The Early Influence of the Yongle Southern Canon on Vietnamese Buddhism: A Case Study of the Hybridity of the 19th-Century Reprint of the Great Vinaya Canon

Title

The Early Influence of the Yongle Southern Canon on Vietnamese Buddhism: A Case Study of the Hybridity of the 19th-Century Reprint of the Great Vinaya Canon

Author

Tô-Lan Nguyễn, Kuei-Min Lee

Page

01-34

DOI

10.6163/TJEAS.202606_23(1).0001

Abstract

The Institute of Sino-Nôm Studies in Vietnam currently preserves a fragmentary set of woodblocks for the Great Vinaya Canon (Da lüzang) from Yellow Cloud Monastery in Hanoi. This collection consists of 107 blocks, containing 30 out of the 60 fascicles of the complete work, totaling 192 leaves. Published under the title Great Vinaya Canon, these woodblocks represent a printing of the Vinaya of Four Categories (Sifen lü) from the Chinese Buddhist Canon. Such an edition is exceptionally rare in Vietnam, and to date, no other extant editions or copies have been identified. Based on research of the surviving fragments, it is confirmed that Yellow Cloud Monastery organized the carving of at least a portion of these Great Vinaya Canon woodblocks in 1862, a project in which the Most Venerable Phúc Điền played a pivotal role. Initial comparative analysis suggests that the master copy for the Great Vinaya Canon woodblocks belongs to the Yongle Southern Canon (Yǒnglè Nánzàng) edition. However, the carving format and binding style were influenced by the introduction of the Jiaxing Canon (Jiāxīng Dàzàngjīng) into Vietnam, adopting the fāng-cè binding for circulation. Through the study of the Great Vinaya Canon blocks, this article identifies evidence of the earliest influence of the Yongle Southern Canon in Vietnam and elucidates the impact of Chinese Buddhist canonical editions on Vietnamese Buddhism.

Keyword

Institute of Sino-Nôm Studies, woodblocks, Great Vinaya Canon,Yellow Cloud Monastery, Most Venerable Phúc Điền,Yongle Southern Canon

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