道院集要

Dàoyuàn jí yào 道院集要

Essentials of the Dào-yuàn Collection by 晁迥 (撰), edited by 王古 (編)

About the work

Dàoyuàn jí yào 道院集要 is the 3-juǎn Yuányòu-period selection by Wáng Gǔ 王古 from Cháo Jiǒng’s 晁迥 larger now-lost Dàoyuàn jí and related Buddhist-syncretist notebooks. The piece is a Chán-style collection of doctrinal-aphoristic yǔlù paralleling the Fǎzàng suìjīn lù KR4d0007; the Sìkù tíyào (V1052.3) explicitly classifies it under 釋家類 rather than biéjí, correcting a long-running misclassification in SòngYuán bibliography.

Tiyao

We respectfully submit: the Dàoyuàn jí yào in 3 juǎn was composed by Cháo Jiǒng of the Sòng (the old recension titled it simply Dàoyuàn jí). The Sòngshǐ Yìwénzhì records Dàoyuàn jí yào in 3 juǎn with a note “compiler unknown.” On examination Cháo Gōngwǔ’s Dúshū zhì records Dàoyuàn jí yào in 3 juǎn and says it was “compiled in Yuányòu 元祐 by shìcóng 侍從 Wáng Gǔ” — and quotes Wáng’s preface: “Wényuán Cháo gōng read widely in the inner books and was diligent in his own writing. The works are: Dàoyuàn biéjí, Zìzé zēngxiū bǎifǎ, Fǎzàng suìjīn, Suíyīn jìshù, Màozhì yú shū. I once compiled and read them and concluded that for the marvel of subtle reasoning even Bái Lètiān could not surpass him. So I cut away duplicates and gathered the cream into a single anthology for ease of reading.” So this present book is Wáng Gǔ’s selection from Cháo Jiǒng’s writings, hence the name “Selected Essentials.” The recension that takes it for the Dàoyuàn jí itself is mistaken. The Wénxiàn tōngkǎo listed it under biéjí; on examining the book it is yǔlù in style, not really a literary collection — we now reclassify it under the Buddhist class to keep its true character. Qiánlóng 46 (1781) 10th month, respectfully collated. — Chief Compilers Jì Yún, Lù Xīxióng, Sūn Shìyì; Chief Collator Lù Fèichí.

Abstract

The transmitted text is unambiguously the work of Wáng Gǔ 王古 (active Yuányòu 元祐 / Shàoshèng 紹聖 era; CBDB id 1840 = the jìnshì of 1086 / shìcóng) — Cháo Jiǒng’s posthumous editor and a lay Buddhist literatus in his own right (Wáng Gǔ is the compiler of the famous Pure-Land Zhízhǐ jìngtǔ juéyí 直指淨土決疑 and was an ally of Yáng Jié 楊傑 in the late-Northern-Sòng Pure-Land lay Buddhist circle). His preface is the principal source for our knowledge of the Dàoyuàn jí in its full form; he names five distinct works of Cháo Jiǒng — Dàoyuàn biéjí, Zìzé zēngxiū bǎifǎ, Fǎzàng suìjīn lù, Suíyīn jìshù, Màozhì yú shū — only the Fǎzàng suìjīn lù of which survives in independent transmission, plus the present Yào selection.

The contents are aphoristic notes on Buddhist scripture, Chán doctrine, and parallels in Confucian and Daoist jīngzǐ; they are markedly more terse than the Fǎzàng suìjīn lù and reflect Wáng Gǔ’s own Pure-Land emphasis. The SòngYuán confusion over genre — Wénxiàn tōngkǎo keeping it among biéjí even though it is plainly yǔlù — gives the piece its current placement here in KR4d (a placement the Sìkù compilers themselves criticized). The dating bracket is set to Wáng Gǔ’s Yuányòu compilation window 1086–1093 (the years he was shìcóng and active at court); the underlying material was composed by Cháo Jiǒng in the late 1020s and 1030s.

Translations and research

• Halperin, Mark. 2006. Out of the Cloister. Harvard UP. Treats the Cháo Jiǒng / Wáng Gǔ Pure-Land lay-Buddhist milieu.
• Getz, Daniel A. 1999. “T’ien-t’ai Pure Land Societies and the Creation of the Pure Land Patriarchate.” In Buddhism in the Sung, ed. Gregory & Getz. Hawai’i. Notes Wáng Gǔ as a key Northern-Sòng Pure-Land lay leader.
• Sharf, Robert H. 2002. Coming to Terms with Chinese Buddhism. Hawai’i. Discusses the Cháo Jiǒng-style Chán / bǐ-jì hybrid.

Other points of interest

The composite-title problem (Dàoyuàn jí vs. Dàoyuàn jí yào) reflects a wider issue in Sòng Buddhist bibliography: lay-literati Buddhist bǐjì like Cháo Jiǒng’s repeatedly confused the “literary collection” category and the “school yǔlù” category, and editors in different lineages classified them differently. Wáng Gǔ’s preface is among the principal documents for Northern-Sòng lay-Buddhist Chán / Pure-Land syncretism.

Links

• Wang Gu (lay Buddhist Wikidata)
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual, §54.