. The first is part of a longer untitled formulary, on the verso side of S. 1441. The second is part of a long untitled formulary, S. 2832, reproduced in Zhongguo shehui kexue­ yuan lishi yanjiusuo 中國社會科學院歷史硏究所, ed., Ying cang Dunhuang wenxian, hanwen Fojing yiwai bufen 英藏敦煌文獻:漢文佛經以外部分 (Chengdu: Sichuan renmin chubanshe, 1990–1995), vol. 4, p. 238b. The two pieces are edited in Huang and Wu, Dunhuang yuan- wen ji, pp. 38–40.

232 ornamenting the departed

To what may these variations in language be attributed? Many of the examples constitute words used in the same position as zhuangyan or restatements of the phrase including zhuangyan. Such parallel con­ structions are common in medieval prose composition, providing the author with a means of expanding an idea by varying the wording. These variations in language add to the meaning of the text and are not, properly speaking, synonyms. At the same time, by virtue of their parallel construction they do something similar to what the ornamen­ tal phrases do. Many of them dispense with the decorative language, in effect, and state more baldly that the ritual is providing assistance, rendering help, offering aid, or transferring merit to the recipient. Perhaps because of the Buddhist background of the term or the complexity of the relevant phrase, some modern scholars have tended to misread sentences in which the term zhuangyan occurs. The most common mistake is to treat it as a noun in sentences which place it in verbal position prior to a direct object.58 Beyond the world of medieval manuscripts, modern lexicographers have also tended to offer diver­ gent definitions for the term. In the most thorough discussion to date of the medieval meanings of the term, Huang analyzes the eight dif­ ferent senses of the word listed in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Chinese Terms (Hanyu dacidian 漢語大辭典) and concludes that only two basic meanings need be distinguished. He writes: Misunderstanding its basic meaning, people are often misled by contemporary usage and define the basic nature of the term zhuang- yan as an adjective [or stative verb, xingrongci 形容詞], so mistaken interpretations are common. Here again we can take the entry on zhuangyan in the Hanyu dacidian as an example for analysis. There are eight meanings given for the entry on zhuangyan in volume 9, page 428 of Hanyu dacidian: 1. To dress properly; 2. Serious and solemn; 3. Refers to language that is elegant and serious; 4. Re­ fers to architecture that is flourishing and orderly; 5. In Buddhism it means to adorn a land with wonderful, beautiful things; 6. It means to adorn buddha statues in buildings, temples, or pagodas; 7. In Buddhism it means to purify the body and mind with merit; 8. A Buddhist word referring to a grand, wondrous realm. These eight meanings are piled on top of each other crisscrossed, and the principle of their arrangement is unclear. In fact, we can combine

58 See, for instance, the punctuation of P. 2854 and S. 6417 in Wang Shuqing 王書慶, Dun- huang Foxue: Foshi pian 敦煌佛學, 佛事篇 (Lanzhou: Gansu minzu chubanshe, 1995), pp. 2 and 3, respectively. For similar punctuation and an interpretation of the word as “to express various wishes to the buddha,” see Hao, “Guanyu Dunhuang xieben,” p. 67.

233 stephen f. teiser

them comprehensively under two meanings: 1. A verb meaning to decorate, and 2. An adjective meaning serious. All the others are simply slight derivations of these two meanings … . The original examples given for meanings 5, 6, and 7 are close to the mean­ ings of the word I analyze in this essay. But it is incorrect to limit the meanings of the word to within “Buddhism.” The terminology circulated throughout society, and it is not that easy to restrict it within a specific range.59 The analysis presented in this essay tends to confirm Huang’s con­ clusion. Having begun in the early-medieval period perhaps as a ver­ nacular expression, the word zhuangyan was later used in a variety of Buddhist texts, including canonical sˆtras, vinaya texts, commentaries, and medieval Buddhist liturgies. The expanding usage of the word in Buddhist contexts was not so much a fundamental change of meaning, but rather an application of the concept of ornamentation to other realms, objects, and beings. The further use of the word in a wide range of sources, Buddhist and non-Buddhist, shows the significant reach of the concept.60

Zen and After

A thorough study of the later meanings of the word zhuangyan is beyond the scope of this essay. Nevertheless, as a postscript to this study of the language of medieval Chinese Buddhist ritual texts, we would do well to consider the use of zhuangyan as a concept in some Chan settings as well as the modern understanding of the word as an adjective to mean “serious” or “formal.” Already in discussing the meaning of zhuangyan in the Chinese translation of the Diamond Sˆtra, we noted that the text offered a dia­ lectical treatment of the notion of ornamentation. The true Buddhist practitioner is supposed to approach the provisioning of his buddha realm in the same detached way as he regards the sentient beings he helps achieve rebirth there. From a conventional standpoint, this at­ titude is the negation of normal, impure concepts of “ornamentation,”

59 Huang, “Dunhuang yuanwen ‘zhuangyan,’ ‘zixun,’ ‘zizhuang’ kaobian,” p. 218. Huang’s grouping of the meanings of the word under two basic lexemes is very close to Morohashi, Dai Kan-Wa jiten, no. 31035.59. See also the grouping under three lexemes and criticism of the definitions in Hanyu dacidian in Li, Fojing ciyu huishi, pp. 398–405. 60 The actions of transferring merit to beneficiaries through ornamentation and praying for specific benefits are also stipulated as part of oral storytelling and lecturing on sˆtras; see Huangjian Taishi [Arami Yasushi] 荒見泰史, “Dunhuangben ‘zhuangyanwen’ chutan: Tangdai Fojiao yishishang de biaobai dui Dunhuang bianwen de yingxiang” 敦煌本莊嚴文初探, 唐代佛 教儀式上的表白對敦煌變文的影響, Wenxian jikan 文獻季刊 2008.2, pp. 42–52.

234 ornamenting the departed but from the bodhisattva’s point of view, it amounts to the enlightened, non-grasping exercise of ornamentation. A similar attempt to subject the notion of ornamentation to the logic of emptimess is made in the genre of encounter-dialogue that became the dominant style of Chan literature beginning perhaps as early as the tenth century. The Chan text, Collection from the Patriarchs’ Hall (Zutang ji 祖堂集), compiled in China in 952, preserved in a Ko­ rean print dating from 1245, and rediscovered at the beginning of the twentieth century, contains a dialogue in which a master berates his disciple’s attachment to the notion of ornamentation. The master forces the student to question whether religious practice, considered as ornamentation, is still necessary if one is already residing in a pure land or if one is originally enlightened. The disciple was named Jing­ qing 鏡清, who hailed from Yuezhou 越州. One dialogue portrays him unable to respond to the questions of his master, Daohuan 道宦, in an early conversation. The exchange proceeds along the lines laid out in some of the earliest Chan literature: the master asks the new disciple where he is from. In this case, Jingqing responds that he comes from a buddha land, asserting that he is, in effect, already enlightened. His teacher proceeds to quiz him about the specific qualities of his buddha land, testing the novice on his knowledge of Buddhology. All buddha realms are in principle named after their resident buddhas and contain qualities and adornments uniquely suited to beings who are born there. Thus, Daohuan asks Jingqing, “Then, if you are similar to a buddha, what land is yours?” The novice advances claims in accord with common understandings of the pure land, including the assertion that “my coun­ try is ornamented with purity” and that the buddha in his land is “the buddha of wondrous purity and true permanence.” Sensing Jing­qing’s lack of understanding, the master presents the horns of a dilemma: “Does the acƒrya come from wondrous purity or from ornamentation?” The master seems to be offering two alternatives: is enlightenment in­ trinsic and based on innate purity, or is it acquired through the act of ornamentation? The student, however, is unable to respond, and the dialogue concludes with the judgment: “The master said, ‘Ha-ha! If anyone asks you this question somewhere else, you cannot answer with these words.’”61 This dialogue in the Collection from the Patriarchs’ Hall suggests that by the end of the tenth century the dialectical approach to the action of ornamentation had already become a stock topic of

61 Zutang ji 祖堂集, Jingxiu 浄修, completed in 952, in Sod±shˆ 祖堂集, edited by Zen bun­ ka kenkyˆjo 禪文化研究所, Kihon tenseki s±kan 基本典籍叢刊 (Kyoto: Zen bunka kenkyˆjo, 1994), juan 10, p. 6v (modern edn., p. 384).

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discussion in Chan literature. While the seeds for this development had been planted in early Chinese Buddhist literature translated from Sanskrit, in this text the dialectic of ornamentation itself is held up for consideration, emulation, and contemplation. If the Collection from the Patriarch’s Hall offers some idea of the recep­ tion and reformulation of the notion of ornamentation in Chan circles, poetic usage a few centuries after that shows how ornamentation could be interpreted not as the act of an enlightened being but as a phenom­ enon of nature. In a certain sense, then, the later poetry marks the shift from “Chan” as a genre of literature based on stylized, dialectical encounter to a more modern understanding of “Zen” as oneness with and wonder of nature. The Song literatus Fan Chengda 范成大 (1126– 1193), celebrated for his mastery of both Buddhism and poetry, uses the word zhuangyan in new and interesting ways. Perhaps most paradig­ matic, judging from its citation in Peiwen yunfu 佩文韻府 and Zhongwen dacidian 中文大辭典, is a poem celebrating a snow-covered landscape, which he wrote early in his life. In the first quatrain of the poem Fan Chengda attributes the action of ornamentation to heaven as an agent. At first he states only that “heaven ornaments mysteriously,” leaving unstated the object upon which the act of decoration is performed. In the next line, however, he makes clear that “this” — which I interpret as the act of ornamentation — is given to the mountains and streams. The first two couplets read: 溪山四時佳 Mount Xi is beautiful in four seasons, 今夕更奇絕 This evening even more marvelous. 天公妙莊嚴 The Lord of Heaven has ornamented mysteriously, 施此一川雪 Bestowing it on all the streams and snow.62 As noted above, the Diamond Sˆtra and the Chan dialogue construe or­ namentation as an action that can be performed in ways enlightened or unenlightened, just as any step on the Buddhist path can be performed selflessly or in routinized fashion. Fan Chengda takes the analysis one step further, construing a stunning landscape as an example of the or­ namentation of nature by nature.63

62 Fan Chengda 范成大, Fan Shihu ji 范石湖集 (Shanghai: Zhonghua shuju, 1962), p. 71. See also the poem “Returning to Huangtan” 回黃坦 (p. 71), which includes the couplet: “The world is truly ornamented,/ The creation of things is the extreme of the unprofane 世界真莊 嚴 / 造物極不俗.” 63 In Schmidt’s analysis, the action is the ornamentation of nature by the poet’s art; in this poem, Schmidt says, “art and nature are so inextricably interconnected that they are really one and the same thing.” Schmidt translates the couplet in question: “The Lord of Heaven is marvelously skilled at decoration,/Applying his art to the river covered with snow.” Both quotations are from J. D. Schmidt, Stone Lake: The Poetry of Fan Chengda (1126–1193), Cam­

236 ornamenting the departed

Within the bounds of this essay it is not possible to consider closely the understanding of the word zhuangyan as “serious” or “formal and serious,” a meaning that seems especially strong in more recent Chinese language and literature.64 This rather significant change seems to in­ volve meanings and semantic ranges rather far from those in the earlier history of the word considered above. Such changes in linguistic usage accord with one of the themes of this piece: that the language of ritual texts and other forms of performative literature is best understood in historical terms, with close attention to a variety of sources and lan­ guage users. To this task Buddhist ritual materials and the Dunhuang liturgical manuscripts have much to contribute.

List of Abbreviations D Daoist texts contained in Zhengtong daozang 正統道藏, 60 vols. Taibei: Xinwenfeng, 1985. Numbers follow the system in Shi Zhouren 施舟 人 [Kristofer Schipper], ed., Daozang suoyin: Wuzhong banben daozang tongjian 道藏索引: 五種版本道蔵通檢, rev. edn. Chen ­Yaoting 陳耀 庭. Shanghai: Shanghai shudian chubanshe, 1996. Dz. Dunhuang manuscripts collected by Sergei F. Oldenberg in 1914– 1915, held in the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts at the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg. P. Dunhuang manuscripts collected by Paul Pelliot in 1908, held in the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris. S. Dunhuang manuscripts collected by Marc Aurel Stein in 1906–1908, held in the British Library, London. T Taish± shinshˆ daiz±ky± 大正新修大藏經. 100 vols. Edited by Takakusu Junjir± 高楠順次郎, Watanabe Kaigyoku 渡辺海旭, and Ono Gem­ my± 小野玄妙. 1924–1934; reprint edn. Taibei: Xinwenfeng chuban gongsi, 1974. Z Dai Nihon zokuz±ky± 大日本續藏經. Edited by Maeda Eun 前田慧雲 and Nakano Tatsue 中野達慧. 150 vols. Kyoto: Z±ky± shoin, 1905– 1912.

bridge Studies in Chinese History, Literature, and Institutions (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P., 1992), p. 59. 64 See the short entry in Guoyu cidian, p. 2742a; the longer entry with references to Xiyou ji 西遊記 and Pai’an jingqi 拍案驚奇 (by Ling Mengchu 淩濛初; 1580–1644) in Chongbian guoyu cidian xiudingben 重編國語辭典修訂本 (1994), online edition at http://dict.revised.moe.edu. tw/index.html; and the third entry in Luo et al., eds., Hanyu dacidian 9, p. 428a.

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