Cónglín liǎng xù xū zhī 叢林兩序須知
Required Knowledge on the Two Ranks of the Cónglín
A late-Ming monastic regulatory text by Fèiyǐn Tōngróng 費隱通容 (1593–1661), setting out the procedural-administrative duties of the two ranks (liǎng xù 兩序 = east-rank 東序 and west-rank 西序) of monastic officers in a large cónglín 叢林 community
About the work
A one-juan monastic administrative manual, X63 n1251. Non-commentary; commentedTextid omitted.
The text is organised under the bipartite liǎng xù structure of Chinese monastic administration:
Western-rank (xī xù 西序): shǒu zuò 首座 (head seat), shū jì 書記 (secretary), zàng zhǔ 藏主 (librarian), zhī kè 知客 (guest-manager), yù zhǔ 浴主 (bath-manager), fāngzhàng shìzhě 方丈侍者 (abbot’s attendant), etc.
Eastern-rank (dōng xù 東序): jiān sì 監寺 (temple-superintendent), wéi nuó 維那 (karmadāna, conduct-director), and further administrative offices.
Each office is treated with its specific procedural duties and monastic-community obligations. The text serves as a reference for monks appointed to these offices.
Tiyao
Not a WYG text; no 四庫 tíyào exists. No separate preface; the mù cì 目次 (table of contents) opens the text directly.
Abstract
Fèiyǐn Tōngróng 費隱通容 (1593–1661, DILA A001150), zì Fèiyǐn 費隱, was a prominent late-Ming / early-Qīng Línjì 臨濟 Yángqí-branch Chán master. Dharma-heir of Mìyún Yuánwù 密雲圓悟 (1566–1642); teacher of Yǐnyuán Lóngqí 隱元隆琦 (1592–1673) — who subsequently brought the Ōbaku 黃檗 school to Japan. Native of Fúqīng 福清 (Fújiàn), lay surname Hé 何 (Hé Màozhè 何懋淛 given-name). Held successive abbacies at Tángshān 堂山, Fúyán sì 福嚴寺, Jìngshān 徑山, and Yáofēng 堯峰. Died Shùnzhì 18.3.29 (27 April 1661), aged 69.
The Cónglín liǎng xù xū zhī is Tōngróng’s contribution to the monastic-regulatory genre, reflecting his own experience administering multiple large cónglín monasteries. The compositional date is not precisely recorded; dating bracket notBefore 1630 (Tōngróng’s active abbatial career), notAfter 1661 (his death). Catalog dynasty 明.
Translations and research
- Jiang Wu. 2008. Enlightenment in Dispute: The Reinvention of Chan Buddhism in Seventeenth-Century China. Oxford. Extensive treatment of Tōngróng’s doctrinal-lineage disputes with other late-Ming Chán figures.
- 陳垣 1962. 《清初僧諍記》. Zhōnghuá Shūjú.
Other points of interest
Tōngróng’s principal doctrinal-polemical writings (including his celebrated Wǔ dēng yán tǒng 五燈嚴統 1650, a controversial lineage-history) involved him in major Chán-lineage disputes of the mid-17th century. The present Liǎng xù xū zhī, by contrast, is a straightforwardly-practical administrative manual without polemical content, reflecting Tōngróng’s equally competent institutional-managerial side.
Through Tōngróng’s dharma-heir Yǐnyuán Lóngqí, who emigrated to Japan in 1654, Tōngróng’s administrative-regulatory materials (as well as his Chán doctrinal teachings) became part of the founding textual corpus of the Japanese Ōbakushū 黃檗宗 — the third major school of Japanese Zen alongside Rinzai and Sōtō.