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
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.