Chánzhēn Hòushǐ 禪真後史
Latter History of the True Chan by 清溪道人
About the work
A fifty-three-chapter sequel novel to KR4k0041 Chánzhēn Yìshǐ 禪真逸史, by the same pen-named author 清溪道人 Qīngxī Dàorén (identity unknown), continuing the adventures of the same characters in a later phase of the story. The preface (included in the source file KR4k0042) begins: “Mí Gōng yǒu yán, Fó wéi cháotíng yǎngjì yuàn, yǒu gōng yú guó…” 糜公有言，佛為朝廷養濟院，有功於國, invoking Confucian–Buddhist complementarity and explicitly framing the novel as a vindication of Buddhism’s social utility.
Tiyao
No tiyao found in source.
Abstract
清溪道人 Qīngxī Dàorén is a late-Míng pen name, the same author responsible for KR4k0041 Chánzhēn Yìshǐ 禪真逸史. The Hòushǐ was published later than the Yìshǐ, most likely in the Chóngzhēn period (1628–1644) or the very early Qīng.
The preface preserved at the opening of this text articulates the novel’s ideological program: true Chan Buddhism and Daoism are morally regenerative forces, in contrast to their degenerate institutional forms. The protagonist-monks and their allies pursue moral order through means both conventional and heroic. The narrative involves, as the preface puts it, “Compassion and intestinal fortitude possessed together, weeping and iron-willed resolve not exhausted” (Cíbēi gāndǎn xiáliè xīncháng jùbèi, bù jìn cǎnrán méi dī duànnǔ mùtài yě 慈悲肝膽俠烈心腸具備，不盡慘然眉低斷努目態也).
The fifty-three-chapter structure exceeds the forty-chapter Yìshǐ, continuing the storyline of martial and moral heroism into new crises. The text is set nominally in the Northern Wei and following dynasties, maintaining the same historical-fictional frame. Together the two novels constitute a connected sequence of 93 chapters, analogous in scale to other long Ming vernacular novels.
Translations and research
- See KR4k0041 for secondary literature on the Chánzhēn series.
- No substantial English-language study located.
Links
- Wikidata: no dedicated entry located