Faying
Faying (法颕; also written 法颖) is associated with the Shisong lü (十诵律, Ten Recitations Vinaya) tradition in the Southern dynasties and recorded in bibliographic sources as the compiler of the one-fascicle precept text Shisong biquni boluotimucha jieben (十诵比丘尼波罗提木叉戒本, T1437). What can be established is the Vinaya milieu in which he worked and the contested attribution of the text linked to his name.
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Name | Faying 法颕 (also written 法颖)1 • 2 |
| Text linked to him | Shisong biquni boluotimucha jieben (T1437), one fascicle, an extraction from the vibhaṅga of the Shisong lü2 |
| Attribution status | Sakaino maintains Faying, not Faxian 法显, compiled T1437; the attribution is marked contested in the Collected Buddhist Texts database1 |
| His Vinaya | The Shisong lü, the Sarvāstivāda Vinaya, first complete Vinaya translated into Chinese (404–409 CE)3 |
| Tradition's standing | Dominant monastic code in the Southern dynasties (Song, Qi, Liang); displaced by the Sifen lü under the Tang4 |
| Fate of the commentaries | All commentaries on the Shisong lü are lost and survive only in bibliographic records4 |
The Shisong lü tradition in fifth-century China
The Shisong lü is the Sarvāstivāda (萨婆多部) Vinaya, and its Chinese translation was the first complete Vinaya rendered into Chinese; it remains the only complete version of that Vinaya preserved3. Work began on the seventeenth day of the tenth month of the sixth year of the Hongshi era (404 CE), when the Central Asian monk Punyatāra (弗若多罗) recited the Sanskrit text while Kumārajīva (鸠摩罗什, 343–413) rendered it into Chinese. Punyatāra died leaving about two-thirds translated; in 405 Dharmaruci (昙摩流支) arrived in Chang'an and, at the request of Huiyuan (慧远, 334–416) of Mount Lu, collaborated with Kumārajīva to complete an initial 58-scroll draft, and Kumārajīva died in 409 before a revision could be made3 • 5.
The text then split into two lineages. The Northern lineage preserved the initial 58-scroll version without a preface; the Southern lineage is an expanded 61-scroll version with a preface, produced when Vimalākṣa (卑摩罗叉) revised and expanded the draft at Shijian Monastery (石涧寺) in Shouchun (present-day Shouxian, Anhui), renaming the final recitation the Pini song (毗尼诵)3 • 5 • 6. Vimalākṣa brought the text to Xin Monastery in Jingzhou and spread it into the Southern dynasties from there, which established the Shisong lü's standing in the south; Xin Monastery was a center of Shisong lü study in the early 420s6.
This was the tradition Faying belonged to. A regional division of Vinaya use took shape in the first half of the fifth century: the Southern dynasties mainly used the Shisong lü, the early and middle Northern dynasties mainly the Mohe sengqi lū (Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya), and the later Northern dynasties the Sifen lū (Dharmaguptaka Four-Part Vinaya)6. The Gaoseng zhuan states of the period, "虽复诸部皆传，而〈十诵〉一本，最盛东国" (although all the Vinayas were transmitted, the Shisong was the one that flourished most in the eastern lands), and the Shisong lü was the most widely practiced Vinaya in Jiangnan during the Song, Qi, and Liang dynasties7. Its rival, the Sifen lü, was translated later, between 410 and 412 CE by Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian, in 60 fascicles2.
The text attributed to Faying
The Shisong biquni boluotimucha jieben (Ten-Recitation Vinaya Bhikṣuṇīprātimokṣa Precept Book; T1437, one fascicle) is an extraction from the vibhaṅga of the Shisong lü. The Taishō edition misprints the compiler's name as Faxian (法顕); the text is attributed to Faying (法颖)2. The attribution is contested: the scholar Sakaino maintains that Faying 法颕, not Faxian 法显, compiled the text, and the Collected Buddhist Texts database records the compiler assertion as contested, with documentation in Ono and Maruyama's Bussho kaisetsu daijiten (1933–1936) and Hirakawa Akira's Ritsuzō no kenkyū 2 (2000)1.
A related loss bears on any commentary ascribed to him. All commentaries on the Shisong lü have been lost and survive only in bibliographic records4.
By the numbers
- Shisong lü translation: begun 404 CE (Punyatāra reciting, Kumārajīva rendering); 58-scroll draft completed with Dharmaruci from 405; Kumārajīva died 4093 • 5.
- Northern lineage: 58 juan, no preface; Southern lineage: 61 juan, with preface3.
- Sifen lü: translated 410–412 CE by Buddhayaśas and Zhu Fonian, 60 fascicles2.
- T1437: one fascicle2.
References
- CBC@: Person: Faying, 法頴, Collected Buddhist Texts project
- Vinayas II, Tibetan Buddhist Encyclopedia
- The Transmission and Textual Transformation of the Shisong lü from the 6th to 13th Centuries, Religions 15(9):1057 (2024)
- Shisong lü 十誦律, chinaknowledge.de
- Alternative Lineages: The Shisong lü in Japanese Ancient Manuscript Buddhist Canons, Religions 16(5):604 (2025)
- The Biography of Faxian: On the Practice and Spread of Chinese Buddhist Precepts during the Jin and Song Dynasties, Hualin International Journal of Buddhist Studies
- 中國律學源流, NTU Buddhist library full text
Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Philosophy, religion, and mythology › Religion and spirituality › Religious biographies › Jewish, Islamic, and Dharmic religious leaders › Sikh Gurus and Hindu/Dharmic teachers › Vinaya masters
Initially written Oct 10, 2026 · Edited: Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026
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