Wu Chin Tsang Fa Lüeh Shuo Abridged Explanation of the Dharma of the Inexhaustible Storehouse

B. Wu chin tsang fa lüeh shuo Abridged Explanation of the Dharma of the Inexhaustible Storehouse The Wu chin tsang fa lüeh shuo [¦áÀF‰ is in the Stein collec- tion (Stein No. 190, Giles No. 6617), and a fragment of the last part of this text is also found on the same scroll as the Hsin-hsing i wen, another important San-chieh text. Similarly titled texts found in the sutra catalogues include the Ta sheng wu chin tsang fa Ø/[¦áÀ in one chüan listed among Hsin-hsing’s works in the Ta chou k’an ting chung ching mu lu,1 and a Ming ta sheng wu chin tsang gØ/[¦á recorded in the K’ai yüan lu,2 the Chen yüan hsin ting shih chiao mu lu,3 and the Jen chi lu tu mu.4 The latter two catalogs add the information “four pages” and “six pages” respectively, and the ³rst three catalogs attribute the work to Hsin-hsing. As it is partially contained on the same scroll as the Hsin-hsing i wen and both texts contain the same list of “sixteen eternal, joyous, self, and pure practices of the Inexhaustible Storehouse,” we can assume that it belongs to the early strata of San-chieh literature, if Hsin-hsing did not himself actually compose this text. Although originally comprised of eleven sections, because the ³rst part of the text is damaged only six of eleven sections are preserved (sections six through eleven). The ³rst ³ve sections are preserved, however, in a commentary to this work, the Ta sheng fa chieh wu chin tsang fa shih Ø/Àƒ[¦áÀt (translated below), and together with the Hsin-hsing i wen we are thus able to get a good picture of this important practice of the Inexhaustible Storehouse. Unfortunately, portions of the text, in particular the eleventh section, are very terse (as the title of the text forewarns) and do not easily yield to 1 T #2153, 55.475a. 2 T #2154, 55.678c. 3 Yabuki, Sangaikyõ no kenkyð, 228. 4 Ibid., 221. 257 258 / dharma of the inexhaustible storehouse interpretation. The text is described in Giles’s Descriptive Catalogue of the Chinese Manuscripts from Tunhuang as follows: 6617. *[beginning damaged] Rules of monastic training. A work of the Three Stages sect. Very good MS. of 7th cent. Good, bright yellow paper. On a roller. 6 ft. S. 190.5 !" The sixth6 clari³es the ease and dif³culty of perfecting the dharma realm practices: the Inexhaustible Storehouse of the eternal, joyous, self and pure virtues7 can be perfected in a few places, not in many places. The suffering, empty, and impermanent Inexhaustible Storehouse may be obtained equally in many or few places, according to the place. The seventh clari³es the relation between the great [i.e., Mahayana] and small [i.e., Hinayana] practices of the dharma realm. If both types of practice, the eternal and joyous as well as the suffering and empty, are exhaus- tively cultivated, then it is the Mahayana. If only the partial practices of the empty and suffering [are cultivated] without exhausting the permanent and joyous then this is determined as belonging to the Hinayana. The eighth clari³es and manifests the study of the many and the few. Although it is taught that the dharmas are as numerous as grains of sand, the general teaching has sixteen [items]; if the general and the speci³c are taught together then there are more than thirty. There are also two kinds of giving: (1) only the general, daily giving sixteen shares of cash; (2) both the general and the speci³c, daily giving thirty shares of cash. The characteristics of the general and the speci³c are extensively explained below. 1. The study of inexhaustible offering to the Buddha; this is worshipping the Buddha, etc. 2. The study of inexhaustible offering to the dharma; this is reciting sutras, etc. 5 Giles, Descriptive Catalogue, 209; my translation is based on Yabuki’s edition in his Sangaikyõ no kenkyð, appendix, 154–59; see also Yabuki, Sangaikyõ no kenkyð, 619–37; above, chapter 7; below, Appendix C. 6 This fragment of the “Abridged Explanation of the Dharma of the Inexhaustible Storehouse” begins from the sixth item (see chapter 7) and concludes after enumerating a total of eleven subjects. The items from one through ³ve can be found in the commentary, the Ta sheng fa chieh wu chin tsang fa shih, preceded by the phrase “The original says.…” The Ta sheng fa chieh wu chin tsang fa shih contains commentary on items one through eight. 7 The four gu«ap„ramit„: eternality (nitya); bliss (sukha); self (atman) or great self (mah„- „tman); and purity (šubha); cf. chapter 5, note 57. absolute delusion, perfect buddhahood / 259 3. The study of inexhaustible offering to the sangha; this consists of universally making offerings [to the sangha] without question of whether they observe the precepts or transgress the precepts. 4. The study of inexhaustible offering to sentient beings; [that is,] universal offering to sentient beings of the six paths as though one, without question of whether they practice or do not practice. The six paths are (a) heaven, (b) humanity, (c) asura, (d) hell, (e) animal, (f) hungry ghost. 5. The general clari³cation of the inexhaustible separation from all evil. 6. The general clari³cation of the inexhaustible cultivation of all virtue. 7. The study of the inexhaustible giving of incense. 8. The study of the inexhaustible giving of light; this consists of candles. 9. The study of the inexhaustible giving of bathing [materials]. 10. The study of the inexhaustible giving of sound; this consists of bells, etc. 11. The study of the inexhaustible giving of clothing. 12. The study of the inexhaustible giving of shelter. 13. The study of the inexhaustible giving of bedding. 14. The study of the inexhaustible giving of eating utensils. 15. The study of the inexhaustible giving of charcoal and ³re. 16. The study of the inexhaustible giving of food and drink. Inexhaustible [donations of] food has many divisions: (a) ordinary rice; (b) glutinous rice; (c) µour; (d) oil; (e) maize; (f) lentils; (g) soy beans; (h) fuel [for cook- ing]; (i) cooks; (j) salt and vinegar; (k) honey; (l) ginger and pepper [i.e., spices]; (m) sesame seeds; (n) juices; (o) vegetables and various fruits.8 This concludes the presentation of the sixteen types of general and speci³c inexhaustible dharmas. Again, there is the giver: with regard to the above sixteen dharmas some give generally and some give speci³cally. [Both] are universally proclaimed to be donors (d„napati); without question of whether the donation is general or speci³c all are made with the intention of being used universally, sometimes circulating and sometimes decreasing.9 That is to say, the offerings to the Buddha, the dharma, the sangha, and the other thirteen up to and 8 This list is also contained in the Hsin-hsing i wen, (pp. 3–4), although there are slight dif- ferences; see also chapter 7, above. 9 The reading of this passage is tentative. I take the import to be that the intention is the determination of the universal, not whether the giving is actually “general” or “speci³c.” Sometimes the donation circulates (i.e., it is “inexhaustible” because it is lent and repaid ad in³nitum), and sometimes it naturally decreases (e.g., things that diminish through use such as candles or incense). This is also discussed in the Hsin-hsing i wen, 4, under the heading “Clarifying the materials used for the practice of the sixteen eternal, joyous, self, and pure dharmas.” It is also possible to interpret this to mean that although one sometimes practices the donation of food more than the giving of sutras, it doesn’t make any difference because all sixteen practices are interrelated. 260 / dharma of the inexhaustible storehouse including food sometimes circulate and sometimes decrease. The ³fteen communal functions are also like the sixteen [inexhaustible practices] that permeate and exhaust the practices of the dharma realm: sometimes they circulate and sometimes they decrease. The manner of the mutual functioning of the two types of Inexhaustible Storehouse, namely, the permanent and joyous and the suffering and empty, is also like this.10 One should also completely know the teaching of the many and the few practices of the two types of Inexhaustible Storehouse—it is not a question of whether the valuables and things given are many or few, together they perfect and perpetuate the permanent and joyous Inexhaustible Storehouse; moreover, once the other practices have all been ³nished the cultivation of the eternal and joyous cannot be abolished. If the suffering and empty is practiced ³rst and each of the sixteen items is given separately it is not known as “mutual functioning.” The one-sided desire to gain merit according to one’s karmic connections does not enable the communal functioning [of the donations as does practicing together] in one place.11 Again, it is declared that by these inexhaustible good roots each and every donor will enable all sentient beings to naturally and fully complete the sixteen types of inexhaustible fruits.12 The ninth clari³es whether the pro³t of those sentient beings who are saved is shallow or deep; there are ³ve ranks: 1. The inexhaustible gaining of the sixteen dharmas by those who cultivate the same practice; 2. The inexhaustible gaining of the sixteen dharmas by those who follow in jubilation [the acts of the Inexhaustible Storehouse]; 3.

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