Lèngyán jīng jiǎnglù 楞嚴經講錄
Lecture-Record on the Śūraṃgama-sūtra by 乘旹 (講錄)
About the work
A ten-fascicle (10卷) lecture-record commentary on the Śūraṃgama-sūtra (KR6j0118) by Cháizǐ Chéngshí 柴紫乘旹 乘旹, the late-Míng / early-Qīng Línjì master of the Yùquán Dùménsì 玉泉度門寺. The text is the transcription of his lectures on the sūtra delivered at Yúshān 虞山 (Chángshú, in modern Jiāngsū). Preserved as X15 no. 299 in the Xùzàngjīng.
Prefaces
The work is prefaced by Chéngshí’s own Lèngyán jiǎnglù zìxù 楞嚴講錄自敘: “The teachings of the various Buddhas have provisional and real, have general and particular, have bànmǎn (half-and-full), have xiǎo shǐ zhōng dùn yuán (small/initial/ultimate/sudden/perfect). And in their meeting-of-faculties expounding-of-Dharma, they may be hidden or manifest, broad-but-abridged, give-but-take, reverse-and-conform, or like a lion’s roaring or a thunder’s pealing — and they sweep-traces and cut-off-tracks. And as it has been transmitted-and-delivered to our Zhèndàn [China]: the qualities of those receiving have been many; the jīyuán 機緣 (opportunity-conditions) reached have also differed. Of the masters from of old who ascended the Dharma-king’s throat and shǐkǒu yǎnfǎ (manifest-mouth expounded the Dharma) — who has not been versed in lifting up this single sūtra of the Lèngyán as the tǒngshè 統攝 (comprehensive-grasp) of the various sūtras? The twelve-divisions of teachings are altogether kept-together at this place. But [the masters] have not yet detailed the reasons; how can the beginner-students follow with confidence? Is this not the lóngtǒng zhēnrú (vague-suit Tathatā)? I [Chéngshí] have searched into this sūtra for years; my master-transmission has firm grounds; I do not begrudge the kǒuyè 口業 (speech-karma); for the four-fold assemblies I now push-and-investigate it.” (諸佛言教。有權有實。有通有別。有半滿。有小始終頓圓。而其逗機說法也。或密或顯。或廣而略。或予以奪。或倒以順。或獅吼雷鳴。而掃踪絕跡。且其流傳而被吾震旦也。承受之品既殊。機緣所及亦異。從上諸師登法王座。矢口演法者。孰不知稱此楞嚴一經。為諸經之統攝。十二分教兼總於斯。而未甞詳言其故。使初學者流。何從信受。不幾儱侗真如乎。(乘旹)於此經探尋有年。師承有據。請不惜口業。為四眾一推究之).
The preface is dated to the day of the Buddha’s Enlightenment, Tiānqǐ 2, rénxū = 1622 CE (天啟壬戌（1622）佛成道日撰).
Abstract
The Jiǎnglù preserves Chéngshí’s actual classroom lectures on the Lèngyánsūtra delivered at Yúshān 虞山. Chéngshí, originally named Liǎofán 了凡, was a Dharma-heir of Wújì Zhènghuì 無跡正誨 (無跡正誨, 1547–1627) of the Dùménsì 度門寺 — a Línjì lineage descended through the Tiāntóng (Mìyún Yuánwù) tradition. The work is in the late-Wànlì / early-Chóngzhēn lecture-record (jiǎnglù 講錄) genre that became prominent in the Yúshān / Wǔlín circles of late-Míng literary Buddhism, and reflects the actual pedagogical practice of late-Míng Línjì-Chán Lèngyán exposition for monastic-and-lay audiences.
The dating bracket is set to 1622 – 1644, beginning with the dated self-preface of the Jiǎnglù and bounded by the conventional terminus ante quem of late-Míng productive activity.
Translations and research
- Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China (Oxford UP, 2008) — discusses the late-Wànlì Línjì revival including the Mìyún Yuánwù line to which Chéngshí belongs.
- No complete Western-language translation of the Jiǎnglù located.