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The Ceremony of Confession of Buddhism: A Study Based on the Records in the book of A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas 《南海寄歸內法傳》 Zhang Jingting, Phramaha Anon Ānando, Asst. Prof. Dr. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Lawrence Y.K. LAU Guizhou Normal University, China Corresponding Author Email: [email protected] Abstract A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas was written by Yijing an eminent monk who lived in Chinese Tang dynasty including forty chapters about Buddhist Sangha life in the seventh century in the region of India and Malay Archipelago. Such as Vassa, the ceremony of chanting, the ordination and so on. The ceremony of confession is one of the chapters of this book. In this chapter, Yijing introduced the ceremony of two kinds of confessions, including the time, regulations, procedure of confession. This study aims at providing an overview of the ceremony of confession the Buddhist Vinaya life based on the records of the ceremony of confession in A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas《南海寄歸內法傳》of Yijing and the related records in Buddhist Vinayapiṭaka. The results shown that there are different records on the time of Pavarana in different school’s Vinaya, but all of them are depend on the time of the Summer-Retreat. Yijing’s records on the ceremony of Uposatha are corresponded with the records in Pāli Vinaya. The advantages of the confession to Buddhism has been discussed as well. Keywords: Confession, Buddhism, A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas《南海寄歸內法傳》 JIABU | Vol. 12 No.1 (January – June 2019) 255 1. Introduction Buddhism as one of the most ancient religions in the world, has been spread to over the world from the original place and formed into three schools of Mahāyāna, Theravāda and Vajrayāna Buddhism. Now, Buddhism has developed more than 2500 years and some of the life styles has been changed as well. Confession is a very important ceremony of Buddhist Vinaya life, but the research on the confession ceremony is not enough to shown the history and the current situation of confession of Buddhist Vinaya life. There were some differences of confession in different Buddhist school and different Buddhist area with the development of the world. However, the literatures on the ceremony of confession of the Buddhist Vinaya life after early Buddhism is lacked because of rare materials excepts a few of ancient Chinese books. Yijing was an eminent monk (A.D.635-713, B.E.1178-1256) who lived in Chinese Tang dynasty, in the seventh century. In 671, at the age of thirty-seven, Yijing boarded a ship and departed from Guangzhou (a famous commercial port city in the south of ancient China). After that, Yijing spent totally twenty-five years on pilgrimage and study in India and southern seas, he reaching more than thirty countries. Within, he spent ten years studying in Nalanda and seven years for translating and writing in Sri Vijaya which is the first unified kingdom to dominate much of Malay Archipelago. One of his writings A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas《南海寄歸內法傳》is the rare early historical materials of the history, culture, and religions of India and Malay Archipelago. For example, Buddhist life of Southeast Asia in the seventh century, it said: There is the country of Srīkṣetra. Further to the southeast from here is the country of Lankasu. Further to the east is the country of Dvārapati. Further to the extreme east is the country of Lin-yi. All these countries greatly venerate the triple gem. There are many men who observe the precepts, and the ascetic practice of alms-begging is the custom of the monks in these countries. In the Western Land have seen such monks, who are really different from men of ordinary morality. (Li Rongxi, tr., 2000: 12) Srīkṣetra is ancient Myanmar, Lankasu involved Kedah of Malaysia and Pattani areas of Thailand, Dvārapati is Ayutthaya areas of Thailand, Lin-yi is middle areas of Vietnam. It can be analyzed that alms round of Buddhism was popular during the seventh century, Buddhism has been deeply rooted in those areas at that time and has a considerable influence on all aspects of social life. 256 JIABU | Vol. 12 No.1 (January – June 2019) A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas has forty chapters about Buddhist life in the seventh century in the region of India and Malay Archipelago. Such as Vassa, the ceremony of chanting, the ordination and so on. The ceremony of confession is one of topics in this book. In this topic, Yijing introduced the ceremony of two kinds of confessions, includes the time, regulations, procedure of confession. Therefore, this study aims at providing an overview of the ceremony of confession of the Buddhist Vinaya life based on the records of the ceremony of confession in A Record of the Inner Law Sent Home from the South Seas《南海寄歸內法傳》of Yijing and the related records in Buddhist Vinayapiṭaka. 2. The Comparison Study on the Ceremony of Confession 2.1 The Overview of the Ceremony of Confession Wrote by Yijing In this topic, Yijing introduced the ceremony of two kinds of confessions, includes the time, regulations, procedure of Confession. The overview of contents as the follows: The last day of the summer retreat, which is also the end of the year, should be named pavarana (the day one is free from restraint), when the monks are free to expose the misconduct of one another on the three bases [of having witnessed, having heard about, or having a suspicion of the misdeed], with the intention of absolving others from guilt. The word was formerly translated as zi-zi (自恣). On the night of the fourteenth day, a teacher well versed in scripture must be invited to mount a high seat to recite a Buddhist scripture, while lay devotees and monks gather together like clouds and mist, with lamps burning continually and incense and flowers offered. On the following morning, all of them go out around the village or town and worship the pagodas (caityas) devoutly. When it is nearly noontime, they return to the monastery and have their regular meal at midday. In the afternoon, they gather together, each taking a handful of fresh cogon grass, and while stamping their feet on it, they exercise their duty of free criticism. First come the monks and then the nuns, and lastly the three lower grades of the homeless disciples. If it is feared that owing to the large number of people attending the assembly, a long time might be required to complete the function, more members of the assembly should be appointed to hear the confessions. When one is accused of a fault, one should make a confession and ask for absolution according to usage. At this time either the lay disciples offer gifts to the monks, or the monks exchange gifts among themselves. JIABU | Vol. 12 No.1 (January – June 2019) 257 All alms received are brought into the presence of the assembly, and a confessor who possesses the five virtues should ask the presiding monk, “Can these alms be distributed to the members of the community of monks to be placed at their disposal?” The presiding monk says in answer, “Yes!” Then all robes, razors, needles, awls and the like received from the donors are equally distributed to the monks. After the mutual criticism and the distribution of alms, the monks may disperse and each go his own way. This is the completion of the summer retreat. The confession of guilt is to disclose one’s own misdeeds and declare what offenses one has committed in the past, in order to rectify the past and prevent future faults with perfect sincerity and earnest self-reproach. The Uposatha ceremony is conducted once every half month, and one should reflect every morning and evening on what offenses one has committed. Committing any offense of the first group is irremediable, while violation of the rules of the second group requires a quorum of twenty members of the community of monks (to listen to the offender’s confession and absolve him of his guilt). If one has committed a minor offense, one should make a confession to absolve one’s fault before a monk who is not one’s equal. Of the Sanskrit word āpatti- pratideśanā, āpatti means offense, and pratideśanā, confessing before others. It is in the hope of gaining purity that one confesses oneself guilty. On should confess of one’s faults item by item, and then expiation may be expected. A general confession of faults is not allowed by the Vinaya. (Li Rongxi, tr., 2000:83-85) 2.2 The Main Points of the Ceremony of Confession (1) The time of the confession In this topic, there are two kinds of confessions. One of them is named pavarana it is the day one is free from restraint, the time of pavarana starts on the last day of the Rains-retreat. Another one is uposatha, the ceremony of uposatha is conducted once every half month. (2) The regulations of the confession Pavarana: on the night of the fourteenth day in the end of the Rains-retreat, a teacher well versed in scripture must be invited to mount a high seat to recite a Buddhist scripture. Walking around the village and worship the pagodas on the next morning, confession starts in the afternoon. First come the monks and then the nuns, and lastly the three lower grades of the homeless disciples 258 JIABU | Vol.

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