Yen-shou (904-975) was one of the systematical Buddhist thinkers in medieval China. His monumental works like Tsung-Ching Lu,Wan-Shan t'ung-Kuei chi or Hsin-fu all have their respective influences on East Asian Buddhism.
Although some recent scholarship have been published on his biography or bibliography, religious thought or his convergence of Ch'an and Pure land doctrines, yet no publication on this thought and reformation of Buddhist discipline have been noted. The attempt of this paper is to fulfill this gap,i.e. to study his disciplinary thought.
This study finds that Yen-Shou's attitude towards traditional Buddhist disciplines was moderate when compared with the radical Ch'an monks.
Although he has criticized conservative spirit and ideas, rules and masters of the Buddhist Vinaya, he did not,however,advocated the abandonment of traditional prescripts altogether. He quoted from `Mahayana` scriptures and the dialogues of Ch'an masters to reinterprete the Bodhisattva Disciplines, thus injects new spirit into the old rules, making the rules more harmonious with Ch'an doctrine. What he had inject into the Discipline was the Ch'an ontology,i.e. the One Mind or Absolute Mind. In his interpretation,the Mind is the foundation of all the Buddhist institutions and values, the disciplines therefore,should begin from and end at it. If the Mind is not awake,the observance of rules along becomes meaningless. By doing so, Yen-shou had transformed traditional religious precepts from behave into a new system of thought in which the idea and actions converged into one. This is the contribution and the characteristics of Yen-shou's thought on Buddhist Disciplines.