been witnessed by the commentator or that he is drawing on textual
　　　　  materials now lost or that are perhaps simply obscure.
　　　　  There is no indication in the original edict, or in the Yuan
　　　　  commentary, that these burning practices were in any way associated
　　　　  with ordination. Even assuming that the evidence is missing, or has
　　　　  been deliberately expunged from the record, we are faced with
　　　　  incontrovertible fact that there is no burning at ordination in
　　　　  Japan, where Buddhists were notoriously fascinated by precepts,
　　　　  especially those of the Fanwang jing. Accounts by Japanese pilgrims
　　　　  who visited Tang and Song China such as Ennin, and Eisai, and even
　　　　  Sakugen, who visited China as late as the 1530s make no mention of
　　　　  any such practice in China. Had such practices existed, they would
　　　　  surely have been exported wholesale to Japan, along with every other
　　　　  aspect of continental Buddhist practice.
　　　　  Previous attempts to find a date for the introduction of ordination
　　　　  burning in China have tended to peter out into speculation. De
　　　　  Groot, noting a claim that Zhuhong had based his ordination ritual
　　　　  on one of Song date (not a claim I have been able to trace, let
　　　　  alone substantiate) concludes, "cet rituel semble donc avoir un age
　　　　  respectable" (this ritual seems to be of a respectable age).(47)
　　　　  Both Prip-Moller and de Groot note a substatute of 1649 in the Qing
　　　　  legal code that says that ordination certificates are required
　　　　  before any burning takes place, which at least gives us a terminus
　　　　  ante quem for the practice.(48) Is it possible that this edict alone
　　　　  was responsible for burning at ordination? I am inclined to doubt
　　　　  it, since the wording of the text, which speaks rather vaguely of
　　　　  "the burning practice by the abbot" (zhuchi fenxiu) implies that
　　　　  this was a practice that was already known and did not have to be
　　　　  explained and that it was already part of ordination procedure. The
　　　　  term fenxiu employed here normally refers to the ritual burning of
　　　　  incense in general rather than any kind of burning of the body. De
　　　　  Groot's Sectarianism and Religious Persecution in China provides a
　　　　  very useful compendium of legislation that applied to the Buddhist
　　　　  and Taoist clergy, but there is no discussion of burning at
　　　　  ordination in edicts or legal codes prior to that of the Qing. An
　　　　  electronic search of the historical materials now available online
　　　　  through the good offices of Academia Sinica has also failed to
　　　　  reveal any earlier legislation that even mentions ordination