168 ann heirman
communities referring to their respective vinaya traditions. Later, when
the sea route between India and China became more popular, the monks
of the southern part of the Indian subcontinent also started to exert
some in uence. The rst vinaya texts were most probably introduced
orally and in a foreign language, for the use of the foreign monks. When,
in the third and the fourth centuries, later generations of immigrants
lost contact with their original languages and more and more Chinese
entered the monasteries, the need for translations of disciplinary texts
became urgent. By the end of the fth century, the most important
vinaya translations were nished, and were available in Buddhist mon-
asteries all over the country. More than two centuries later, one more
vinaya was introduced to China, the Mlasarvstivdavinaya, translated at
the beginning of the eighth century. Curiously enough this was exactly
the same time as another vinaya, the Dharmaguptakavinaya, was imposed
on the whole of China. From that time on until today, the latter vinaya
has been followed in all Chinese monasteries.
The following paper aims to trace the history of the Chinese
vinaya texts from their introduction to the rm establishment of the
Dharmaguptakavinaya. It covers a period that goes from the fall of the
Han dynasty to the days following Empress Wu Zetian’s
reign (690–705). When in 220 AD the Han dynasty came to an end,
the country broke up in three kingdoms, the Wei , the Shuhan
and the Wu. They were temporarily brought together again
by the Western Jin dynasty (280–316). This was a rather weak
dynasty, unable to defend itself against the many attacks of foreign
northern troops. Consequently, the Chinese had to withdraw to the
south of China. This was the start of the so-called north-south division
of China that would last until 589. In the north, many foreign king-
doms arose, the most important of which was the Northern Wei
dynasty (386–535) that occupied a large part of Northern China. The
Northern Wei controlled major cities such as Chang’an (modern
Xi’an ) and Luoyang. In the south, several Chinese dynasties
succeeded one another: the Eastern Jin (316–420), the Liu Song
(420–479), the Qi (479–502), the Liang (502–557), and the
Chen (557–589). The capital was Jiankang (modern Nanjing). The
country was re-united by the Sui dynasty in 589. The dynasty did not
last long, however, and in 618 a general called Li Yuan started the Tang
dynasty. This dynasty lasted until 906, but was temporarily interrupted
by the Zhou dynasty (690–705), founded by Wu Zetian, a former
concubine of two Tang emperors. It is in between the fall of the Han