Dunhuang Non-governmental Organisations Specialising in Undertaking Buddhist Activities and Their Relationship with Buddhism

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79

Dunhuang Non-governmental Organisations Specialising in

Undertaking Buddhist Activities and Their Relationship with Buddhism

^*

HAO CHUNWEN 郝春文

The Capital Normal University haochunw@cnu.edu.cn

Abstract: Since the Eastern Jin Dynasty (266–420), monasteries and monastics had started to propagate the Buddhist way of thinking and behaving to the people in the villages and towns in the vicinity of the monasteries. People susceptible to the Bud- dhist teaching were assembled to form the so-called yiyi 邑義, the Buddhist association dedicated to organizing Buddhist activities.

Through the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589), Bud- dhist association had achieved enormous success with its mission.

Spreading across North and South China, it was the main form of association for Buddhist followers and served as the most important social basis for monasteries.

Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies, 4.2 (2021): 79–201

* Translated by Gina Yang, SUN Mingli 孫明利, HUANG Bo 黃勃, and Xian’ao 賢奧. This article translates Chapter 2, “Zhuangmen congshi Fojiao huodong de minjian tuanti jiqi yu Fojiao de guanxi” 專門從事佛教活動的民間團體及其與佛教的關係 [(Dunhuang) Non-governmental Organizations Specializ- ing in Undertaking Buddhist Activities and Their Relationship with Buddhism]

of Part I (shangpian 上篇) of Hao Chunwen 郝春文, Zhonggu shiqi sheyi yanjiu 中古時期社邑研究 [A Study on She Associations in Medieval China], Shanghai:

Shanghai guji chubanshe 上海古籍出版社, 2019.

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During the Tang (618–907) and Five Dynasties (907–960), as the process of Buddhist Sinicization came to its completion, Buddhist monasteries and monastics started to change their attitude and strategy vis-à-vis the traditional private association known as sheyi 社邑. They increasingly favored the strategy that treats the traditional Chinese culture as an equal and seeks to establish common grounds all the while preserving differences. Within the private association, this change led to a gradual fusion between Buddhist and Chinese tradition, in both thoughts and activities. As a result, a private association, while maintaining its traditional activities such as the worship of the God of Earth (she 社) and the God of Grains (ji 稷), and the service of financial assistance, had also started to undertake Buddhist activities. Because of its more refined organizational structure and longer history, private association revealed to play a far more important role than Buddhist association in spreading Buddhism in the society. In this context, then, the Tang and Five Dynasties saw an increasingly diminishing status and role that Buddhist associations played in organizing Buddhist activities. We also have much less documenta- tions on Buddhist associations in this period than the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

Like Buddhist association, private association undertakes Bud- dhist activities under the influence of Buddhist monasteries—they are both the external organizations that monasteries relied on in the society. They represented the main associations of Buddhist followers and the fundamental social basis for Buddhist monasteries during the Tang and Five Dynasties. Almost all the monasteries held a relation, in one way or another, with a private or Buddhist association. Some monasteries even maintained close relations with multiple associations. During the Tang and Five Dynasties, organizing or influencing different kinds of associations had become the main avenue by which monasteries and monastics spread Buddhism in the society.

Keywords: yiyi 邑義, fayi 法義, yihui 邑會, yihui 義會, Dunhuang, manuscript, Jinshi cuibian 金石萃編, Baqiong shi jinshi buzheng 八瓊室金石補正

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.15239/hijbs.04.02.02

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D

uring the medieval period, while Buddhist monasteries and monastics were exhorting traditional non-governmental organisations like the sheyi 社邑 and others, they also propagated Buddhist thought, values, and modes of conduct to people in villages, towns, and cities surrounding the monasteries. Those that accepted this propagation were then formed into Buddhist organisations that specialised in undertaking Buddhist activities. The majority of these Buddhist organisations were made up of monastics and lay devotees. There were also many that were established by lay devotees themselves, under the guidance of monastics. These Buddhist organisations during the Eastern Jin, and Northern and Southern dynasties, were different to the traditional sheyi (also known as yishe

邑社) discussed in section one of my book on sheyi 社邑, as they differed in their origins, beliefs, content of their activities, names and so on.¹ From the Sui and Tang periods on, this type of Buddhist organisation was also often named ‘she’ and became a type of sishe 私社 (private she). Here we will conduct a general survey on the state of this type of organisation and their relationship to Buddhism.

1. Yiyi

邑義

during the Eastern Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties

Buddhist organisations comprised of either monastics and lay devotees or of only lay devotees, emerged during the Eastern Jin. They were prevalent in some northern and southern regions during the Northern and Southern dynasties. This type of Buddhist organisation mainly undertook image construction activities. They were often named yi 邑, yiyi 邑義 (yi pact), fayi 法義 (dharma pact), and so on. Others were named yihui 邑會 (yi association), yihui 義會 (pact association), hui 會, pusa yinyuan 菩薩因緣 (bodhisattva affinities) and the like. For the convenience of writing, we will refer to this type of organisations as yiyi in the following sections.

1 Hao, Zhonggu shiqi sheyi yanjiu.

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There have been many studies with substantial findings on yiyi from various perspectives by Chinese domestic and international scholars. The earliest work that collects and organises data on yiyi is Wang Chang’s 王昶 (1725–1806) Jinshi cuibian 金石萃編 [Selective Collection of Bronze and Stone Inscriptions]. It compiled over 30 stone inscriptions from yiyi image construction records and others for the first time. It also made preliminary amendments to and exegeses of the materials collected. Its Fascicle 39 contains ‘Beichao zaoxiang zhubei zonglun’ 北朝造像諸碑總论 [General Discussion on Steles for Image Construction in the Northern Dynasties], which can be considered as the first treatise on yiyi.² Even though by present day perspectives there are problems that inevitably exist in Wang Chang’s annotations, amendments, and exegeses on the yiyi image materials, his work nevertheless laid down an initial foundation for the study of this topic for later generations.

In Baqiong shi jinshi buzheng 八瓊室金石補正 [Bronze and Stone Inscriptions of the Baqiong Hall, Emended and Supplemented], Lu Zengxiang 陸增祥 (1816–1882) amended some errors on yiyi materials found in the Jinshi cuibian as well as supplemented additional material.

Ōmura Seigai’s 大村西崖 (1868–1927) Shina bijutsushi: Chōso hen 支那美術史: 雕塑篇 [History of Chinese Art: Sculpture Edition]

also contains many materials related to yiyi, which still have considerable reference value today.³ Takao Giken’s 高雄義堅 (1888–1972)

‘Hokugi ni okeru Bukkyō kyōdan no hattatsu ni tsuite’ 北魏に於ける佛教教團の発達に就て [On the Development of the Buddhist Mo- nastic Community in the Northern Wei] was an innovative study of the origins and other issues relating to yiyi.⁴ In his ‘Shina Nanboku bukkyō to shakai kyōka’ 支那南北佛教と社會教化 [Chinese Southern and Northern Buddhism and Social Guidance], Ogasawara Senshu

小笠原宣秀 (1903–1984) considered that Buddhist organisations like the yiyi and others were the product of edification by monastics.⁵ In

2 Jinshi cuibian 39.4–5.

3 Ōmura, Chūgoku bijutsushi chōsohen.

4 Takao, ‘Hokugi ni okeru Bukkyō kyōdan no hattatsu ni tsuite’.

5 Ogasawara, ‘Shina Nanboku bukkyō to shakai kyōka’.

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the Southern region, this type of Buddhist organisation was called fashe 法社, and its membership was a mix of both monastics and laity. In the northern region they were called yiyi 邑儀 (義), and made up of yi members who were mainly lay devotees from lower social classes. Though the understanding of fayi in this work was not accu- rate,⁶ it reveals the important historical fact that yiyi and similar types of Buddhist organisations also existed in the southern regions.

In ‘Zaike Bukkyō dantai no ichikeishiki toshite no yūgi’ 在家佛教團體の一型式としての邑義 [Yūgi as a kind of lay Buddhist society], Yamazaki Hiroshi 山崎宏 discussed questions relating to the nature of yiyi and so on.⁷ In his another work, ‘Zui Tō jidai ni okeru giyū oyobi hōsha ni tuite’ 隋唐時代に於ける義邑及び法社に就て [On the Religious Communes and Dharma Societies in the Sui and Tang Dy- nasties], Yamazaki examined yiyi during the Northern and Southern dynasties and was the first to propose that yiyi had their origins in the Tiwei Boli jing 提謂波利經 [Trapuṣa and Bhallika Sūtra].⁸ He also investigated the name and roles of yiyi leadership. He pointed out that fashe were popular not only in the southern regions but also in the northern regions, and their nature was the same as that of yiyi.

He believed that fashe members were mainly made up of nobles, high officials, intellectuals, and so forth, whereas yiyi members were primarily comprised of those from the lower classes who were involved in the production of goods and services. Yamazaki Hiroshi’s understanding on the origin and nature of fashe was not confirmed by the facts. However, his views have had a profound influence, and Japanese scholars up until the present have continued with his claims.

Tsukamoto Zenryū’s 塚本善隆 (1898–1980) ‘Ryūmon sekkutsu ni arawaretaru Hokugi Bukkyō’ 龍門石窟に現れたる北魏佛教 [Bud- dhism under the Northern Wei Dynasty as Seen in the Cave-Temples at Longmen] uses records of images made by yiyi at the Longmen

龍門 Caves to discuss yiyi.⁹ He basically accepts Yamazaki Hiroshi’s

6 Hao, Zhonggu shiqi sheyi yanjiu, part one.

7 Yamazaki, ‘Zaike Bukkyō dantai no ichikeishiki toshite no yūgi’.

8 Yamazaki, ‘Zui Tō jidai ni okeru giyū oyobi hōsha ni tuite’.

9 Tsukamoto, ‘Ryūmon sekkutu ni arawaretaru hokugi bukkyō’.

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position with respect to fashe and yiyi, and gives an explanation of the various names and titles of yiyi members such as yishi 邑師 (yi master), yizhu 邑主 (yi chief), yizi 邑子 (yi member), and so forth.

The ‘Ryūmon sekkoku roku’ 龍門石刻錄 [Collection of Stone Carv- ings at Longmen], co-edited by Tsukamoto Zenryū, Mizuno Seiichi

水野清一 (1905–1971), and Kasuga Reichi 春日禮智, compiles the majority of information concerning images constructed by yiyi at Longmen.¹⁰

Sato Chisui’s 佐藤智水 ‘Hokuchō zōzōmei kō’ 北朝造像銘考

[Inscriptions on Buddhist Statues in the Period of the Northern Dynasties] is a comprehensive collection of all the materials on records of constructed images that authors of the time were able to access.¹¹ It systematically examines the forms, years, geographical distribution, status of patrons for image construction, types of images made, votive prayers accompanying the construction of images, and other such data from records of image construction in the Northern Dynasties. Furthermore, it also features ten tables of quantitative data that have immense reference value (including two tables concerning the years and content of images constructed by yiyi). The author points out that records of images constructed by yiyi have an important place among all records of constructed images in the Northern Dynasties, and provides a brief description of the situation with yiyi.

‘Yiyi zhidu shulüe: Jianlun Nanbei chao Fo Dao hunhe zhi yu- anyin’ 義邑制度述略—兼論南北朝佛道混合之原因 [Brief Descrip- tion of Yiyi Institutions: Including a Discussion of the Reasons for the Convergence of Buddhism and Daoism in the Northern and Southern Dynasties]¹² by Zhang Yingli 張英莉 and Dai He 戴禾, investigates the time when yiyi were formed, and also examines issues in the leadership of yiyi. This paper was the first such paper by Chinese scholars on this matter. Its principal contribution is an analysis of the reasons for the growth and flourishing of yiyi, and

10 Tsukamoto, Mizuno, & Kasuga, ‘Ryūmon sekkokuroku’.

11 Satō, ‘Hokuchō zōzōmei kō’;

12 Zhang & Dai, ‘Yiyi zhidu shulüe’.

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it points out that their growth had its origins in the flourishing of image construction in the Northern Dynasties, the positive role of the Tiwei Boli jing on the formation and spread of yiyi organisa- tions, and also the positive participation of the elite social classes.

However, due to the circumstances of scholarship at the time, the authors were unable to consult relevant research findings of previous Japanese scholars.¹³ In addition, the source materials that the authors collated was insufficiently complete.

Liu Shufen’s 劉淑芬 ‘Wu zhi liu shiji Huabei xiangcun de Fojiao xinyang’ 五至六世紀華北鄉村的佛教信仰 [Buddhist Religious Faith in the Towns and Villages of Northern China from the Fifth to Sixth Centuries] examines the background to and influence of the popularity of image construction by yiyi in the towns and villages of Northern China from the fifth to sixth centuries, and has a particularly valuable investigation into the question of the consecration of images of the Buddha.¹⁴ By the same author, ‘Beiqi Biaoyi xiangyi Cihui shizhu: Zhonggu Fojiao shehui jiuji de ge’an yanjiu’ 北齊標異鄉義慈惠石柱——中古佛教社會救濟的個案研究 [Cihui Stone Pillar of Biaoyi’s Village Yi in the Northern Qi: A Case Study on Medieval Buddhist Social Relief] utilized the verses and title of the

‘Cihui Stone Pillar of Biaoyi’s Village Yi in the Northern Qi’ 北齊標異鄉義慈惠石柱 to examine the history of ‘yi’ 義 (pacts).¹⁵ It also attempts to use this case study to explain the background, intentions, and influence on society of the relief activities that yiyi undertook.

However, there are some differences between the yi discussed by the author and the reasons and aims of typical yiyi that were formed for the construction of images, and therefore the conclusion does not really have any particular significance here.¹⁶

13 For example, concerning the influence of the Tiwei Boli jing on the formation and development of yiyi, this had already been mentioned by earlier Japa- nese scholars.

14 Liu, ‘Wu zhi liu shiji Huabei xiangcun de fojiao xinyang’.

15 Liu, ‘Beiqi Biaoyi xiangyi Cihui shizhu’.

16 Lu, ‘Qianque duihua de xueshu shequn wenhua’. This article makes criti- cal reviews on mainland and Taiwan scholars’ papers about yiyi. The critiques in

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Yan Shangwen’s 顏尚文 ‘Beichao Fojiao shequ gongtongti de Fahua yiyi zuzhi yu huodong: Yi Dongwei ‘Lishi heyi zaoxiang bei’ weili’ 北朝佛教社區共同體的法華邑義組織與活動——以東魏〈李氏合邑造像碑〉為例 [Organisation and Activities of the Fahua Yiyi, a Buddhist Social Community in the Northern Dynasties: Taking the Eastern Wei

‘Lishi Heyi Zaoxiang Bei’ as an Example] looks at the important case study of the ‘Lishi heyi zaoxiang bei’ 李氏合邑造像碑 [Stele of Image Construction for the Li Family Heyi] (or ‘Dongwei Lishi heyi baiyu ren zaoxiang bei’ 東魏李氏合邑百餘人造像碑 [Image Construction Stele for the Over One Hundred Members of the Li Family Heyi, in the Eastern Wei]) to examine the thought, organisation, structure, activities, and so on of the Fahua Yiyi Group 法華邑義集團 which was guided by the thought of the Fahua 法華 (Dharma Lotus [Sūtra]).¹⁷ This paper has great significance for the discussion of the different origins of yiyi and the circumstances of particular sūtras that were popular among the general populace. However, the author considers that this community group had already formed into a tight social community organisation, a point that still requires further evidence. With respect to just the records of the ‘Lishi heyi zaoxiang bei’, the author has conflicting evidence with respect to their conclusions. As the conclusion states, among the various officials that are mentioned by name on the stele, there are fifteen governors, twelve district magistrates, two central military commanders, four palace ministers from vassal states, one governmental officer of the three dukes, two commanders of vari-

this article are insightful, but it does not sufficiently affirm the achievements of researchers. Especially, the assertion that mainland and Taiwan scholars ‘largely repeat the years of research findings of Japanese scholars’ with respect to the discussion of Buddhist belief activities does not conform to the actual situation. In fact, most of mainland and Taiwan scholars have taken Japanese scholars’ previous findings into consideration, but their research perspectives and dimensions differ from Japanese scholars’ previous findings. Further, due to the appearance of numerous new materials, even though mainland and Taiwan scholars focus on the same questions with previous Japanese scholars, the depth and breadth of their works has surpassed that of Japanese scholars’ previous findings.

17 Yan, ‘Beichao Fojiao shequ gongtongti de Fahua yiyi zuzhi yu huodong’.

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ous titles, and two clerical scribes. So many officials who had offices at various locations would most of the time not live or be active in that given area. The reason why all these people are mentioned in the names on the ‘Lishi heyi zaoxiang bei’ is only because they are members of the greater Li family clan or were born in this area. Taking a social group that includes all these officials and calling it a tight social community organisation is an exaggeration of the facts. On the other hand, gathering so many officials within one yiyi is presently something very seldom seen in our sources, and as such the ‘Lishi heyi zaoxiang bei’ is a very special case example, which should not be used to explain the general situation of yiyi in the northern regions during the Eastern Wei period.

In fact, when we consult more source materials it appears that we must admit that this organisation of this yiyi community is very diffuse and scattered (details below).

In summary, although there have been a number of academic works on yiyi both in China and abroad over the last few decades, they have not focused on a single issue, but have given attention to a particular aspect, or have examined some portion of the source material. In terms of the source materials, due to relevant sources being scattered and thus difficult to obtain, as well as the continual appearance of new source materials, there is a considerable quantity of source material that past scholars were simply unable to access and consider. This has even continued with the most recent scholarly works that concern the history of medieval Buddhism, which when they introduce the situation of yiyi and fashe still just maintain the explanations and theories of the aforementioned Japanese scholars.¹⁸ In the light of these circumstances, this author here plans to broadly collate all presently available source materials, and on the foundation of past scholarship make an integrated examination of yiyi during the Eastern Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods, to further explain the full differences between the origins and nature of yiyi and fashe during the time of the Eastern Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties.

18 Longquan, ‘Handi jiaotuan de jianli ji zaoqi xingtai’; Huang, ‘Beichao fojiao’.

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1.1. General Circumstances and Origins of Yiyi

Yiyi during the Eastern Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods mostly called themselves yi, or yiyi, with fayi being next most common. Here, the character yi 邑 does not denote a sense of a place or region, but instead indicates a religious community formed by the Buddhist followers within a particular place or region. This kind of yi formed by Buddhist devotees has, to a certain degree, the nature of forming a fraternal pact (jieyi 結義).

The ‘Beizhou Wang Miaohui deng wushi ren zaoxiang ji’ 北周王妙暉等五十人造像記 [Record of Image-Construction by Fifty People, Wang Miaohui and Others, in the Northern Zhou] briefly states: ‘The fifty people of the yi have long planted orchid branches (as symbols of affinity). All living in this bright time and happen to be fellow countrymen, they have sworn an oath through burning incense and candles’ (邑子五十人等, 宿樹蘭柯, 同茲明世, 爰託鄉親,

義存香火).¹⁹ As is well known, the expression ‘incense and lamps’

(xianghuo 香火) refers to fraternal pacts and alliances during the Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties. The passage which mentions ‘incense and candles’ and ‘long planting orchild branches’ 宿樹蘭柯 correspond to one another, and obviously have the connotation of a fraternal pact. It is for this reason that yi are also known as yiyi 邑義,²⁰ where the second yi 義 has the sense of forming a fraternal pact.

However, the ‘Beiwei biqiuni Huicheng deng zaoxiang ji’ 北魏比丘尼惠澄等造像記 [Record of Image Construction by the Bhikṣunī Huicheng and Others, in the Northern Wei]²¹ and ‘Xiwei Heyi sishi ren deng zao Simian Tiangong shixiang ji’ 西魏合邑四十人等造四面天宮石像記 [Record of Construction of a Stone Image of the Palace of the Four-Faced God by the Forty Members of the Heyi, in the Western Wei]²² both clearly call the yiyi with which they are

19 Jinshi cuibian 36.6–7; Baqiongshi jinshi buzheng 23.144.

20 Some scholars call yiyi 邑義 as yiyi 義邑, and even take yiyi 義邑 as a general appellation. In fact, yiyi 義邑 only appeared after the Tang Dynasty.

21 Mizuno & Nagahiro, eds., Kanan Rakuyou Ryūmon sekkutu no kankyū, 275.

22 ZLST vol. 6: 6.

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associated as an ‘incense and candle yiyi’ (xianghuo yiyi 香火邑義).

The ‘Beiqi yiyi Sengzhe deng zao Simian xiang ji’ 北齊邑義僧哲等造四面像記 [Record of the Construction of a Four-Faced Image by the Yiyi of Sengzhe and Others, in the Northern Qi]²³ and ‘Beiqi Seng- tong deng heyi zao Shijia daxiang ji’ 北齊僧通等合邑造釋迦大像記

[Record of Construction of Large Image of Śākyamuni by the Heyi of Sengtong and Others, in the Northern Qi]²⁴ go further in claiming that ‘those senior and junior within the yi’ 邑內大小 are ‘brought together in affinity by incense and candles’ 香火因緣, which moves the relationships involved in the fraternal pact in the present life to the past lives of the members.

This kind of ‘incense and candle yiyi’ 香火邑義, ‘those brought together in affinity by incense and candles’, is the nascent form of the

‘Incense and Candles She’ (xianghuo she 香火社) that Bai Juyi 白居易 (772–846) of the Tang Dynasty participated in, as featured in his

‘Tang Jiangzhou Xingguo si lü dade Cougong tajieming bingxu’ 唐江州興果寺律大德湊公塔碣銘並序 [Inscription, with Preface, on the Stūpa of Vinaya Master Cou of Xingguo Monastery in Jiangzhou of the Tang].²⁵

If it is asserted that the term yi or yiyi still retains some vestiges of regional organisations, then fayi has completely lost that kind of character. The fa 法 refers to the Buddha Dharma (Fofa 佛法), and yi

義 indicates the forming of fraternal pacts. A fayi is a fraternal pact organisation formed by those who worship the Buddha Dharma, which is why their members usually refer to themselves and one another as brothers and sisters of the Dharma fraternity.²⁶However, the term fayi

23 ZLST vol. 7: 1.

24 ZLST vol. 7: 3.

25 ‘Tang Jiangzhou Xingguosi lü dade Cougong tajieming bingxu’, in Gu, colla., Bai Juyi ji, vol. 3: 917.

26 See ‘Bei Wei fayi xiongdi zimei deng zaoxiangji’ 北魏法義兄弟姊妹等造像記 [Record of Building a Statue by Brothers and Sisters of a Dharma Society in the Northern Wei], ZLST vol. 4: 147; and ‘Bei Wei fayi xiongdi zimei yibairen zao Milex- iang ji’ 北魏法義兄弟姊妹一百人造彌勒像記 [Record of Building a Maitreya Statue by A Hundred Brothers and Sisters of a Fayi in the Northern Wei], ZLST vol. 4: 171.

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only appeared during a somewhat later period than yi and yiyi.²⁷ Although the terms yi, yiyi, fayi, and so on do not have a regional sense, their formation is still centred around a particular location.

Among them, most of them are voluntarily organised by a portion of the populace of a given natural area such as a town or neighbourhood.

For example, the yiyi in the ‘Beiqi Alujiao cun heyi qishi ren zaoxiang ji’ 北齊阿鹿交村合邑七十人造像記 [Record of Image Construction by the Seventy Members of the Alujiao Village Heyi, in the Northern Qi],²⁸ ‘Beiqi Dajiao cun yiyi muren qishiwu ren zao Guanyin xiang ji’

北齊大交村邑義母人七十五人造觀音像記 [Record of Construction of an Image of Guanyin by the Seventy-Five Mothers of the Dajiao Village Yiyi, in the Northern Qi],²⁹ and so on, were formed by part of the population of a village.

The members of some yiyi were spread over areas larger than a village or neighbourhood, such as seen in the circumstances of the yiyi and fayi recorded in the ‘Dongwei Xinghuasi Gaoling yidong zhucun fayi zaoxiang ji’ 東魏興化寺高嶺以東諸村法義造像記 [Record of Image Construction by the Fayi of the Villages East of Xinghua Monastery Gaoling, in the Eastern Wei],³⁰ ‘Beiqi Shi’ai xian Chen Shenxin heyizi qishi’er ren zaoxiang ji’ 北齊石艾縣陳神忻合邑子七十二人造像記 [Record of Image Construction of the Seventy-Two Members of the Heyi, Chen Shenxin and others, of Shi’ai County, in the Northern Qi],³¹ and so forth.

Some yiyi even had members from different counties. For exam-

27 Yi 邑 appeared before the Liang Dynasty in the South. In fasc. 12 of the previously cited Chu sanzang jiji by the Liang monk Sengyou 僧佑 (445–518), there is material about yi 邑. In the North, yi 邑 appeared in the first year (477) of the Taihe 太和 reign of the Northern Wei. See Beijing tushuguan cang Zhong- guo lidai shike taben huibian, vol. 3, p. 13. The earliest material about fayi 法義 is in the second year (519) of the Shengui 神龜 reign of the Northern Wei. See ZLST vol. 4: 71.

28 ZLST vol. 7: 124.

29 Ōmura, Chūgoku bijutsushi chōsohen, 327–328.

30 ZLST vol. 7: 108. Ōmura, Chūgoku bijutsushi chōsohen, 274–275.

31 Ōmura, Chūgoku bijutsushi chōsohen, 329.

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ple, in the ‘Beiwei Yijun, Tongguan, Tumen sanxian yizi erbaiwushi

ren zaoxiang ji’ 北魏宜君、同官、土門三縣邑子二百五十人造像記

[Record of Image Construction by the Two-Hundred and Fifty Yi Members of the Three Counties of Yijun, Tongguan, and Tumen, in the Northern Wei],³² the members are spread over three counties.

However, this kind of example is seldom seen.

Because yiyi are Buddhist communities voluntarily formed by people with the same religious faith, worship of and belief in Bud- dhism is the fundamental element that binds the yiyi members together. Therefore, in most circumstances people became members of their own volition, and as such the majority of yiyi were formed by a portion of the local population and people from around that region, rather than the entire population of a given region. Clear evidence of this is found in the above-cited examples, where there are only seventy-two people in the yi from Shi’ai County that constructed images, and the image construction yi composed of people from the three counties of Yijun, Tongguan, and Tumen in the Northern Wei has only 250 members.

By looking at the source materials collated in ‘Table 1’,³³ the timeframe for the popularity of yiyi starts at the very earliest in the 1st year of Yuanxing 元興 era (402) in the Eastern Jin,³⁴ and ends at the latest in the 1st year of Dading 大定 era (581) during the Northern Zhou,³⁵ with the majority of collected source material from between the years

32 Cao, Yaowangshan shike chongkan jilüe, 34.

33 Here and below, ‘Table 1’ refers to ‘Table 1: Yiyi in the Eastern Jin and the Northern and Southern Dynasties (表一: 東晉南北朝邑義情況表), in Hao, Zhonggu shiqi sheyi yanjiu, 61–102.

34 See Huiyuan’s biographies at Chu sanzang jiji and Gaoseng zhuan, discussed below (note 65).

35 See ‘Bei Zhou Yizhu Gao Shu deng ershier ren zaoxiangji’ 北周邑主高樹等二十二人造像記 [Record of Building a Statue by Twenty-two People led by Yi Chief Gao Shu in the Northern Zhou], in ZLST vol. 8: 212. The word yiyi 邑義 continued to exist during the periods of Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties, but its meaning was different from that in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. This point will be discussed below.

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of 500 to 581 of the common era. The geographical area in which yiyi were popular was also very broad, being spread across the regions which are in the present-day Henan, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Hebei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Beijing, and so on. The northern areas in which they were popular were somewhat vaster still, with more appearing in Henan, Shaanxi and Shandong. In the past, scholars have largely considered yiyi to be Buddhist organisations of the Northern Dynasties, but this is incorrect irrespective of whether one looks at the data from an historical or geographical perspective.

Due to the long timeframe over which yiyi were popular, and the vast area of their distribution, it is difficult to make a generalised description of the circumstances of such organisations. Based on the data collated in ‘Table 1’, the scale ranges from a minimum of three or four people³⁶ up to a maximum size of possibly one or two thousand,³⁷ with most of ranging from between several dozen to one hundred members, and quite a few with two or three hundred members.³⁸ The composition of yiyi members is extremely complex.

There were monastic monks, nuns, and novices, and also secular officials, though most were common members of society.³⁹ The most

36 See ‘Bei Wei Zhao Ahuan zao Milexiang ji’ 北魏趙阿歡造彌勒像記 [Record of Building a Maitreya Statue by Zhao Ahuan in the Northern Wei], in ZLST vol. 4: 60. ‘Dong Wei Cheng Rong heyi zaoxiangji’ 東魏程榮合邑造像記 [Record of Building a Statue by Chen Rong and the Yi in the Eastern Wei], in Baqiongshi jinshi buzheng 19.112.

37 See ‘Bei Wei Faya yu Zongna yi yiqianren zaota bei’ 北魏法雅與宗那邑一千人造塔碑 [Stele of Building a Stupa by Faya and One Thousand People of Zongna Yi in the Northern Wei], in ZLST vol. 3: 73; ‘Ningchan si sanji futu song bing liangce’ 凝禪寺三級浮屠頌並兩側 [Praise for the Three-storied Pagoda in Ningchan Monastery and the Two Sides], in Baqiongshi jinshi buzheng 18.105–109.

38 According to Table 1, there are 160 items that record the number of donors or from which can the number can be calculated. Among them, there are 125 items that include donors from 10 to 100, which accounts for 78%, and there are 14 items that include donors from 200 to 300.

39 On the lists of donors in the statue-building inscriptions by yiyi 邑義, those

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commonly seen way in which yiyi were formed was by a combination of various social strata of monastics and laity coming together as a single organisation. However, some yiyi had neither monastics nor officials,⁴⁰ and other yiyi were completely comprised of middle and lower-level local officials.⁴¹ There were also quite a few yiyi that were formed by or centred around large clans, which was connected to the fact that in the two Jins and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods many large clans in the north lived together in close association with clan members.

For example, in Yan Shangwen’s focused study of ‘Dongwei Lishi heyi baiyu ren zaoxiang bei’ (abovementioned),⁴² we see an yiyi that is mainly comprised of members from the Li family clan, and in

‘Beiwei Dawu cun heyi yibai ren zaoxiang ji’ 北魏大吳村合邑一百人造像記 [Record of Image Construction for the One Hundred Mem- bers of the Dawu Village Heyi, in the Northern Wei],⁴³ we have an yiyi comprised of the Wu family clan, and so on.

Furthermore, due to women having a relatively higher social position during this period in history, apart from many yiyi having female participation, there were also some yiyi that were formed by

who have official titles would have their official titles inscribed in front of their names, and monks and nuns would have words such as biqiu 比丘 (bhikṣu), biqiuni 比丘尼 (bhikṣunī) and shami 沙彌 (śrāmaṇera) that express their identities inscribed in front of their Dharma names. Those who only have their names inscribed are commoners. As shown from the numerous names on the lists, commoners clearly are the majority.

40 In Table 1, there are 157 items that can determine whether there are monastic donors. Among them, 132 items include both monastic and lay donors, which accounts approximately for 84%. 25 items do not include monastic donors, which account for approximately 15%. The yiyi 邑義 that do not include officials as members accounts for a larger proportion.

41 See ‘Xi Wei Shiguang deng heyi zaoxiang ji’ 西魏始光等合邑造像記 [Record of Building a Statue by Shiguang and others of Heyi in the Western Wei], in Ōmura, Chūgoku bijutsushi chōsohen, 289–290.

42 Ōmura, Chūgoku bijutsushi chōsohen, 260–261.

43 Baqiongshi jinshi buzheng 19.113–114.

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and for women themselves. For example, in ‘Dongwei Zheng Qing deng heyiyi liushi ren zao Jiashe xiang ji’ 東魏鄭清等合邑義六十人造迦葉像記 [Records for the Construction of a Kāśyapa Image by the Sixty Heyiyi Members, Zheng Qing and Others, in the Eastern Wei], we see that the members are referred to as ‘the mothers of the heyi’ 合邑諸母,⁴⁴ as this yiyi was formed by middle aged and elderly married women who already had their own children. Other examples are found in the yiyi recorded in the ‘Beiqi Gongsun cun muren sanshiyi ren heyi zaoxiang ji’ 北齊公孫村母人三十一人合邑造像記 [Record of Image Construction by the Thirty-One Women of the Gongsun Village Women’s Heyi, in the Northern Qi]⁴⁵ and ‘Beiqi Dajiao cun yiyi muren qishiwu ren zao Guanyin xiang ji’,⁴⁶ where the yiyi were all organised by women. There are other similar kinds of source materials that we will not mention in full here.⁴⁷

Most yiyi members called themselves ‘yizi’ 邑子, whereas those that did not add any such official titles before their names were quite few in number. Apart from this, there were other titles such as yiren

邑人 (yi person), yiyi ren 邑義人 (yiyi person), yiyi, yitu 邑徒 (yi disciple), fayi, fo dizi 佛弟子 (Buddhist disciple), qingxin shi 清信士

(gentleman of pure faith), qingxin nan 清信男 (man of pure faith), qingxin 清信 (the pure faithful), zhuren 主人 (patron), tanyue 檀越

(donor), yimu 邑母 (yi mother), yinü 邑女 (yi woman), qingxin nü

清信女 (woman of pure faith), moumou mu 某某母 (mother of so- and-so), moumou qi 某某妻 (wife of so-and-so), and so on. Monas- tics who were members of yiyi were known as biqiu 比丘 (bhikṣu), biqiuni 比丘尼 (bhikṣunī), shami 沙彌 (śramaṇera), yizi biqiu 邑子比丘 (yi member bhikṣu), and so on (refer to ‘Table 1’). Due to the complexity of the leadership of yiyi, we shall have a discussion dedicated to this topic below.

The activities of yiyi include construction of images, setting up vegetarian feasts (zhai 齋), building (Buddhist) pagodas, renovation

45 Ibid, 316–317.

46 Ibid, 327–329.

47 Ning & Hao, ‘Beichao zhi Sui Tang Wudai jian de nüren jieshe’.

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and construction of monasteries and temples, excavating stone cav- erns, engraving stone sūtras, and recitation of the Buddha’s name, as well as digging public wells, planting trees, and so forth. The most important of these activities was the construction of images (refer to Table 1). Among the 238 sources for yiyi that the author has collated for which the content of their activities can be ascertained, there are 215 that have construction of images as one of the activities that they undertook, which is above 90%. It can therefore be seen that the construction of images was the most important activity that most yiyi engaged in during the period from the Eastern Jin to the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

When compared to traditional sheyi (yishe), the organisational structures of yiyi were in general looser. A large number of yiyi were temporarily formed for the purpose of activities such as constructing images and building pagodas, and after the image of the Buddha or pagoda was completed the yiyi would thereupon be dissolved. The

‘Beiwei Dawu cun heyi yibai ren zaoxiang ji’ claims one hundred people in its title, but the names given inside do not reach one hundred, as the phrase ‘yi member’ is written ten times under which no names are written.⁴⁸ Also in the ‘Beiwei Han Xianzu deng heyi zaoxiang ji’ 北魏韓顯祖等合邑造像記 [Record for Image Construction of the Heyi of Han Xianzu and Others, in the Northern Wei] there are four occasions where under ‘yi member’ no name is written.⁴⁹

48 Baqiongshi jinshi buzheng 19.113–114.

49 ZLST vol. 5: 199.

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These are probably situations in which the organisers have ini- tially planned to receive a certain amount of financial support before someone could become an yi member and therefore have the right to have their names engraved in the blank space beneath the word ‘yi member’ on the stone stele. The stonemason would first engrave the characters for ‘yi member’, irrespective of who they would be, and then once the set amount of money was received then individuals’

names would be engraved underneath ‘yi member’. Perhaps the organisers in these two aforementioned yiyi were originally a bit more optimistic and had ‘yi member’ engraved more than was finally the case, and it was only later when not so many people actually participated that there was a portion of the engraved phrase ‘yi member’

under which there was no name to write.

In the ‘Beizhou Wang Miaohui deng wushi ren zaoxiang ji’ (already mentioned above), although the text of the stele gives ‘Fifty Heyi members’ 合邑子五十人, there are names of over 70 people inscribed on the back of the stele.⁵⁰ This should be a case of the actual number of people involved in constructing the image exceeding that originally estimated by the organisers. On the back of the stele

FIG. 1 ‘Beiwei Han Xianzu deng heyi zaoxiang ji’ 北魏韓顯祖等合邑造像記; from ZLST vol. 5: 199

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‘Beiqi daduyizhu Dong Hongda deng zaoxiang ji’ 北齊大都邑主董洪達等造像記 [Record of Image Construction by Great Provincial Yi Chief Dong Hongda and Others, in the Northern Qi], it states:

‘On the twenty-seventh day of the eleventh month of the second year of the Wuping 武平 era (Wuping 2.11.27= December 29, 571), five hundred cash of money was used to buy the right to be inscribed as the patron of a stone image, Dong Fu’en 董伏恩’ (武平二年十一月廿七日, 用錢五百文買都像主一區 (軀), 董伏恩).⁵¹ Dong Fu’en used five hundred coins in cash to purchase the right to be inscribed as the chief patron for a stone image. This example demonstrates that the above conjecture should be by and large correct.

This kind of yiyi in which one can pay money to have one’s name added to works naturally would have organisational structures that were not particularly rigid, and participants would have a greater degree of personal volition. Once sufficient funds were gathered, and construction of the stone image was complete, the organisation itself would no longer exist. There are even sources that show that there were yiyi that gathered money at the time to purchase stone images that had already be made. Once the organisers had amounted the funds, the funds and the names of those providing them would be passed over the craftsman, who would engrave the names on the blank space previously left aside on the stone image that was already prepared. Next, a ritual celebration for installing the stone image would be held, and the mission of that yiyi would be complete. In the ‘Dongwei yizhu zaoxiang song’ 東魏邑主造像訟 (=頌) [(Verses for) Image Construction by the Yi Chief, in the Eastern Wei], the yi chief left aside enough blank space for approximately eight characters, and the back of the stele does not have the names of any members.⁵² This should be a stone image that has been constructed in preparation to sell to an yiyi but was unable to be sold. In terms of those yiyi whose goal was constructing images as described above, the larger the number of participants the smaller the amount of money that each participant would have to contribute. Therefore, the organisers

51 Ibid, 344.

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of this kind of yiyi would encourage as many people as possible to get involved. This would lead to some yiyi having one hundred members, several hundred, or even over one thousand members. It would be difficult for such an organisation that was formed for such a short period with so many members to have a very strict and tight organisational structure.

In a related matter, there are source materials that show that there were also some yiyi that continued to exist for longer periods of time, and apart from constructing images, they also undertook other Bud- dhist activities. The ‘Beiwei yizhu Sun Daowu deng heyi erbai ren zaoxiang ji’ 北魏邑主孫道務等合邑二百人造像記 [Record of Image Construction by the Two Hundred Heyi Members, Yi Chief Sun Daowu and Others, in the Northern Wei], states that this yiyi began image construction in the ‘7th year of the Taihe 太和 era (483)’, until

‘finished on the twenty seventh day of the month where the first day was a wuzi day, in a renwu year, the third year of Jingming 景明 era (Jingming 3.4⁵³.27 = May 19, 502)’ 景明三年 (公元502) 歲在壬午戊子朔廿七日造訖,⁵⁴ indicating that this yiyi was in existence for 19 years.

In the ‘Beiwei Fumengshi heyi zaoxiang ji’ 北魏夫蒙氏合邑造像記 [Record of Image Construction by the Heyi of Fumeng, in the Northern Wei] there is the inscription:

The deceased leader of the yi, the follower Tian Guixiang 田歸香;

the deceased leader of the yi, the follower Jun Meng[?] Huyong 儁 蒙□護永; the deceased karmadāna, the follower Dang Jixiang 党姬香; the deceased member of the yi, the follower Tongdi Wenji 同禘 文姬; the deceased karmadāna, the follower Tongdi Longjiang 同 禘龍姜; the deceased member of the yi, the follower Tian Wenjiang 田文姜. 亡邑主清信田歸香, 亡邑主清信儁蒙□護永, 亡惟納清信党姬香, 亡邑子清信同禘文姬, 亡惟那清信同禘龍姜, 亡邑子清信田文姜.⁵⁵

53 In Jingming 3, the month the first day of which was a wuzi 戊子 day was the fourth month.

54 ZLST vol. 3: 54.

55 ZLST vol. 5: 179–182.

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FIG. 2 ‘Beiwei yizhu Sun Daowu deng heyi erbai ren zaoxiang ji’ 北魏邑主孫道務等合邑二百人造像記; from ZLST vol. 3: 54.

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FIG. 3 ‘Beiwei Fumengshi heyi zaoxiang ji’ 北魏夫蒙氏合邑造像記; courtesy of National Library of China 中國國家圖書館 (中國國家圖書館藏品)

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From the time when this yiyi formed, up until the completion of the image, several members had passed away, which indicates that the time period over which this yiyi existed was not short. From inscriptions of image construction and pagoda building by yiyi there are 20 yiyi that established the position of a zhai patron (zhaizhu 齋主) (see Table 1), which indicates that these yiyi also undertook zhai activities. It is possible that these yiyi only ever set up a single zhai activity, namely the celebratory zhai gathering that would have been held after the completion of the Buddha image or pagoda construction, and then they were dissolved, with the zhai patron in the inscription being the patron for just that single zhai gathering event. However, there are also some yiyi in which the zhai patron was the patron for the eight-restraint zhai (baguan zhai 八關齋).⁵⁶The ‘eight-restraint zhai’ was also known as the ‘eight zhai precepts’ (bazhai jie 八齋戒), which was a form of religious cultivation in which the devotees would uphold the eight zhai precepts of restraint from killing, stealing, and so on, up to refraining from eating after midday. Be- cause the eight-restraint zhai precepts were upheld as a long-term practice, those yiyi that established eight-restraint zhai patrons did not dissolve after the images were constructed. In the ‘Beiwei Qishi heyi nianren zaoxiang ji’ 北魏錡氏合邑廿人造像記 [Record of Image Construction for the Heyi of Twenty People of the Qi Family, in the Northern Wei], it states that the stone image that they constructed should have offerings made to it ‘never with shortage during the four sessions’ 四時不厥 (缺).⁵⁷ This Yiyi was established solely for the purpose of constructing this image, as the image was made to make offerings to over a long period of time. The location in which the

56 See ‘Bei Qi Shiai xian Chen Shenxin heyi qishier ren zaoxiang ji’ 北齊石艾縣陳神忻合邑七十二人造像記 [Record of Building a Statue by Seventy-two People of Heyi led by Chen Shenxin from Shiai County in the Northern Qi], in ZLST vol. 7: 108; ‘Bei Qi Alujiao cun heyi qishi ren zaoxiang ji’ 北齊阿鹿交村合邑七十人造像記 [Record of Building a Statue by Seventy People of Heyi from Alujiao Village in the Northern Qi], in ZLST vol. 8: 124. Other similar inscriptions will not be enumerated here.

57 ZLST vol. 4: 79.

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Buddha image was installed later became the religious site in which they held their Buddhist activities. The images constructed by yiyi that established zhai patrons should also have arranged such sites.

Apart from this, some yiyi had gentlemen of pure faith among their members. As described above, the members of some yiyi referred to themselves as the pure faithful, gentlemen of pure faith, men of pure faith, women of pure faith, and so forth. The gentlemen of pure faith mentioned here and the men of pure faith who were members of yiyi were not the same, as the former were not yiyi members. For example, in the inscription of the ‘Beiwei Yan Tao deng heyi wushi ren zaoxiang ji’ 北魏嚴桃等合邑五十人造像記 [Record of Image Construction by the Heyi of Fifty Members, Yan Tao and Others, in the Northern Wei], it states:

The follower (qing xingshi 清信士) Yan Xianshu 嚴顯樹; the follower Jin Yuanxiu 靳元秀; the follower Jin Shuang □靳雙□; the follower Shi Changshou 史萇受; the follower Jin Shiqi 靳士奇; the follower Yan Chongqing 嚴崇慶; the follower Shi Qianniu 史千牛; the follower Yan Siwang 嚴四王; the member of the yi, Yan Shuan- glu 嚴雙祿 (?); the karmadāna (duweinuo 都維那) Jin Linglu 靳令廬; the incense burner (xianghuo 香火) Jin Shaohuan 靳韶歡; the functionary (yixu 邑胥) of the yi, Jin Guozhen 靳國珍; the functionary of the yi, Jin [?]de 靳 [ ] 德; the karmadāna Yan Guochang 嚴國昌; □□□Suigong 隨公; the yi member, Shi Yubao 史玉保; the yi member, Yan Taosheng 嚴桃生; the incense burner Jin Shengchi 靳神熾; the recording regulator (dianlu 典錄), Yuan Chengda 袁承達; the yi member, Yan Tunnü 嚴屯女; the yi member, Yuan Faming 袁法明; the yi member, Shi Shen □ 史神□; the yi member, Shi Si □ 史思□; the yi member, Yan □ xing 嚴□興; the yi member, Yan Tui 嚴退; the yi member, Jin Shenda 靳神達; the yi member, Yan Wansui 嚴萬歲; the yi member, Yan □□ 嚴□□; the yi member, Yan Fu □ 嚴輔

□; the yi member, Yan □ zu 嚴□族; the yi member, Yan Bei □ 嚴被□;

the yi member, Zhang Maide 張買得; □ administrator, Yuan Yangde 袁陽德; the yi administrator (yizheng 邑政), Yuan Da 袁達; dan official 但官 (functions unclear), Yuan Hongzhen 袁洪珍; the recording regulator Ying Zhou 暎周 of the eastern village (Dongxiang 東鄉);

the yi member, Yuan Tianshou 袁天受; the yi member, □□□; the Yi

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□ Yuan Shen □ 袁神□; the yi member, □□ of the eastern village. 清信士嚴顯樹, 清信士靳元秀, 清信士靳雙□, 清信士史萇受, 清信士靳士奇, 清信士嚴崇慶, 清信士史千牛, 清信士嚴四王, 邑子嚴雙祿 (?), 都維那靳令廬, 香火靳韶歡, 邑胥靳國珍, 邑胥靳A德, 維那嚴國昌,

□□□隨公, 邑子史玉保, 邑子嚴桃生, 香火靳神熾, 典錄袁承達, 邑子嚴屯女, 邑子袁法明, 邑子史神□, 邑子史思□, 邑子嚴□興, 邑子嚴退, 邑子靳神達, 邑子嚴萬歲, 邑子嚴□□, 邑子嚴輔□, 邑子嚴□族, 邑子嚴被□, 邑子張買得, □政袁陽德, 邑政袁達, 但官袁洪珍, 典錄東鄉暎周, 邑子袁天受, 邑子□□□, 邑□袁神□, 邑子東鄉□□.⁵⁸

In this inscription, apart from the official titles of the leaders, the members of the yiyi are described as yiyi. However, in addition to the yiyi members there are also eight gentlemen of pure faith. There are several examples of source materials like this. These gentlemen of pure faith may just have gained this status on the inscription due to providing support for the construction of images. During the time of Gu Yanwu 顧炎武 (1613–1682), people who provided financial support were known as ‘gentlemen of faith’ (xinshi 信士),⁵⁹ which was probably a vestige of this kind of ancient tradition. That the family and given names of gentlemen of pure faith were inscribed on stone images constructed by yiyi, but were not referred to as yiyi members, was due to the following two reasons. One, apart from the construction of images these yiyi also held other Buddhist activities, and those of pure faith only participated in the construction of images, therefore they could not be referred to as yi members. Two, joining an yiyi may have required a specific process, and one could not simply provide some amount of money to become a member of an yiyi. The process involved was not necessarily as complex as joining a she in the later period of the Tang Dynasty (wherein one had to fill out a docu- ment to apply for admission into the she, receive the approval of the sheyi leadership, and so forth),⁶⁰ but it was probably a bit more com-

59 ‘Yanshi jinshi yiwen ji’ 偃師金石遺文記 [Record of the Stone and Metal In- scriptions at Yanshi], in Jinshi cuibian 34.1.

60 See relevant discussion and note 41 in Hao, Shanggu shiqi sheyi yanjiu, chap. 1.

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plicated than the ‘oaths of incense and candles’ (xianghuo mengshi 香火盟誓) just mentioned above. In the ‘Dongwei Xinghua si Gaoling yidong zhucun fayi zaoxiang ji’ cited previously, it mentions that there were ‘mutual and reciprocal contracts’ 共相要約 during the formation of this organisation, which demonstrates that there may have been regulations similar to the articles of association found in later times. Based on the evidence of the above source materials and their analysis, we can deduce that yiyi with gentlemen of pure faith in addition to yi members did not simply dissolve after construction of their images, and that the organisational structures of these yiyi were tighter and stricter than those that undertook a single once-only activity of constructing an image.

The above discussion explains that yiyi during the Eastern Jin and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods can largely be divided into two types. The first type is those which only undertook singular events such as constructing images and building pagodas. The other type also engaged in other Buddhist events apart from the construction of images. The latter type usually existed for a longer period of time and had tighter organisational structures.

Chinese and international scholars consider that yiyi have their origins in the Tiwei Boli jing, which first appeared in the Northern Wei.⁶¹ This opinion is itself based on the evidence of a passage in Tanyao’s 曇曜 (active 440s–460s) biography in Xu Gaoseng zhuan

續高僧傳 [Extended Biographies of Eminent Monastics], which states:

In the Guan(zhong) region of the Kaihuang period (581–600) of the Sui dynasty (581–618), the people often studied the Tiwei [Boli jing] 提謂[波利經] [Trapuṣa and Bhallika Sūtra]. The people of the yi organizations each carried monk robes and alms bowl, and to create a zhai every month, checking each other to see if they were performing the rites according to the Vinaya. The people who participated in the gathering were extremely numerous. 隋初開皇關壤, 往

61 Yamazaki, ‘Zaike Bukkyō dantai no ichikeishiki toshite no yūgi’, and ‘Zui Tō jidai ni okeru giyū oyobi hōsha ni tuite’. Zhang & Dai, ‘Yiyi zhidu shulüe’.

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往民間猶習《提謂》, 邑義各持衣缽, 月再興齋, 儀範正律, 遞相鑒檢, 甚具翔集云.⁶²

What this source refers to is not the situation in the Northern Dynas- ties, so scholars take this piece of information as evidence and then through a process of deductive reasoning consider that given that the start of the Sui Dynasty was like this, the situation in the Northern Dynasties could not have been very different.⁶³ It should be acknowl- edged that when there is no direct evidence it is possible to use such deductive reasoning to a certain degree. Furthermore, the Tiwei Boli jing was indeed composed at the start of the Northern Dynasties, and is a sūtra that targets lay Buddhist devotees.⁶⁴ Therefore, there is some reasonable basis to consider that yiyi of the Northern Dynasties had their origins in the Tiwei Boli jing. However, such deductive reasoning is merely a possibility, and to take a possibility and trans- form it into a certain conclusion still requires some direct evidence.

But those who propose this theory do precise that when they make such certain claims in the absence of any directly supporting evidence. How much more is this the case when what is presented in the source materials does not represent the circumstances of the entirety of the northern regions, but are limited to the Guanzhong region during the last two decades of the sixth century (581–600). There are obvious dangers in making such a deduction for the entire northern region based upon the circumstances of the early Sui Dynasty. I have no intention of denying the possibility that yiyi had their origins in the Tiwei Boli jing; but I have discovered that some yiyi certainly were not sourced on the Tiwei Boli jing. It is as scholars have stated, yiyi that were influenced by the Tiwei Boli jing should have upheld the five precepts. But, as mentioned above, some yiyi established an eight-restraint zhai patron, and these yiyi that upheld the eight pre-

62 Xu Gaoseng zhuan, T no. 2060, 50: 1.428a19–21.

63 Yamazaki, ‘Zaike Bukkyō dantai no ichikeishiki toshite no yūgi’, and ‘Zui Tō jidai ni okeru giyū oyobi hōsha ni tuite’. Zhang & Dai, ‘Yiyi zhidu shulüe’.

64 Tang, Han Wei liang Jin Nanbeichao fojiao shi, 428. Tsukamoto, ‘Shina no zaike bukkyō tokuni shomin bukkyō no ichi kyōten’.

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cepts plus the zhai precept are obviously unconnected with the Tiwei boli jing which propounds the five precepts.

In fact, not only is the Tiwei Boli jing not the only source for yiyi, yiyi also did not appear for the first time in the Northern Wei. Hui- yuan’s 慧遠 (334–416) biography states in brief:

[Huiyuan] thereupon went with all his followers to perform the [ritual] circumambulation (Ch. xingdao 行道; Skt. Pradakṣiṇā) day and night without stopping, and, as a result, the lingering [beneficial] influence of Śākyamuni[’s statue was revived]. Finally, gentlemen who [desired to] observe the Rules and to appease their minds, guests who [wanted to] reject the worldly dust and to live in pure faith, all unexpectedly arrived and longingly gathered from afar: Liu Yimin 劉遺民 (352–410) of Pengcheng 彭城, Lei Cizong 雷次宗 (386–448) of Yuzhang 豫章, Zhou Xuzhi 周續之 (377–423) of Yanmen 雁門, Bi Yingzhi 畢穎之 (active 400s) of Xincai 新蔡, Zong Bing 宗炳 (375–443), Zhang Laimin 張萊民 (350–418), Zhang Jishuo 張季碩 (a.k.a. Zhang Xiushuo 張秀碩 [359–423]) of Nanyang 南陽 and others. They all abandoned the world and gave up its splendour, and] came to live under Huiyuan’s guidance.

Then, before a statue of Amitābha in the vihāra, Huiyuan [and these lay devotees] held a fasting [ceremony] and made the vow together to strive for [rebirth in] the Western Region [Sukhāvatī]. He ordered Liu Yimin to compose the text of this (formulary), which ran as follows: 於是率眾行道, 昏曉不絕, 釋迦餘化, 於斯復興. 既而謹律息心之士, 絕塵清信之賓, 並不期而至, 望風遙集. 彭城劉遺民, 豫章雷次宗, 雁門周續之, 新蔡畢頴之, 南陽宗炳、張萊民、張季碩等, 並棄世遺榮, 依遠遊止. 遠乃於精舍無量壽像前建齋立誓, 共期西方. 乃令劉遺民著其文曰:

In the year corresponding with the constellation Sheti, in the autumn, in the seventh month the first day of which has [the cyclical signs] wuchen, on the 28th day with (the cyclical signs) yiwei (i.e., September 11, 402). The Master of the Doctrine Shi Huiyuan, [urged by] the depth of his noble emotions and the excellence of his pure feelings, has invited [us], like-minded gentlemen, [desirous of]

appeasing the mind and inspired by a noble faith, to the number of 123 men, to assemble before the statue of Amitābha at the vihāra of

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the Prajñā terrace on the northern slope of Mount Lu 廬山, and he has led us reverently to perform the sacrifice of incense and flowers, and to make a vow. Now for all those who take part in this assembly, since the principle of causation is clearly understood, hence the transmission [of life] through the three times (i.e., rebirth in past, present and future) is evident, and since the ordinations of fate [determined by] the moving influence [of karman] tally with each other, hence the retribution of good and evil is inevitable. […] Now we meet the good fortune that we without [previous] deliberation in unison [strive] for the Western Region (Sukhāvatī). […] However, the circumstances and affairs (of our lives) are not the same, and our merits [inherited from former lives] are different. In the morning we may pray in unison, and yet in the evening we may become widely separate. As close mentors and friends, we find this truly grieving.

Touched by this, we make an agreement, arrange our clothes in the Hall of Doctrine, with a heart of equally benefiting, and with the aspiration for the subtle and supreme (Truth), and vow to travel together to that most distant region (of the Western Paradise). 維歲在攝提秋, 七月戊辰朔, 二十八日乙未, 法師釋慧遠貞感幽奧, 宿懷特發. 乃延命同志息心貞信之士, 百有二十三人, 集於廬山之陰, 般若臺精舍阿彌陀像前, 率以香華敬薦而誓焉: ‘惟斯一會之眾, 夫緣化之理既明, 則三世之傳顯矣; 遷感之數既符, 則善惡之報必矣. … 今幸以不謀而僉心西境, … 然其景績參差, 功德不一, 雖晨祈云同, 夕歸攸隔. 即我師友之眷, 良可悲矣, 是以慨焉. 胥命整衿法堂, 等施一心, 亭懷幽極.誓茲同人, 俱遊絕域.⁶⁵

In the records of the above cited source, although the religious community formed during the Eastern Jin period by Huiyuan and 123 monastic and lay Buddhist followers did not occur after the mid Tang, it was known subsequently by the specialist term of the

‘White Lotus Society’ (Bailian she 白蓮社).⁶⁶ This was a Buddhist

65 Chu sanzang jiji, T no. 2145, 55: 15.109c07–110a1; Gaoseng zhuan, T no.

2059, 50: 6.358c16–359a12. Translation adapted from Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of China, 244–245.

66 The text quoted here was misunderstood after the mid-Tang as: Huiyuan

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community of the second type of yiyi that we have discussed here, and furthermore was the earliest Buddhist community that we have seen to date that focused on undertaking Buddhist activities. The argument behind this is as follows. First, the members that made up this community were comprised of the two assemblies of the Bud- dhist faithful, i.e., monastics and laity, with Huiyuan as the leader of this community. Second, this community carried out vow rituals in front of an image of the Buddha that were similar to incense and candle oaths of alliance. Third, this community was formed with the aim of rebirth in the Western Pure Land as a group, and the method to accomplish this aim was recollection of the Buddha (nianfo 念佛) through contemplation of thoughts.

Such a kind of Buddhist community that aimed to take rebirth in the Pure Land was not without examples in the northern regions. Here are several examples. First, the ‘Beiwei Cui Yonggao deng sanshiliu ren zaoxiang ji’ 北魏崔永高等三十六人造像記 [Record of Image Con- struction by Thirty-six People including Cui Yonggao and Others in the Northern Wei] states that their goal in constructing the image was

‘in order to be reborn in the Pure Land’ 為往淨方.⁶⁷ Second, the ‘Beiqi yizhu Yun chanshi deng heyi zao Amituo yuxiang ji’ 北齊邑主暈禪師等合邑造阿彌陀玉像記 [Record of Construction of a Jade Image of Amitābha by the Heyi of Yi Chief Meditation Master Yun and Others, in the Northern Qi] says that they ‘together will be reborn in the Pure Land’ 俱投淨土.⁶⁸ Third, the ‘Beiqi Yin Gong’an deng heyi zao shixiang ji’ 北齊殷恭安等合邑造石像記 [Record of Construction of a

and eighteen other eminent monks set up the White Lotus Society, into which 123 people participated and 3 people did not participate. See Tang, Han Wei liang Jin Nanbeichao fojiao shi, pp. 261–264. However, Tang Yongtong’s rejec- tion of the statement that Huiyuan set up the White Lotus Society did not catch the attention of Buddhist history researchers. In recent years, there are still scholars quoting the materials about Huiyuan’s setting up of the White Lotus Society when they discuss fashe. See Yamazaki, Zui Tō bukkyōshi no kenkyū, 294; Longq- uan, ‘Handi jiaotuan de jianli ji zaoqi xingtai’; Huang, ‘Beichao fojiao’.

67 ZLST vol. 4: 145.

68 ZLST vol. 8: 43–45.