Cíbēi dàochǎng shuǐchànfǎ suíwén lù 慈悲道場水懺法隨聞錄
A Listener’s Record of the Compassion-Site Water-Repentance Liturgy by 智證 (Zhìzhèng, 錄)
About the work
A three-fascicle late-Míng / early-Qīng commentary (suíwén lù 隨聞錄, “record of what was heard along with the text”) on the famous Táng-period Shuǐ chàn 水懺 attributed to Wùdá guóshī 悟達國師 (i.e. Cíbēi shuǐchànfǎ 慈悲水懺法, T1910 / KR6c0007). Composed by Zhòuzhōng Zhìzhèng 晝中智證 (智證), a disciple of Gāofēng Bàopú Dàlián chánshī 高峰抱璞大蓮禪師 (?–1629), while resident at the Qīngluóān 青螺菴 in Gǔlóu 古婁 (Tàicāng 太倉). The commentary parses the Shuǐ chàn’s opening titulus and its sin-categories one phrase at a time, weaving in scriptural citations from both zàng 藏 collections, classical historical exempla (the袁盎/晁錯 backstory of Wùdá’s rénmiàn chuāng 人面瘡 affair), and Tiāntái-school doctrinal annotations.
Prefaces
The text opens with four prefatory pieces:
(A) Xù 序, signed Guāngxù èrshíyī nián suìcì yǐwèi gōng sìyuè Fóyù rì Hángzhōu Gǔlíngjiù Yìwúsì zhùchí shāmén chuán Tiāntái jiàoguān yìsūn Ruìbīn jǐn xù — i.e. 1895 (Guāngxù 21, Buddhabath day = 8th day of the 4th lunar month). Ruìbīn 瑞斌, abbot of Yìwúsì 義吾寺 at Gǔlíngjiù 古靈鷲 in Hángzhōu and a Tiāntái lineage-grandson, recounts how the woodblocks had perished in the Tàipíng military fires (兵燹板燬無存) and only fragments survived, until “Qīngyuán Shěn jūshì” 清源沈居士 produced a complete copy. He paid for fresh blocks.
(B) Suíwén lù xù 隨聞錄序, signed Gǔtiáo Gāofēng Jìngmíngān Wǔrì zhèngdàorén Pántán shí 古苕高峰淨名菴午日證道人槃譚識 — Pántán of the Jìngmíngān at Gāofēng on Mount Gǔtiáo (Wūchéng 烏程), a fellow practitioner who first sought out the woodcutters.
(C) Chóngkè Shuǐchàn suíwén lù xù 重刻水懺隨聞錄序, signed Tiāntái jiàoguān hòuxué Hǎimén Yànjìng 天台教觀後學海門彥淨, with a check-reading note (校對) by Wǔlín hòuxué Chǎnzōng 武林後學闡宗.
(D) Zhòuzhōng chánshī shì Shuǐchàn xù 晝中禪師釋水懺敘, the author’s own opening commentarial preface paraphrasing the dharmaposition of the Shuǐ chàn and signed yù Gǔlóu Qīngluóān shāmén Zhòuzhōng Zhìzhèng lù 寓古婁青螺菴沙門 晝中智證 錄.
Abstract
The Suíwén lù is a discursive Tiāntái-school zhùshū 註疏 on the perennially-popular Shuǐ chàn. Its principal contribution is its synthesis: Zhìzhèng “first collated the canonical prooftexts of the two piṭakas, then digested the explanations of the worthies, and selected what was reliable” (先覈兩藏之原文。次簡諸賢之疏釋。摭其確當). The work survived only patchily after the late-Qīng wars and was reissued in 1895 from a recovered manuscript by Ruìbīn at Yìwúsì in Hángzhōu — the woodblock edition reproduced in the Xùzàngjīng. The compiler Zhìzhèng’s life-dates are not preserved ; since his teacher died in 1629, his floruit must lie in the second quarter of the 17th century, with the commentary very likely composed in the mid-Qīng — notBefore and notAfter are bracketed loosely (1620–1680) accordingly. For the parent text see KR6c0007 (T1910 Cíbēi shuǐchànfǎ).
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- CBETA online: https://cbetaonline.dila.edu.tw/X1495
- 智證 DILA
- Kanseki DB