Xùdēng zhèngtǒng 續燈正統
Orthodox Succession Continuing the Lamp
compiled by 性統 (Xìngtǒng), preface dated 1691 (Qīng Kāngxī 30)
About the work
A 42-juan early-Qīng Chán lamp-record continuation, compiled by the Cáodòng-line monk Bié’ān Xìngtǒng 別庵性統 as a continuation of the Wǔdēng huìyuán (KR6q0012) with coverage of the Yuán, Míng, and early Qīng generations. The title — “Orthodox Succession Continuing the Lamp” — announces its claim to authoritative genealogical succession.
Abstract
Xìngtǒng’s compilation represents the Cáodòng response to Fèiyǐn Tōngróng’s earlier Wǔdēng yántǒng (KR6q0019), restoring the Cáodòng-line attributions that Tōngróng had re-routed to Línjì ancestors. The work is accordingly one of the principal documents in the mid-Qīng phase of the Línjì-Cáodòng lineage controversy, alongside its Línjì rival Chāoyǒng’s Wǔdēng quánshū (KR6q0022) of 1697. The two works — appearing within six years of each other — represent the two lineages’ competing closings of the lamp-record tradition.
Translations and research
No English translation. Treated in Jiang Wu, Enlightenment in Dispute (OUP, 2008), as the principal Cáodòng-side compilation in the mid-Qīng lineage dispute.
Other points of interest
The very close temporal proximity (1691 and 1697) of the competing Cáodòng-side Xùdēng zhèngtǒng and Línjì-side Wǔdēng quánshū makes the pair useful for understanding late-imperial Chán lineage politics in parallel.