. yuqie yankou in the ming-qing 563
attacks.^8 Zhuhong evidently lived at a time when Yankou liturgies were
proliferating, although he found most of them to be “needlessly com-
plicated and repetitive to the point of losing the ancient meaning of
the rite.”^9 He was also disturbed by what he condemned as abuses
of the ritual—the lack of seriousness and training on the part of the
performers, and the corrupting commercial aspects of the ritual. These
criticisms outlasted Zhuhong and his times and continue to surround
the Yankou up to the present.
While there were certainly Chinese Buddhists in the Ming, Qing,
and Republican periods who questioned the very legitimacy of the
Yankou itself, the majority regarded it as a powerful esoteric method
for liberating the dead and pacifying problems, though susceptible to
corruption and compromise. But rather than dispensing with the rite
completely, instead we see periodic attempts to redact the liturgies
coupled with calls for reformation in motivations and performances
of the ritual.
Available evidence suggests that in the Ming-Qing period monks
from different traditions were redacting and editing Yankou liturgies.
Zhuhong, recognized as a monastic reformer and a fervent advocate of
nianfo , nonetheless redacted an influential Yankou liturgy himself.
Zhuhong tells us that his Yuqie jiyao shishi yigui
(Food-bestowal Ritual Liturgy of the Collected Essentials of Yoga)
published in 1606 was a redaction of an older liturgy by Chan mas-
ter Tianji (sixteenth century).^10 Besides Tianji’s Xiuxi yuqie jiyao
shishi tanyi (Food-bestowal Altar Rite of the
Practice of the Collected Essentials of Yoga), there was also another lit-
urgy by a Ming Tiantai master, Lingcao (n.d.), known as the
Xiuxi yuqie jiyao shishi tanyi yingmen
(Correct Method of the Food-bestowal Altar Rite of the Practice of the
Collected Essentials of Yoga).^11
Finally, in the early Qing, two other Yankou liturgies were published:
one by Hanyue Fazang (1573–1635),^12 an important Chan
(^8) Yü 1981, 19–20, 23–24.
(^9) X. 1080.59:254a.
(^10) Zhuhong also wrote an auto-commentary to the liturgy. See Xiushe yuqie jiyao
shishi tanyi zhu 11 ( T. 1081.59:271c–300b).
Zhou 1980, 397–399.
(^12) Hanyue’s biography credits an essay by Zhuhong as the initial spark that ignited
his desire to become a monk; years later Hanyue sought full ordination from Zhuhong,
though unsuccessfully.