(Chóngbiān) Cáodòng wǔ wèi xiǎn jué 重編曹洞五位顯訣
Re-edited Manifestation of the Hidden Essentials of the Cáodòng Five Positions
A three-juan Sòng-period Cáodòng 曹洞 doctrinal compendium, re-compiled (biān 編) by 慧霞 Huìxiá and annotated (shì 釋) by 廣輝 Guǎnghuī; the most detailed surviving Sòng exposition of the Cáodòng wǔ wèi 五位 (“five positions”) doctrine in its full technical elaboration
About the work
A three-juan Cáodòng-school doctrinal text, X63 n1236. The title’s chóngbiān 重編 (“re-edited”) indicates an earlier compilation that Huìxiá has revised; Guǎnghuī supplies the interpretive shì commentary. Non-commentary on a named parent text; commentedTextid omitted (the work is a synthetic exposition-and-commentary of the full Cáodòng wǔ wèi doctrinal tradition rather than a commentary on a single earlier wǔ wèi text).
The Cáodòng wǔ wèi doctrine — the five positions (zhèngzhōng piān 正中偏, piānzhōng zhèng 偏中正, zhèngzhōng lái 正中來, piānzhōng zhì 偏中至, jiānzhōng dào 兼中到) — is the single most distinctive doctrinal-philosophical apparatus of the Cáodòng school, originated by Dòngshān Liángjiè 洞山良价 (807–869, see KR6q0067) and systematised further by his disciple Cáoshān Běnjì 曹山本寂 (840–901, KR6q0068). Later Cáodòng tradition developed elaborate exegetical apparatus around the five positions, including the paired wǔ wèi gōngxūn 五位功勳 (five positions of merit-and-achievement) and various visual-diagrammatic schemas.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. The opening preface Chóngbiān Cáodòng wǔ wèi xù 重編曹洞五位序, signed Chuán fù shǒu chéng shàng zhǔ Xuěcén 傳付守澄上主雪岑, narrates the lineage-historical context and the editorial program:
“The Shítóu 石頭 lineage flows from Cáoxī, passing through four generations to reach Dòngshān, where its stream becomes great. After the Great Master [Dòngshān] passed on, it was transmitted for five generations to Dàyáng 大陽, where the jīfǎ 機法 had not yet fused and this Way became quiet. … Eventually the lineage reached the East [i.e., Japan / Korea] through secondary streams, and in Koryŏ there have appeared twenty or so senior monks who have grasped it purely… But later generations have obstructed the five with jiāo zhù kè zhōu 膠柱刻舟 [overly-fixed interpretation]… and so I present the Xiá-edition and Huī-commentary for circulation.”
The preface is signed by Xuěcén 雪岑 and identifies Huìxiá as the editorial compiler and Guǎnghuī as the interpretive commentator.
Abstract
Huìxiá 慧霞 (lifedates unrecorded) and Guǎnghuī 廣輝 (lifedates unrecorded) are otherwise little-known Cáodòng Sòng-period monks, known principally through their editorial roles on this text. Their editorial project consolidated the proliferation of Cáodòng wǔ wèi commentarial material into a single authoritative three-juan reference-work, and the text subsequently became the standard Cáodòng wǔ wèi teaching-manual in Sòng and post-Sòng Cáodòng / Sōtō tradition.
The text’s significance for Japanese Sōtō is substantial: the Cáodòng wǔ wèi apparatus it preserves is the conceptual framework through which Dōgen 道元 and subsequent Japanese Sōtō masters engage Cáodòng doctrinal tradition, and the Chóngbiān Cáodòng wǔ wèi xiǎn jué is one of the principal Chinese-side primary sources for the apparatus.
Dating bracket: notBefore 1100 (the post-Dàokǎi 道楷 Cáodòng revival in which the text participates), notAfter 1200 (working terminus ante quem; a Southern-Sòng date for the chóngbiān editorial work is most plausible). Catalog dynasty 宋.
Translations and research
- Verdú, Alfonso. 1974. Dialectical Aspects in Buddhist Thought: Studies in Sino-Japanese Mahāyāna Idealism. University of Kansas. Contains treatment of the Cáodòng wǔ wèi doctrine.
- Leighton, Taigen Dan. 2004. Dōgen’s Extensive Record. Wisdom. Background on the wǔ wèi doctrine in the Japanese Sōtō tradition.
- Schlütter, Morten. 2008. How Zen Became Zen. Hawai’i.
- 椎名宏雄 1993. 《宋元版禅籍の研究》. Daitō Shuppansha.
- 吉津宜英 1986. 《華厳禅の思想史的研究》. Daitō Shuppansha. Discusses the Cáodòng wǔ wèi in comparative context.
Other points of interest
The preface’s reference to “twenty or so senior monks” active in Koryŏ (Korea) who have authentically grasped the Cáodòng wǔ wèi is a significant documentary witness to Koryŏ Cáodòng transmission, a less-studied branch of Cáodòng lineage-history compared to the more-famous Chinese and Japanese lines. The names listed in the preface (Jīnzàng 金藏, Língyán 靈岩, Qīngxū 清虗, Yúnzhù 雲住, Yuè 嶽 Xūmí 須彌, Yǎn 儼 Wúwéi 無為, Wéi 微 Yànkǒu 燕口, Huìxū 慧虗, Fèngzhàn 鳳湛, Dàlǐng 大嶺, Qīngyuàn 清院, Wòlóng 臥龍, Hǎilóng 海龍, Ruìyán 瑞岩, and Jiāoyán 洎岩) preserve a significant fragment of the Korean Cáodòng transmissional record.