Dìng huì xiāng zī gē 定慧相資歌
Song of the Mutual Support of Samādhi and Wisdom
A short rhymed didactic verse-composition by Yǒngmíng Yánshòu 永明延壽 (904–975), articulating in compressed poetic form the dìnghuì shuāngxiū 定慧雙修 (“dual cultivation of samādhi and wisdom”) doctrine that is foundational to Yánshòu’s integrative synthesis
About the work
A one-juan short rhymed verse composition, X63 n1229. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted. The text is in seven-character rhymed lines (qīyán 七言), with alternating doctrinal-aphoristic and practice-instruction content.
Opening lines: “In the lineage-teaching there are two gates; the ten perfections and the myriad practices are called honoured. The first called zhǐ-guān 止觀 assists new students; the second attains dìng-huì 定慧 as the root of bodhi. The one dharma appears as if bi-furcated…” The text proceeds through systematic exposition of how dìng (meditative absorption, samādhi) and huì (wisdom, prajñā) mutually support each other, each incomplete without the other, together constituting the full practice-path to awakening.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. No editorial preface.
Abstract
The Dìng huì xiāng zī gē is one of Yánshòu’s shorter pedagogical verse-compositions, complementing the encyclopedic KR6q0092 Zōngjìng lù and the more substantial KR6q0093 Wànshàn tóngguī jí. The verse-form and rhymed structure position the text for memorisation and chanting rather than systematic scholarly reading. The dìnghuì shuāngxiū doctrine it articulates — itself derivative of the Tiāntái 天台 zhǐguān 止觀 tradition that Zhìyǐ had systematised four centuries earlier, now integrated into Yánshòu’s Chán-Pure Land synthetic program — is one of Yánshòu’s signature doctrinal positions.
Dating bracket: notBefore 960 (beginning of Yánshòu’s Yǒngmíng abbacy), notAfter 975 (his death). Compositional period is likely similar to other Yánshòu shorter works, i.e., c. 965–970.
Translations and research
- 冉雲華 1999. 《永明延壽》. Dōngdà túshū. Chapter-level treatment of Yánshòu’s shorter works.
- Welter, Albert. 2011. Yongming Yanshou’s Conception of Chan. Oxford.
- 孔維勤 1983. 《永明延壽宗教論》. Tóngxìn chūbǎnshè.
Other points of interest
The short rhymed-verse genre Yánshòu employs here (also in the Shén qī ān yǎng fù 神棲安養賦 and similar) positions him within the broader tradition of Chán didactic-verse composition that includes Sēngcàn’s Xìn xīn míng KR6q0085, Xuánjué’s Zhèng dào gē KR6q0090, and the later Sòng Chán verse-treatise tradition. The deliberate oral-pedagogical form is a response to the doctrinal-complexity problem that the encyclopedic Zōngjìng lù posed for general readers.