Ǎn hēidòu jí 揞黑豆集
Collection of Pressing Black Beans
selected and commented (拈別) by 心圓 (Xīnyuán); compiled and printed (集梓) by 火蓮 (Huǒlián), early Qīng
About the work
An eight-juan early-Qīng Chán anthology with the playful title Ǎn hēidòu jí — “Collection of Pressing Black Beans” — taking the standard Chán phrase for an unenlightened reading of the gōng’àn corpus and turning it into a self-deprecating book title. Xīnyuán selects key cases from the lamp-record literature and adds his own brief comments (niānbié 拈別 — “picking up and distinguishing”); the lay disciple Huǒlián compiled the text and arranged for printing.
Abstract
A genre-typical late seventeenth- / early eighteenth-century Chán-case anthology with light editorial commentary, in the tradition of the Bìyán lù 碧巖錄 (KR6q0078) and Cóngróng lù 從容錄 but in a more compressed format suited to private practitioner study. Circulated in the Jiāxīng 嘉興 canon. Xīnyuán’s brief niānbié notes are the work’s principal independent contribution.
Translations and research
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
No English translation. Discussed only in passing in surveys of Qīng Chán literature.
Other points of interest
The title — embracing the standard term for an unenlightened reading of gōng’àn — is one of the more self-deprecating Chán book-titles of the late imperial period.