The Formation and Development of the Chinese Karmavācanā Texts: Structure, Transmission, and Localization—Centering on No. 1432 and No. 1433 of the Cao Wei Period in the Taishō Tripiṭaka

The karmavācanā are ritual texts found in the Vinaya Piṭaka’s Khandhaka sections and standalone translations, regulating the conduct of monks and nuns. They include procedures for legitimate religious practices and penalties for disciplinary violations. The Taishō Tripitaka compiles five karmavācanā texts, structured into two systems. This study focuses on the Tanwude lübu zajiemo (曇無德律部雜羯磨, No. 1432), attributed to Kang Sengkai (康僧鎧), who is from Tianzhu (India) during the Cao Wei period, and the Jiemo yijuan (羯磨一卷, No. 1433) by Tan di (曇諦), an Anxi (Parthian) śramaṇa of the Cao Wei period. This study addresses three key research questions: (1) the relationship between these two karmavācanā texts and the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya (四分律, No. 1428); (2) whether the Tanwude lübu zajiemo and Jiemo yijuan are the earliest karmavācanā texts to have been translated; and (3) how to explain the process by which their textual structures were formed. By synthesizing extant karmavācanā versions in other languages and Dunhuang-Turpan manuscript fragments, the author argues that No. 1432 and No. 1433 cannot be directly identified as mechanically excerpted copies of the Dharmaguptaka Vinaya. In the formation of their respective structures, the influence of earlier karmavācanā translations—now no longer extant—cannot be ruled out. Judging from the karmavācanā manuscripts preserved at Dunhuang-Turfan, the two texts in question were most likely formed toward the end of the sixth century CE.