Dao Xuan & Yuan Zhao · abridged by Master Hongyi · 南山律在家備覽

A Law That Existed Before Anyone Ever Kept It.

The Nanshan Vinaya for Laypeople (南山律在家備覽略編) is Master Hongyi's own abridgment of the Nanshan Vinaya school's three great compendia — Dao Xuan's classical commentaries and Yuan Zhao's own sub-commentaries on them — built specifically for lay readers rather than monastics. Across four fascicles and fourteen gates it works through what a precept actually is, what happens inside the mind at ordination, precept-by-precept casuistry for the Five and Eight Precepts, how to repent a broken vow, and the daily etiquette of lay practice. No English translation of this book exists anywhere else — this page is the entrance for reading it gate by gate.

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How to read this compendium

Each gate is treated as a study unit: the classical Chinese, quoted in full and left uncut, set beside our own original English translation, followed by reading notes drawn from the Ru-Yi Study Group's own companion guide to this text.

Two of the fourteen gates — the general theory of upholding and violating a precept, and the exhaustive case-by-case detail of the Four Grave Wrongs — are unusually long even by this book's own standards, so each has been split across two pages for easier reading. That makes fourteen gates into sixteen pages in total.

What each page includes

The classical Chinese source, quoted verbatim and in full — nothing cut or paraphrased.
A fresh, original English translation, since none exists anywhere else.
Reading notes drawn from the Ru-Yi Study Group's own companion guide.
Consistent renderings of this text's core technical vocabulary throughout.

4 fascicles, 14 gates, 16 pages

2 gates split across paired pages for length

Read by Gate

Use this as the table of contents for the whole compendium. The book moves from doctrine to practice in four stages: first establishing what a precept and its inward essence actually are (宗體篇), then working out exactly what does and does not count as keeping one (持犯篇), then how a broken precept is repented (懺悔篇), and finally the concrete, daily etiquette of lay practice (別行篇).

Translation complete

All 14 Gates

The whole compendium, start to finish — the precept-Dharma, the precept-essence, ongoing observance, precept-marks, the grammar of upholding and violation, the Four Grave Wrongs in full casuistic detail, repentance, and the etiquette of lay practice.

Public-domain source, original translation

No Prior English Version

Master Hongyi's compendium has never been translated into English before. Every page here is 100% original translation work, cross-checked block by block against the classical Chinese for complete, unabridged coverage.

Companion project

The Bodhisattva Precept Sūtras

Ru-Yi's translations of the Brahma Net Sutra and the Sutra on Upasaka Precepts give the bodhisattva precepts themselves; this compendium gives the underlying Vinaya theory and casuistry that governs how any precept — bodhisattva or prātimokṣa — is actually kept, broken, and repaired.

第一部　宗體篇 · Fascicle One — The Doctrine of Precept and Essence

What a precept fundamentally is, what happens inside the mind at the moment of ordination, the daily labor of living up to it, and the outward marks by which it is recognized.

Gate 1 戒法門 The Law That Comes Before the Vow What the precept-Dharma fundamentally is, prior to and independent of anyone receiving it — plus the full ordination liturgies for the Three Refuges, the Five Precepts, and the Eight Precepts. Gate 2 戒體門 Where the Precepts Actually Live Three rival schools' accounts of what actually happens, ontologically, inside a person's mind at the moment of ordination — and which reading Master Hongyi himself ultimately favors. Gate 3 戒行門 Keeping What Was Received The "building a house" simile for how reception and ongoing observance support each other, and how the precepts may formally be relinquished. Gate 4 戒相門 The Visible Shape of a Kept Precept A short gate on the two senses of "precept-marks" — the detailed casuistry itself is deferred to the next fascicle.

第二部　持犯篇 · Fascicle Two — Upholding and Violation

The shared vocabulary behind every ruling that follows, then that vocabulary applied precept by precept in exhaustive casuistic detail — the book's longest and most technical fascicle.

Gate 5 · Part 1 of 2 持犯總義門・上 The Grammar of Keeping and Breaking, Part One The fourfold vocabulary — upholding-by-restraint, upholding-by-action, violation-by-omission, violation-by-commission — that every later ruling in the book depends on. Gate 5 · Part 2 of 2 持犯總義門・下 The Grammar of Keeping and Breaking, Part Two The machinery by which a violation actually completes itself — preparatory-stage offenses, object-perception formulas, and a rebuke of those who take the precepts lightly. Gate 6 · Part 1 of 2 持犯別相門・上 The Four Grave Wrongs, Part One: Killing and Stealing The general theory applied precept by precept, in the exhaustive case-by-case detail of an actual legal code, beginning with killing and stealing. Gate 6 · Part 2 of 2 持犯別相門・下 The Four Grave Wrongs, Part Two — and the Five Lesser Rules Sexual misconduct and false speech complete the four grave nature-offenses, then the further rules — alcohol, adornment, and more — that distinguish the Eight Precepts from the Five.

第三部　懺悔篇 · Fascicle Three — Repentance

What to do once a precept has already been broken — the shortest fascicle in the book, and its most direct.

Gate 7 略分化制通局門 Two Kinds of Repentance, Briefly Divided Why repentance cannot wait, and the basic line between confession under the doctrinal teaching and confession under the Vinaya's own regulatory procedure. Gate 8 別明化教二懺門 How to Actually Repent Confession through insight versus confession through ritual practice, and three levels of contemplative confession, from tracing an offense through cause and condition up to consciousness-only.

第四部　別行篇 · Fascicle Four — Miscellaneous Practices

The book's most practical fascicle, turning from doctrine to the physical, daily texture of lay practice — how to bow, how to enter a temple, how to attend the sick, and where a layperson's conduct toward the Sangha stops.

Gate 9 敬佛儀相門 The Etiquette of Reverence The five-limbed prostration, the etiquette of circumambulating a stupa, and the proper timing for making offerings. Gate 10 入寺法式門 Entering the Temple, Guarding the Sangha The concrete etiquette of entering and leaving a monastery, and the teaching that a layperson must never presume to judge a monastic's faults. Gate 11 造像塔寺門 Making Images, Building Stupas and Temples The proper spirit behind commissioning a Buddha-image, regulations for building a stupa, and how temple-building motives degrade as the Dharma declines. Gate 12 瞻視病人門 Attending the Sick The Buddha's own care for a neglected, dying monk, the hospice tradition it gave rise to, and how to speak with someone at the end of their life. Gate 13 離諸非法門 What a Layperson Should Never Do Five practical boundaries on a layperson's conduct toward the Sangha — invitation etiquette, the use of Sangha property, and the evolving teaching on eating meat. Gate 14 出家宗致門 The Point of Leaving Home The compendium's closing gate — why anyone ever renounces the household life at all, and the qualities expected of one who does.